Power Wherever You Are By: webmaster

Over the last few months I have taken a keen interest into ways to power my office while on the road, without having city power. This way no matter where the road may lead me, no matter where I may park for the night I will be able to still get work done. Since my work relates directly to my websites, I need power for a laptop, satellite Internet, to charge a cell, to charge cameras, etc.

What I am going to do is build a solar generator with around 400 watts of solar power, have around 500 amp hours capability from the battery bank, and have a small cheap generator as a back up to recharge the batteries if my power demands are to high for a day or two, or there just isn't enough sun. This will all be coupled together with a charger controller and a 1000 plus watt inverter.

To improve battery life I have calculated my daily amp hours needed, times that by three (for 3 days) and added 20% to that. This number became the total amp hours I wanted. Why so long? Mostly just being prepared, encase I couldn't charge up for some reason, or I needed more power one day. The solar panels when producing at full capabilities should fully recharge the power I use in any given day.

The only thing I am unsure about is how I will charge the batteries from the generator. Some have suggested just a normal car battery charger. But to be honest this seems like a hassle. I would prefer a way where all I had to do was plug city power or the generator into a single plug and the batteries charge up.

How do you meet your power needs when you do not have city power?