AC piggyback ride

Not that I mind carrying batteries up stairs....but I after some looking around my place I found a much more convenient (if not ironic) place for my panel. Pushing to the side the shutters on my window AC unit, I was able fit the panel through the unit's frame and place it up against the window. A screw on top of the AC unit was placed in a great spot to help support the bottom of the panel.



Once in place, I pulled the cable tight and ran it across the unit's length and down the side.



I also used cable mounts to nail the cable to the sill. The cable continued to the floor and plugged into my power pack.



The panel has eye holes along its length. I may pull the panel back inside, run some wire that allows me to anchor the panel on both sides, and re-install it. Meanwhile, I've saved myself a trip up the stairs on this sunny day.

A short solar afternoon

BEEEEEEP!

The juice ran out almost exactly at noon. So it seems I powered my system for about 3 hours. Not bad. But if I want a full weekend of up time, I'm going to need more batteries.

What's nice is that I can just set the Powerpack back out in the sun for another charge. So maybe two batteries would make sense. While one is powering the system the other is charging. And during the week they could both charge.

The other option is to daisy chain some AGM batteries to the Powerpack. We'll see.

First solar morning

Here it is....my first morning using stored power. I would say stored solar power if I hadn't charged the Powerpack off my wall. Xantrex is really adamant about fully charging the pack for 48 hours before using it. But next week, it's all sun baby.



One nice thing about this Powerpack is its portability. I have roof access with only one flight of stairs. On Friday it was super sunny in NYC. I carried the pack and solar panel to the roof and let the rays pour in. Yes, the pack was already charged. But it felt good to top it off solarly(?).

If you're a soccer fan you'll know this was a crucial morning in the Premiership. Chelsea v Man Utd kicked off at 7:45 AM EST. There's no way the pack would last powering my TV. And I'm too hungover to trek to a bar this early. But not too hungover to figure out P2PTV.

Peer to Peer TV allows users to view TV programs broadcast all over the world. I'm not sure how it works and have yet to really read this article. But it does work. I downloaded the TVUPlayer to my laptop and was good to go. Kind of wished I hadn't cause Chelsea took the game 2-1 in the last 10 minutes. BOOOOO!!!

But that tragedy aside, P2PTV is a great solution for solar powered TV entertainment. I'm not sure of the legalities involved. Be sure to check your country's policies regarding P2PTV.

Using my Dell laptop meant I deviated from my planned system. However, the pack reported I was drawing 70 watts throughout the game....very similar to my Mac mini system. I watched half the game (45 minutes) on the laptop's batteries and half on the Powerpack. The pack powered my speakers the entire match.



I'm currently writing this entry on the pack as well...so I've got a way to go. The pack should sound an alarm when it's time to turn off.

It's a bit sunny today. So after I hear that nasty ringing, I'll take another trip to the roof.

Powerpack

After taking a few weeks off, I'm back on this project.

On my return, I found a great battery solution for a micro-solar system. The Xantrex XPower PowerPack 600HD is both a 28 amp hour battery and a 600 watt inverter. With a little modification, you can connect any solar panel under 30 watts directly to the unit. This negates the need for a charge controller or inverter. At $182.98, the Xantrex battery is a great value and will help keep my overall costs down.

The catch...I needed to solder a Size L Coaxial DC Power Plug to the end of my panel's cables. The plug connects the panel to the battery pack via the AC charger input socket. Normally, you would plug in AC adapter and charge up the battery pack via a wall socket. Instead, I'll plug in my solar panel and let it charge the pack during the week.

"Solder" is a scary word. Before today I didn't know anything about soldering. But this link to the EPE "Basic Soldering Guide" was a big help.

I used a wire stripper to expose the positive and negative leads.

One problem, the hole in the casing for the plug is too narrow to accept both wires. I had to widen it slightly using a drill.

Once I slid the casing on the wires, I used a multi-clamp to position the wires against the plug's contacts. The center contact is positive and takes the red wire. The outer contact is negative and takes the black contact.

If you don't have three hands, using a multi-clamp is important. You'll drive yourself crazy without one.

After the solder cooled, I slip the casing on and plugged it in the AC charger input socket.

Placing the panel in the sun caused the "Charging Status" light to glow green. The battery was collecting my first bits of solar energy. 

The next thing to do is hook up my computer system to the fully charged battery and test how long I can keep things running.