# Living off the grid......... with this thing?!?!?!



## oldtimer (Jun 10, 2010)

480sparky said:


> I saw an ad on TV the other night, promoting having emergency backup power, no gas generator, and plenty of power for all your needs.
> 
> Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!




1800 watts is plenty of power ... ... ...Yeah Right!!


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## Chris Kennedy (Nov 19, 2007)

WOW!!! 1800watts for only 2 grand, that is amazing! The things I could do with 15A... endless possibilities.


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## Bob Badger (Apr 19, 2009)

That panel is probably only rated around 200 watts.


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## Chris Kennedy (Nov 19, 2007)

Bob Badger said:


> That panel is probably only rated around 200 watts.


Yeah whatever, its got wheels!


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## B4T (Feb 10, 2009)

I will buy one of those when I finish moving into a 4 X 8' log cabin with a refrigerator that can hold (6) bottles of 12 oz. beer.. :laughing:


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Yeah, 1800 watts for about 5 minutes, maybe. You get a 90 watt solar panel that charges a battery inside that magic box that has a built-in inverter.


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## Bob Badger (Apr 19, 2009)

Chris Kennedy said:


> Yeah whatever, its got wheels!


:thumbup:

LMAO



I can hear the salesman now.

_It's got wheels ...._


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## Chris Kennedy (Nov 19, 2007)

Bob Badger said:


> I can hear the salesman now.
> 
> _It's got wheels ...._


Show me the Solarfax.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Okay, just found out that the thing has a 100 amp hour battery inside. Bear in mind, for that size of battery, that's the 20 hour discharge rate. :thumbsup:

If I'm doing the math right, that's about 28 minutes of power if you have an 1800 watt load.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Bob Badger said:


> That panel is probably only rated around 200 watts.


Gee, doesn't the controller on the side of that magic box look an awful lot like the Morningstar micro charger?


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Well, it's got four 120v outlets... can I use two of them to fire up my 240v well pump and the other two for my hot tub?:whistling2:


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

All I need to do now is find the OEM of that box that holds the battery and has the inverter inside, and I can build these too. Woop-dee-doo!


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## Bob Badger (Apr 19, 2009)

MDShunk said:


> Gee, doesn't the controller on the side of that magic box look an awful lot like the Morningstar micro charger?


Nah, I am sure there is a difference. :laughing:


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Bob Badger said:


> Nah, I am sure there is a difference. :laughing:


Their battery/inverter units are part of the Xantrex Power Hub line. Their only "innovation" is linking all the parts together and selling it as a kit.


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## captkirk (Nov 21, 2007)

At the very least you can run your Iphone long enough to call the power companies.....


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Dear BloomBox Company:

Please cancel my recent order. I found a true miracle, not that huge hunk of junk you peddle. And, _it has wheels_!


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

480sparky said:


> Dear BloomBox Company:
> 
> Please cancel my recent order. I found a true miracle, not that huge hunk of junk you peddle. And, _it has wheels_!


Does it come in blue, do you suppose?


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Xantrex POWERsource 1800:


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

Not a bad item for the RV on camping trips, I know it would be quiter than the onboard onan.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Shockdoc said:


> Not a bad item for the RV on camping trips, I know it would be quiter than the onboard onan.



RV stores have been selling similar setups for years. I'll bet their prices are a lot better.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

And the last piece of the puzzle... the panels are AEE's AE-90HE battery charging panels.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

480sparky said:


> RV stores have been selling similar setups for years. I'll bet their prices are a lot better.


Yeah, I know. 

Adding up the 3 major pieces, it's about 1200 bucks in parts. Sells for 2200. I'd say that's probably a fair retail price.


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## Bob Badger (Apr 19, 2009)

MDShunk said:


> And the last piece of the puzzle... the panels are AEE's AE-90HE battery charging panels.


So not even 200 watts just a piddly 90..... and of course 90 is the rating, you will likely never get 90 out of it.

Peak power 90 watts
Peak power voltage 17.6 volts
Peak power current 5.12 amps
Open circuit voltage 21.4 volts
Short circuit current 5.55 amps
Length 40.83 (1037) inch (mm)
Width 20.75 (527) inch (mm)
Depth 1.38 (35) inch (mm)
Weight 20 lbs
Number of cells 32


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## Shockdoc (Mar 4, 2010)

480sparky said:


> RV stores have been selling similar setups for years. I'll bet their prices are a lot better.


last time I set foot in an RV store was to get robbed for a button high limit switch. I've got al kinds of aftermarket fixes after that.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

MDShunk said:


> Yeah, I know.
> 
> Adding up the 3 major pieces, it's about 1200 bucks in parts. Sells for 2200. I'd say that's probably a fair retail price.



