I can get you some cheap Solar Technology for you, Holmes...

 Lazy8 wrote: 
I had meant that for HC to power her fan at Burning Man, etc.

I'm not worried about the end of civilization, however we have hurricanes and surviving without basics for a few days is hell. (In August, literally)

I have a couple of these: (A 2000 & 1000)


They work great, but I finally moved to a home on the same grid as my local hospital, and they get juice back on pretty quick. NG backups are pretty popular here too. I just don't have NG in my subdivision.

You seem to be up on this type of equipment. Can you recommend any solar at this point? Just curious.

Regards

 miamizsun wrote: 
Yours as in you fell for this? I hope not. Oh, it's the company name, sorry.

It looks like a battery-powered UPS with a solar charger. A moderately sized UPS at that (it looks like they're using this Xantrex unit) with rather skimpy specs. None of the retail outlets they list on their website still carry this unit—it looks like Mysolarbackup bought a bunch of discontinued UPSes. Good luck getting it fixed if it breaks down.

Xantrex is pretty stingy with info about this device; they don't say how many Watt-hours you can get out of its sorta-on-the-small-side battery, for instance, but it's a 12V unit and at 51 A-h I get a maximum of 612 W-h, pretty meager. It won't power your house.

The solar panel is rated at 90W (that's MAX, not typical—you won't see that all the time) and on 110VAC power it takes 15 hours to recharge. On the trickle of power from their solar panel it could take days to recharge.

This looks like the garage-shop engineering typical in the alternative power industry. Exaggerated claims and high prices for what you get. If you're worried about short-term backup power you'd be better off with a standard UPS or a genset and a tank of fuel.

If you're worried about the end of civilization you'd be better off learning to live without power. Or you could buy one of these and postpone that condition for a couple of hours.

My solar backup. (I've heard it's a good product, but they need help with the website)

 islander wrote: 
Thanks! We'll look into it.

 hippiechick wrote: 
Today only:  http://shopping.yahoo.com/#woot
Sunsei 18-Watt Solar Panel and Controller

$79.99 + $5 shipping

That is probably a lot more power than you need, but it would give you some options for other things as well. It's a really good $/Watt for a good panel.

 hippiechick wrote: 
It depends. How many watts is the fan? You can get a relatively inexpensive solar panel, some come with an inverter, and you'll need a deep cycle battery.

 ScottFromWyoming wrote: 
That's a classic. 

 cc_rider wrote: 
You could make a tuna melt.

 cc_rider wrote: 
I don't have plans, but I did see a rig w/ a lot of potential. It was basically just a heavy metal bbq that the guy had run some aluminum bus  bars along the bottom and left about 8 inches of them sticking out the side. He then used a lens array to concentrate sunlight on the bars and that end of the bbq. The heat transfer into the unit was enough to get the thing up to about 375.  I would modify and at use a Fresnel lens instead (look for overhead projectors in surplus shops), but the basic principles seem solid.  You might want some rock or something heavy in the bottom to hold the heat when you open/close as well.

Or in your neighborhood you could just throw stuff on your patio...

 cc_rider wrote: 
you meen like holdin up a giant magnetfying glass?

We are trying to figure out a way to power a fan in our yurt at Burning Man. I know that there are lots of products available online, but does anyone have any experience with any solar powered products, either fans or a good battery?

Okay, I've had enough. Mother Nature, you win. I am ready to build a solar cooker. It is just too dang hot here to cook inside, and we have enough extra sunlight here that I don't think anyone's going to miss any if I use some to cook with.

I've done some googling and found tons of info, but everything I've seen so far is a long-winded treatise on the design process, experimentation, blah blah blah. I don't care about all that, I just want a set of plans I can follow to build a fairly well-optimized solar oven. I'm sure I could design one myself, but again, I just want to build it and cook with it, not change my whole lifestyle.

The box type appears to be pretty popular, probably because it's simple to build (not many weird angles) and looks conventional. I want a rugged, non-portable unit I can leave outside and use just like my bbq grill: cardboard, duct tape and tinfoil are not gonna cut it.

Any of you handy-dandy types built a solar cooker? Plans? If I have to design one myself I'll be sure and share it with the RPeeps...

Happy Solar Cooking!