I have seen some solar panel car battery chargers and that gave me an idea. If I got an extra car battery and was able to keep it charged up with solar, what could I power with it? What else would I need to make it useful? Are there any good books on the subject?

I know nothing about energy, so please make your answers easy as pie. I mean, jar cakes LOL.

-- mommacarestx (harringtondesign@earthlink.net), September 30, 1999

Answers

Get a deep cycle marine battery and an inverter. Solar into battery....battery into inverter....inverter into light etc. I would say keep it simple...most things around the house use more juice than you may want to spend on this setup.

Think about getting a solar charger for small batteries, a solar radio-flashlight, outdoor solar lights.

If we need these things for any length of time we will be going through a major life-style change and most modern items will be obsolete.

-- tc (trashcan-man@webtv.net), September 30, 1999.

BTW ... if the solar battery chargers were under $50. in price they will not charge up a battery. The solar panel is placed on you dashboard and plugs into the cig lighter. It HELPS keep your battery fully charged. If you mean the $100. plus panels that connect directly to the battery then use a 300 watt inverter.

-- tc (trashcan-man@webtv.net), September 30, 1999.

You can put a plug-in inverter into your car's cigarette lighter and run up to a 200-watt device for about 90 minutes. Run the inverter to a regular extension cord, through a window, and into your house. You can run an indoor light or a little black & white t.v. or small appliance. When the juice runs down, go out and idle the car for about 15 minutes to recharge it. By adding a battery recharger you can recharge your flashlight batteries. This info is from Anita Evangelista's book, "How to Live Without Electricity and Like It" and it covers water, heat, cooking, etc. Lots of good information written for folks like us! another momma who cares,

-- Jill D. (jdance@mindspring.com), October 01, 1999.