Solar to the rescue

[CaliMobber]

So Big Bend Texas lost power a few days ago and will be out for another day or so. Lucky me Im a expedition camper and i have solar/inverters 12v fridge and batteries. I just setup my solar and ran an extension cord inside the house. I just start the car for coffee and toast in the morning also to give the batt a boost after the nights drain but the solar handles the small loads of the freezer in the car tops off the battery over the day.:sombrero:

generators are everywhere and many are in the dark while i sit in bed with my heated blanket and drink hot coffee playing on the internet haha.


Now If id just wash her and fix the body damage for pictures :ylsmoke:

 

[Mr. Leary]

Yeah, power outages are common out there. Solar ******!

 

[schulz11]

So Big Bend Texas lost power a few days ago and will be out for another day or so. Lucky me Im a expedition camper and i have solar/inverters 12v fridge and batteries. I just setup my solar and ran an extension cord inside the house. I just start the car for coffee and toast in the morning also to give the batt a boost after the nights drain but the solar handles the small loads of the freezer in the car tops off the battery over the day.:sombrero:

generators are everywhere and many are in the dark while i sit in bed with my heated blanket and drink hot coffee playing on the internet haha.

First off, Nice build - had to check it out and it looks sweet.

Second, so you are running your fridge and freezer in your house off that 1000 watt inverter? How many watts of Solar are you using in these photos?

 

[cdthiker]

holy upward facing LED's batman!
joking...
I am also interasted in the house hold stuff running off what appears to be a small solar set up.
End of the day this is just plain cool!

 

[centexan]

Big Bend power outage

Our group just got back from Big Bend. We were there from the 26th through the 1st. We were tent camping in the Basin. I actually used my solar set-up to run my cpap machine in my tent. The cold was draining our batteries pretty quickly though. We were there during the ice fog! It was awesome!

 

[calicamper]

So Big Bend Texas lost power a few days ago and will be out for another day or so. Lucky me Im a expedition camper and i have solar/inverters 12v fridge and batteries. I just setup my solar and ran an extension cord inside the house. I just start the car for coffee and toast in the morning also to give the batt a boost after the nights drain but the solar handles the small loads of the freezer in the car tops off the battery over the day.:sombrero:

generators are everywhere and many are in the dark while i sit in bed with my heated blanket and drink hot coffee playing on the internet haha.


Now If id just wash her and fix the body damage for pictures :ylsmoke:

Zombie survival!!!
We had one panel like yours on the 34foot racing sailboat during our 2000 PAC Cup race. We ran two group 31 house batteries and one dedicated ie isolated 3rd starter battery for the 18hp diesel which we ran every night to charge up the house bank. We missed a run night due to squalls and some awesome sailing surfing big Pacific Swells only to find out our new isolated starter battery was junk and our house set were brought too low to fire up the diesel. We spent two days running on basics no lap top just basic instruments no running lights heck 1000 miles from no where and no traffic not like it mattered much, we managed to get the batteries up enough with the solar panel to fire up the diesel and get them charged back up! Fun times finished first in class corrected out 2nd by 20 minutes!! ARRRGH!!!!!!!! 2200 mile race and freaking loose it by 20 minutes!!!

 

[CaliMobber]

First off, Nice build - had to check it out and it looks sweet.

Second, so you are running your fridge and freezer in your house off that 1000 watt inverter? How many watts of Solar are you using in these photos?

No no, Im powering my edgestar 12v freezer in the car, its running off 12v.

85w + 2 30w = 124w

My biggest drawback is the batteries. my older optima new only had 110ah so gets used pretty fast. My plan is to replace once with a crown 130ah solar batt for accessories.

 

[CaliMobber]

holy upward facing LED's batman!
joking...
I am also interasted in the house hold stuff running off what appears to be a small solar set up.
End of the day this is just plain cool!

HAHA yea the LED bar makes a wild baffle sound when facing forward so its angled until I want to use it, then I straighten it. It takes 30 seconds to fix.
Thanks man.

I mainly ran my internet modem and router, my laptop, heated blanket off the inverter and the fridge in the car off 12v.

I would start the car in the morning while I ran the coffee maker and toaster since they are high drain.

 

[CaliMobber]

Our group just got back from Big Bend. We were there from the 26th through the 1st. We were tent camping in the Basin. I actually used my solar set-up to run my cpap machine in my tent. The cold was draining our batteries pretty quickly though. We were there during the ice fog! It was awesome!

HAHA I think I talked to you about the Cpap machine. Did you ask 2 Law Enforcement rangers if you could charge the batteries in the restroom since the solar was not keeping up in the cold?

That ice was wild!