This post will go into the Power and electricity sub-series of the off-the-grid main series of posts. These posts can be accessed from a table of contents and watched individually or in series from beginning to end.
This rates as a post because I want to emphasize an idea that came to me recently. The idea is to use an automobile to charge up an electrical system, as opposed to using a completely different piece of hardware.
Two possibilities emerge from that: 1) use an electric car, or 2) use an internal combustion engine. Of these two possibilities, the one that would offer the most direct means of accomplishing the task of charging batteries would be the ICE route.
For example, to run the Nissan Versa at idle only consumes about 2/10 of a gallon per hour. The question then becomes: How much of a charge can you get from the onboard alternator? A little research indicates that it may be better to use the car than to use the little 2 cycle generator I got. The gasoline consumption is the same, but the amperage is superior from the car But what is it exactly?
Don't know, but it may be around 40 amps. That would be far better than what I already have, and would require no new hardware.
You could put about 2.5 kilowatt hours into some batteries for the price of a gallon of fuel per day.
Not super cheap, nor super simple to set up, but it could work. Simplicity could win out on this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment