what are the best energy storage devices? for living off the grid?
i guess this is kind of pathetic, but my dad said i could come to his house and charge up some kind of batteries to bring back to my own house to run all my appliances (TV, microwave, lights, fridge, computer, etc)
some solar people i talked to said to fill up the attic with some kind of expensive deep cycle super lithium-ion trucker batteries, or something, with voltage regulators inbetween the batteries and my appliances
does this sound right or is there an easier way to do this?
does anyone know of the best batteries or energy storage devices?
i know a little generator would work well, but then you have the noise and gas fumes i guess
thanks for that answer virtual guy, but can you tell me what the best kind of batteries to buy are, if you check this again?
You can buy appliances that run on 12 volts, but they’re expensive. An inverter turns 12 volt DC into 110 AC so that you can run normal household appliances. We use a 2500 watt inverter to get juice to our refrigerator, lighting, 2 computers, microwave, and a big-screen entertainment center. It uses up all the charge in 10 deep-discharge marine 80 Amp-hour 12 volt batteries in about two days. We charge those batteries with 8 85-watt solar panels through a voltage regulator – takes about 10 hrs of sunlight for a full charge. We had to run the generator 3 times last winter to charge the batteries when there was no sun during extended snowy periods (Western New Mexico). It would be a LOT of lifting to take them to someone else’s house for charging, plus you’d have to connect and disconnect them.
I’m not sure what you are saying is really practical, and you certainly won’t save money at first. Deep cycle lead acid batteries are the choice of most off-the-grid folks, but they are expensive. Some of the eBooks on wind generators have info on reconditioning old batteries. These would be cheaper – but still very heavy to haul around.