Solar Panel kitsets?

From what started off as a lecture to my daughter for taking too long in the shower and the ever increasing cost of power, her rebuttal was that she that she will fix the problem by getting some free power.
This led to another discussion as to where the free power was to come from and it was decided we would begin with a small solar project.
A quick sift over AliExpress found a few items but nothing that a Dad and daughter could easily knock together. I was thinking something like a light with a panel and battery.
I went overboard and started putting a 30A MPPT charge controller and 350W panel together but, at over 100USD per panel its getting outta hand fast.
Anyone have ideas for easy sourced kits or similar. I would like to explore solar a bit further and see what I can work up to but would like to start with something a bit easier (cheaper).

requires qualified installers i.e Sparkys and Plumbers

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Originally Posted by Gapped axe

requires qualified installers i.e Sparkys and Plumbers

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Plumbers? Pull the other one.

Was hoping if I can find a cheap enough and small enough unit I could take these into local huts and installs them as a permanent light source.

Pretty straight forward. Jump on trademe and pick up a solar panel from there, 20-40W would be heaps to get started. Get a basic solar charge controller, also has the load terminals and stops running the battery too low. Get a battery, gel cell or old car battery will do for a start. Wire it all together. Use LED strip light for the load from aliexpress.

get an exercise bike, attach generator to bike and have daughter pedal furiously to heat water. then tell same daughter nothing is free power

thought you were talking Solar/hot water. Well you started out on that track and that requires both of those trades.

@kiwijames

Does this fit your requirements for lighting a hut with solar, less than $10nzd
Attachment 65268

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-...6-22b4563fab39

Cheers
Pete

James, I run a cool little 5v solar setup for lights and charging phones and small Bluetooth speaker.

It's low weight and size enables it to be packed into huts/camp etc.

I'll take a pic of the components later on and post.

Just a flexible fold up 20w panel, a 10,000 mah battery pack and a couple of different types of led lights (depending what I'm doing)

Works bloody well. Don't need 12v if you only want to run lights, charge phones and similar.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by P38

@kiwijames

Does this fit your requirements for lighting a hut with solar, less than $10nzd
Attachment 65268

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-...6-22b4563fab39

Cheers
Pete

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Cheers Pete. Maybe I'm asking two things here.
I've started leaving pillows in huts where and when I can, I hate going so far for a shit nights sleep. I figured leaving a few lights would make mine and others outdoors experiences a bit more comfortable too. These lamps look the ticket.
I also find I prioritize my eldest over the other two so will look for something that requires a bit more assembly. I'd like this a project I can do with my youngest daughter for a bit of Dad/daughter time. Might look to see if we can slowly kit something together a bit larger in scale. Keen to look at storing from a PV and powering a home device like the fridge or other load. Its going to need some time and cash though.

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Originally Posted by P38

@kiwijames

Does this fit your requirements for lighting a hut with solar, less than $10nzd
Attachment 65268

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Hot-...6-22b4563fab39

Cheers
Pete

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I like that. The panel looks like it has the right plug to charge a phone too.

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Originally Posted by GWH

James, I run a cool little 5v solar setup for lights and charging phones and small Bluetooth speaker.

It's low weight and size enables it to be packed into huts/camp etc.

I'll take a pic of the components later on and post.

Just a flexible fold up 20w panel, a 10,000 mah battery pack and a couple of different types of led lights (depending what I'm doing)

Works bloody well. Don't need 12v if you only want to run lights, charge phones and similar.

Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk

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Ok heres my array of bits that i use in a variety of different combinations.

Attachment 65276

Attachment 65277

If doing a fly in trip, or camping beside the car, i take the whole lot (packed up into a cheap plastic ammo case from SuperCheap auto).

Or if packing in and wanted to go very light, you could simply take the luminoodle strip light and the little Nitecore F1 (with a spare 18650 battery or two) and not even take the solar panel. The Nitecore F1 can charge 18650 batterys and can also plug a USB cable into it to use as a power bank to run lights, charge phone etc.

The Luminoodle can be left in the white bag with the battery and used as a hanging lantern also. It weights nothing and takes up no room.

Attachment 65282

Attachment 65283

Attachment 65284

And here's the little lightweight bluetooth speaker ive recently got, surprisingly good sound for the size and weight of it.

Attachment 65287

The Solar panel, 5W lamp and 10,000 mah power bank all came from Banggood.com pretty cheap. I ended up buying the Luminoodle new off Trademe in the end, as freight from offshore killed it.

