Need some imput about purchasing a solar generator.

[Celtic Rogue]

I was thinking of getting this unit. does anyone have experience with this brand... Or other ideas? I like this one as its all contained and is daisy chainable. Please any input pro or con will be appreciated. Thanks

http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/847974/847974000526lg.jpg (http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/847974/847974000526lg.jpg) (http://images.lowes.com/product/converted/847974/847974000526.jpg)



GOAL ZERO Yeti 1250-Watt Hour Solar Home Generator Kit Item #: 223946 | Model #: 39004


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[Son-of-Liberty]

What do you plan on using it for?

Do you already have a gas generator?

[Celtic Rogue]

I have a small 2000 watt gas honda generator.... but I want something that will give me power without fuel. Because if the power goes out so do the pumps at the filling stations, I plan to use it to keep my fridge going, my furnace blower running a couple of led lamps for lighting and to recharge some small electronic items. I know it will not do all these things at once.The fridge then the furnace blower would probs take the most. I planned on running extension cords( I have heavy gauge cords) or just rolling it around to where I need to hook it up. That way I could keep things going for quite a bit. What do you think?

[Spectrism]

No specs shown with that pic. Compare with something you can get from here-
http://sunelec.com/pv-systems/

I see they changed and are updating the website. Call the tech support people for advice.

[midnight rambler]

I'd stick with PV panels made by a major manufacturer where you can be certain the panels aren't made in China*. I like Sharp PV panels, they seem to be a good value (and aren't owned by Big Oil).

*if the price of the non-name brand panels you're looking at are substantially less than the major PV panel companies then those panels are most likely made in China

[Shami-Amourae]

Start small. Get a solar battery charger first:
http://www.amazon.com/C-Crane-SBC-11-in-1-Battery-Charger/dp/B001BKS3Z2

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31VPCC3wvxL.jpg
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31VZE2n3L0L.jpg

[Son-of-Liberty]

Well first I think you can store a lot of gas for that Honda geni for very little money. I checked the specs on the honda and at full load it burns 1 L per hour or about a gallon every 4 hours. If you ran it for 12 hours a day that would be 3 gallons a day or 21 gallons a week. So 4, 5 gallon jerry cans will last you for 6-7 days. Enough to get you through most disasters and shorter term outages. Keep your gas fresh by rotating it into your car every 6 months and refilling the cans.

Now for the solar geni.

I like the idea of having some solar power but these consumer grade solar geni's are a rip off. You can build something similar for 1/3 the price.

The unit says that the battery has 1250watt hour of power which means it will run at 1250 watts for 1 hour or 100watts for 12.5 hours. This really isn't that much power. The table I found at the product website gave very optimistic ratings for how long it would run stuff. A television for 35 hours? Maybe one of those 6 inch portable ones. My old 42 inch plasma TV is 1.3amps or 143 watts so this solar geni would run my TV for 8.7 hours. My furnace blower is 12 amps or 1320 watts so I could run it for less then an hour. Newer furnaces have more efficient fans but I think they would still pull 800 watts so 1.5 hours of run time.

As you can see that really isn't much reserve power. Gets even worse when we look at the solar panels that they sell with it. They are only 30 watts each X2 or 60watts maximum output when the sun is full strength. Even under those conditions you would need about 2 days to recharge the battery to full power but in the winter or if it was cloudy it would take even longer. So The math just doesn't work.

Compare that to the honda geni and 4, 5 gallon jerry cans.

I don't have time to do the research but you could build a much more powerful solar back up for half the price. You would need several 100watt solar panels, 4+ golf cart or large truck batteries and a 1500 watt inverter plus a charge controller. This set up you could build for 800-1000 bucks and it will have 3-4x the capacity and recharge in the same or less time depending on the number of panels you buy. Only problem is it won't be small and portable.

Where do you live?

[Son-of-Liberty]

No specs shown with that pic. Compare with something you can get from here-
http://sunelec.com/pv-systems/

I see they changed and are updating the website. Call the tech support people for advice.

http://www.goalzero.com/yeti1250.html

[Celtic Rogue]

Thanks everyone for the input! This is what I was hoping that you guys would tweak my mind about things. I also found a little bit better option

http://ep.yimg.com/ca/I/yhst-99239380869547_2272_225901011
What's Included?

• (1) Xantrex PowerHub 1800 Generator
• (1) 160 Watt Solar Panel
• (1) 25' solar cable
• (1) 28 Amp Charge controller
• (2) 100 AH Sealed Lead Acid Batteries



Output Specifications:


Output power (maximum):
1800 Watt (2900 VA)


Surge power (peak):
2880 Watt


Output voltage (nominal):
115 VAC


Output frequency:
60 Hz +/-1 Hz


Output wave form:
Modified sine wave


Transfer switch:
15 A maximum/<80 milliseconds


Surge suppression:
Yes


Inverter on:
0.6 A (battery drain) (no-load current draw)


Charging time:
15 hours from 120 VAC


AC Receptacles:
4


Battery Charger Specifications:


Output current:
0/10/40A


Output voltage:


Charge:
14.2 VDC


Float:
13.7 VDC


Recharge:
12.5 VDC


Dimensions:


Inverter dimensions:
16"W x 8"H x 14"D


Inverter weight:
27 lbs


Box dimensions:
20"W x 14"H x 14"D


Box weight:
29 lbs.


Solar Panel Dimensions:
58.3" L x 26.5" W x 1.38" H


Solar Panel Weight:
37 lbs


Junction Box:
China


Plug:
MC4


Cable:
25'


Front Glass Surface:
Tempered glass


Panel Type:
Polycrystalline silicon panel



However I am intrigued by the idea of building a more powerful unit for less money. I have some electrical experience ... How hard do you think it would be? I want this to be semi portable so 4+ batteries is going to be kinda heavy. Thanks for all the time you and the others have spent... I am going to look into building one myself and see if there are any plans online for free. You seem familiar with electricity... are there any things that might be a problem? I know its sort of a dumb question... but I am just looking fro some sort of basic guidelines to work from. Thanks

[ximmy]

Never heard of a solar generator before... big buck marketing probably for the consumer.

basic solar power consists of:

1. panel
2. charge controller
3. battery
4. inverter

plus wires, fuses, cut off switches, little things...

[gunDriller]

one option is to buy the 3 main components for an off-grid system (inverter, PV panel, battery) that are integrate-able into Grid-Tied.

e.g. 2000 watt Tripptech for the inverter ($260, that's a peak rating, it's 1250 continuous)
basic car battery
solar cell, typically 19 volt output, range 50 watts to whatever you can afford. cost $222 to near-zero.

if you can provide a weather-barrier (window or clear plastic film), you can pick up a cracked panel at near-zero cost.

i bought some un-cracked panels off Craigslist, about a buck a watt, then got some broken weather-barrier but still works panels for $5 or less. 50 to 100 watt panels, a mix of 19 volts (for 12 volt system) and 100 volts.

the 100 volts i don't have the battery for yet, but the price was right.

in any case, that gives you a chance to learn the technology cheaply for a 500 watt system, e.g. to power a computer or A/C in the summer. then to re-use some of the components if you tie to the grid.


i think the prices are a little too high from some re-sellers.

i think you should be able to get yourself the complete system for $1 a watt. but in order for that to happen, you have to learn the technology, a little.


in my case, the system has been affordable so far - $400 for the panels (about 500 watts of lower voltage and 600 watts of 100 volt panels), and $260 for the inverter.

i will continue to experiment with used car batteries, in parallel. but yesterday i saw a 5 kilowatt-hour battery for $250, new. charge that up and you have enough juice for a day, for one major appliance.