Hi guys. Ok, I'm looking for a practical solution to a REAL need.
The situation:
My daughter, a Canadian (hence used to cool weather ), works for a Canadian humanitarian organization (CUSO) in Accra, Ghana. Most probably she will be there for the next few years. She tells me that the home electrical power delivery is shut down for a period of 8 to 12 hours at a time, every other day or so, mainly at night. Hence, there are 2 problems she is faced with.
The needs:
1- Food conservation. Her fridge, being out of work at this rate, it's obvious it can't be of any practical use. But she (they) manage to accomodate themselves with local traditional food market, although....
2- The most difficult problem she really is faced with is with is getting good night's sleep due to high temperature and the impossibility to have the ceiling fan to work to get at least some form of breeze to freshen herself. Presently they are experiencing 38-40 deg C, daytime, and most probably around 30 and humid at night.
Shure, there is a simple solution around this. Using a gas power generator (such as Honda's). But remember, this is Africa, not USA or western Europe where on can just walk in a store and leave out with one of these. Anyhow, it seams there is none available in the area and , be it so, it would most probably be most prohibitive on her budget (and noisy for the neighbourhood!) to buy and/or operate one!
So the first idea that came to my mind was there could be a way to activate a fan powered from a 12 volts car battery. The battery would be recharged during the period the electricity would be back on. Talking the matter a bit with my daughter (I was in internet contact with her when I started writing this) she told me that she just learned that the locals have manage some way to achieve that through their own resourcefulness. Necessity is law!! I do not have all the details but it seams it goes something like this.
As I understand it, they would use a car radiator fan, the battery and the alternator, with its electronic regulator, to recharge the battery when the electricity is back on. I presume they are coupling the alternator to some a/c motor they found somewhere. I also assume it ain't a simple affair to get a suitable battery charger over there. But it wouldn't be such a problem for me to find the appropriate stock, here in Canada, and having it ship to her through CUSO forwarding facilities. At least, I 'think so'
This being said, I don't know how many watt-hr a car radiator fan motor, operating for let's say 8 hours straight (a night of sleep), would drain out of a battery. In other word, what would be an average amp rating of such a motor operating at 12 volts?
But whatever this rating is, I'm pretty well shure that using it for that period of time would mean a deep discharge for any regular car battery, each and every time the fan would be operated like so. I'm aware that regular car batteries aren't made for that kind of deep discharges and more so on a repetitive fashion, over 800 time for the next 3 years we may assume here.
So I'm thinking of a system based on a deep discharge capable battery (with an adequate charger system) able to sustain 1000, cycles at an affordable cost, about 200-300US$.
- Is that wishful thinking that, with available consumer items, such a system could be built?
- Would someone know a good figure for a car fan motor amperage and how noisy it would be if used inside a room?
My guestimate is it would be about 5 amps. So 5Ax12Vx8Hr= 480 W-Hr per shift. So to be on the safe side, in this instance, the battery should be of at least 800 W-hr capacity.
I just learned that a gel battery system could do the job for the right price. What do you think?
As for the needs for the fridge, I have no idea at this time. I'm opened for all suggestions if any.
Thanks for giving a thought on this,
Hugo
The situation:
My daughter, a Canadian (hence used to cool weather ), works for a Canadian humanitarian organization (CUSO) in Accra, Ghana. Most probably she will be there for the next few years. She tells me that the home electrical power delivery is shut down for a period of 8 to 12 hours at a time, every other day or so, mainly at night. Hence, there are 2 problems she is faced with.
The needs:
1- Food conservation. Her fridge, being out of work at this rate, it's obvious it can't be of any practical use. But she (they) manage to accomodate themselves with local traditional food market, although....
2- The most difficult problem she really is faced with is with is getting good night's sleep due to high temperature and the impossibility to have the ceiling fan to work to get at least some form of breeze to freshen herself. Presently they are experiencing 38-40 deg C, daytime, and most probably around 30 and humid at night.
Shure, there is a simple solution around this. Using a gas power generator (such as Honda's). But remember, this is Africa, not USA or western Europe where on can just walk in a store and leave out with one of these. Anyhow, it seams there is none available in the area and , be it so, it would most probably be most prohibitive on her budget (and noisy for the neighbourhood!) to buy and/or operate one!
So the first idea that came to my mind was there could be a way to activate a fan powered from a 12 volts car battery. The battery would be recharged during the period the electricity would be back on. Talking the matter a bit with my daughter (I was in internet contact with her when I started writing this) she told me that she just learned that the locals have manage some way to achieve that through their own resourcefulness. Necessity is law!! I do not have all the details but it seams it goes something like this.
As I understand it, they would use a car radiator fan, the battery and the alternator, with its electronic regulator, to recharge the battery when the electricity is back on. I presume they are coupling the alternator to some a/c motor they found somewhere. I also assume it ain't a simple affair to get a suitable battery charger over there. But it wouldn't be such a problem for me to find the appropriate stock, here in Canada, and having it ship to her through CUSO forwarding facilities. At least, I 'think so'
This being said, I don't know how many watt-hr a car radiator fan motor, operating for let's say 8 hours straight (a night of sleep), would drain out of a battery. In other word, what would be an average amp rating of such a motor operating at 12 volts?
But whatever this rating is, I'm pretty well shure that using it for that period of time would mean a deep discharge for any regular car battery, each and every time the fan would be operated like so. I'm aware that regular car batteries aren't made for that kind of deep discharges and more so on a repetitive fashion, over 800 time for the next 3 years we may assume here.
So I'm thinking of a system based on a deep discharge capable battery (with an adequate charger system) able to sustain 1000, cycles at an affordable cost, about 200-300US$.
- Is that wishful thinking that, with available consumer items, such a system could be built?
- Would someone know a good figure for a car fan motor amperage and how noisy it would be if used inside a room?
My guestimate is it would be about 5 amps. So 5Ax12Vx8Hr= 480 W-Hr per shift. So to be on the safe side, in this instance, the battery should be of at least 800 W-hr capacity.
I just learned that a gel battery system could do the job for the right price. What do you think?
As for the needs for the fridge, I have no idea at this time. I'm opened for all suggestions if any.
Thanks for giving a thought on this,
Hugo