# D-I-Y "Solar Generator" for less than $208



## LincTex

If you can save up $4 a week for 52 weeks ($208), you can have some solar power in a year. Most people can do that!

This is a more budget friendly system, getting you started on the "solar path" for only $208 - _if you remove the battery from your car_, that is 

I say that because batteries are expensive... deep cycle marine (for trolling motors on fishing boats) start right at $100 - so that is a big expense. However, in an emergency you can still do a LOT with a car battery if you treat it right. It will supply enough juice to run a mixer, blender, electric drill, skil saw, hand grinder, small flour mill, etc. These listed appliances and power tools can take a 1 hour job (by hand) down to just 5-10 minutes, or even less in some cases - and still have enough juice to run a few LED lights at night.

Charge Controller:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-10A-MPP...-Regulator-for-12V-24V-DC-Lamps-/151186435424
10A MPPT Solar Panel Charge Controller Regulator for 12V/24V DC
$12

Solar Panel 100 Watt 12 Volt DC:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solar-Panel...-Light-Traffic-Sign-RV-Off-Grid-/261370411305
$122

OK, that's $134 - which leaves $74 left for an inverter and a little wiring.

Sweet! Check this out ($58):
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Schumacher-Digital-Power-Inverter/13005749
Schumacher Digital Power Inverter:
DC to AC power inverter
*1,500 watt peak/750 continuous watts*
Two 110-volt AC household outlets
Digital display
Two LED indicators
On/off switch
Built-in, high-speed cooling fan
Thermal protection
Surge protection
Low-battery alarm and cutoff
High-battery voltage shutdown
Connect with 12-volt DC plug or clamps
Model PID-750

OK, we still have $16 left - get a couple of these:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Everstart-903-1W-Everstart-Top-Post-Terminal/16006679 ...but you can find these for less than $2 each if you look around, and maybe a buddy has one or two lying in their garage you can have for free!

That leaves about $12 left for a little wiring - you should be able to scrounge that from an old car or something - free wire is EVERYWHERE when you are looking for it! 
You want to make something like this but at a fraction of the price: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Cobra-Power-Inverter-Battery-Connection-Cables/11020920

Wire it up like the diagrams in this thread, and you are good to go! : http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f16/d-i-y-solar-generator-less-than-500-a-15496/


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## Woody

Damn, good job! I have all but the batteries, bought when I was working, because the batteries were the weak link. It can get a bit ugly, unless you fish wires through the walls. Stapling single strand, or double, around your place isn't the neatest thing in the world.

LincTex, you get another plus in my book and an offer of a mug of tea or something stronger to chat with.


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## Viking

LincTex brought us back from the long path away from the OP's D-I-Y Solar Generator" for less than $208. Thanks, it puts things in perspective in consideration of that $205. Some here may not be able to lay out more than that and some it's all they may need. Then there are some (like me) that might feel the need to hop things up a bit beyond what the OP really had in mind. I must say that my wife and I sacrificed a lot to get the things we have done so far, but not everyone may be able to do even what we consider minimal. I still have to get conduit, wires, fuses, breaker panel, and panel mounting frame with battery storage and equipment compartments. So we still have lots of expenditures to look forward to when the weather warms and dries a bit. On top of that 71 still is a bit past what I thought I'd be doing that is considered young stuff.


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## LincTex

Viking said:


> Some here may not be able to lay out more than that and some it's all they may need.


This system is designed to get you out of the "dark ages".

The inverter at 1500 peak/750 cont watts will run any kitchen appliance except a microwave. Nearly any hand-held construction power tool and many shop tools will also run off of this system... not a full time shop, but if you need to do a basic repair often this is all you need. I have an older 700/1400 inverter that has taken everything I can throw at it (within reason).

The system is also magnitudes more practical than the "so-called 45-watt" systems harbor freight is still selling for RIDICULOUS amounts of money!

Oh, and I am the OP of the other thread as well.


