solar power Archives - Rick's Daily Tips

Q&A: Will light bulbs make solar panels work at night?

Posted on April 8, 2025

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Question from Mark: I have a small solar power setup (about 400 watts) that’s powering the lights and the TV in the small off-grid cabin I built for weekend getaways.

I tried running a portable refrigerator and a couple of other small appliances off the solar and they work fine during the day, but my 12V/100Ah battery is dead by morning when I leave everything running overnight.

My question is will solar panels work with artificial light? [Read more…]

Q&A: How long can used solar panels be expected to last?

Posted on September 21, 2024

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Question from Blaine: Today’s “Rick’s Tech Tips Newsletter” was sponsored by a company selling used solar panels.

I’ve actually been pricing solar panels for a while with an eye towards taking a small hunting cabin that I own off-grid.

I checked out the used panels offered by your advertiser SanTan Solar and their prices are only a fraction of the cheapest prices that I’ve been able to find for new panels.

I have a couple of questions for you if you don’t mind: [Read more…]

Review: PowerUrus 12V 200AH LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Rechargeable Battery

Posted on July 18, 2024

A couple of years ago I made the decision to take my home office off the grid and start powering it with a small solar power generation/storage system.

Simply put, I grew weary of not being able to work during the outages that frequently shut down the power grid in my rural neighborhood.

I procured the parts necessary to build that first solar setup and I was so impressed with the results that I decided to take my entire home (mostly) off-grid, one step at a time. [Read more…]

Q&A: I have solar power. How can I make the battery charge last longer?

Posted on July 9, 2024

Question from Kelly: After reading your articles about taking part of a house off-grid and going solar, I took the plunge and converted the game room in my basement to solar.

I installed several new lights and outlets and connected them to my inverter and everything works great, but the 12V 100Ah LifePo4 battery runs out of juice before morning.

The only things I have running off the battery at night are a refrigerator and a dehumidifier, both of which keep shutting off at some point during the night.

What can I do to make the battery charge last until the sun comes up the next morning and starts charging the battery again? [Read more…]

How (and why) I took my home office off-grid and went solar

Posted on April 29, 2024

Note: The links in this post are affiliate links.

If you work from home you know how important it is to have a dependable power source to run your computer, printer, modem, router, lights and other essential work-related gear.

That’s why power interruptions are such a hassle, even when they are relatively short-lived.

Our local power grid isn’t the best so my neck of the woods experiences frequent outages that last anywhere from a few minutes to several hours. And every now and then, an outage can literally last for days.

This post explains what I did to avoid that inconvenience and aggravation in the future. [Read more…]