Solar Electricity Handbook – 2011 Edition Reviews
Solar Electricity Handbook – 2011 Edition
The Solar Electricity Handbook is a simple, practical guide to using electric solar panels and designing and installing photovoltaic PV systems.
Significantly updated for 2011, the latest edition assumes no previous knowledge of solar electric systems. The book explains how solar panels work and how they can be used. It explains the advantages of solar energy and the drawbacks that you need to take into account when designing a solar power system. As well as explaining the und
List Price: $ 14.99
Price: $ 14.99
Xantrex Technologies 852-2071 Xpower AC/DC Powerpack Solar With 400 Watt Inverter, Two AC Outlets, USB Port, And Digital Display
- Runs 120-volt AC or 12-volt DC products anywhere
- Built-in 400-watt inverter
- Two 120-volt AC outlets, one 12-volt DC socket and one USB port
- Three-digit display for easy battery status monitoring
- AC charger included so you can charge from a standard wall outlet
The XPower Powerpack Solar is the first rechargeable power pack that incorporates solar energy in a compact, portable power source. The detachable 5 Watt solar panel has the ability to recharge the 10Ah battery and extend the run time by up to 25%. Operate devices like a blender or cooler simultaneously using two 120V AC outlets, one 12V DC socket and one USB port. Provides 400 Watts of convenient, portable household power. Watts: 400, Compatible With: Mobile Devices and Small Household Product
List Price: $ 169.99
Price: $ 365.99
Logitech Wireless Solar Keyboard K750, with NumPad Power by Solar no Batery need
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An excellent book on solar power,
As a newbie to solar power, I was worried that this book would be too technical for me, but I have been pleasantly surprised. I bought this book along with another one and this is definately the best for its clear descriptions, level of detail and general readability.
The book gives a lot of practical advice and from the very beginning it is obvious that the author knows what he is talking about. The book covers the subject very well and I feel confident that I will be able to install my off-grid solar electric system easily based on the practical experience shown in this book. The authors web site also provides a lot of really useful information including a superb project calculator that should be the first stop for anyone considering solar power.
Highly recommended.
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|This is what a solar energy book should be!,
“The Solar Electricity Handbook 2009″ is a small size but very comprehensive book on solar energy.
Many of the existing books on solar energy just talk around the subject but do not give you any real substance. “The Solar Electricity Handbook 2009″ is different: It gives you all the information you need in plain and simple English. It covers introduction to solar energy, designing solar electric systems (calculating solar energy, surveying your site, component selection and costing, detailed design, installation, trouble shooting, maintaining your system, etc. It includes 2 sections (10 chapters), a very detail “Table of Contents” so you can locate the information you need quickly, and very useful appendixes: Information on related support website, Table of Solar Insolation and Table of Latitude and Sun Height for most if not all of the cities in North America and the UK (I can even find the small city in California that I lives in on the Table), Typical Power Requirements for household and office appliances and devices, Information on Living Off Grid and Other Solar Projects, and a helpful Index at the end.
“The Solar Electricity Handbook 2009″ has 150 pages and some simple and straight-forward line diagrams. It gives you most if not all the information you need to design and install your own solar system. It is what a solar energy book should be!
Gang Chen, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Author of “LEED GA Exam Guide,” “Architectural Practice Simplified,” “Planting Design Illustrated,” and other books on various LEED exams, architecture, and landscape architecture
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|Useful, But Does Not Perform Up To Specifications,
If the Xantrex Xpower Powerpack Solar lived up to its specifications, I would rate it 5 stars and consider it well worth the money. That’s why I bought it in the first place. Unfortunately, its performance falls short of the manufacturer’s claims.
The overall design of the product is very nice. I had considered building something similar based on a how-to article in Popular Science, but the Powerpack is so nicely packaged for only a couple dollars more, I chose to buy it.
The Powerpack disappoints in the amount of energy stored in its battery that is available to power other electronic devices. The battery is specified as 12 volts and 10 amp-hours. As such, I was expecting to get as much as 120 watt-hours from it, but I barely get half that.
As a test, I fully charged the battery using the included AC adapter. By “fully”, I mean the unit claimed to be charged. I then ran the built-in LED lights. The manual claims they should run for 48 hours. They ran 27.5 hours for me.
I assumed this performance reflected a bad unit and exchanged it. The new unit performs similarly. Either the battery in the unit performs poorly, or the electronics to monitor and control the battery state-of-charge are weak.
As another example of the poor performance, I charged the unit completely (again based on its built-in indicator that charging is done). It indicated 100 percent charge when I turned on the AC or DC output, but as soon as I plugged in any load, it almost immediately dropped to 70 or even 60 percent. Soon after the unit’s indicator dropped to 40 percent, the unit shut itself down.
So, on the one hand, this is a nice unit to carry around, and it does slowly-but-surely charge the internal battery using the included 5 watt solar panel. It does a fine job charging cell phones and iPods, and a barely acceptable job charging a notebook computer. Compared to its specifications, and for that matter my previous experience with the Xantrex Powerpack Mobile Mini, however, the product is a disappointment.
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|Looks better than it works,
The product information should include these crucial tidbids, which you only find out AFTER buying (by reading the detailed owner’s manual): 1) you cannot use it while you are charging it, and 2)if you want to charge it using the sun, it takes 45 HOURS (YES — that’s HOURS). I used it at an outdoor festival to power a laptop, and — even thought the manual estimated it would last for up to 4 hours, it pooped out after 1.5 hours. After that, I unplugged and charged it in the sun for a while. It got a lot of interest from people at the festival, who thought it was cool. I think it’s cool too. I just wish it worked better.
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