Free Energy! DIY Solar Battery Charger

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Solar, Free, Energy, Batteries, 12v, Hacks

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A Great Free Electricity Source is the Ambigrid System: http://ambigrid-review.blogspot.com

  1. By: idontknow307
  2. Categories How To, Science & Tech
  3. Views 28,486
  4. Added :13-Jul-08
Comments on Free Energy! DIY Solar Battery Charger
Other comments on this video
  • IDEA!

    I noticed that you plugged in the lamp towards the end of your video. What if you use that light to recharge the battery!

    By khompressor 1216422165
    • The funny thing is...

      Is that It actually does charge slightly with the solar panel directly underneath the light. It wouldn't run it infinitely, but it would probably add a very small amount of time to how long the light will be lit for

      By idontknow307 1216613774
  • Idiot!

    That solar panel only puts out 1/5 of 1 amp(200MHh) To fully charge that 35Ah battery would take 175+ hours of direct sunlight to charge due to the added resistance of the charge controller! That charge controller wil handle 7 15 watt panels. A 10 cent blocking diode is all that you need for such a weak panel. That panel, The 5 batteries it will outlive, and the wasted power controller consumed 15,000 times more enery then that soloar panel will produce in it's 25 year life span! Not to mention the enery needed to ship all that junk from China and the $125 his dad had to drive his car to work to earn for half a week! And your Florescent light is loaded with mercury that will end up in your water table when it burns out and you toss it. That system alone pumped 1000+ pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere and that is an extremely conservative estimate. A full 10 hours of of direct sunlight will only run that 5 watt florescent bulb for 1 hour after the enitial charge is fully gone per day of charge. Solar panels are only useful in remote locations where power is not available and homemade wind turbines kick their ass. Just a thought!

    By EXEcutioner66 1262792525
  • where did you buy your battery

    like my title said =P

    By Videowacher5 1224828045
  • Great Demonstration

    Thanks so much for this demonstration. Reading the tutorials available on the web can be confusing. I needed to see a visual demonstration. You did a great job. It was simple, straight forward, easy to understand.
    I finally feel like I can learn how to build a solar energy system.
    We need more people like you, willing to share their knowledge, for free. Keep posting. This is awesome!

    By Nestkeeper 1221974007
  • Not very economical...

    I did a similar project. I had a Solar Panel that outputted 400 ma and then I charged an eliminator booster pack with a build in inverter.

    My goal was to use my laptop completely off the grid. It failed miserably. The battery died within a day, and it took nearly a week to get it back up to a full charge.

    If you live in canada, your best and cheapest bet would be to buy the kit from canadian tire. Its a 30 watt panel (2 x 15) and a charge controller just like the one you have. It comes to 174.99. You can't even compete with those prices on ebay. At 40 bucks for the controller, you are down to 134 and that is only 65 dollars per panel and no shipping and handling.

    By computerwiz_222 1221912106
  • Please dont use this

    to suggest you are helping the earth. When the material to produce the items cost more in enviromental issues than you will ever save. the solar panels alone from mininng ... god i hate people who think they can save the world by doing nothing but false topics. Besides the earth does not need saving

    By writer7877 1216513062
    • Hmm...

      As of now, there is not a single type of power source (That I know of) that doesn't harm the environment. Sure, solar isn't the cleanest way to produce power, but It sure is a hell of a lot cleaner then burning coal, fossil fuels, biomass, ect. You say mining is used to make solar panels. It's also used to get coal. Digging wells and refining is needed for fossil fuels, and burning biomass requires cutting down massive amounts of plant life. All 3 of those power sources I just described release massive amounts of C02 and a whole lot of other horrible stuff into the air. Which type of power seems cleaner? Solar, or one of the 3 I just described? I'd love to hear your opinion. Also, the earth doesn't need saving ehh? 2 words for you: Global Warming.

