remote site battery power only

ELK Products makes a self-contained alarm system designed for non-powered locations such as construction sites. It's called ELK-Guard. It runs about

90 days without power so you'll need to recharge its batteries periodically. Here's a link:

Would a large enough solar panel/battery setup have the power to run a typical automotive inverter?

Would a typical automotive inverter have enough power to run a panel? I hear the wattage ratings on them are usually a random number way above what they'll actually do.

Would it all be reliable?

Ness makes that not Elk

No Yes No

Yes, I have done several with solar and cellular. In Az 60 watts is enough. Some places could use more.

If its large if enough... YES.

If its large if enough... YES.

If its large if enough... YES.

The big key I have run into on remote sites is battery capacity. About 30 AH handles a decent alarm and cellular with no outages. If lots of devices I might go with a little more battery, but 30 AH is usually more than enough.

Like I said in my other post I have done a number of remote sites on solar. You can't skip on your solar panel or your batteries though. I do not use usually use an inverter. Inverters waste energy. I just got straight to the batteries with a charge controller.

By experimentation I found a 33 watt solar panel to be just barely inadequate, but a 60 watt panel does the trick with no issues here in Az. In northern climates it would fail in the winter due to shorter daylight hours, and of course snow could be an issue.

Something tells me the OP isn't wanting to put that much time, energy and money into it

You don't need an inverter. If you put battery leads across the 16VAC input, most alarm panels will work. Come to think of it, 24VDC panels will too. It's how guys like Jim get around putting a DSC panel in a boat with no genset.

You don't need an inverter.

Batteries need to get charged. A good solar cell would probably do that. Or you could go with one of those "honkin' big" deep cycle batteries and charge the sucker about once every two weeks.

Probably, but with an honest answer they can make that decision. I have some very good clients who spend a lot of money with me because I try to think about their issues and give them the best information I can.

P.S. I just installed a system in a site that had an old Monitronics labeled panel. (You want it back?) I was all prepared to be impressed. The installer had fished a contact down inside the aluminum frame of a glass door frame. Very nice. Contact was inside the header totally concealed, and the mag was glue in place in the top of the door. Then I walked to the back and they stabled the wire down the wall (crookedly) and stuck a surface mount directly to the steel door and frame. Oh, well. I guess I was only half impressed. LOL.

Half the site look like it was done by a high end installer who cared, and half looked like it had been done by a lick and stick hack.

Naaa I got plenty :)

Sure, but photovoltaic systems are expensive.

Absolutely, but most of them draw a lot of current.

Probably not. What if the area experiences a long period of cloudy weather?

The OP is in Canada. In all probability, weather will hinder a photovoltaic solution. They get long periods of cloud cover during the winter. Depending on what part of Canada he's in, there may be periods with no sun for weeks at a time.

Now that's depressing.

I've read they don't need direct sunlight, so they still work with cloud cover. Snow is a different issue, I wonder if they make them with built-in heaters to keep the snow/ice off?

The latter must have been Leuck's work :-)

water power?

and it's more expensive than you think it will be

It's a Canadian thing.... don't ask. :^)

The Canuks call electric providers "Hydro", presumably because they think all the power comes from hydro-electric dams.

I wonder what they call water lines? Or killer weed?

I envisioned a Lynx panel with a water wheel attached to it.