Batteries
Due to a recent week-long boat trip, I have been thinking about batteries, and how to provide power in places where there is no grid. Like the middle of the ocean.
I have a little solar rig, one 5w 12v and one 1.8w 12v, hooked up through a controller to two batteries out of office UPS systems. Each battery costs about $15 and has 8000mAh of juice. For reference, most cellphone batteries are around 1000 for regular phones, and 1500mAh for new smartphones.
I have been using for my camera (Pentax K-x) the fantastic eneloop batteries from Sanyo - they really are pretty incredible, allowing lots of recharging but most importantly not draining over time like most NiMH rechargeables. And then I saw that each AA battery was 2000mAh. Not bad.
And then I found that cheap Chinese 2000mAh NiMH batteries are $1/4 on eBay. Sure, power would have to be used pretty much right after charging - but for charging off a solar panel during the day, and discharging at night, should work fine (though will take longer than one day to charge). And the cost is crazy low. This would give me 200aH for $25 - whereas a 200aH battery is usually $250.
Granted there are some downsides - but I think I am going to take on Tesla, and build an electric car out of eBayed chinese batteries and an old Ford Econovan. I'm going to call it the Van Damn.
I have a little solar rig, one 5w 12v and one 1.8w 12v, hooked up through a controller to two batteries out of office UPS systems. Each battery costs about $15 and has 8000mAh of juice. For reference, most cellphone batteries are around 1000 for regular phones, and 1500mAh for new smartphones.
I have been using for my camera (Pentax K-x) the fantastic eneloop batteries from Sanyo - they really are pretty incredible, allowing lots of recharging but most importantly not draining over time like most NiMH rechargeables. And then I saw that each AA battery was 2000mAh. Not bad.
And then I found that cheap Chinese 2000mAh NiMH batteries are $1/4 on eBay. Sure, power would have to be used pretty much right after charging - but for charging off a solar panel during the day, and discharging at night, should work fine (though will take longer than one day to charge). And the cost is crazy low. This would give me 200aH for $25 - whereas a 200aH battery is usually $250.
Granted there are some downsides - but I think I am going to take on Tesla, and build an electric car out of eBayed chinese batteries and an old Ford Econovan. I'm going to call it the Van Damn.
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