@GWH that looks like a really good wee set up you have there, might need to add a few things to my kit seeing your pics

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Originally Posted by 223nut

@GWH that looks like a really good wee set up you have there, might need to add a few things to my kit seeing your pics

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Thanks, yeah it all works very well for my needs. There is also a 15W folding panel available that only has two panel sections, so a little lighter and slightly thinner.

If you want to be able to do more with the solar power, then you need to go 12V. IE when we went hunting on Stewy for 10 days, my father in law put together a larger 12V solar kit, it had a 40W panel and 2 x 18AH batteries. We used it every night to run hut lights, and also charge UHF radios, as well as running a Nitecore D4 battery charger to charge batteries for Headlamps, GPS's, cameras, as well as bluetooth speaker etc etc. There was 8 of us, all charging something all the while, and considering we didnt actually get that much sun on that trip the solar power system did bloody well.

@GWH just picking up this old discussion again - that luminoodle has really fallen out of favour with me in a hunting camp setting because it is too bright and too white. now will just use it for camping rips with the kids where you ned a bit more light. the LED bulb with on/off switch (the same as yours) has a softer yellow hue and is preferable to me

however, i have found on aliexpress a rip off version of the Luminoodle for about half the price and got it in a yellow hue. the build quality feels roughly the same, output is similar as far as I can tell and a much softer light colour. will give this one another go

Attachment 76227

for fly camping trips a camp light doesn't make the cut for the pack as it is too bulky and not really that necessary but i have just found these little usb led lights on aliexpress thinking that paired up with a nitecore F1 charger + 18650 battery (which i carry anyway for head torch/phone etc) they might make the cut for the pack. i have ordered a couple with 2x LED and one with 6x LED to test the difference. i assume they won't have much output but are friggin tiny and only $1-$3 each. interested in whether you have you checked these out before??

Attachment 76228

Came across a dude running a few of these so grabbed a couple. You can get them in a yellower colour. 3 Brightness levels and a strobe setting. Light weight and go for ages. Just one lit the hut up enough on low without pissing everyone off and then you just leave them in the sun to charge during the day.

I've yet to use mine in a hunting situation yet, won't be able to until Feb, but they've had a lot of use as a baby light. Leave them on all night for 3 nights then put them outside to charge for a day or two while using the other.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

yeah they are pretty good, i started off with one of those a while back (original model not the 2.0) but found them a bit tricky when it is windy around camp. also need to carry a bit of string or carabiner to attached to the inside of the tent
the other thing i don't like that much is that there is no external charging capability so if its rain or cloud or you can't leave them outside then no way to get a decent charge.
ethically its a pretty amazing company sending lights out all over the world to those without power access mpowerd.com/pages/impact

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Originally Posted by Nibblet

Came across a dude running a few of these so grabbed a couple. You can get them in a yellower colour. 3 Brightness levels and a strobe setting. Light weight and go for ages. Just one lit the hut up enough on low without pissing everyone off and then you just leave them in the sun to charge during the day.

I've yet to use mine in a hunting situation yet, won't be able to until Feb, but they've had a lot of use as a baby light. Leave them on all night for 3 nights then put them outside to charge for a day or two while using the other.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by LOC

yeah they are pretty good, i started off with one of those a while back (original model not the 2.0) but found them a bit tricky when it is windy around camp. also need to carry a bit of string or carabiner to attached to the inside of the tent
the other thing i don't like that much is that there is no external charging capability so if its rain or cloud or you can't leave them outside then no way to get a decent charge.
ethically its a pretty amazing company sending lights out all over the world to those without power access mpowerd.com/pages/impact

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Yeah I kind of agree on lack of external charging but having run them as a baby light for so many days in a row I'm confident that I'd be spending too much time awake at night if I was to flatten them.

Not sure about the older model but these ones have a little plastic strap for hanging.
I can imagine them blowing around in the wind would be a bit annoying though.

There's certainly lots of choices about.

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I have one of those Luci lights, but it was $35 nz from memory. Ok for a gentle night light, but no good in the hut for cooking/reading

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Originally Posted by Nibblet

Yeah I kind of agree on lack of external charging but having run them as a baby light for so many days in a row I'm confident that I'd be spending too much time awake at night if I was to flatten them.

Not sure about the older model but these ones have a little plastic strap for hanging.
I can imagine them blowing around in the wind would be a bit annoying though.

There's certainly lots of choices about.

