Step by Step: How I Built A Solar Generator For Less Than $300
by admin on Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 | 25 Comments
This is how I built my solar powered generator for only $300.00. I provide step by step instructions on how to do it yourself. Please leave a comment let me know what you think. Just to answer some questions 1. I got most of my components on Amazon.com the others I got at auto parts stores and home improvement stores 2. For safety yes you should put venting holes in and yes connect the terminals to the inverter first prior to hooking them to battery. 3. To get more power get a bigger battery, charge controller, and a panel. 4. you can use this same setup as a wind powered generator using a dc motor and prop instead of a solar panel.
Cottage Solar or Electric Power Fairy Water Fountain
 | US $245.97 (0 Bid) End Date: Monday Mar-12-2012 14:51:34 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
Ur babiez r alienz
Congratulations. By having switches and the charge controller inside the box with the battery, you have made it very dangerous. Ever hear of the “Zeppelin”?
@atomicnumber15 i thought deep cycle battery’s are safe? that wut i was told…..thats why most car audio guys put deep cycle battery’s in there cars. cause there safe?
@th3cr34tor keep the batteries away from the rest of it outside, run your wires from there to the inverter with a breaker in between, this setup is not even close to safe really its ungrounded and under-wired, and never put a battery in the house, never. that gas is very explosive and should be well vented outside! you must separate all components with breakers and fuse from the battery to the inverter on the pos. side about a foot from the battery (close to the battery as you can make it) cya
thats really a solar electric system in miniature,its a battery charger not a generator but hey it works, dont mount that inverter on the battery though gassing could cause an explosion when deep charging the battery will expel gasses that are volatile and dangerous specially with little ones around, and ya should ground it to earth and use thicker wires. get some more panels and a few more batteries and you may be able to actually use it for something other than lights and radios, cool though!
@atomicnumber15 lol hydrogen isnt that flamable and a battery doesnt release enough to make it too dangerous, all you’d need is a small vent for the box or a small 9v powered fan for cooling simple addition
The time has come for Free energy to be revealed ,But some very powerfull ppl don’t want you and me to be free from energy costs,Check this free energy magnet motor at LT-MAGNET-MOTORdotCOM ,Join the energy revolution!
@atomicnumber15 ur a geek douce bag.
@atomicnumber15 So what should someone do?? Have the battery outside of a box?? I am thinking of putting together something like this and putting it on my roof for more sunlight but your comment scarred me
Thanks or the simplicity! How many watts can that charge controller handle or… How many solar panels can you hook up to that charge controler?
@kjpaint8 – I agree with the safety, the setup needs more grounding and fuses so it won’t start a fire. But you are wrong the Xantech 700 xPower inverter is rated at 120V not 230V in North America.
@MJsoccerpro13 – That’s what the silver box was for, it converts 12V power to 120V power for home use. The 700 unit will give you a 700 peak wattage supply, so you could technically plug 6 x 100 watt light bulbs to the unit. But having only one battery wouldn’t give you much usable power though.
@atomicnumber15 – Huh? One battery doesn’t produce that much gas. If there was a bank sure it needs a vent, but with the 3 holes he put on the top of the lid that is WAY more then enough to allow the gases to escape.
Nice video, my only 2 cents would be to put the 3 holes on the of the unit to the left of the switch/light/meter this way it stays a little more weather proof and water won’t have that easy of a chance to drip into the box.
What about adding a mini circuit breaker box?
wow
What is the model of the sunpro volt gauge with the light i want to get one
what can u connect in there?
You should hook the kid to a wheel and let him spin your power meter backwards.
With your setup…you can have a PC fan in the box on one end with a couple vent holes on the other…and when you are charging the battery, you can switch it on to have air-flow and keep the gases from building up. Just an idea.
great!!
Very good…but your going to need more than 18 watt panels. A good ruleI use of thumb I use is at least half the Ahr rating of the battery. So a 100 ahr battery will need at least half the Ahr rating of the battery minimum (50 watt panel). An equal one to one is best. 100 amp hr to 100 watts panel. Thats unless you hardly plan on using your battery. But if there is a long term blackout, you will quickly have a deficiet.
so can this only charge things that require less than 12v?? can u charge a labtop?
Is Good You Have some teory But Please Do not Do it When Your Kids Around Dangerous Out of kids 1 . Batery Need Earth Wire 2. Inverter Also Need Earth 3 . Solar Controler Need Fuse For Positive and Output Inverter is 230 Volt Need To Connected to RCD or Circuit Breaker Then To Your Lighting and TV .Safety Is More Important That Controler Is not Good Beter Get Good controler .Thank you International Scouting
@atomicnumber15 seeing as that isn’t an air tight or even a compressed chamber, there is no chance of “explosion” at the most you’ll get a flame “Poof” but don’t count on it -_-
@nomoreremakes Disconnect the current Panel you are using, Add wires to the Pos and Neg of each, attach Pos to pos and Neg to Neg of each panel then hook that up to the current battery