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## JackDanielGarrett

LincTex, 
Before you whup me, I have the "so-called 45-watt" system, plz forgive my ignorance... BUT it has taught me allot, as have all your post on solar and I thank you. I found a 100 watt panel ay Home Depot shipped to my home for about $160. It can be added to the "cheapy" to help. 

My question is batteries. I DO love how you set up a very very good way to generate electricity from the sun. But what do you suggest for batteries? I see 6 volt vs 12 volt. Is there a big difference? I found a very good battery for $130.00, made for solar. In my newbie mind I see one Good 12 volt battery would probably supply me with enough storage to run a few items.

Do you have a choice on battery size?

Thank you for all your doing,
Jack


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## hiwall

The same inverter can often be purchased on ebay for about $25 with free shipping!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SCHUMACHER-...26?pt=US_Power_Inverters_&hash=item3a8abb3d02


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## LincTex

JackDanielGarrett said:


> But what do you suggest for batteries? I see 6 volt vs 12 volt. Is there a big difference? I found a very good battery for $130.00, made for solar. In my newbie mind I see one Good 12 volt battery would probably supply me with enough storage to run a few items.


You are welcome, Jack.

One "deep cycle" marine battery, or "trolling" battery may be all you need. They start around $80 and will give you some evening lighting and the ability to run a few small appliances (Blender, hand mixer, small flour mill, etc.) However, you will be limited to what you can do, and may need to use the power more in the day when the sun is shining and keep the battery power for night.

Two 6 volt "golf cart batteries" wired in series will give you 12 volts, but the storage capacity will be 3x-4x what one marine battery will give you. If you ever have 2-3 or more cloudy days in a row, you will really come to appreciate having more battery capacity.


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## Viking

LincTex said:


> You are welcome, Jack.
> 
> One "deep cycle" marine battery, or "trolling" battery may be all you need. They start around $80 and will give you some evening lighting and the ability to run a few small appliances (Blender, hand mixer, small flour mill, etc.) However, you will be limited to what you can do, and may need to use the power more in the day when the sun is shining and keep the battery power for night.
> 
> Two 6 volt "golf cart batteries" wired in series will give you 12 volts, but the storage capacity will be 3x-4x what one marine battery will give you. If you ever have 2-3 or more cloudy days in a row, you will really come to appreciate having more battery capacity.


I can certainly vouch for these 6 volt golf cart batteries, they give the best bang for the buck. An equivalent 12 volt would weigh over 100 pounds and cost would probably a lot more that the two 6 volt batteries.


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## jeff47041

Great info. Thanks!

Do you guys keep your batteries inside, in your house? I have a perfect place for this setup, but I want to know if I need to build an outdoor storage place for the batteries.

I thought I've read before, that batteries put off a sulfur, or some chemical, and shouldn't be kept in the house. Advise please?


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## JackDanielGarrett

Two 6 volt "golf cart batteries" wired in series will give you 12 volts, but the storage capacity will be 3x-4x what one marine battery will give you. If you ever have 2-3 or more cloudy days in a row, you will really come to appreciate having more battery capacity.[/QUOTE]

Linctex~I wrote this in another thread but I found what I wanted, I bought the 2-6 volts and made 12 V out of them, it gave me 210 AHs. I at the same time found 5 12 v AGM batteries on craigslist for $100., they are only 38 Amps each, but they are AGM. My Boss wanted to get rid of his New HB panels so I traded him my two 6 V's for the solar panels. I am down to 190 AHs. But using the DC bulbs for lights.

The local battery guy can get me 12 V AGM's for $75, again 38 AH. AND I am using a desulfator to "clean" the batteries and maybe extend the life a bit longer. AGM's don't put off any fumes, which I find to be a plus too.

I know I am going at this back-azzwards but I have found I can run 2 DC bulbs for 5 nights with very little drain on one of the batteries and I can replace the "juice" on one good sunny day. My goal is 3/4 my house lit with DC bulbs off of the 5 12V AGM batteries with 2 HF solar panel's.

