Solar Power

[Jillian Huntley]

Dear OzArchers,

I wondered if some of you had experience in using solar panels to
charge electronic equipment. I’m trying to decide on a suitable option
to charge electronics during remote area fieldwork. Ideally I want
something reliable, light weight and compact. I’ve already sourced a
regulator as it seems that power ‘spikes’ are more common with solar
energy.

There are a lot of solar panels on the market and all seem to retail
around $1,000 to $1,500 for a field ready system:
http://www.ctsolar.com/expeditionsolarpowerpackages.aspx
http://zeroemissionsexpeditions.com/murray-river-source-to-sea-expedition/het-solar-panel-and-power-50-battery/
http://midsummerenergy.co.uk/buy/peelnstick_solar_panels/

Any feedback would be gratefully received.
Cheers,
Jill.

Jillian Huntley
PhD Candidate, Archaeomaterials Science Hub, University of New England
e: jfo...@une.edu.au

[Graham]

Gidday Jill
Would a dual battery arrangement satisfy your requirements?

Sincerely
GrahamK

On 25 May, 09:19, Jillian Huntley <huntl...@tpg.com.au> wrote:
> Dear OzArchers,
>
> I wondered if some of you had experience in using solar panels to
> charge electronic equipment. I’m trying to decide on a suitable option
> to charge electronics during remote area fieldwork. Ideally I want
> something reliable, light weight and compact. I’ve already sourced a
> regulator as it seems that power ‘spikes’ are more common with solar
> energy.
>
> There are a lot of solar panels on the market and all seem to retail

> around $1,000 to $1,500 for a field ready system:http://www.ctsolar.com/expeditionsolarpowerpackages.aspxhttp://zeroemissionsexpeditions.com/murray-river-source-to-sea-expedi...http://midsummerenergy.co.uk/buy/peelnstick_solar_panels/

[Iain Davidson]

Jillian

I used a solar panel in 1991 to charge batteries.  We used tiny 12 volt batteries (from motorbikes) and were able to power at Total Station etc.  

id

Iain Davidson, IDHA Partners

Mailing address: 10 Cluny Rd, Armidale, NSW 2350, Australia

Mobile/cell phone while overseas 1 June- 28 July: +372 59 269 447

Visiting Professor, Flinders University
Honorary Research Advisor, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Unit, University of Queensland
Emeritus Professor, University of New England
http://une-au.academia.edu/IainDavidson
Mobile/cell phone +61 402 106 853 | Skype: iain.davidson8

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23766603@N07/
Last upload 26 April 11

> Date: Tue, 24 May 2011 16:19:19 -0700
> Subject: {OzArch} Solar Power
> From: hunt...@tpg.com.au
> To: oza...@googlegroups.com

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[Ian Moffat]

Hi Jill,
If you're away from a vehicle and so can't go down the dual battery road I'd have a look at the Brunton flexible panels available from Optics Planet in the US.

http://www.opticsplanet.net/brunton-batteries.html

They don't give you much charge, but should be sufficient for some basic field gear. You could leave them at camp during the day, recharging a gel cell or similar battery, which you could connect to your field gear over night.

I haven't used these myself (I'm too lazy to get that far away from my car), but have had great experiences in buying other gear from Optics Planet. Maybe someone else out there has used these?

Cheers,
Moff

[Jillian Huntley]

Thanks for the on (and off) list replies guys.

GrahamK and John – there is no road access where we work and I will
not be fiddling with the engine of a helicopter, so that option is out
for me.

Ian and Ian - yes I am absolutely going to be charging 12 volt
batteries not directly into devices. This seems very important form
all the advice I’ve had as solar seems more prone to surges than other
power supplies. Thanks, and thanks for the tip about bike batteries
Davo – I should have thought of that (the NSW ladies motorcycle club
will be deeply ashamed of me).

My power needs are not extreme, nor are they modest (running a
portable spectrometer and associated paraphernalia for geochemical
data collection). I think I I’m going to give one of the flexible
solar panels a go. I will also take a few 12 volts in with me fully
charged just in case.

Cheers again for all the assistance and contacts provided off list.
I’ll report back and let you know how it turns out.

[IainS]

There used to be on sale a solar kettle arrangement which consisted of
a concave light concentrator which focused light at a certain point on
which was placed a kettle willed with water. We used it at Maldon so
that when the sun rose in the morning the kettle boiled, the whistle
woke us and we could have our morning tea or coffee. Of course we woke
at a slightly different time each day.

Iain

[Luke Godwin]

The safest way is to use the solar system to charge a deep cycling battery.  Disconnect battery from solar system. Then plug equipment into an inverter that is connected to the battery.  No spikes but not lightweight!  We have used same in work in western and northern Qld and run equipment for weeks on end.

 

Luke Godwin