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[–] Snapz@lemmy.world 11 points 3 months ago (29 children)

Depends on tge apocolypse, but Refrigeration... HVAC.... Power tools... Could go on.

Maybe even your phone if you've downloaded books/manuals/maps needed to rebuild before hand

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[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 11 points 3 months ago (28 children)

What is 30 watts going to do for any of those? I don't think people here know how weak a 30 W panel is.

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[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk [S] 4 points 3 months ago (3 children)

The argument was that: "basically nothing that you can charge is going to be of any use other than flashlights" not that 30 watts is sufficient for long term.

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[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 1 point 3 months ago (2 children)

The one statement I replied to gave examples like refrigeration and HVAC that a 30w panel will not run. I made no commentary on what use can be made outside of flashlights.

That being said, as someone who runs 100w panels on my trailer parked on some land, 100w is not much other then topping off a deep cycle battery to then run lights and a propane furnace and fridge. Not that it is not useful at anything, just that those rollup ones are generally used to charge a power bank for phones, lights, and such. One of the better uses I have seen is hooking up one to a car to keep it topped up while sitting. But if you are going to use a panel you need a battery and at that point why not go with a non flexable 100w panel that is about the same size or smaller?

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[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk [S] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

are generally used to charge a power bank for phones, lights, and such.

That's exactly the use case I bought it for. In the picture I'm charging a powerbank. I'm intending to play around with a small-scale solar setup on my shed at some point but for now this is the one cheap investment that enables me to keep critical small electronics running indefinitely.

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[–] M0oP0o@mander.xyz 1 point 3 months ago

Check out some auctions, estate sales and such for some deep cycle batteries, solar charge controllers and panels. I have fixed my set up a few times over the years on the super cheap that way. The whole system is not bad other then the batteries for cost.

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[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 3 points 3 months ago (9 children)

My strimmer battery charger takes 65w. So 8 hours of 30w to charge a battery is almost 4 hours charging the strimmer battery which would probably fill it's small battery a few times over. If you are not depleting the strimmer battery multiple times a day, that is more than enough power.

You of course do need a battery to store it so many hours of solar are used in several minute short time loads.

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[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 1 point 3 months ago (4 children)

There is some inefficiency in charging a battery but not that much. Main losses would be that the solar panel isn't actually outputting 30w as you won't be getting ideal conditions all day.

But it doesn't necessarily matter either. 65w to charge a battery but you only need it once a week for an hour can easily be managed by 5w all day for a week.

Though planning for an apocalypse is kinda pointless anyway. Preparing for a disaster is more reasonable, such as a storm knocking out power for a while.

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[+] GoatSynagogue@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago (3 children)

[deleted]

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[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 1 point 3 months ago (2 children)

The rated wattage should take that into consideration.

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[+] GoatSynagogue@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

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[–] HerbGrower@slrpnk.net 1 point 3 months ago*

Usually it does and it will be ideal conditions. So it still won't make 30w but it will do much better than 8w.

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[+] GoatSynagogue@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago* (1 child)

[deleted]

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[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk [S] 1 point 3 months ago

Efficiency means how much of the sunlight hitting the panels gets converted into electricity. How accurately manufacturers report the true output of the panel is a completely different thing. Plenty of reputable brands reach the advertised output.

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[–] Snapz@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Person I was responding to said nothing that can be charged, not specifically charged by 30 W. People live comfortably off grid these days with panels and batteries to store. Nothing perfect, but the right setup could matter if things went bad

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[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk [S] 3 points 3 months ago (3 children)

You're moving the goalposts. You said nothing rechargeable besides flashlights isn't going to be of any use in the apocalypse which is an obviously false statement as demonstrated by the pushback you're getting. The size of the solar system wasn't part of the argument you made.

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[+] GoatSynagogue@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago* (2 children)

[deleted]

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[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk [S] 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

You'd still be falsely assuming that I'm limited by the output wattage of the panel itself despite it enabling me to charge a powerbank that can output 150 watts.

I don't really understand exactly what you're doing here anyway. Like, do you just find people who get excited about things and then go piss all over it because that's fun or something?

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[–] monkeyman512@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

You just get to learn to be VERY patient.

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[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk [S] 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

Burning wood seems like the obvious solution to keeping warm in the winter. There's much better uses for the little solar power there is available then.

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[–] Bluewing@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago

Burning wood comes with its own extra work and costs. Plus the danger of burning your house down. I live in a forest, and wood heat is not uncommon here. There were 4 wood heat fires that destroyed homes this past winter, it was a cold and long winter this year. And I did grow up with wood heat as a kid, so I'm very familiar with it. I do remember a couple of chimney fires quite well.

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[–] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago (2 children)

I don't think a high wattage battery is something that could keep you warm. I was talking more like creature comforts. Not something you would want on-the-go because of the weight, but if you were hunkered down you might at least have lights or some amount of entertainment. Shit, it could even power a tablet, router, and NAS, and give you something to watch in dark times. That's a good thing to have on solar power if you are staying put.

