Solar power/mains info needed

[Goomer]

Hi there

My girlfriend and I have recently bought our first house and, being self sufficiency skinflints with an eye on environmental well being, were talking about the possibility of switching from mains electricity to solar power - although it's initially expensive, there are organisations offering grants and low cost loans, etc..

I was also interested in the idea of solar power as a means to improving the power supply to my hifi - save the planet with good tunes....that kind of thing - and wonder if anyone here could point me in the direction of any sites they know of which could start me on my quest. Anything relating to solar energy would be useful, really, although any specific sites relating to solar/hifi(if they exist!) would be ideall, as would any personal experiences of other inmates here.

To all the sparkies out there, too, I have a question from a electrical ignoramus - would there be an advantage to be gained in hifi terms from using solar energy as a source of power as opposed to our current(pun intended) 'shared' electric mains?

Apologies for the length of the query, and for the query itself if it's a dumb one.

Cheers,

Goomer.

[lhatkins]

I thought this would be a really good idea, I woul think you would use the solar energy would be used to charge batteries thus keeping a good level power supply going, this I would think provide you with a steady clean supply. I've not taken on any job like this and would be interested to know how you get on, we are in the process on buying our new home too and might be an interesting project to look at.

[Larkin]

Go to www.maplin.co.uk and search for solar. One of the items found is for solar panels. The smaller panel produces 12V at 200mA approx. The larger panel produces 12V at 500mA. approx.
How to charge lead acid batteries whilst running your hi-fi of the batteries is beyind me though. But seems possible.

[Goomer]

Thanks, Larkin, for the link.

I'll investigate further and post my findings - from Maplin as well as the other sites I'm searching - in due course.

Bye for now...

[themadhippy]

dont forget that if your using solar/wind power to charge batterys you'll end up with D.C,normal lecky out of the wall is A.C ,whilst its simple to convert A.C to D.C,going the other way is more complicated and may cause more noise problems than it cures.

[Goomer]

Cheers, hippy, for the tip. I received a response at the tweakers asylum from a company called Solar Hifi - now why didn't I just put that in as my google search...? - who may be able to give me more info regarding sine wave converters(I say that like I know what it means :rolleyes: ) ) and there usage/effectiveness at driving power hungry hifi. I'll let you know how I get on.

All the best,

Goomer.

[lhatkins]

Originally posted by themadhippy
dont forget that if your using solar/wind power to charge batterys you'll end up with D.C,normal lecky out of the wall is A.C ,whilst its simple to convert A.C to D.C,going the other way is more complicated and may cause more noise problems than it cures.

Could always ditch the home hifi and build a hifi using Car Audio conponants, all on 12v problem solved? hum which has given me an interesting idea, I could do that in my garage, save me having to put power out there.