Thanks again for all the help,
Jack


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## LincTex

jeff47041 said:


> Do you guys keep your batteries inside, in your house?
> 
> I thought I've read before, that batteries put off a sulfur, or some chemical, and shouldn't be kept in the house. Advise please?


In a wooden box with a hinged lid, in the laundry room.

A tiny little 12 volt fan that once sat on top of a CPU heatsink (0.2 amps = 2.4 watts) is the box vent. It actually has it's own power source that only runs when the sun shines. It just vents into the room right now, since the gas produced (hydrogen, not sulfur) is not enough volume for cause or concern at this point. Venting outside would be ideal, but there's enough airflow in and out of the laundry room that it hasn't been a concern.


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## Viking

jeff47041 said:


> Great info. Thanks!
> 
> Do you guys keep your batteries inside, in your house? I have a perfect place for this setup, but I want to know if I need to build an outdoor storage place for the batteries.
> 
> I thought I've read before, that batteries put off a sulfur, or some chemical, and shouldn't be kept in the house. Advise please?


Inside a home is not good at all, flooded lead acid batteries give off hydrogen gas on charging and discharging, especially so under heavy charging and discharging. Sulfuric acid can bubble out of the cap vents or if the rubber seals don't seal properly. It's amazing what will happen if you have a spark near a battery, I know, years ago I was welding the frame of the front end loader on my tractor and the battery blew up. I thought someone had shot me, thankfully I was wearing coveralls and the battery was in a shielded area so only small pieces of the case hit me and what acid flew out only got on the overalls. But I've heard horror stories where a person was leaning over the battery when the blew. Batteries need to be in a small shed which is well vented in an area just outside the house. In designing our solar backup system I had considered where I should house the batteries, in a compartment under the solar panels, in a shed attached to the side of our home but what I finally figured would be the best was a tool/ solar equipment shed with a battery compartment that will be vented to the outside.


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## LincTex

JackDanielGarrett said:


> I have found I can run 2 DC bulbs for 5 nights with very little drain on one of the batteries and I can replace the "juice" on one good sunny day.


I really love the new generation of LED lights, Not just the "warmer" colors (I don't like "blue white" LED's) but the amount of light given off per watt used is really high now.

In my first system, I ran about 3-4 watts total of LED bulbs per night (to make it easy to get around inside at night) and have plenty of battery juice by morning from just one car battery. I could easily added more lights, to do reading and chores by for a few hours in the evening, etc...


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## LincTex

Viking said:


> Inside a home is not good at all, flooded lead acid batteries give off hydrogen gas on charging and discharging, especially so under heavy charging and discharging.


Our system is light use. Never does there occur "heavy charging and discharging". I'll bet the batteries make less than 1 cubic foot of hydrogen in a 24 hour period.... FAR too lean of air-to-fuel mixture to be a fire or explosion hazard.

"Grid-down, post-SHTF" would be different though.

Oh, one more thing - the laundry room isn't inside the house


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## cowboyhermit

There are concerns with batteries indoors but they can be dealt with if there is good enough reason. For decades every UPS has had a lead acid battery in them(or multiple), typically they are small but larger ones are available, emergency lights often use(d) lead acid. Telecoms and server rooms often have huge banks of lead acid batteries indoors.

Ventilation and airflow is important, as is the size of the bank compared to the space. The type of battery also plays into this, in general terms flooded gas the most, "maintenance free" capture _most_ of the losses on the charging cycle, AGMs gas very little (if they did they wouldn't last long to say the least), and gels similarly vent only as a safety.


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## Viking

LincTex said:


> In a wooden box with a hinged lid, in the laundry room.
> 
> A tiny little 12 volt fan that once sat on top of a CPU heatsink (0.2 amps = 2.4 watts) is the box vent. It actually has it's own power source that only runs when the sun shines. It just vents into the room right now, since the gas produced (hydrogen, not sulfur) is not enough volume for cause or concern at this point. Venting outside would be ideal, but there's enough airflow in and out of the laundry room that it hasn't been a concern.