Most RVs already have one of the 3 pieces.


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

480sparky said:


> Most RVs already have one of the 3 pieces.


Yeah, but I was mostly trying to say it was a decent value, even if we are poking fun at its rating and the fact that it would probably take 3-days of sunlight to recharge the thing by solar. 

I see I made a mistake. The selling price is 1600 bucks. That's actually a really good value. I would have to assume they left the 120V charging cord on the Xantrex unit, and you could charge it from a wall socket if you wanted to.


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## Edrick (Jun 6, 2010)

Has anyone watched the video? Power your appliances every day to stay of the grid, well pumps, refrigerators, lamps, laptops, shortwave radios. 

Is it just me or do I see that thing not powering my fridge or well pump?

After doing some research it seems this company is full of "Made in America" "Helping the American Public" advertisements and is full of false ads. They seem to be a religious run company.

D- for a rating too http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business...solutions-from-science-in-thomson-il-88015668


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

Many of these scammy-type products have a religious spin in their advertising. Remember that magnetic engine thing that kook from Arizona hauls around on a trailer? He says God gave him the knowledge for that thing. Too bad it's a scam. These people rent out church social halls to give their pitches. I guess they think that if they present to a body of Believers, they will believe anything? I don't know. I went to one, locally, for one of these "power save" capacitor devices for the express purpose of heckling the presenter back in March. After several threats to call the police, they finally called the police. By that time, I'm pretty sure not a soul in that audience was going to buy anything. Mission accomplished.


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## ichimo23 (Nov 30, 2009)

MDShunk said:


> Many of these scammy-type products have a religious spin in their advertising. Remember that magnetic engine thing that kook from Arizona hauls around on a trailer? He says God gave him the knowledge for that thing. Too bad it's a scam. These people rent out church social halls to give their pitches. I guess they think that if they present to a body of Believers, they will believe anything? I don't know. I went to one, locally, for one of these "power save" capacitor devices for the express purpose of heckling the presenter back in March. After several threats to call the police, they finally called the police. By that time, I'm pretty sure not a soul in that audience was going to buy anything. Mission accomplished.


Just curious, what was the pitchman's retort to your 'informed' heckling?


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## MDShunk (Jan 7, 2007)

ichimo23 said:


> Just curious, what was the pitchman's retort to your 'informed' heckling?


At first, he thought I had genuine questions, and he tried to address them in with a combination of pseudo-science and sales talk. Later, when he caught on, he called me names like "ignorant to the truth" and "uneducated" before he said he'd call the police. The last warning was something like, "Sir, if you don't want to listen to the truth that has been proven over and over again, I can have the police escort you out". That's when I invited him to do just that, telling him I figured I could give him a hard time for at least another 10 minutes before they came. Kept throwing around vague terms like "top scientists" and "top universities", when I had actual reports from engineers and universities in the file folder I brought. 

Police basically said, "Sir, you have to leave now", so I did. :laughing: I purposely dressed well and got a haircut that day, in the event that the police were called. They treat people in a shirt and tie differently than a bum in a t-shirt and gym shoes.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Edrick said:


> ..............Is it just me or do I see that thing not powering my fridge or well pump?http://www.bbb.org/chicago/business...solutions-from-science-in-thomson-il-88015668..........



I certainly don't see it running your fridge AND well pump.:laughing:


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## ichimo23 (Nov 30, 2009)

_Police basically said, "Sir, you have to leave now", so I did. :laughing: I purposely dressed well and got a haircut that day, in the event that the police were called. They treat people in a shirt and tie differently than a bum in a t-shirt and gym shoes.[/quote]_

And as soon as you left, he told the audience that you were a plant from the gub'ment or the poco.


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

MDShunk said:


> I went to one, locally, for one of these "power save" capacitor devices for the express purpose of heckling the presenter back in March. After several threats to call the police, they finally called the police. By that time, I'm pretty sure not a soul in that audience was going to buy anything. Mission accomplished.


Sounds like something I would do (the heckling not the scam part)



> Remember that magnetic engine thing that kook from Arizona hauls around on a trailer? He says God gave him the knowledge for that thing.


That figures, yet another quack from AZ


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## Greg (Aug 1, 2007)

I like the part in the sales pitch of the solar on wheels were you can be prepared for social unrest. :laughing:


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## Jlarson (Jun 28, 2009)

Greg said:


> I like the part in the sales pitch of the solar on wheels were you can be prepared for social unrest. :laughing:


I missed that part. Cause that's exactly what I want to be doing when SHTF, rolling a freaking solar panel around. :laughing:


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