People Charge Your Gear

[Norvic]

Have had since the 80s solar panels fixed on 4WDs roof, dedicated deep cycle battery all for charging detectors, GPS, Sat Phone etc and running a fridge. Works a treat once set up properly, requires hands on and time to understand and accept its limitations. I don`t think there is an off the shelf vehicle "kit" for such, probably not a big enough market out there.

It depends on your particular situation just what is required, my system has allowed in the past for the wife and I to spend two years continuous travelling OZs gold fields, living out of our 4WD, with very little power dramas for that period. Now I just use it for 1-2 week prospecting trips through our gold seasons.

[MarXthespot]

3 hours ago, kiwijw said:

Bit like the Goldhounds. I respect & envy these type of people.

So much there, I want to read it again a few times.

[MarXthespot]

4 hours ago, Norvic said:

Works a treat once set up properly, requires hands on and time to understand and accept its limitations. I don`t think there is an off the shelf vehicle "kit" for such, probably not a big enough market out there.

How did you go about learning the hands on part?  I think that market might have been small in the past and from a single country perspective, but in a global market, I think today it is a bigger and growing market.  The options of how to do it probably abound even more with time too.  I wish I knew more about the "how to's" of this subject.

[Norvic]

Yeah, there is plenty of info on the internet on the subject, but it would be confusing getting into it fresh, although no where near as much as when the industry was in its infancy. Saying that today the internet as we are all aware has a lot of "false data" from people without experience. I just feel like it was and still is one of those things that to get into, requires a hands on approach, I just started with an interest in solars potential and gained experience by having a go. The wife and I now live totally off-grid relying on solar and a battery bank, and have done so for 10+years. I just love the "hands on" approach and new tech, tis stimulating.

Of interest perhaps costs in the 80s for panels was $20/watt today they are $1/watt,

[MarXthespot]

23 minutes ago, Norvic said:

Of interest perhaps costs in the 80s for panels was $20/watt today they are $1/watt,

That is an awesome thing isn't it!?  And it is only going to get better too.

The first thing I'd love to know is what the pieces of your system are?  Also, I'd love to know about what some pitfalls I need to watch out for??

26 minutes ago, Norvic said:

The wife and I now live totally off-grid relying on solar and a battery bank, and have done so for 10+years.

I'm impressed.  That is the stuff romance is made of for lots more people that many would think.

[Norvic]

Ok a few photos below, the two panels fixed to the canopy roof are each 80 Watt, the one that hinges with the upper door on the rear of the canopy is a 100watt.(hinged out flat when charging) They are simply fixed wired to a 20amp solar regulator which is connected to a 110amp/hr deep cycle AGM battery under the raised floor of the canopy. Simple effective and reliable as long as there is sun.

It becomes a wee more complicated if your location is at a much higher latitude then mine of 17deg, then the panels either need to be angled facing the sun or you need more panels laying flat. But to just charge your detector a 100 watt panel would suffice, but I`d stick with a 100amp/hr+ battery, although a smaller battery has enough amp/hrs to do the job, chargers such as the GPZ7000s are a bit of a bitch and drop out as your battery voltage drops this is considering your charging the MDs battery of a night. Another way around this is to have spare MD batteries charging of a day whilst your solar systems battery is receiving charge from the sun, then you could get away with a smaller deep cycle battery. The deep cycle batteries I`m on about are lead-acid, the new lithium batteries are possibly going to make this even simpler they have a flatter voltage discharge curve, are lighter and more compact. Once my batteries require replacing I`ll probably go that way.

Again perhaps of interest, our off-grid household power system was really a no brainer, the electricity utility company wanted $70000+ to run power to my property, and despite teething troubles has been very reliable. It uses 3000+watts of solar, a 48v 1080 amp/hr battery bank, 60amp regulator and a 4500watt 240v inverter.

 

 

[MarXthespot]

25 minutes ago, Norvic said:

utility company wanted $70000+ to run power to my property

There's good incentive to get this off grid setup right.  Good onya.  Thanks for sharing.

Better battery and solar options are changing the world day by day, and it keeps getting better.

[MarXthespot]

I don't imagine it will be too long before an electric vehicle is the better outback option too... or at least hybrid.  That way there is a massive battery with you all the time.