Tag: Experimental
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Project: Portable DC Toaster Oven – direct solar electric cooking to go
Hi folks, hope you’re doing well. In what is possibly a first, I am unveiling a new prototype invention – a mini PV solar electric toaster oven. It is lightweight, portable and I think would be fairly cheap to produce. It easily bakes or roasts bread, meat, vegetables and whatever else – all day using…
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18V tool battery bakes bread! Mini Oven prototype part 2
Is it possible to bake bread using an 18V Power Tool Battery? Recently, I set out to answer this question. In the back yard I set up a table and connected my mini solar electric PV2L oven to a Ryobi 18V power tool battery with alligator clips. After a few adjustments and a short wait,…
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Mini 100 Watt solar electric oven prototype – Simple Solar Cooking!
Can a single 100 Watt 12V solar panel supply enough power to cook or bake food by itself? I’ve been thinking about this question for years. A simple portable electric oven that operates off of such a small amount of power could change everything. Finally, after a long wait, the opportunity came to test the…
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Risky Experiments in my Solar Workshop – Part 2: lithium cell phone batteries
Some time ago, a friend sent me a box of discarded lithium-ion cell phone batteries he had no use for. They would have ended up in the landfill otherwise. So I started a “side project” in which I intended to experimentally use these batteries for solar power. Normally I use LiFePo4 cells for solar power,…
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Simple PV Solar heating for beginners – plus video guide
For years I have been using excess solar power to heat my home with various types of directly PV powered DC heaters. I wanted to help beginners who want to try tapping direct PV Solar power to heat their home or shop. So I created a detailed video guide (it’s posted below). Background Previously, I…
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(Updated) Solar Panels can heat your Home or Shop – DIY video series
Did you know that a small (~1kW) array of solar panels can generate enough heat for a typical room in a home or shop? In fact the idea is so simple, so good and so affordable, it ought to be in every home. Note: due to the complexity and safety issues of modifying AC space…
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Why Survivalists should own at least one solar panel
Perhaps you’re not really into solar, but are a survivalist or into preparedness, prepping etc. I would argue that everyone should own at least one (or two +) 100 Watt 12 Volt solar panels as part of their survival and preparedness kit. They are truly a high tech Swiss army knife. Plus a 100 Watt…
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Low Voltage Solar Panels can cook food directly – And why it matters
Did you know it’s possible to cook food directly off low voltage solar panels? No inverter, no high voltages, no battery, no charge controller. It’s technically feasible, and I have done it several times now with prototypes developed in my solar workshop. The simplicity and efficiency of such a setup is nothing short of astounding.…
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Ryobi 18v Solar Battery Charger DIY project
Wouldn’t it be great if Ryobi 18v power tool batteries could be charged directly from a 100 watt solar panel? A while back I developed a prototype which achieved this aim successfully. Products like this should already be on the shelf. With solar power, efficiency is a good thing. The normal route involves the solar…
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Are wall mounted solar panels worth it?
I took the chance of mounting some 100w monocrystalline solar panels on the wall of my metal building (solar workshop). If interested, check out my video of the setup at the bottom of the page. I really needed some extra power for lab experiments and so forth, but did not want the burden of more…
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Risky Solar Experiments in my shop – part 1
I often wondered what would happen if I took a 12V solar panel with its high VoC (Voltage Open Circuit) and plugged it straight into a netbook or laptop. This is risky because solar panels have an unregulated voltage output. So I took a netbook that was available and tried plugging in a 100W solar…
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