Solar Lighting

• Author: DigitalMind
• Filed under: Camping, Solar Power and Off-Grid Living, Techie Cartoons, Uncategorized
• Date: Dec 29,2007

My sister and her hubby have been living in a small house in Ontario that has no Electricity and no plumbing. They only have a manual water pump at the bottom of a small hill about 70 feet away from the house. (For those of you that have read all my posts, I apologize for repeating this so much )

For Christmas this year, my Mum, Girlfriend, and I decided to give them the gift of light. Although a solar system that would supply ALL their electric needs would cost about $7000, (They would have wanted a fridge and such) we put this system together at a fraction of the cost. The main purpose was just to give them light.

Canadian Tire had a sale on 15 Watt Solar Panels, so my Mum picked up 2 of those. I found a good price on golf cart batteries from a local supplier in Montreal. They are 6 volts, 225 AH. We got 2 of those. My Girlfriend Marina got them a 7 amp charge controller from Canadian Tire. Sharon and Calvin already have a 300 Watt inverter that they carry in their car but don’t really use much.

These batteries will supply ALL KINDS of power for them. They could really go nuts for a few days, or even a week ! (Running TV’s, Laptop’s, lotsa lighting, etc…) Problem is with only 30 watts of Solar Panels once they drain those batteries it will take a good 2 weeks to recharge the batteries !! So as far as i’m concerned, this is for lighting only, and the occasional electric appliance. (12 volt cell phone charger, laptop, portable DVD player) If they use 2 light bulbs for 4 hours a day each, they should NEVER EVER run out of light.

This system was relatively cheap to put together in comparison with other systems that cost thousands. It seems to me this is the perfect setup for weekend cottages or RV’s. When I started learning about solar power, I was inspired by “Ward’s Cheap Solar Power System” that the geniuses at otherpower.com did. This xmas present system is about half the power as Ward’s cabin, but also costs less!

I’d love to break down the pricing, but they will be reading this blog and I don’t wanna give away the costs of their xmas presents ! (Although if you’re interested, just email me at digitalmind @ techienation . com )

I will be taking alot of pictures during the installation and will keep you updated ! (Update : click here for the post about the installation of all these things!)

Thanks and take care !