When we run the inverter on the motor home we open the basement door to also vent the battery container compartment. Since I'll have 20 6 volt batteries in a compartment in the shed I'll probably install a couple of computer fans to keep that air flow going outside. I know my thought process tend to go toward big systems, but I consider the motor home system a small start, which in turn led to getting bigger standby system because it works so well. The motor home system has 410 amp hour battery storage, the standby system will have 1025 amp hours and can have one more bank of batteries to bring it to 1230. The main thing I always strive to think about is safety. I have battery disconnect switches that are away from batteries. I'm considering wrapping wrenches with electrical tape on the handle portions in case they fall across a terminal, I could easily weld with the power of two 6 volt golf cart batteries. Believe me, I've dropped enough wrenches over the years to be concerned about using them around batteries, besides even though I'm an old fart doesn't mean I wouldn't like to live a number of healthy more years to come. Anyway, sorry if I'm thinking of solar systems bigger than a single battery but sometimes that may just be a starting point for bigger systems.


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## zimmy

*Battery bank*

I have had my battery bank inside for many years now and have never had a problem. The batteries are in an enclosure with a gasket cover, power ventilated, with a liquid tight drip pan. Very safe as far as I'm concerned, and they stay at a very constant temperature.


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## LincTex

back to the top


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## lazydaisy67

I just need something to power my well pump. When people start talking about volts, watts and inverters my eyes glaze over.


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## mosquitomountainman

How many volts and watts does the pump need? The pump should have a tag or plate giving this information. If the pump is in the well and you know the brand and model number you can probably find the information online.


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## LincTex

Typically.......

....A well pump is (can be) one of the hardest things to make run off grid!

More data is needed, but most small generators won't run a well pump.

That means that if you want to run a well pump off of solar, the system needs to be huge. HUGE. Usually best to get a windmill.


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## Viking

LincTex said:


> Typically.......
> 
> ....A well pump is (can be) one of the hardest things to make run off grid!
> 
> More data is needed, but most small generators won't run a well pump.
> 
> That means that if you want to run a well pump off of solar, the system needs to be huge. HUGE. Usually best to get a windmill.


A lot of people don't understand this, but when you have a head of water above a submersible pumps starting the pump up is like having a locked rotor, some motors have the locked rotor amps (LRA) rating on their data plates, that's the rating needed for peak generator or inverter momentary maximum load. For instance, a generator sold as a 5,000 watt unit may only hold that rating for a few seconds and it's full time running watts may be around 3,000 watts. The 2,000 watt inverter we have on our motor home is rated 4,000 watts for 5 seconds so what ever it's trying to get running, motor wise, best get up and running within that 5 second time period or the inverter could go into safety shutdown mode. A generator may just pop a circuit breaker. I know we all try to save our monetary resources when it comes to prepping, but sometimes one cannot scrimp on expenses if you desire an uninterrupted standby power source for equipment you can't do without.


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## LincTex

Here LazyDazy67 - - this should help you some. http://www.preparedsociety.com/forum/f20/generator-my-well-pump-11979/

Electricity is actually simple math. 6 apples per pie = 24 apples makes 4 pies.


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## Tirediron

Another big problem is that the well pump is having to push the water column and at least 40 psi on top of the pressure created by the water column (depth of the well) in a generator start situation it would really be helpful to lower the tank pressure to near zero and keep the pressure as low as possible during pumping, only allowing the pressure to build before shut down to keep a bit of reserve.


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## crabapple

try this:
https://www.watlow.com/reference/tools/ohmslaw.cfm

Equations
Glossary
Guides & Tutorials
Reference Data
Locate a Watlow Sales Office or Distributor Application Assistance View Literature Configure a Product
Ohm's Law Calculator

Input any two values and click "Calculate" to find values for other two.

The results will be in light gray.

