Off-Grid: How I Power the Power Tools
Many power tools require a lot of electricity while they are being used. This can be difficult to manage with an off-grid solar panel and battery setup, especially when the sun has gone down for the evening. The best time to use a power tool that plugs into an electrical socket would be during the day when the solar panels are in full sun, but this isn't always the most convenient time to use.
I have been using cordless power tools that have a standard 20 volt battery system. Any 20 volt battery pack with this system can be used to power any of the compatible tools. In the picture above you can see the lawn trimmer. The lawn trimmer is useful for trimming the vegetation growth in places where my lawn tractor can't go.
Use power tools when you Need them.
The 20 volt battery packs can be conveniently charged during full sun using an inverter - when there is ample power. Then the charged battery pack and tool can be used whenever it's needed - without worry of draining the off-grid system battery bank or turning on a gas generator.
This 20 volt cordless power tool system has high power chargers available. The low power 20 volt battery trickle charger that comes standard takes about 12 hours to fully charge the bigger batteries - this charger takes too long to charge for the limited hours of solar panel prime time. With the fast charger I purchased, it only takes 1 hour to fully charge the bigger 20 volt batteries - a much better charging pace for a solar panel system.
Mini Chainsaw for Tree Trims
The mini chainsaw power tool has been a landscaping blessing. It quickly cuts through almost any branch smaller than 4 inches diameter. It also chainsaws through dead trees and soft wood easily.
Hard wood is a bit tougher, but you can see from the picture above that this chainsaw will eventually cut through. I would only be able to cut 3 or 4 hard wood logs of that size with one large fully charged 20 volt battery. I only have a half acre forested, so I won't be firewood harvesting. If I was harvesting firewood, a gas chainsaw would be more appropriate.
Cleaner Cuts with a Circular Saw
If you need clean wood cuts for a building or other project, a circular saw is often the best option.
Power Drill
The power drill is one of the most used household and construction power tools. Drill holes of all sizes, drive screws, and tighten bolts. A lot faster than a screw driver or socket wrench, much easier too.
Let there be Light
Flashlights are very useful anytime the sun goes down at night. We have three flashlight attachments, one for each of us. Flashlights can be helpful when fixing or working in dark locations. I also use the flashlight as a lamp if I don't want to draw off the main battery bank at night.
Mini Air Compressor
I purchased this mini air compressor to keep my bicycle, lawn tractor, and car tires full. It takes much less power than a full air compressor, and runs on the 20 volt battery, household plug-in, or car accessories 12 volt plug-in. This mini air compressor would also be useful for inflating air mattresses, sports balls, and water recreation floatables.
High Wattage Power Tools?
Sometimes you need more power than a 20 volt battery power tool system can offer.
The large air compressor pictured above is very useful, but sometimes it can be too much for an off-grid solar power system to handle. A great way to take a load off the off-grid solar power setup is by using a gasoline generator to plug the high power tools into - see the picture below.
I've found this cordless power tool system and gasoline generator very useful for lightening the load on the off-grid solar power setup.
You may find these previous posts useful:
https://steemit.com/homesteadersonline/@jackdub/back-acres-how-to-pull-start-a-small-engine
https://steemit.com/homesteading/@jackdub/my-solar-powered-cabin-setup
I hate to say it.. but the first thing I noticed was how clean your tools are. As if you take care of them. Which is, of course, the way to do it. The better you take care of your tools, the longer they last.
Sorry.. that was the OCD in me coming out.
But it's great to see how you do use your tools on the homestead especially when off grid.
Hello jackdub!
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Yeah, super great idea... keep them charged for free (solar)... with some hand tools as back up...
It sure does beat petrol/gas reliance.
Nice layout of tools... I was always wondering about that battery operated chainsaw, a few logs is pretty descent onnone 20v bettery though!
We charge our tools (well, the batteries) right off a 700watts inverter plugged into the car battery while it runs.... it works while we have no generator or a solar system yet.
Good for the times without sun!
Thanks @senorcoconut - Cars do work well as generators when needed. You could add a couple batteries first if you were building a system and charge it up with your car until you had solar panels :)
Oh very nice idea @jackdub! Yes I like it... We're planning our move right now actually.
I always had some kind of small inverter in the car when we traveled for charging computers and mp3 players before the "apple take ove"! But listening to Jack Spirko and Steven Harris made me bulk up the juice.
Thanks again for the idea!
Hey congrats on the upcoming move, let me know if you have any questions, I'm 9 months into the offgrid life .. it's a nice change of pace :)
Will do for sure, I'll keep you in mind, thank you.
You say a nice change of pace, did you move off grid from a big city too?
Not in a big city so much, but i lived downtown where i mostly stayed inside. When i would go outside there would be lots of cars and potential eyes on me. At the cabin i'm rarely inside, especially in the summer, when i step outside onto the patio, all i see are trees, rocks, grasses, and wild flowers - no cars or windows where people could or could not be watching me. I swear i'm not paranoid lol, I just like my privacy and the calmness of nature :) For me I had to make a point of not working too much in the hot sun, i rescheduled my landscaping projects for the early morning. I also had to make a point of stopping work to eat more food - a lot more work than i was used to. Setting up water catchments, securing drinking water, and heating rain water for bathing and cleaning was a priority. Propane burner in the summer we found easiest for cooking - lots of meals a day, only used about a tank every 1.5 months in the summer, less in the winter with the wood stove.. we quickly added a screen door so we could have a cross breeze and not let bugs in.. One thing i'll be sure to have this summer is a screened in porch or table - too hot inside, too many bugs outside to sit and relax in the shade .. bugs weren't so bad when i was moving around, but when i would sit and relax they would be bugging me.
My wife wants a screened in porch. And you know what they say, happy wife, happy life! We still have to build a house though.
I can see that working in the early morning would make it more pleasant, I'm an early riser and I don't like to work in the hot sun eitherbif I don't have to.
We have been city people for so long I think we'll miss the crowds a little but that's part of our reasoning why we are building somewhat close to that big city!
Last summer we spent a couple weeks on the property all on propane gas, so we started understanding about how efficient it is, we have a fridge running on the stuff and cooking plus the fridge always on takes quite a long time for a bottle to run out! Amazing stuff
How do you charge the 20 volt batteries with 12 volt solar? I have a small solar setup and would like to try charging my power drill. I have assumed I would need to change to a 24 volt system.
I plug the charger into my inverter. You can use a boost converter to go from 12v to 19v for charging a laptop, but I have not looked into converting these yet because they seem to be smart chargers giving different voltages at different stages of charging. They are relatively low watt chargers, the fast one being similar to a laptop charger's power usage. I had no trouble using a small 300 watt inverter to go from 12v to household standard 120 voltage for charging the 20v batteries. With 200 watts of solar panels it would charge. You could get away with less solar panel wattage if you had a decent battery setup. This is previous post talks about the boost converters, the small 300w inverter is the first picture.
https://steemit.com/off-grid/@jackdub/tech-talk-get-more-power-out-of-your-off-grid-system-with-single-voltage-conversion
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