And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are not warned from time to time that their people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms. The remedy is to set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
When I see the word "generator" attached to a battery in a box with lights & switches attached I think "marketing". When they add the word "solar" to it I use the word scam...
I need to do something. Horrifying rainstorm over night, power went out at 4:30am, stayed out till 11am. No mud, no web, no AC, nothing. Going back to the 17th century will be hard, most may not make it. I'm gonna do the research and build my own solar powered battery stored generator. 300w won't do. I need at least 2000w. Think big, go big.
About 8 months ago I purchased on Amazon 6 270 watt panels for $1200, now they are about 2K. Got a 4000 watt pure sine wave inverter still about 600 and a 80 watt charge control for 250 now about 370. 3 days ago I bought 8 flooded lead acid batteries for 1250. If you are going to do it, do it now. Prices are only going up.
This is a marketing blitz by Chinese manufacturers, I think. All of these 'Power Stations' are flooding the market. They all say Portable Power Pack, or Source, or something similar. They're just battery packs with inverters. You'll notice that all of them have wattage, but none of them show the charge duration-of-use or Average duty cycles for the life of product. The solar panel normally cannot even provide a full charge, even after days in the sun. It's a real buyer-beware market.
I do like this Chinese-made product for camping though, because it's so cheap: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08L65MYCB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This little sucker has both lantern and spot lights, a crank dynamo, a solar panel, can charge from USB or top up a cell phone charge. Neat concept.
Have you tried it out? I bought an Eton crank radio back in the 80's and was unimpressed. Crank like hell for about 2 mins for 5 mins worth of radio. Eventually the plastic crank snapped off.
Bought 4 for an upcoming wilderness trip. Very bright light, and a neat concept but - definitely not roughneck proof. I don't expect them to last much longer than the trip, but I might be surprised, you never know. Th versatility is the attraction. Chinese junk now is a lot like the Japanese junk in the 70's.
When I see the word "generator" attached to a battery in a box with lights & switches attached I think "marketing". When they add the word "solar" to it I use the word scam...
ReplyDeleteI need to do something. Horrifying rainstorm over night, power went out at 4:30am, stayed out till 11am. No mud, no web, no AC, nothing. Going back to the 17th century will be hard, most may not make it. I'm gonna do the research and build my own solar powered battery stored generator. 300w won't do. I need at least 2000w. Think big, go big.
ReplyDeleteAbout 8 months ago I purchased on Amazon 6 270 watt panels for $1200, now they are about 2K. Got a 4000 watt pure sine wave inverter still about 600 and a 80 watt charge control for 250 now about 370. 3 days ago I bought 8 flooded lead acid batteries for 1250. If you are going to do it, do it now. Prices are only going up.
DeleteThanks for the tip Fred. I'm on it like stink on a monkey.
DeleteThis is a marketing blitz by Chinese manufacturers, I think. All of these 'Power Stations' are flooding the market. They all say Portable Power Pack, or Source, or something similar. They're just battery packs with inverters. You'll notice that all of them have wattage, but none of them show the charge duration-of-use or Average duty cycles for the life of product. The solar panel normally cannot even provide a full charge, even after days in the sun. It's a real buyer-beware market.
ReplyDeleteI do like this Chinese-made product for camping though, because it's so cheap:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08L65MYCB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
This little sucker has both lantern and spot lights, a crank dynamo, a solar panel, can charge from USB or top up a cell phone charge. Neat concept.
Have you tried it out? I bought an Eton crank radio back in the 80's and was unimpressed. Crank like hell for about 2 mins for 5 mins worth of radio. Eventually the plastic crank snapped off.
DeleteBought 4 for an upcoming wilderness trip. Very bright light, and a neat concept but - definitely not roughneck proof. I don't expect them to last much longer than the trip, but I might be surprised, you never know. Th versatility is the attraction. Chinese junk now is a lot like the Japanese junk in the 70's.
Delete