Need info on deep-cycle, inverters, and chargers for such

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Need info on what kind of deep cycle battery to buy, are all inverters the same, and how do I recharge the battery if I have no power? (is there a solar recharger that will do it?)

-- b (notquite@thereyet.com), December 05, 1999

Answers

Sorry to say you've almost waited toooooo loooong!! Check out this web site: www.traceengineering.com They make the best inverters and have tons of info on their site. Good luck.

-- Ace (Ace@nospam.com), December 05, 1999.

You can still buy batteries from your local friendly industrial battery retailer and cables. Trojan L-16 are famous because they are good and big, etc. They are about $175 are 6V and 350AH. A better buy is the Trojan T-105 golf cart battery, equal quality 6V, $75 and 220AH. Ie, buy two T-105 for more AH/$.

The following i-retailers will be happy to sell you stuff. Alternative Power, Wind and Sun, Solar On Sale, Oasis Montana, Ford MTM, Mr. Solar, Earth Survival, Parts On Sale, and Bargain Solar. WindSun will give you a price break if you order online, so just call them on their normal number 623 877-2317 or 520 526-8017 see http://www.windsun.com/navigation.htm for best times to ask for advice and then order via the internet.

Ace, is right, go with the Trace, they're pretty bulletproof, have builtin quality charger, auto gen start, can be wired as a transfer switch, they sell the appropriate breakers, charge controllers etc. Download their insturction manual, you will be amazed at how versitile they are, to think of them as just an inverter is way off base.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), December 05, 1999.


here is a good place to start for info:

Different Inverters

Click on the other links there at the top of the page to learn more about deep cycle batteries and solar power.

Although you can go to Trace Engineering on the web, you cannot buy from them. Most any Trace Dealer that has a web presence reprints the Trace info on their web site. the one I noted above has a bunch of other easy to read info as well.



-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), December 05, 1999.


"Need info on what kind of deep cycle battery to buy, are all inverters the same, and how do I recharge the battery if I have no power? is there a solar recharger that will do it?"....

We/ve been publishing the type of info you're after for 12 years now in our magazine and there are numerous books that also contain the info. It's WAY beyond the scope of what I could post here to lay out all the information you need....but...

The magazine crew sat down and listed the articles which we've run over the years we though covered most of the basics. We were considering re-publishing them in a magazine format but I suggested we put them on our website and give them away. The publisher went for that (I think it will help our magazine/book/CDROM sales in the long run) so you can now get lots of useful info for free at our website (as well as the electronic version of the current issue of our magazine...for free as well).

Yes, this stuff all works. I've been off-grid for years as are many of my friends and many thousands of our readers around the world. I hesitate to try and give pat, short answers to complex questions. Many people who implement solar power systems end up unhappy with their performance...hate to say this but it's true. You need to understand your energy needs, how to conserve and get the most from a system and what the system will actually deliver. A good starting point is to download the article LOADCALC.PDF from our website and use it to analyze your projected power consumption and uses. It's not too late but you better "get on the stick" quickley.

Visit http://www.homepower.com (tons of links to dealers and other organizations/info too)

Don Kulha Home Power Magazine, "The Hands-On Journal of Home-Made Power"

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), December 05, 1999.


oops, I forgot about HomePower magazine!

here's a LINK to HomePower.com to what Don just mentioned, in case you have trouble cutting and pasting.

-- plonk! (realaddress@hotmail.com), December 05, 1999.



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