Someone who knows about solar/portable electricity.?

Question

I am very much thinking about purchasing something just like the link below and I've asked several people about these questions but no one can help me....

My question is... How long will this run something like a small normal 60 watt light before needing to be recharged? How long would it run something like a CD player? One last question... how long would it take to recharge this puppy back from no supply to 100% supply just using solar power?

http://www.pcconnection.com/IPA/Shop/Product/Detail.htm?sku=7815801&oext=1038A&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=7815801

Is there another way to get portable power out camping that will last longer, cheaper and is safer? If so... please explain exactly what to buy and how to set it up.

Thanks guys!!!

Answer 1

The specs given for this unit don't seem right. As someone else said they are usually advertised to supply more than you will actually get.

I'd suggest battery powered lights.  If you simply must have more power then you should consider a gas powered generator.

When considering you power needs, you mentioned operating a 60 watt light.    To run a 60 watt light requires .5 amps of current draw.    To see what any electrical appliance requires to run look at the data plate. All electrical appliances are required to have that information printed on them.

Watts is equal to the voltage times  the number of amps.    A 60 watt light uses 120 volts times .5 amps, which equals 60 or 60 watts.   Using the same formula  watts is equal to voltage time amps you can figure the power required to run any item.

Answer 2

A 5 watt pack won't light a 60 watt bulb at all. It should last hours with a CD player since they take barely any energy. A better alternative is a hand crank.

Also, you might want to replace that bulb with a much more efficient LED.

Answer 3

The specs show it as a 400 watt unit with a 10 amp hour 12 volt battery The solar pack mentions a 5 watt system so I'll guess about about 80 hours in bright sunshine for a recharge. It should run the 60 watt lamp about 10 hours.

Answer 4

The item is a battery inverter. Solar is just a name.

If you read the 'spec.s` you'll see that it's powered

by a 12V. 10 A. H. battery, and will put out up to

400W. short term, but you've only got a maximum

of 120 Watt/hr.s in storage.

It will run your 60W. lamp somewhere just short of 2 hr.s.

If you add a .5A. , (6 W.), solar charger, you can

recharge it in something over 20 Hrs. of full sunlight.

Lotsa luck.

Answer 5

according to the specs it will run  a 320 watt device for 10 hours continuos and a 400 watt device for 2 minutes.  and recharges at 5 watts.  The problem is that these numbers are usually exagerated greatly and you can expect the performance to be about half that.  Meaning a week to recharge after a 4 - 5 hour use.  look for a small 1200 watt gas generator.  there pretty quiet and run for hours on a pint of gas.

The one in the link below is an example and I don't speak for the sight itself.