PowerSwitch

Currently available from Makro (until the 3rd June) for ?49.99 & VAT. SSSP: Apparently ?99.99 & VAT.

* Powerful 13W solar charger

* Folds away in the style of a briefcase

* Perfect for charging Caravan Batteries, DC fridges, mobile phones, GPS etc.

* Easy storage. Dimensions: Open: 52.5 x 67 x 2cm

* Includes 4A Regulator

* Charges and operates 3v, 6v, 9v and 12v appliances

* Integrated adjustable angle support

* Complete with leads

What do you think?

They are also currently selling a 2.3KVA Petrol Generator for ?99.99 & VAT. SSSP: Apparently ?169.99 & VAT.

The generator sounds good value, for light duty or short term use, possibly not very durable.

Not so sure about the solar charger though.
13 watts for ?50, looks very bulky for the output, probably consists of two cheap, very easily broken amorphous modules, the ones made of thin window glass that shatter if you fart near them!
Might well be 13 chinese watts (+ or - 25% tolerance on power output, therefore is perhaps only 10 real watts)

For a portable PV module I favour the unbreakable ones made by Solarex (now BP solar), these are polycrystaline and therefore smaller for a given output.

adam2 wrote:The generator sounds good value, for light duty or short term use, possibly not very durable.

Not so sure about the solar charger though.
13 watts for ?50, looks very bulky for the output, probably consists of two cheap, very easily broken amorphous modules, the ones made of thin window glass that shatter if you fart near them!
Might well be 13 chinese watts (+ or - 25% tolerance on power output, therefore is perhaps only 10 real watts)

For a portable PV module I favour the unbreakable ones made by Solarex (now BP solar), these are polycrystaline and therefore smaller for a given output.

Thanks for the feedback Adam. I purchased a similar petrol genny some time ago for use in the event of a short term emergency. It isn't as sturdy as a good quality diesel equivalent but hopefully it will stand up to short bursts of service.

I thought the solar charger would be useful if you find yourself away from home or vehicle and needed to recharge a few small portable items. I stand corrected.

I got a second hand 18W crystalline PV panel on ebay for ?50, so maybe that's a better deal?

mikepepler wrote:I got a second hand 18W crystalline PV panel on ebay for ?50, so maybe that's a better deal?

Thanks for the feedback Mike. I'll give it some further thought but for the price it would seem to be a useful addition to the post PO kit.

mikepepler wrote:I got a second hand 18W crystalline PV panel on ebay for ?50, so maybe that's a better deal?

Was that a private seller?

emordnilap wrote:

mikepepler wrote:I got a second hand 18W crystalline PV panel on ebay for ?50, so maybe that's a better deal?

Was that a private seller?

Yes. They'd put together a pretty poor advert, making it look dodgy, which meant nobody else bid on it - I did my research and figured the panel was fine as long as I didn't mind cutting the lead off it and doing some soldering, so I got a bargain!

There's others that are not much more new though.

mikepepler wrote:

emordnilap wrote:

mikepepler wrote:I got a second hand 18W crystalline PV panel on ebay for ?50, so maybe that's a better deal?

Was that a private seller?

Yes. They'd put together a pretty poor advert, making it look dodgy, which meant nobody else bid on it - I did my research and figured the panel was fine as long as I didn't mind cutting the lead off it and doing some soldering, so I got a bargain!

There's others that are not much more new though.

I've been looking at ebay for things like this but never seem to see anything remotely like a bargain! Am I putting in the right search terms, I wonder?

Aurora wrote:Thanks for the feedback Adam. I purchased a similar petrol genny some time ago for use in the event of a short term emergency. It isn't as sturdy as a good quality diesel equivalent but hopefully it will stand up to short bursts of service.

In view of the very low price of these, and similar generators, it might be worth buying two, so as to have a spare.
Purchase of two identical units would enable parts to be swapped, presuming of course that the same bit does not break on both!

emordnilap wrote:I've been looking at ebay for things like this but never seem to see anything remotely like a bargain! Am I putting in the right search terms, I wonder?

You just have to be persistent and browse:
http://electronics.listings.ebay.co.uk/ ... ngItemList

mikepepler wrote:

emordnilap wrote:I've been looking at ebay for things like this but never seem to see anything remotely like a bargain! Am I putting in the right search terms, I wonder?

You just have to be persistent and browse:
http://electronics.listings.ebay.co.uk/ ... ngItemList

Yep, I wasn't seeing most of that lot for some reason.

I think this portable solar generator is useful for short-term use only because I think they are not that durable to use for long periods of time. However, I like this solar generator because they are handy and portable. I have a neighbor who have a solar generator like this one and they always bring it whenever they go mountain hiking.

Is this fun:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... 0436034535

I've got one of the solar suitcases. It's about two years old and we've used it for recharging tractor, digger and car batteries. It's OK but the plastic breaks easily after it's been in the sun for a while and getting all the wires in to shut it properly is a fuss.

I'd go with Mike's idea of buying a solar panel, put a wee bit of cash extra and get a controller and you won't have to buy special jack plugs as you do with the suitcase panel.

Emordnilap, that fridge/freezer looks like one of these very efficient Steca units that allegedly can run on one 75watt solar panel (Click the English translation on the site):

http://www.stecasolar.com/index.php?mai ... 204a48_0|2

French prices here :

http://www.leguide.net/bp/10000405/steca.htm

Expensive fun ! Maybe it's better buying more solar panels and use a cheap fridge ?

The Steca fridge/freezer is £810 inc VAT at http://www.mysolarshop.co.uk/product_in ... cts_id=270 less than the cost of 2 x 110W panels.

I'm tempted to invest more of my pension cash into one of those especially in view of this Household Energy Bills To Hit Almost £5K In 10 Years http://www.build.co.uk/construction_new ... wsid=95499