      By idontknow307 1218260278
    • Q: what

      about the use of tides / rivers to produce energy
      wouldnt that be cleaner?
      just a thought

      By troofer 1234804391
    • hi

      I am from Bhutan. Yes, i also wander when i come to know that solar is not a cleaner source of energy when it comes in reality. How the earth can be saved and enviromentally friendly? But i have no confusion with it...now instead of solar source of enegy, i am going for Micro hydro generation using very small generator for charging battery. It is more efficient compare to solar source. So try it see the difference between them....thanks.

      By shiitake_shokey 1228722249
    • Is that right?

      The earth doesn't need saving??? What planet are you from? Granted you could probably tweak this to be more efficient (spl?) but, at least someone is trying. Oh wait, I'm sorry, you can't tweak this cause you don't understand the math involved. Your already saving money if your getting light from a lamp and it's not plugged into the WALL!

      By Cpl. Chronic 1218164330
    • I agree with you

      Most of the arguments for saving the earth are rather hilarious. There is very little we could do to the earth to cause any lasting damage whatsoever. We are changing the face of it sure, but what people are really worried about is themselves. If we drive the CO2 levels way to high and we all die from lack of oxygen, the earth will over the next few millenia return to its present state. We will all be dead, but its not the earth that everyone is worried about, they just use that as an excuse to hide their own selfishness.

      By ranger2004 1257895464
  • OMG!

    i was using one to power my computer to watch this vid!!! it must be fate!

    By superant10001 1216503623
  • Evaluation time

    Lets see: In 1 year we get 365days* 14 hrs lite/day *.2Amp * 12V * 80% efficiency = 10 Kilowatthours which is 80 cents of electricity. At $90 investment it only takes 110 years to break even. Not very economical.

    By BS-Buster 1216491142
    • ...

      Yeah I know, I just put it together to demonstrate the theory. I'm working on buying a 50/60w panel once I save up the money =]

      By idontknow307 1216613574
    • One improvement

      One way to improve the economics is to use a much larger panel for that sized battery. A second would be to add mirrors to double or triple the amount of light hitting the panel (mirrors are cheaper than solar panels by 10x). If the cost of electricity doubles then it may only take 20 years to break even

      By BS-Buster 1216640102
  • Great idea but cost prohibative

    You will find yourself spending more time with that light off based on your component selection. Using that 200mAh solar panel, you'll be spending 175 hours in FULL sun (assuming the panel actually achieves 200mAh output) to put out 35Ah to charge that battery. Also account that even though the florescent bulb is only consuming perhaps 23 watts at 110 volts, the current draw on the 12 volt side of the inverter will be much higher. (place a multimeter in series between the battery and inverter to check amp draw) Brilliant in theory, cost prohibitive in execution.

    By 2dbit 1216413237
    • Thanks for the suport

      And read the comment above =]

      By idontknow307 1216613658
  • thats sweet

    my friends parents have 2 solar pannels on thier trailor and they can run a T.V. plus lights all day and thier batteries never go dead!!!

    By sirfunkeybut 1216412678
    • Heres why

      They are not using a $10 solar panel probably mor elike $200 to $300 with 40x to 50 more power

      By BS-Buster 1216491456
  • Perfectly explained

    Cool video. Added to my favorites. 5 stars!

    By Howie_D 1215991376
  • idontknow

    thank you for the exellent vid and info.

    By jerry01 1215929681
  • Cleaner Place? Informative video however

    I'm not sure that production of inverters, batteries, and other 'parts' are done in the 'clean' manner, but there is no question that it's a handy item and allows for more individual independence in many remote areas. It will likely take over a decade for the investment 'payback', but the flexibility is useful.

    By oldnuc67 1215958628
    • Good point

      But you have to know that there isn't a single way to produce power without having some sort of negative side effect(s). Sure, the production of batteries and solar panels isn't 100% clean, but it sure is a whole lot cleaner than using fossil fuels, biomass, nuclear, ect.

      By idontknow307 1219157092
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