Solar Powered Audio


With all the discussion about bad AC quality, the necessity for power conditioning, and the emergence of several products that utilize battery power supplies to overcome noisy AC, it occurs to me that an audio system powered exclusively on a solar powered/battery system would be ideal. Solar panels on the roof. A bank of storage batteries in the attic or crawlspace. Bingo! Pure, quiet, dedicated power!

Is anyone in the southwest or west doing this...or even considering this?
tvad
Since synergy is always an issue, I prefer to swap out power coniditioners instead of power generation systems. But that is just my opinion - you can do whatever you like.
You may want to consider the damage in the wake of the "stormy" season on the sun. The solar cycle runs 11 years. At peak, most solar flares and CME's, or Coronal Mass Ejections, take place. These prominences can lift off as far as 300,000 miles above the sun. Solar wind carrying damaging particles can wreak havoc on magnetic/eclectrical devices on Earth - even those below Earth's nifty magnetic field.
Whether this has anything to do with performance of solar pannels powering your rig, I have no clue. I just wanted to freak you out a bit and show off something I learned from this cool new picture/factoid book "The Sun". Very enjoyable to read while listening to KC and the Sunshine Band. ;)
Cool stuff!
Tvad, i said that the batteries can be charged with a trickle charger OR a solar battery charger just to show the versatility of battery powered systems. One 2'x4' solar panel can charge multiple batteries that can play music for days, depending on the size of the batteries you use. I use 7amp batteries on each component but i guess you could use a lawn tractor size battery(30amp) to do the whole thing. As far as being fugly, yeah, maybe but so aren't power conditioners and transformers. You could build a nice rosewood veneered box to mount batteries in, or put a cardboard box over the batts and paint it to look like gold urn filled with Brilliant Pebbles! Run wires up to a crawl space?, you've got to be kidding. Why make it so complicated? This is a simple set up. 7 amp SLA batteries are about $20. each and a 2x4 ft panel/charger is about $200. The deep pocket audiophiles can spend thousands for an elaborite solar system which is cool if it powers your whole house, but i could find better uses for thousands of dollars.
Douglas, "Solar wind carrying damaging particles can wreak havoc on magnetic/electrical devices on earth", ok, but will it damage your $20. battery? When you get back down to earth try some SLA batteries, hee hee!
Great posts guys, this is an interesting subject. Thanks, Alan
This is a simple set up. 7 amp SLA batteries are about $20. each and a 2x4 ft panel/charger is about $200.
Wow. That's considerably fewer batteries and panels than I imagined would be necessary. How many components run off this array, and for how many hours per day?
Solar power is full of impurities. Look at the large amounts of skin cancer cases beign reported yearly. Please! I am not sure many of you are looking forward to bringing your Conrad Johnsons to the Green Peace ward of the Ralph Nader/Sinai hospital for biopsies of your tube gear.

I am partial to Delco batteries. I have never heard "blacks" as black and my system has never sounded more "PRATish" since hooking up all my gear to 6 of these cuties.

Rufus