Just in time for spring storms, I am now 'off the grid'. Today I purchased my first personal power generation system. I decided to go solar, mostly because of what I consider my primary use for the system. It's really nothing more than a large 70lb 100amp deep-cell battery. It will deliver 5amps for 20 hours. Not bad. Enough to run a movie projector and a variety of small electrical devices. I also purchased a 40amp solar panel, cost about $250.
I considered getting a conventional gasoline or diesel powered generator, but a decent one is fairly pricey. And, even though they can have fairly silent operation these days, nothing is more silent than a solar panel and a battery; and no messy, smelly, gasoline, sparkplugs, moving parts, etc. to worry about.
I see the primary application for the system is to dock the solar panel to my boat, soaking up energy all week long and trickle charging the battery, so that on the weekends we have lots of availalbe power for showing movies, powering lanterns, or whatever kind of electrical applications we might have (I'm thinking a smoothie blender for tropical drinks and a stereo system for Jimmy Buffet music). In addition to this we can take it on camping trips or use it for outdoor movie showings anywhere we want without worrying about power. With the size of battery I purchased I should be able to power my projector for anywhere from 5 to 10 hours. I don't have exact numbers, but there should be plenty of power for that application. Another use during other times of the year is for when we have power outages, which happen fairly often in the spring when we have violent midwestern storms.
The company I contacted for the system is Creative Energy Technologies. When I was on the phone with the salesperson I ended up having a very lengthy and pleasant conversation. First about solar energy and next just about personal hobbies and stuff. He is a history buff and was responsible for restoring to working condition and old water mill. My entire system cost abour $450, not including the power inverter which I already own. A 100amp deep cell battery only costs about $150. I might eventually buy a second one both for additional power and additional flexibility. I asked the salesperson how much it would cost to literally get 'off' the grid. His answer, $16,000 to get just half way off the grid with a gas dryer, gas stove, and gas water heater. Hmm...I can pay a lot of electric bills before it adds up to that much money. He did point out that some states offer huge rebates and tax credits if you install a solar powered system. Modern solar panels are much more efficient than the old days and are very durable and long lived. Let's see how my solar panel holds up to a summer of pontooning.
I received four more TV prints today, a "Mary Tyler Moore" episode, a "Lucy Show", and two more "I Love Lucy's". These should be fun when I want to show something short and funny for adults, but not take up the entire evening. My son is really excited about the idea of showing a movie out in the middle of the woods on a boy scout camping trip. It should be a geat year!
Tomorrow evening a large group of our friends are going to a new comedy club that has opened in the area. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun, if for no other reason than we have some pretty wild friends. On Saturday evening I'm going to take all of the kids out to see the latest Jackie Chan movie, kind of a family tradition.
I considered getting a conventional gasoline or diesel powered generator, but a decent one is fairly pricey. And, even though they can have fairly silent operation these days, nothing is more silent than a solar panel and a battery; and no messy, smelly, gasoline, sparkplugs, moving parts, etc. to worry about.
I see the primary application for the system is to dock the solar panel to my boat, soaking up energy all week long and trickle charging the battery, so that on the weekends we have lots of availalbe power for showing movies, powering lanterns, or whatever kind of electrical applications we might have (I'm thinking a smoothie blender for tropical drinks and a stereo system for Jimmy Buffet music). In addition to this we can take it on camping trips or use it for outdoor movie showings anywhere we want without worrying about power. With the size of battery I purchased I should be able to power my projector for anywhere from 5 to 10 hours. I don't have exact numbers, but there should be plenty of power for that application. Another use during other times of the year is for when we have power outages, which happen fairly often in the spring when we have violent midwestern storms.
The company I contacted for the system is Creative Energy Technologies. When I was on the phone with the salesperson I ended up having a very lengthy and pleasant conversation. First about solar energy and next just about personal hobbies and stuff. He is a history buff and was responsible for restoring to working condition and old water mill. My entire system cost abour $450, not including the power inverter which I already own. A 100amp deep cell battery only costs about $150. I might eventually buy a second one both for additional power and additional flexibility. I asked the salesperson how much it would cost to literally get 'off' the grid. His answer, $16,000 to get just half way off the grid with a gas dryer, gas stove, and gas water heater. Hmm...I can pay a lot of electric bills before it adds up to that much money. He did point out that some states offer huge rebates and tax credits if you install a solar powered system. Modern solar panels are much more efficient than the old days and are very durable and long lived. Let's see how my solar panel holds up to a summer of pontooning.
I received four more TV prints today, a "Mary Tyler Moore" episode, a "Lucy Show", and two more "I Love Lucy's". These should be fun when I want to show something short and funny for adults, but not take up the entire evening. My son is really excited about the idea of showing a movie out in the middle of the woods on a boy scout camping trip. It should be a geat year!
Tomorrow evening a large group of our friends are going to a new comedy club that has opened in the area. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun, if for no other reason than we have some pretty wild friends. On Saturday evening I'm going to take all of the kids out to see the latest Jackie Chan movie, kind of a family tradition.
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