"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 14 Mar 2014 12:14:03 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:
"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 14 Mar 2014 08:32:02 -0400, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:
"Larry Jaques" wrote in
message
m...
On Thu, 13 Mar 2014 16:38:51 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:
The FM capability allows you to listen to news broadcasts in
an
emergency without carrying another radio.
News is broadcast on FM stations now? It's been awhile...
During our last New England outage I searched all over the FM dial
for
weather reports. The most useful source was National Weather
Service
radar maps on the Internet, either from dialup or a prepaid cell
phone
modem I use as backup. This laptop uses less than a quarter of the
electricity my desktop requires and can run much longer on 12V
batteries.
Got -portable- solar backup to that, too? $66 on eBay gets you a
13W
briefcase solar setup, complete with charge controller. I just
paid
my taxes and had enough left over to consider the purchase.
I bought one of those folding panels from the HF store and found the
glass was cracked when I got it home and opened the box. The panels
still worked so I tried it before returning it. The output was 0.6
to
0.7A, or roughly 8W considering losses. The laptop averages 25-35W
in
use.
8W is miserable output, agreed. But what do the 5W panels put out?
Or the 1W chargers made for phones? Ick! g
1W at 12V is 83mA. When it's safely behind the windshield I don't see
half that.
I know they won't run a laptop, but they'll charge the battery. So,
how much will you be using the laptop when the power is off? In a
major event, the Internet may be down, too.
Solar panels won't charge the laptop directly, they put out either
more or less voltage and current than the charger wants as the sun
moves and clouds dim it. You need a 12V battery that's safe to pack
and carry. These look promising but I can't recommend them for any
serious use, the battery runs down too fast.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/COLEMAN-MOBI...-/171194903612
The panels are rated at the maximum power they can deliver at ~17V,
while the battery returns the same current at 12V.
The non-folding panels I bought at the same time (and did examine in
the HF parking lot) put out more current for less money.
Note the emphatic word "-portable-" in my text above.
They are "portable" because they have a handle, but so does an upright
piano. I wasn't impressed enough to buy another one. They are as heavy
as the rigid panels. Maybe they's be useful if I was camping out of
the car in a place so remote no one would see and steal them. However
if I could drive there so could others. They are way too big and heavy
to backpack or carry on a bike.
http://www.amazon.com/Unisolar-Flexi.../dp/B006EP6MCU
As an example to pursue.
This is the most useful energy device I've bought from HF:
http://www.harborfreight.com/5-in-1-...ack-60703.html
$99? Ouch! That's a $25-35 battery and a $10 set of cheap cables,
a
couple bucks worth of LEDs, and a couple bucks worth of cigarette
lighter sockets, plus 17 cents worth of plastic. But those have to
be
charged/recharged, too, so they're 1-shots during a crisis.
The only 12V 18AH SLA batteries I can buy for $25-35 is second-hand
swap-outs from Exit lights.
You missed the built-in 120VAC inverter and air compressor. I carried
an older yellow one out into the woods and pumped up the tires of a
semi-abandoned Jeep Cherokee so we could move it. IIRC one tire took
about 10 - 15 minutes from flat to ~25 PSI. The others weren't fully
flat. The battery seemed to have plenty of remaining charge
afterwards. I don't take time to make careful engineering measurements
when working with a bunch of guys.
jsw