Volts:
Ohm's Law Diagram	Amperes:

Ohms:
Watts:


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## readytogo

*Solar Powered Water Pumps*

http://www.solar-electric.com/wind-and-water-products/sodcwapu/sun-pumps.html


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## LincTex

Geez, guys!! This thread isn't about well pumps!   

I even provided a LINK above to take the well pump discussion over to!


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## Balls004

LincTex, how scale-able is this system? Can I start out with this and add panels and batteries as extra funds become available without going backwards on previous purchases? I'm not looking to power everything, but just enough to keep life a little more comfortable here in the south, like lights, fans, and maybe refrigeration.


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## LincTex

Balls004 said:


> LincTex, how scale-able is this system? Can I start out with this and add panels and batteries as extra funds become available without going backwards on previous purchases?


Yes, it is VERY scalable. Just start out with a "larger than needed at first" charge controller, and you can always add solar panels up to the rating on the charge controller.

You can always add more batteries to any system, but if you are "Lopsided" (more batteries than the panels can handle) you'll need a "back-up" charging system. 
This is kind of like how my B-O-L cabin is... 
the panels by themselves can keep the batteries "topped off" easily, but if I use a lot of juice I'll need to start charging the batteries with a generator. I have a little 80cc Champion generator that does really well for this, and runs for HOURS on just a gallon of gas. Only time I REALLY need it is when running the window A/C.


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## Balls004

Thanks Linc, that is what I'm looking for, something I can get into at a reasonable price and then add on later. So, the key component is going to be the charge controller, as I understood you. Can you start out "too big" with one?


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## LincTex

Back to the top! 
Wow, almost 3 years ago.... 

I have swapped batteries multiple times (Moving, projects, etc.) but the same basic system still works perfectly.


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## LincTex

I need to update with new prices


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## Tank_Girl

LincTex said:


> I need to update with new prices


If you could post some picture as well please that would be fabulous.

I'm in the process of building my own system and I find that I learn better from watching someone else and pictures with written directions....if that makes sense.

Cheers.


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## frankd4

JackDanielGarrett said:


> Two 6 volt "golf cart batteries" wired in series will give you 12 volts, but the storage capacity will be 3x-4x what one marine battery will give you. If you ever have 2-3 or more cloudy days in a row, you will really come to appreciate having more battery capacity.


Linctex~I wrote this in another thread but I found what I wanted, I bought the 2-6 volts and made 12 V out of them, it gave me 210 AHs. I at the same time found 5 12 v AGM batteries on craigslist for $100., they are only 38 Amps each, but they are AGM. My Boss wanted to get rid of his New HB panels so I traded him my two 6 V's for the solar panels. I am down to 190 AHs. But using the DC bulbs for lights.

The local battery guy can get me 12 V AGM's for $75, again 38 AH. AND I am using a desulfator to "clean" the batteries and maybe extend the life a bit longer. AGM's don't put off any fumes, which I find to be a plus too.

I know I am going at this back-azzwards but I have found I can run 2 DC bulbs for 5 nights with very little drain on one of the batteries and I can replace the "juice" on one good sunny day. My goal is 3/4 my house lit with DC bulbs off of the 5 12V AGM batteries with 2 HF solar panel's.

Thanks again for all the help,
Jack[/QUOTE]
Right on with the golf cart batteries I use eight 6 volt 220 AMP hour golf cart batteries along with two 500 Watt solar panels and a 60 Amp charge controller for my cabin, a gas fridge and stove, I have more than enough power for my needs.


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## zimmy

LincTex said:


> In a wooden box with a hinged lid, in the laundry room.
> 
> A tiny little 12 volt fan that once sat on top of a CPU heatsink (0.2 amps = 2.4 watts) is the box vent. It actually has it's own power source that only runs when the sun shines. It just vents into the room right now, since the gas produced (hydrogen, not sulfur) is not enough volume for cause or concern at this point. Venting outside would be ideal, but there's enough airflow in and out of the laundry room that it hasn't been a concern.


This is what I use. It looks like two pipe fittings turned back to back with two computer fans wired in series for 24vdc.


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