Small Steps to Solar Independence

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 Not everyone can afford to go for the full off grid system right out of the gate but that shouldn't stop you from starting somewhere. I am a really happy to see smaller stand alone devices coming into vogue on the market recently. The technology isn't going to stop the world but at least its a start. I stumbled across this little gizmo here today and thought I would share. 

 It's a self contained solar light that has an extension cord to get the panel out into the sunlight to charge the 3 on board triple A batteries. I have seen several outdoor lights available listed as security, or spot lights but they mostly have the solar panel attached to the housing of the lamp itself. Where this one lets you get the panel out into the light with its 20 ft line so you can light up the dark little nooks and crannies during the day as well as at night. 

 The ease of installation permits even the less electrically informed among us to take advantage of free power without the hassle of playing with car batteries and solar controller and all that jazz. 

 The drawback to a system this small is a short life. It is only expected to produce light from all its 10 leds for 2 hours, and there is a low switch that lets you run it at half power for 4 hours (5 leds). If you want to just go out into the shed to grab a few things than 2 hours will be more than enough but if you  need to be out there for a little while than you may find it advantageous to get 2 sets that way you can produce up to 8 hours of light, in case your needs would so demand. 

 I think this will be a fantastic little setup if you need to get some candle power going in a dark spot without a candle or and electrician. This is probably the next best thing to a set I brought to your attention earlier in my article First Solar,Amorphous panels  . And its surely an easier way to get you on the road to your first solar experience.
 
 Though if you need a stronger light source than that, you should probably go for the amorphous panel set and get a 12v battery. Then you can pick up something like this florescent 12v light that will provide an amazing amount of light for its size and power consumption. These can be easily wired up to a standard lamp socket (like the ones in your house) then you just supply the 12v current and you are in business. Of course you can use the above mentioned amorphous panel set's 200 watt inverter to run any old household lamp as well.(albeit a bit less efficiently)

 Just be sure you don't get your 12v Dc (battery power, and solar panel power) and your 120v Ac (inverter power) confused.
  

What is Amorphous , Pros & Cons

The Pros

* Amorphous solar panels are produced by depositing a thin layer of silicon onto a base material in the form of a vapor. Base materials can be any number of things including glass, or flexible plastic.

* Amorphous cells also typically produce more power on cloudy days than some other technologies available today.

 * Amorphous cells are much lower in initial cost do to a less expensive manufacture process.

  * Amorphous panels suffer lower losses due to shadow casting across the surface of the panel and can produce closer to their rated output in these circumstances.

* Amorphous panels are less prone to failure due to damage because of the nature of the construction.

The Cons

* Amorphous panels have lower peak efficiencies than their higher priced cousins.

* Amorphous panels require more space per watt than other panels

* Amorphous panels can suffer permanent production losses due to exposure to extremely bright light

   I didn't want to get too technical here, I just gave you a general overview of some of the known properties of amorphous panels to help you figure things out. There is tons of information out there if you want to go check it out for yourself (which I strongly encourage). I personally have amorphous panels on my sailboat for our power needs for a few reasons.

First - the low initial cost is obvious.

Second- on a boat especially a sailboat I always have shadows bouncing about willy nillie and mono or poly panels would suffer more losses for it.

Third- I like the idea that I can crack a panel and it will keep producing power with whatever portion is still intact, (good to have on a boat, I have even heard of some people cutting off an end to fit in an odd spot, but I think this kind of abuse is frowned upon by the warranty people; )

  I am not too worried about the loss due to bright light exposure for the simple reason I never really have a good angle on the sun. If I do its not for very long before the wind gives me another little push.

  This may not be the panel setup for everyone but I do think its a good one to learn the basic principles of solar production, it's forgiving technology and it's inexpensive in case of the accidents that often befall a maiden voyage in unfamiliar waters. Last of all, it is nice to get everything as a "set" to avoid all the headache of figuring out all the capacities of all the individual components till you get a feel for things.

 Flip...