Prepper electronics tutorials?

[peps1]

Hello,

I was thinking about doing some YouTube videos on some prepper oriented electronics, covering things like, stepping down voltages using easy to salvage regulators, generating power using wind, solar and heat, converting AC to DC with simple diode rectifiers, how to wire batteries in series and parallel and gear reviews.

I was just wondering if there was demand for videos like this in the community, and if so what else would you like to see on the topic?

[preppingsu]

Please pop over to the new members section and post an intro.
Thanks

[Quercus-robur]

Hello and Welcome to the forum.

I would find it very useful as i only have a basic knowledge of electronics from secondary school technology. I have seen some interesting videos on Youtube recently. Someone on this forum linked to a video of a guy making a solar powered radio from an old radio and a cheap solar garden light. Any tutorials like that I would love to watch.

Qr

[Vespa]

Yes Please.

How would I run LED lights on a car battery during a power cut,? How many lights could I run from a single battery

How could I charge that same battery with solar panels? (or even wind).

There's more, but start with these.

[Survivalist85]

I watched a Video from someone who took a disposable camera to bits and lit a light bulb using bits and a battery. Any "hacks" like this would be great.

Thanks

[Yorkshire Andy]

Yes Please.

How would I run LED lights on a car battery during a power cut,? How many lights could I run from a single battery

How could I charge that same battery with solar panels? (or even wind).

There's more, but start with these.

Ohh the million dollar questions....


first you would need 12v dc led lights....

you just connect them live cable to live battery terminal (ideally fused acording to the wire and lights been used) and negative to negative

Fuses are very important even just dealing with a small car battery as short circuits can lead to fire....


as for how many lights.. what lights you using and how bigs the battery in terms of Amp Hours and is it healthy and whats the temperature.... (ideally you want to be using a deep cycle battery even then they should never be totally discharged from reading i try not to take mine past 50% discharge)


often you will see current use in watts but you can work that out using the VIR formula ...

v = volts 12v

I = current is what you want

R= resistance (watts)


so I = V / R

I = 12volts / 10 watts

gives 1.2 amp current draw for example







as for battery life....


say you have 2 led lights each drawing

1amp = 2 amps....

and you have a 100 amp hour battery.....

theoretically you have 2/100 = 50 hours of light but factor in 50 % to protect the battery make that 25 hours...






as for charging you can use either BUT you need a flipping big decent size panel to get any meaningful charge likewise wind generator

but you need to ensure you match the charge rate with the battery as some limit a max charge current to avoid boiling the electrolite

ideally an auto cut off to prevent over charging...


say a solar cell has a charge rate of 5 amps in average conditions... (beware many quote figures in optimum full sun conditions)


5 amps an hour over X hours of light


you need to balance this with what you consume


so say you draw 40 amps a day from the battery running "lights" you need to put that 40 amps back in

with a 5a charge rate you need 8 hours charging to do that MINIMUM more if colder or battery in bad condition (old or badly looked after or a long cable run between charger and battery bank)





think of a bath tub,,


battery been the bath

tap been the charger

plug been the load (eg your lights)


and your aiming to keep the bath full..... but not let it overflow or get below about half full



REMEMBER BATTERIES ARE DANGEROUS

they contain sulphuric acid,...

release hydrogen when charging so no smoking or naked flames near them

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_TnsHu2u4c

and go bang if shorted out....



With any battery if its not a maintenence free one they need a bit of tlc every now and again to keep them happy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJrSr54OyfY



take a look below at these links..

http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles ... asics.html

http://www.streetmusician.co.uk/batterycalculation/

http://motorcaravanners.eu/index.php?op ... &id=162#bp