Outdoor Adventure USA

Tonight net will cover some options for alternate power in wilderness settings. We will discuss solar, wind and gas powered generators. Attached is a comparison of different power sources with links to manufacturers websites.

Great topic, Dave...loved the wind turbine on the H2 at Summerfest...

Hope I can catch some before heading out for my son's birthday dinner (no more teenagers in my house - yea !!! )

Dave,

I had question regarding solar panels but the net never quite made it fully to that subject. I was wondering about the value of getting non-glass solar panels? Initiatively it seems like a good idea but are conventional glass panels reasonably tough enough for portable off-road use? I was looking at the panels from http://www.iqsolar.com designed for sail boats and the ruggedized aluminum frame panels from http://www.ctsolar.com which are designed for rapid field deployment in emergencies. Both have advantages over conventional solar panels but you have to pay a hefty premium for these non-glass panels.

Thinking back on the times I would have liked some back-up power wind would generally not be as reliable as solar for most of my travels but the power output and cost per watt is favorable enough that it would be worthwhile considering anyway.

The net was well received. There was a very good discussion covering several different types of alternative power options for wilderness use, including gas powered generators, dual battery setups, inverters, solar panels and wind generators. We had to shut things down after two and a quarter hours and we had 36 check-ins.

Our guest was Dennis Hughes of the Keller Peak Repeater. Keller is currently installing a compact wind turbine on the hill to supplement their power needs, and, if things go well, it should be able to meet a very large portion of their monthly electricity requirements.

Bruce: we did in fact cover the general areas that you mentioned. There was a brief discussion of the Brunton Solaris roll up SPs, which as you know, do not use glass. We also discussed the higher end mono-crystalline fixed panels. The part dealing with non-glass panels on fixed, non flexible SPs, was not mentioned though. It will be interesting to get some feedback on how well they hold up compared to the glass units. I think that these panels justify a closer look.

I looked at the two web sites you mentioned, and they offer some very interesting products. In both cases, the ruggedized SPs are perfect for the type of travel that we do. With the IQS products, their 165W panel (apparently the most powerful one they sell) is dimensionally the same as the Sanyo 195W unit that we mentioned on the net and it is also a mono-crystalline panel (like the Sanyo). The light weight and extra strength of the IQS product should make it ideal for remote field use. Both the Sanyo and the IQS offer some of the most efficient SPs on the consumer market today. One interesting advantage of the IQS is that is about half of the weight of the Sanyo (17lbs vs 33 lbs). A considerable weight savings.

The flexible SPs by CTS are not nearly as efficient as either the Sanyo or the IQS. To get the same output as the fixed panels, you would need to buy at least 5 of the 36W flexible panels. They do make a nice camo folder for the hunters out there.

The high output (200 watts) and compact size of the wind turbine (about the size of a bowling ball bag) were compelling reasons why I included it in our discussion and, of course, why I carry one on our extended trips.

Thanks to everyone for participating in the discussion.