alternate power

THE 15 WATT POWER SYSTEM
It’s hard for most of us to escape the Petroleum Age. Even those of us that heat exclusively with wood still have gas driven chain saws. And more than likely drive to the wood source. Unless you own the woods you are cutting from and stock plenty of gas with stabilizer added you will soon be out of wood if petroleum supplies are cut off. And most folks cook with propane if they are off the grid. All of these things are great to avoid short term power disruptions but do little to address long term shortages. And since a lot of folks use generators for charging their batteries, that too is liable to face fuel problems.
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Don’t get me wrong. Wood heat and propane cooking and diesel generators are a wonderful thing to have. Much better than living in the city subject to power outages, either due to terror attacks or system failure due to overload or lack of maintenance to satisfy stockholders. But you also need to have some kind of solar back-up. Solar will not fit every situation. Yellowstone blowing or an asteroid strike or World War Three erupting after Israel bombs suspected Iranian nuclear weapons plants will fill the atmosphere with enough crap that both farming and solar power will be put on hold for a few years. But solar has a better chance of supplying you with power than a petroleum generator does. We can only play the odds.
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Solar power is still expensive. No where near as expensive as decades ago but still it is not too affordable. $6 a watt is about the best deal out there unless you buy a huge system and that is beyond most of our budgets. My solution thus far is to own a $20 solar battery charger. The kind that charges AAA, AA, C and D batteries. Then you use LED flashlights and lanterns. Which are $6 to $10 each. A very cheap solution. But of course it comes at a price. LED lighting is wonderful, as a cheap solution. Nothing comes close to providing the light as cheaply. So I always recommend it for poor folk on a budget trying to prepare. But the light output is marginal. You can read by it, if you hold the book close enough. But don’t try to do much else.
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For the past five months I lived in the Hippy Bread Van, as most of you know. Cooking was by propane camp stove and lighting was by LED’s. Putting in a fresh set of batteries I would lean the small lantern ( $10, Wal-Mart camping section ) on my upper chest and read reclining on the bed. Good enough for about twenty hours of use until it started to dim. And for playing cards we had to put up two lanterns and two hanging flashlights to see the cards comfortably. LED’s are good for emergency situations or those on a really tight budget. For a much better light you will want a small solar panel and an RV battery and an RV 15w florescent lamp. One will light up your whole 20 foot travel trailer very brightly.
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The Sportsman’s Guide ( www.sportsmansguide.com ) has a 15 watt solar panel for $99. They also have a regulator and a rack for adding more than one. But let’s focus on the one panel, as we are poor and broke. Of course the 15w is at optimal performance. And it would really suck if this was the only panel you could ever get. But, again, there is a huge difference between what we want, what we need and what we can afford. I might need preventive maintenance health care but it ain’t in the budget. I might want hundreds of watts of solar power, but it is not in the budget. Heck, 15w isn’t even really in the budget which is why I still have my LED setup. But it sure delivers a level of light that is pure heaven compared to LED’s. I just moved into a trailer park after insurmountable problems with the stepdaughter forced us to abandon parking there. I can’t afford that either, but real light and our own bathroom almost make it worth while. If you can squeeze it into your budget at all, go with a solar panel and florescent light. There is a world of difference.
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For about $100 you can buy several LED’s, several sets of rechargeable batteries and a recharger. If this is all you can afford, fine. It will keep you in light for decades. You can even spend less if you stay with only one battery size. For instance, AA. Buy three LED small lanterns ( they are electronic and will break, have back ups ) and a charger and 12 batteries. Cost is about $65. Two lanterns, one charger and six batteries are $45. And you can buy a little at a time. Buy one lantern and a mess of dollar store disposable batteries. $15. When you can afford it, the charger. Then the batteries. If you are really poor buy a $6 flashlight that uses AAA and buy some disposables. $10 total cost. But you really need a solar charger for long term emergencies. Even if you could barter for more disposables they will most likely be dead years in the future. Disposables are more for the short term preppers. They have little reason to buy solar and are only reading this because I am their new god and they love me.
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For the panel you need the panel, a regulator and a battery. Figure about $200 if you buy a marine battery at Wal-Mart. More if you don’t. I haven’t priced the florescent fixture or the bulbs. I wouldn’t imagine they would be too much if you shop around. With seven hours of strong sun light a day you can then run your light about six hours. Not bad at all. Better than going to bed at sun set. Of course, with the LED set up you need three hours of sunlight to have the lantern run 20 hours, but as we discussed the light quality is vastly reduced. You are buying quality here. Kind of like when I tell you to buy the Lee-Enfield for $150 rather than the Russian bolt gun for $75. The ammo is twice the price too. It is a vastly better step up the quality ladder. Cheapest is not always best. It will usually do in a pinch. You just might want to always do a little better if possible.
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So, $100 to do it right for LED’s. $250 for a trailer solar set up. You will need light long term. Your choice. Of course beware the shorter life of 12v batteries. Five years. A set of rechargeable batteries will last ten if they are recharged every other week and only last half of the cycles that is advertised. Potentially they could last over twenty years if you have several sets, if you fully discharge before charging and if a little luck is with you. The trade off is weak light. But the weak light does have one advantage. Unless you stare into the bulb it will not destroy your night vision. Hard to make up your mind, isn’t it? To further muddy the waters, an advantage of the 12v system is that it can be used on things other than lights. Such as a small air pump in a fallout shelter.

Original: http://bisonsurvivalblog.blogspot.com/2006/11/alternate-power.html