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[–] Bluewing@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

It will keep you warm for a little while, but not for long.

If things hit the fan, lights can be a cheerful thing to have. But if it's a widespread power outage that lasts, the internet goes down, and cell service follows pretty quickly. Maybe a Game Boy is usable, but your tablet will be a paperweight, and forget the NAS. On the upside, there just won't be much you are going to need electricity to run at that point.

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[–] MIDItheKID@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago

I'm saying watch movies on the tablet off of the NAS. That should work perfectly fine with no internet. You would only need to power the NAS and router. And charge the tablet.

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[–] Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 8 points 3 months ago (5 children)

Laughing with mp3-player.

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[–] roserose56@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 months ago (3 children)

And meshtastic or meshcore to communicate

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[–] roserose56@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 months ago* (1 child)

There are small devices for off-grid text communication based on radio frequencies. It's uses LoRa and it requires no Internet after setting up(you may need to download the app). Be aware that Line of sight is a bit factor and that buildings, tress and other stuff might affect it.
You can buy a device or build one on your own (you need to buy first chip and battery) and install/flash mesh on it.
Be careful though, do not get hyped from what you read or see, because in the end might not suit you. Here in Europe it has grown up a lot, lots of people use it, especially when traveling in another country l.

I just gave you a basic explanation, for more information visit the meshtastic community
https://mander.xyz/c/meshtastic

Meshtastic and meshcore websites https://meshtastic.org// https://meshcore.io/

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[–] Prathas@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 months ago*

Wow, okay, so this is way better and longer-range than Bluetooth. Cool. Thanks for sharing!

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[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk [S] 8 points 3 months ago (2 children)

That's a pretty ignorant thing to say.

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[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (1 child)

Nah, those electric shoe polishers? All eight of them? Why did you get so many of them?

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[–] Iconoclast@feddit.uk [S] 2 points 3 months ago

Those I can live without. I can just have people polish my shoes by hand for exchange to letting them charge their devices using my solar panel.

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[–] elucubra@sopuli.xyz 6 points 3 months ago

Hmm. So let's talk resilience; lighting, battery power tools, refrigeration, Mobility (mountain eBikes, with solar recharging would make for great post apocalyptic transportation), and many more things.

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[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago (8 children)

Electric fire starter. Mesh nodes. Walkie talkies. Small computer with offline Wikipedia and Google maps. GPS may still be working for a while, so that would be useful to charge and use. Portable fans. MP3 player or other entertainment device. Camera. Small power tool batteries....

Yeah, in an apocalypse, a small about of electricity would be a luxury.

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[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago (6 children)

Wrong!

https://meshtastic.org/docs/hardware/devices/seeed-studio/sensecap/solar-node/

Runs on a 5W panel... So yes, a 30W panel can certainly do that.

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[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago (4 children)

Sure, a very small one, with a battery. My smartphone will charge off 5W.

I've got a mini Dremel that will charge off 5W USB. It ain't gonna be fast, but it will definitely work.

You're batting 0/3, still want to keep trying?

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[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago (2 children)

Strange that you think "computer" must only mean "PC".

Still 0/3 btw. Why don't you quit while you are only this far behind?

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[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago

Ignoring what?

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[–] matlag@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 months ago (1 child)

Look: I plan solar panels, batteries, and a small TV set, so during the apocalypse, I will have my Netflix shows! And with the right EV, I will be one of the few who can still go to Costco!

You see: I'm ready!!

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[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 months ago* (4 children)

gasmask, radiation tablets and suits, a working moter bike and a ton of gas are higher on my list.

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[–] rkw_social@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 months ago (3 children)

How long does gasoline keep?

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[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 2 points 3 months ago* (2 children)

2 or so year, but that long enough to get you to where you need to, if it take over 2 years of driving to get what you need and you can't find any more, sorry but you were probubly fucked from the get go

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[–] Narauko@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (1 child)

That is where a diesel bike and maybe a diesel truck as well would come in handy. You can continue making biodiesel long term, and use the engine for generator power in a pinch. You can even go with mechanically controlled engines and not have problems with EMP to be extra prepared.

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[–] Smaile@lemmy.ca 1 point 3 months ago*

Hm Good point

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[–] NewSocialWhoDis@lemmy.zip 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Ehh, disagree. We have a battery backup system (they charge from the electric lines) for our house because we have a well instead of sewer lines, so when the power goes out we don't have water. Our next big purchase will be panels to charge the batteries as further backup.

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[–] discocactus@lemmy.world 2 points 3 months ago (4 children)

Yeah, light in the dark is totally useless.

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[–] discocactus@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago (2 children)

It wasn't worth finishing.

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[+] GoatSynagogue@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago (1 child)

[deleted]

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[–] discocactus@lemmy.world 1 point 3 months ago

Idk I use mine to charge tool batteries as well. Thanks for calling me a delicious and useful nut, accurate.