Solar Chargers

[blacklion1725]

Took a punt on one (this one to be precise) – not expecting much but pretty impressed. Charged my phone in the early morning sun this morning and it charged at about the same speed as the official Samsung charger. Never really thought these things could be viable but looks like they are. Will be off grid on holiday for a while soon so should come in handy.

[Ed P]

Two thirds of the year they are great, especially if you take care to line them up with the sun. Unfortunately in the overcast days of winter your charging rate will drop to about 10-20% of the summer rate.

[blacklion1725]

yeah I reckon you are right – definitely summer toys! Mine will be deployed in southern Russia with average temp of 38-C , so more useful there than England! Even with good weather just surprised how well it works to be honest. Think it was only about 16-C this morning but very clear sunlight which I suppose matters more than the temperature.

[wasbit]

Slightly off topic – I use a solar panel to run a 250mm 12v fan in my shed. The brighter the sun shines the faster the fan goes. Saves £s off my electric bill.

--
Regards
wasbit

Rig 1: Optiplex 3050 SFF
Rig 2: Asus ROG G20CB (rebuilt wreck)
Rig 3: HP Elitebook 8440P

Dear Starfleet, hate you, hate the Federation, taking Voyager. - Janeway

[Drezha]

wasbit wrote:

Slightly off topic – I use a solar panel to run a 250mm 12v fan in my shed. The brighter the sun shines the faster the fan goes. Saves £s off my electric bill.

Random question (considering I’ve never owned one), why does the shed need a fan?

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[JayCeeDee]

Drezha wrote:

wasbit wrote:

Slightly off topic – I use a solar panel to run a 250mm 12v fan in my shed. The brighter the sun shines the faster the fan goes. Saves £s off my electric bill.

Random question (considering I’ve never owned one), why does the shed need a fan?

 

Windows, little ventilation/air flow, small (ish) confined spaces – they very quickly turn into ovens. Even my garage – 6m x 3m – with an up and over door that’s not particularly draught-proof has three fans in it for if I’m working there on hot days. In my sheds, if I leave anything in carrier bags, they very quickly deteriorate in the heat and fall apart quite spectacularly.

[Bob Williams]

Drezha, never had a shed? A Man Cave can be a necessity in times of domestic friction! ??

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Drezha]

Bob Williams wrote:

Drezha, never had a shed? A Man Cave can be a necessity in times of domestic friction!

Having only lived in my parents house and then flats (either rented or purchased) or on the rare occasion, a rented house (but with sufficient storage inside for bikes) I’ve never required one!

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Bob Williams]

Hopefully Chris, someday you will be in a long-term relationship, or married, and living in a house. At some point inside a couple of decades, you will have felt the need and installed a Man Cave. Trust me…?

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[wasbit]

Drezha wrote:

Random question (considering I’ve never owned one), why does the shed need a fan?

If I had said workshop you might have thought that I had some sort of talent for making things. Well I do, but not to a professional standard.

My ‘shed’ is a concrete sectional garage which, with it’s standard roof, is prone to condensation & so I changed it to twin wall clear polycarbonate. Great in winter with the wood burner roaring away, but hell in summer.

In addition I have the gable end mounted on runners so that it can be pushed outwards to let out the hot air & it still gets too hot especially if there is no breeze.

--
Regards
wasbit

Rig 1: Optiplex 3050 SFF
Rig 2: Asus ROG G20CB (rebuilt wreck)
Rig 3: HP Elitebook 8440P

Dear Starfleet, hate you, hate the Federation, taking Voyager. - Janeway

[JayCeeDee]

@wasbit – having the gable end of a concrete garage mounted on runners, so that the whole thing can be pushed out for added ventilation, may not demonstrate your professionalism, but it certainly shows your proficiency!!! That’s one hell of an upgrade to opening a window!!!

We’ve got asbestos on the roof of our garage, which I want to change. THIS is ideally what I want to use. They also do a system that holds Solar Panels, THESE are they – albeit on a very large scale – but their main page that shows them better is down at the moment. As I would like Solar Panels at some time, but have a strange roof – we are south facing at the back, but there isn’t a large enough single plane to take the panels – the garage roof might be utilised as an add-on area for the panels. But that’s a plan for another year unless they start promoting them again!!

