Solar Empire – Endless War

1. 

   AmyJuly 9, 2010 - 7:08 am #1

   Before you can figure out how much you need to make, you need to figure out how much you use. You need to figure out how much power the items you are powering draw, and for how long. If it is AC items (like you use in your house) you can use a kill-a-watt meter to measure how much power you use. http://www.altestore.com/store/Meters-Communications-Site-Analysis/Meters-Battery-Monitors/Power-Meters/P3-International-Kill-A-Watt-P4400-Kill-A-Watt-Power-Meter/p932/

   If they are DC powered, used off your battery without an inverter, you’d need to do the math of how many watts and for how many hours. Many items have a label on the back telling you the max watts they use, multiply that times the hours a day you’ll use it.

   Once you know how many watt hours you need a day, put it in a calculator like this to figure out the size of panels and batteries. http://www.altestore.com/store/calculators/off_grid_calculator/

   For the fridge, if you can use a propane powered one, you are much better off. They use a ton of electricity, it’ll be expensive to try to power it off solar.
   References :
   AltE Store – http://www.altestore.com/store/

2. 

   SteveJuly 9, 2010 - 7:57 am #2

   Your best bet is going to be an array of solar panels. You need to figure out how many panels you’ll need according to your wattage requirements. Check my sources for a website with many more details.
   References :
   http://earth4energy.planetcabinet.com/

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