Plug-and-Play Solar Systems for Targeted Home Use

Many homeowners curious to experiment with clean solar energy face significant hurdles in doing so. With an opening cost of approximately $12,000 for roof-mounted home solar systems, the expense, even with rebates and tax incentives, proves to be too great for some people. Others are barred from installing photovoltaic panels because they live in neighborhoods governed by homeowners’ association covenants.  Saving energy, however, is a game of trade-offs.

Following all the recommended steps for lowering your electric bill, like switching to low-consumption compact fluorescent light bulbs and stopping idle current loss to vampire devices, saves hundreds of kilowatt hours each month. Installing programmable thermostats, increasing the degree of insulation present in the home, and installing double-panel windows will do even more. But why not take one room of your home off-grid each day or transfer all your device charging needs to solar power?

The availability of plug-and-play solar kits makes such limited-use applications both easy and affordable. They do not require the user to learn the electrical and mechanical ins and outs of solar energy. Each day the unit’s solar collector is placed in a suitable location to draw energy from the sun’s rays. At night the portable power pack is brought into the house for use in a single room or as a charging station for laptop computers, cell phones, and similar electronics. Depending on the size of the system selected, you may even be able to power your reading lamp or a small television for the evening.

Will your electrical savings be large? No. Assuming that you spend three hours each night using a 45-watt laptop computer beside a lamp with a 25-watt CFL (equal to a 100-watt incandescent bulb) while watching a 125-watt, 32″ LCD television, you’d save about $26 a year at the national average rate of 12 cents per kWh. However, you would be able to do those things consistentl without worrying about power outages, and most likely with enough power left over to charge your cell phone, MP3 player or similar small devices.

Choosing to incorporate renewable energy into your life isn’t just about saving money; it’s also about gaining energy independence from a grid system over which you have no control. Selecting a plug-and-play solar systems also means that you have a portable, self-contained unit you can take with you for remote use, like a day at the beach or a weekend at the cabin.

As with any planned solar application, begin by setting a goal. Figure out what devices you want to power and for how long to determine the size of the plug-and-play system you will need. You will be shopping for a set-up that includes a solar collector and a portable power pack, which is a battery with an inverter included.

Two popular portable power sources for pairing with solar panels are the Xantrex XPower 1500 (with a 1500 watt inverter), which retails for $395 to $400, and the Duracell line of PowerPack units (model numbers 300, 450, and 600.) The base Duracell model with a built-in 300 watt inverter retails for $75 to $100.

Both can also be charged from the DC outlet in your car or from a solar panel outfitted with a female DC power cord. There are a number of companies online selling these units in tandem as kits, or you can shop for the solar panel and power pack separately and potentially save money. A kit including the Duracell 300 with a 10-watt solar panel costs approximately $250. The significantly more powerful Xantrex unit with a 40-watt solar panel can be as high as $800 when purchased as a “kit.”

While these prices still represent a serious financial investment, they are a fraction of the $12,000 of roof-mounted solar systems. When integrated with a comprehensive program of home energy conservation, however, these units can help you to take a room or a set of electrical tasks “off grid,” while giving you a reliable, portable source of clean, renewable energy.