Emergency Solar Power Setup SHTF

DIY Solar ^ | 5/14/12

[Kartographer]

This is my 45 watt solar panel setup. I purchased this kit from Harbor freight for about 0. I use it for lighting in my home, as well different power tools around the house. This is a great source of power in the event of power failures (which happens often).

[Buckeye McFrog]

..or you can probably pick one up for pennies on the dollar from the Chuck Harder Y2K Warehouse...

[al baby]

FYI don’y google that with out safe search on

[bgill]

I’d like to live on that planet where $150-$200 is zero.

[Kartographer]

It would do plenty if you use 12V lighing (two come with the kit) and it could keep re-chargable batteries for flashlighs, radios, PDA, portable DVD and CD players......

[Godzilla]

Lob one up from Hugo's Paradise, peaking at 250 miles over Manhattan, Kansas, with a peak yield in the 50 to 100kT range, with a nice uranium tamper for a boost in gamma output.

May be they could have that ability in the future - but it isn't today. They have to prove they can make one, make it small enough for them to fit on a rocket and make it dependable. Some how avoid detection, set up a missile base to accomodate this long range rocket and launch it. OBTW, this is without Israel getting in the first punch and taking out or significantly delaying Iran's program. There are a slew of "what if's" and "maybe's" that have to be accomlished first.

[MomwithHope]

Would it run a well pump? The submersible kind. I have been looking for something.

[Godzilla]

All I was saying was that the effects of basically a nuclear winter (volcanic ash) will nullify solar panels, that’s all.

You are looking at a very, VERY small chance of a volcanic eruption of that size. Even Yellowstone's biggest wouldn't have nullified solar panels. Most contingencies preppers like myself prepare for are far more likely events from storms and other generally short term serious disruptions. For those events, it would be money well spent.

[Kartographer]

I would say yes a small one and if you didn’t run it 24/7. I don’t see why not. I’ve see electric gates powered by far smaller.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

You can get a roof top solar system that will run your entire household ......but it will cost +$30k....excess power can be sold to your local utility. They offer tax credits of up to $10k. Your 45watt system looks more like something for a hobbyist. Fun to play with though.

[Quix]

MUCH THANKS.

GREATLY APPRECIATED.

GOD BE WITH YOU AND THOSE YOU LOVE.

[Kartographer]

That’s nice if I had 30K just laying around. But the idea here is something to get you through an emergency situation, something portable in case you have to bug-out. I believe you don’t understand the nature of Preppers’ threads.

[MomwithHope]

Thanks I’ll talk to hubby. Water will be our big challenge.

[TurboZamboni]

you should get your wife to be your employee and apply for some stimulus money:

"Canadian firm will receive up to 50 million stimulus dollars for NV solar plant with two employees"

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2883574/posts

[FreedomPoster]

lol - there’s darn near nothing you should search without safe search on!

[BobL]

“45 watt? what good is this. 1 light bulb....big deal.”

Try generating that power on a stationary bicycle and you’ll see it’s not trivial (particularly when you have to then add back food to compensate).

45 Watts is good for some stuff, like charging power tools, batteries, or running other electronics.

But overall - spend a bit more and buy a real solar panel, that will get you 150+ Watts. For that much power, you can get some real work done. Also, I don’t like the HF panel, because it’s the lowest efficiency technology available, meaning that it uses twice the area (or more) for a given amount of power. There is better stuff...and it doesn’t cost more (per Watt - you just have to buy more Watts).

[The Duke]

Solar panels won’t do much if a big volcano goes. Just saying.

That's where the geothermal generators come in! :)

[The Duke]

If you want your solar power system to provide power when you're off the grid then you're going to need a good (and costly) set of deep cycle batteries (car batteries will not do the trick for long).

Those batteries and the accompanying electronics could very well increase the cost by 60% - 100%.

[Iron Munro]

there are coupons floating around for $149.99 I got one in the junk mail last week. Some entrepreneur is selling the coupons on E-bay for $10.

One e-Bay seller has the $149 coupon on auction starting at 99 cents plus $2 shipping:

Item number: 221025059770

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HARBOR-FREIGHT-COUPON-SAVE-80-THUNDERBOLT-45-WATT-SOLAR-PANEL-KIT-/221025059770?pt=US_Coupons&hash=item33761ec3ba

[backwoods-engineer]

That is generally done with six sided solid steel plate that has been continously welded pin-hole free with wave-guide and baffles at every single penetration.

I used to design for the F-18 and Joint Stars radar aircraft, and designed radiation-hard modules for spy sats, and I've never seen that.

What application was this 6-sided waveguide shielding in?

[KC Burke]

Command and control installations.