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

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The Luci's are pretty cool, i use to use them a few years back. They work well, apart from they eventually split from inflating/deflating, the little plastic straps brake off. They still keep going tho.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LOC

@GWH just picking up this old discussion again - that luminoodle has really fallen out of favour with me in a hunting camp setting because it is too bright and too white. now will just use it for camping rips with the kids where you ned a bit more light. the LED bulb with on/off switch (the same as yours) has a softer yellow hue and is preferable to me

however, i have found on aliexpress a rip off version of the Luminoodle for about half the price and got it in a yellow hue. the build quality feels roughly the same, output is similar as far as I can tell and a much softer light colour. will give this one another go

Attachment 76227

for fly camping trips a camp light doesn't make the cut for the pack as it is too bulky and not really that necessary but i have just found these little usb led lights on aliexpress thinking that paired up with a nitecore F1 charger + 18650 battery (which i carry anyway for head torch/phone etc) they might make the cut for the pack. i have ordered a couple with 2x LED and one with 6x LED to test the difference. i assume they won't have much output but are friggin tiny and only $1-$3 each. interested in whether you have you checked these out before??

Attachment 76228

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I have two genuine luminoodles, one is the super bright white light, the other is a more yellow dimmer light. If im flying in/driving into a hut i will take both along with two of the little corded lightbulbs as well, setup a light out on the deck with handy switch etc.

I havnt seen those other light you mention, i'll check them out, please give us an update once youve got them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by GWH

I havnt seen those other light you mention, i'll check them out, please give us an update once youve got them.

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didn't realise there was a yellow light option on the original luminoodle.

pm me your address, i'll send one of the 2 LED ones down to you as i ordered three for USD$0.77 each...

Ok... So what's the latest in small solar chargers for charging 18650s out of a f1 nitecore.. Small light and compact is what I'm after... Aliexpress has heaps, but to be honest I haven't got a clue what I'm looking at in regards to wattage etc...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by LOC

@GWH just picking up this old discussion again - that luminoodle has really fallen out of favour with me in a hunting camp setting because it is too bright and too white. now will just use it for camping rips with the kids where you ned a bit more light. the LED bulb with on/off switch (the same as yours) has a softer yellow hue and is preferable to me

however, i have found on aliexpress a rip off version of the Luminoodle for about half the price and got it in a yellow hue. the build quality feels roughly the same, output is similar as far as I can tell and a much softer light colour. will give this one another go

Attachment 76227

for fly camping trips a camp light doesn't make the cut for the pack as it is too bulky and not really that necessary but i have just found these little usb led lights on aliexpress thinking that paired up with a nitecore F1 charger + 18650 battery (which i carry anyway for head torch/phone etc) they might make the cut for the pack. i have ordered a couple with 2x LED and one with 6x LED to test the difference. i assume they won't have much output but are friggin tiny and only $1-$3 each. interested in whether you have you checked these out before??

Attachment 76228

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Can you put up a link to the USB lights please, Keen to have a look

Go to banggood.com and search ‘USB LED camping’ and quite a few options pop up with different numbers of LED’s, some have availability issues but all look similar.


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one of the tiny LED USB lights turned up today from Banggood so gave it a go and it is better than i expected it to be. here are a couple of photos and I would probably avoid using such a large powerbank with it if overnighting. i haven't used it in the dark yet but considering the brightest setting has temporarily blinded me i can sure you that there is shitloads of light emitted

- NZD$3.77 for the 6 LED warm light, free shipping
- much more robust than expected, but still unlikely to be waterproof at all and exposed components could be broken if not protected
- USB can be plugged in both ways
- has a sensor switch to firstly turn on once plugged in and after that adjusts brightness up and down which i am very impressed with
- was flicking between 1 and 2 grams on my electronic scales
- brightest setting blinded me
- unsure of energy consumption but the geeks on here my have some understanding of how much gas 6 LED's can use

this one is 6 LED Warm Light
https://www.banggood.com/Mini-Mobile...?rmmds=myorder

@GWH those smaller and even cheaper ones where i ordered a few haven't turned up yet but will send you one down once they arrive

Low power setting -
Attachment 77252

High power setting -
Attachment 77253

got the sensor button wrong, you just touch anywhere on the rear of the light and it adjusts brightness up and down

Not really suitable for fly camping, but I had a mate who had a spare washing machine that was no good as a washing machine (Missus said it was old and made things dirtier....) He disassembled most of it and fiddled round a bit, did some good ole kiwi fixing and turned it into a wee generator where instead of using power to spin the drum, the tub spinning now makes power. He dropped it into a stream near the house and generated about 1500 watts, Enough to power a small heater non stop during winter to combat the cold without connecting it to the mains.....

I think he called it a Pelton generator.....

Not free but he did not have to pay anything for it.