Your Advice on this

[jennyjj01]

Hi thanks for letting me know i was working on my laptop on bed and not a great screen to see on lol , i know

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175118889399

It's a pretty box.

[Yorkshire Andy]

Yes I made that guide a good few years ago I like these usb outlets they combine a switch and voltage gauge / monitor two for the price of one


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363722849267 ... R-Lyr__mYA


https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/363721407875 ... R-Lyr__mYA

[Yorkshire Andy]

As for the solar input

"Any" 12v panel with a charge controller and a plug and socket of your choice to connect

Eg

https://vi.raptor.ebaydesc.com/ws/eBayI ... spheader=1


Or something a bit more meaty

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/272820070589 ... R8iW2v_mYA

[steptoe]

Thank you guys feels like this place is going to be a second home lol , we are on a large run tomorrow to farmfood as we love the place for our stocks and as i made the wife and bacon grill with egg poured round it in a sort of omelette the other morning in a sannie for her breakfast well you guessed it lol more please .

Thanks again andy and others for all your input really helps to bounce stuff off people and get tips nad hints on where not to go wrong .

[steptoe]

Hi thanks for letting me know i was working on my laptop on bed and not a great screen to see on lol , i know

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/175118889399

It's a pretty box.

That was what drew me in to be honest , i liked the fact it was all there in one but now seeing andy's idea and the fact he has also got the 300w invertor in it hmmm makes me what more lol , i know my wife would say oh he is more more more i should be called oliver but as i like a skip steptoe it is , i just liked the idea it was ready and willing to go just add a nice battery but i am now on to the idea of a make my own then i can personalise it .

cheers all

[Yorkshire Andy]

When you look to buy

Look for a pure sine wave inverter (modified sine wave don't run some stuff very well lots of RF noise on radios / TV motors run hot and some sensitive stuff just won't run /work

Mine gets used regular to charge my power tools from my solar panels ..

You could plump for a bigger one but I find the 300w runs most stuff far more efficiently than the big 1000w iniverter


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sealey-PSI300- ... B00CM9AEOO

Building your own will let you spread the cost as it soon adds up

Up until recently I'd have rated Halfords leisure batteries but they have recently almost doubled in price

Look here:

https://www.tayna.co.uk/leisure-batteries/

I've also got a big mains battery charger thinking if we get rotor cuts I can recharge quickly ready for the next cut

[steptoe]

@Yorkshire Andy thank you for the info mate yes , yes it took me a while to figure out i was looking at invertors and see 1000w for £100 and then another the same for £1500 so i was like hmm has to be a difference until i started reading the spec ie one is mod sine and one is pure sin then i looked at what the difference was and yup pure sine is what it is straight clean even power , i am working on your design i am sure i might add a invertor but like you i will look round and take advice as some well are just knock offs , like with air gun compressors some rate the cheap chinese knock off saying they are as good as the expensive one but like we found out with the space shuttle when it went bang cheap is not always the same it may looks as good may feel the same until it lets go , the samewit ha tv show i watch a sort of documentry about the fuel/oil pumps on the large passenger planes i will fin the name if you like but omg they used cheap chinese copy parts not a good out come .

Ok thank you again andy you should may be write a book on your builds i would buy it for sure .

thanks again for all the great advice

[Yorkshire Andy]

@Yorkshire Andy thank you for the info mate yes , yes it took me a while to figure out i was looking at invertors and see 1000w for £100 and then another the same for £1500 so i was like hmm has to be a difference until i started reading the spec ie one is mod sine and one is pure sin then i looked at what the difference was and yup pure sine is what it is straight clean even power , i am working on your design i am sure i might add a invertor but like you i will look round and take advice as some well are just knock offs , like with air gun compressors some rate the cheap chinese knock off saying they are as good as the expensive one but like we found out with the space shuttle when it went bang cheap is not always the same it may looks as good may feel the same until it lets go , the samewit ha tv show i watch a sort of documentry about the fuel/oil pumps on the large passenger planes i will fin the name if you like but omg they used cheap chinese copy parts not a good out come .

Ok thank you again andy you should may be write a book on your builds i would buy it for sure .

thanks again for all the great advice

Not a problem

If you do go 12v route you can use things such as a old car radio for well err radio I've also got a 12v /24v truckers TV / dvd so in the event of a power outage I can get the news and err keep the kids entertained doubled up with we go camping so I can off grid camp with solar and a leisure battery and keep the kids happy on a damp evening

And going camping I've got a mini antenna and free sat kit which also runs on 12v it's amazing what you can find on Facebook market place for very little money

Obviously going from 12v to 240vac can incur a big loss especially when you then step down again to low voltage the 12v kit make a more reliable longer run time set up

[steptoe]

@Yorkshire Andy thank you for the info mate yes , yes it took me a while to figure out i was looking at invertors and see 1000w for £100 and then another the same for £1500 so i was like hmm has to be a difference until i started reading the spec ie one is mod sine and one is pure sin then i looked at what the difference was and yup pure sine is what it is straight clean even power , i am working on your design i am sure i might add a invertor but like you i will look round and take advice as some well are just knock offs , like with air gun compressors some rate the cheap chinese knock off saying they are as good as the expensive one but like we found out with the space shuttle when it went bang cheap is not always the same it may looks as good may feel the same until it lets go , the samewit ha tv show i watch a sort of documentry about the fuel/oil pumps on the large passenger planes i will fin the name if you like but omg they used cheap chinese copy parts not a good out come .

Ok thank you again andy you should may be write a book on your builds i would buy it for sure .

thanks again for all the great advice

Not a problem

If you do go 12v route you can use things such as a old car radio for well err radio I've also got a 12v /24v truckers TV / dvd so in the event of a power outage I can get the news and err keep the kids entertained doubled up with we go camping so I can off grid camp with solar and a leisure battery and keep the kids happy on a damp evening

And going camping I've got a mini antenna and free sat kit which also runs on 12v it's amazing what you can find on Facebook market place for very little money

Obviously going from 12v to 240vac can incur a big loss especially when you then step down again to low voltage the 12v kit make a more reliable longer run time set up

Thank you for all the info i have pm you to hope that was ok , i really do need to sort power out as i say i have most stuff but it is the power or extra power i should say i want to have just in case i have honda eu10i gennies so happy there but i want some solar stuff and also battery stuff in case , i also want to find a way to run a ham set up long term as i have all the kit lol yup full set up but no licence yet that is the next thing i want to sort but having just renew our fac and other cost well the ham licence is last on the list as i think in a grid down type of world i doubt a detector van will be knocking the door lol , but i would like to get a call sign and i want to get morse licence to just in case you never know as i say better to be prepared than go oh i wish i had done that after the event , thanks again and i must say what a great site

[rik_uk3]

Hello Steptoe

Remember that while a cheap inverter will work fine with a lot of things they won't work well with others. Running things like a refrigerator will work a lot better with a pure sine wave inverter which tend to cost a lot more.

You can pick up cheap solar kits off ebay for about £30, 100w (or more) panel and controller and they work but... in reality these 100w panels don't give anywhere near that output and I know because I've played with them, on a good day you might get 20w and thats OK but you might well need to buy two or three to charge a battery, certainly in the winter months so it will pay you to spend more at the start on a more reputable panel (costing more £££s)

Sometimes when your on a budget the old adage of "buy cheap buy twice" is correct. You need to really think about what you need the battery for and do some serious homework before parting with your cash.