We have Solar Power! After trying to charge up our collection of multiple cameras, phones and a laptop in the van we decided that it probably wasn’t a good idea to try to run that much juice through a 22 year old cigarette lighter. Whilst it could probably handle the few volts needed to charge up a phone or two, converting the power to 240 volts seemed a tad ambitious for our little Betty.
So we decided to find an alternative that didn’t cost as much as a Tesla but would be powerful enough to do the job. A hamster powered generator seemed unethical and hooking up a second battery through a big converter to change the current to what we needed was way too expensive.
On the other hand, buying a solar panel isn’t as expensive as we first thought, and once we hooked it up to a small battery that could hold the juice and convert the sun’s rays into a 240 volt power supply like the stuff that comes out of a plug at home, we had all the power we needed.
Right now it’s facing west and soaking up the last few rays of sunshine in Wellington, but when the sun rises from the east all that we’ll need to do is unplug two cables and prop the panel against the opposite window! It’s so simple that you don’t have to be Elon Musk to figure it out, just plug and play baby!
Okay maybe I’m getting a little over excited about a small 30W solar panel but it’s electricity that comes out of the bloody sun! And apart from the initial cost of buying the bits and bobs it’s absolutely free! No need to sit in Starbucks for an afternoon and sponge their power supply, we’ve got our own and it comes from 93 million miles away...
Written by Leo
May 2, 2018
This is BRILLIANT! It is made all the more amusing by the fact that I can read it to the sound of your voice!!
May 11, 2018
Haha thanks! Glad you enjoyed my ramblings!