Charging Your Batteries the Solar Way
This isn’t really a project because you don’t actually build anything. But
using a solar battery charger requires strategy and scheduling, and it gives a
good lesson on solar power and PV panels. This is probably one of the easi-
est ways to start using solar power. Chapter 9 explains what you need to
know about getting the most bang for your solar beam.
Reading Under the Sun at Night
An off-grid reading light is a great project, and you can get as fancy as you
want. Start with a simple, self-contained camping light comprised of a small
PV panel and a little pod containing a rechargeable battery, a light sensor, a
switch, and a few LEDs. Then hang this light over your favorite reading chair
(you may need to monkey around to get the light to shine in just the right
spot), and you can read every night for hours without plugging in to the grid.
Get the lowdown on these lights in Chapter 9.
For those of you who are more ambitious when it comes to electronics, you
can design your own circuit (they can be very easy or very clever and effi-
cient). You can design your own optics, which is a real gas if you know a little
about the subject. You can get cheap optics parts from Edmund Scientific.
Pumping Water to New Heights
with a Solar Fountain
Solar fountains have tons of potential for do-it-yourselfers. You can make a
small one or a massive one. You can make them work any number of ways.
You can make one work all night long, if you want.
If your back is strong and your will ironclad, you can use indigenous rocks
and mortar to build a cascading waterfall in your backyard that everybody
will marvel at. You can make one very noisy with water splashing like Niagara
Falls, or you can make a modest, gentle trickle. You can toss some koi into
a pond and create a bio system complete with water plants and nightly rac-
coon raids.Getting Creative with a
Solar-Powered Sprinkler
Of all the great toys and gadgets the world of solar offers, the clear winner for
most fun is the solar-powered sprinkler. Consider this project a bonus, the
11th installment in a list of ten items.
Here’s how it works. You connect the unit (including the sprinkler head and
motion detector) to your garden hose and sprinkler and stake it firmly into
the ground. Then turn the faucet on. When the motion detector senses move-
ment, the sprinkler discharges a blast of water; then it turns off.
The practical use for a solar-powered sprinkler is to keep animals at bay. For
example, you can keep deer from eating all your landscaping, skunks out of
the cat food, or raccoons off the roof. When the motion detector senses their
presence, it sprays, they skedaddle.
But you can also have some fun with this device. Install it on a hot summer
afternoon, and the next time the kids run by, they’ll be delighted by the sur-
prise shower. Or place it next to the sidewalk, and when unsuspecting neigh-
bors stroll by on their nightly walk, watch them suddenly pick up the pace to
avoid the sprinkles. Just remember: There’s no harm in an occasional practi-
cal joke, but don’t do it too often. You know what they say about paybacks!Solar Fountains
You can get a good solar fountain for under $100. The water will flow when
the sky is sunny and cut back when it’s cloudy. You’ll be aware of how much
sunshine you are receiving at any given time.
You can build a large solar fountain for a little bit more if you do most of the
labor yourself and use natural landscaping elements, like indigenous rocks.
You can build a really big fountain, and the only cost you’ll incur is for the
solar pump.
You can build a solar fountain with a large upper reservoir so you can even
out the fluctuations in water flow when the sun changes. The reservoir also
allows you to save the water for use later, like when you’re dining nearby.
You can locate a solar fountain anywhere, as long as you put the PV panel in
sunlight.
Sun Tea
Here’s the cheapest project you can possibly do with the sun. Put some tea
bags and water in a big glass jar with a lid, and leave it in the sunshine for a
few hours. By the middle of the afternoon, you’ll have refreshing sun tea. You
don’t need to heat water on the stove or in the microwave, and the tea tastes
wonderful. (Just don’t leave the jar in the sun too long.)
Battery Chargers
If you use a lot of batteries, you can drastically cut back on battery costs by
using rechargeable batteries in conjunction with a solar charger. And I’m not
only talking about the standard household batteries, either. You can get solar
chargers for vehicle batteries, notebook computer batteries, and small
appliances.
Using these devices gives you a very good lesson on PV technology because
you’ll need to locate the PV panel in a good, sunny spot to get the most juice
into your batteries.Going Out of Your Mind
by Going Off-Grid
If you have a choice between going off-grid and installing a PV intertie
system, do not go off-grid. The economics are horrible, in a relative sense.
Off-grid systems use batteries, which are operational and waste nightmares.
Plus, you can’t get a mortgage for an off-grid house.
Nevertheless, a movement is afoot to “go back to Mother Nature” by going
off-grid. This movement would be better titled, “getting away from humanity
while punching Mother Nature in the gut.”
You can save a heckuva lot more pollution by going intertie than off-grid in
many ways. If you want to get away from humanity (I’m empathetic, believe
me), go backpacking and remember to take biodegradable toilet paper. Then
when you get back home, check your intertie PV system to see how much of
a net surplus of energy you generated.
Relying on Solar When
You Rarely See the Sun
If you’re in a cloudy, rainy, cold climate, and your utility rates are low, don’t
install a PV system, no matter how much you want to jump on the band-
wagon. You can use your money to save the world in many other planet-
friendly, more efficient ways. Install a geothermal system for heating and
cooling. Put in a pellet stove and figure out how to work it perfectly. Give to
Greenpeace.