You can never have too much power, especially this summer. With seven days of straight rain, my batteries aren’t the only things to be strained. It’s been proven that the sun makes us happier and life just seems easier, particularly if you’re living off the grid. We need these golden rays to flush our toilets, run our lights and power our DVD player.

Currently, our hydro system consists of one solar panel and two deep cell six volt batteries. This generates approximately 70 amps of power for us each week (assuming it’s not raining). While this amount is enough for a weekend, after about five days of cabin living, our batteries run dry. It’s not nice waking up with no running water.

I recently went online and calculated that we need approximately 120 amps/of power for the week. Well that explains our shortfall, now what do we do about it.

Costco. Yes the big name retail box to the rescue again. Costco sells solar panels ($299 Cdn). Made by Coleman and packaged in threes, combined, they provide 54 watts. The packaging on the box states that we will get up to 1,560 watts a week. Does this mean we can make toast?

Before I get too carried away we still need to get the batteries, sold separately. Deep cycle 6 volt golf batteries are the ones most solar dealers recommend. They handle heavy loads and can be drained without damaging the batteries unlike car batteries.

Ken Webster, owner of Webster Solar Energy, Burnaby, BC, recommends two batteries per panel. He cautions it’s a good idea to sit down and map out how much power your family will need. “Don’t heat, cook or do hot water,” is his rule of thumb when it comes to solar.

Are we there yet? Once we get the batteries squared away, we will need to make sure the charge controller or regulator will be adequate. The regulator is used to prevent the batteries from being overcharged. The Coleman kit comes with a 4A charge controller (I’m not sure what this means and if we can use it or if we will have to upgrade)

As far as maintenance goes, Webster states, “Aside from the batteries: checking their electrolyte levels; adding distiled water if you have deep cycle ones, there is not much to worry about. ” He recommends washing them off occasionally and make sure any tree branches are not blocking them.

I must say after all this, I still don’t know how much power we are going to end up with or if I will finally be able to make toast. One thing is for sure, if we don’t figure out how to get them mounted onto our roof, I will be back to hauling water out of the lake by bucket. Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Julie (praying for sun)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 at 12:30 pm and is filed under Fix It. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.