[Drezha]

Bob Williams wrote:

Hopefully Chris, someday you will be in a long-term relationship, or married, and living in a house. At some point inside a couple of decades, you will have felt the need and installed a Man Cave. Trust me…

In the process of buying a house and it has a shed and there’s a nice extension that was a play room and has already been earmarked as a man cave 😉

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[blacklion1725]

Stick to the shed – you need a bit of “no man’s land” between you and the enemy. You can add the tank traps, barbed wire and land mines later:)

[Bob Williams]

It’s OK BL, he’s made a start:

” In the process of buying a house and it has a shed and there’s a nice extension that was a play room and has already been earmarked as a man cave ? ”

?

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[The Duke]

BL lol, I have the attic, she can’t climb the pull down ladders.

Though I did have the shed, but the kids slowly took it over. To combat them infiltrating the attic the lights and electric are controlled by my phone.

It’s sad state of affairs really, when a man pays the bills and has nowhere to hide! Lol.

In our first house, when the kids was little, I had a huge shed, 12×16, the one thing I have trully missed since we move out. Still miss it almost 20 years on. My garden is only about 30x 20, and has a small shed in the only place it doent spoil the view.

Also my grass is dead. Thought I’d share that too.

[Ed P]

Everyone (including partners) need their own space. This is especially true when you retire, work from home or have a bevy of kids under your feet.. The latter has become even more important in this day and age due to the difficulty of actually kicking the kids out.

[Bob Williams]

” Also my grass is dead. Thought I’d share that too. ”

Steve: is it the dogs using the grass as a toilet?

https://tinyurl.com/y7wts2m7

Or neighbour’s cat? Their urine is worse than a dog’s, it is loaded with Ammonia.

Blimey, this thread has gone from Solar Chargers to animal wee. Has to be a record of some sort. And a connection, somewhere…

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[JayCeeDee]

The Duke wrote:

BL lol, I have the attic, she can’t climb the pull down ladders. Though I did have the shed, but the kids slowly took it over. To combat them infiltrating the attic the lights and electric are controlled by my phone. It’s sad state of affairs really, when a man pays the bills and has nowhere to hide! Lol. In our first house, when the kids was little, I had a huge shed, 12×16, the one thing I have trully missed since we move out. Still miss it almost 20 years on. My garden is only about 30x 20, and has a small shed in the only place it doent spoil the view. Also my grass is dead. Thought I’d share that too.

When you said that your grass was dead, I thought you meant the marijuana factory in the attic – and it was because you’d forgotten to turn the lights on!!

[wasbit]

Perhaps I exagerated when I said the gable end. It’s the centre section about 4 feet wide & 2 feet tall. The system works quite well now that I’ve replaced the wooden blocks with linear roller bearings

The fan is plugged into single portable solar panel which is positioned outside & orientated to face the sun. One point of note as to their sensitivity, if a bird flies between the panel & the sun, the fan slows & then speeds up again. I did think of building a rotating cradle to follow the sun but the benefits didn’t seem worth it.

The panels are very light, basically a large PCB in an aluminium frame. It’s not their weight thats a problem but the lift they create when the wind gets underneath them. That’s why they have to be anchored down so well.

Solar panels running under the FIT (Feed In Tariff) scheme are somewhat different. My 10 roof mounted panels are classed as a 2.1kw system. The maximum allowable size is 4kw. I get paid for everything that they produce, plus, rather than some free electric, a deemed export for what I might have used. My last quarterly payment, March to May, was just over £300. It’s less in winter with shorter days & a lower sun but could reach £400 for the summer quarter.

--
Regards
wasbit

Rig 1: Optiplex 3050 SFF
Rig 2: Asus ROG G20CB (rebuilt wreck)
Rig 3: HP Elitebook 8440P

Dear Starfleet, hate you, hate the Federation, taking Voyager. - Janeway

[Ed P]

The maximum was removed a few years ago and the production tariff reduced. However, afaik you can no longer ‘add-on’ additional capacity you have to put in as much as you can afford right at the start. I may test that limitation in a couple of years time if I get a ‘plug’-hybrid car.

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