[tommy]

here is a web sight with an up right refrigerator.
Solar-powered refrigerators by Jeffrey Yago, P.E., CEM Issue #102

they have these for keeping you cool they run off of ice or water and they are 12 volts too.

!Portable 12-Volt Swampy Air Conditioners & Evaporative Coolers.

[LiveToShoot]

I'm a little late coming into this thread, but would like to thank those who posted so much helpful info for the rest of to learn from and use.

[Troy]

an alternater needs the field energized to work. if the battery was stone dead you'd be done like a chicken. that is where the solar panels are worth their weight in gold, they would in no time generate sufficient power to juice up the small amount of amperage to get the fields energized. i say a combo unit of the wind mill, solar panel to the deep cycle batteries.

[Dan22]

I am really pleased with all the information that has been written in this thread.

It is my belief that people who have a plan and knowledge will stand a better chance of survival than someone who thinks it's all about how many large caliber guns they have.

[tommy]

if you live next to a constant flowing stream then i would rig up a few car alternators on paddle wheels and have them charging some deep cycle matteries or some big 8d batteries. you could have a constant flow of electricity then. with the right gear reduction on the paddlewheel you can spin that alternator fast enough.

[snuffysmith]

Quote:       Originally Posted by ArkansasHunter

Why would you need solar power if you could run a generater off the drive axle If the batteries are charged and the vehicle goes into motion and you have a Generator connected to the turning axle to cause the generater to generate to keep the batteries charged why wouldn't this work ? I thought of this when I was around 14 years old, does anyone know if it would work.

???

I was just reviewing this old thread and saw the above quote. I'm surprised no one has asked this question:

"Did they even have generaters and electricity back when you were 14??? LOL


Snuffy

[ArkansasHunter]

Hey Snuff what I meant was some kind of system like is used with the wind power generators (wind mills) that is adapted to one of the turning axles of the vehicle.
You would still have to have batteries, but once the vehicle started going a miro processors would switch to the current generated from what I described above to the electric motor and of cource keep the batteries charged too.
A system like this is almost completely self sustaining. Would'nt have to plug it up to keep it charged like you do a golf cart...A.H

[Cyrano]

Does anyone have any photos or plan drawings for the alternator paddle wheel as a power source setup? I think I'm visualizing it correctly, but I've been wrong before.

In regard to the DC versus AC comment: I'm an old deck ape, but we all had to take engineering courses too when we went through the Zoo, just as the snipes have to learn elementary navigation. One thing I remember is that an electric motor can be a generator and vice versa. Could something be rigged up using a 5 horsepower washing machine motor as the generator?

And many years ago, I read about what were called "low head bucket turbines." The ChiComs were playing with them with an eye toward turning streams with too low a head to make conventional water turbines cost-effective into local power sources. The advantage these have over paddle wheels is that they are submersible; you don't have to build a paddle wheel and figure out how to get the water to flow past it. Does anyone have any knowledge or experience with them?

What you use depends on your location and resources, of course, but I think we've covered the market on renewable energy... unless you want to get into methane digesters, gas accumulators and how to make a generator run on methane instead of gasoline or diesel. Might as well explore all possibilities.

And awhile back The Sportsman's Guide had some ChiCom hand-crank military generators like the ones you see in World War II movies for sale. They wouldn't be my first choice as a bug-out base power source by any means, but they might make a worthwhile backup system. Any thoughts on it?

[tommy]

we had it riged up on the side of a poopier barge. and at night when we would drop the nets and the tide would drop fast. the wheel would turn a belt and the belt would turn a alternator we had 12 volt lights and stuff and the alternator was hooked to a battery. but whith the right gear reduction and water flow you can turn a alternator enough to keep a battery charged while running lights off of it plus maybe have some extra juice left over. if you run two alternators you might be able to run an inverter if it's hooked to a big 8D battery and two alternators. but 12volt it the easy way to go you just get as much 12 vlt apliances as you can find and what ever you don't have just try to do without.

[CrazyIvan]

I didn't read through all responses, but here is mine:

Solar panels, when used for power, cannot offer consistent current. They are used to charge baterries, which then offer the power to run whatever you need.

So, this would work as long as your baterry would last, then you would be out of luck.

[tommy]

solar panels can be used for power if you run a 12 volt system you can run alot off of solar pannels . you need to see what your gonna be running and get enough pannels to supply enough dc amps to run them .plus charge a battery bank too.

[Dan22]

Yes, crazyivan brings up a good point.

A battery provides a consistant source of voltage and amperage to operate devices.

Power surges can damage electronics.

A wind generator is subject to changes in speed, as is a solar collector.

The battery is like a magic device evens out the output but can take a little or a lot of charge but even so it would be better to have a regulator on the input side to eliminate inconsistant power fall off or spikes.

If you run a transistor radio off a straight solar input you could have a problem unless it has special diodes and other power protection circuitry.

[tommy]

run this system in the daytime and have a backup system with batteries for at night. but this system right here doesn't need batteries it runs just off the solar pannels.but if you was to run a seperate bank of batteries to power the inverter at night and charge it all day while the sun is up then it would work great.


http://www.mrsolar.com/pdf/sunwizegt...XanGT_6_05.pdf

[Deersniper]

Try thermal. Take several black coils from old refrigerators, [in back] cars [junk yards] any radiator body, and put them in series, installed in wooden [2x4] boxes, with the bottom black and the top clear Plexiglas. They will look like the sun lights you already have up there. Put an in line recirculating pump and tee it to you existing H2o heater. [Gas, propane] Scalding water on hot summer days. Replace black bottoms for solar panels, or put up more boxes with panels for regulated converter. Sunny days charge batteries for 24 volt split in two 12's.