[mushroom]

Like a lot of allotments, mine has no electrical power. It would be useful to have some electric, ideally mains voltage, because there are a lot of power tools out there that are relatively inexpensive compared to the petrol engined equivalent. They're normally quieter, too. And I could brew a cup of tea.

I was thinking about getting a generator in the distant future, but I'm worried about the noise the generator would make. Maybe an alternative strategy would be solar cells on the shed roof (when the shed is built) attached to a 12 or 24V battery charging arrangement in its own box next to the shed, with a step-up transformer if mains AC was required. This would at least be silent, but I'm unsure of the power output or how long it would last.

So, i'm interested in anyone who has tackled a situation like this and what strategy worked best for them.

[DD.]

Not done it myself, but a couple of notes.

You can get quiet 'whisper generators', but these are typically £600ish new.

You will need an 'inverter' to go from 12V DC to 240V AC. This could cost £50 upwards, depending on the rating. Then of course there's the cost of your batteries & solar panels - which I suspect don't come cheap either!

[WG.]

Stick with a thermos flask is my advice.  Photovoltaic cells + batteries + invertor are currently a major investment compared to one or two petrol-engined gadgets.

Wait until hydrogen cells are more affordable. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell

[mushroom]

thanks for the advice. Solar cells (particularly the bigger kind) are falling in price, what i need to look at further is how many batteries my roof area would sustain and recharge, given our latitude and therefore insolation, and weigh up the cost.

On reflection, a lot of electric things use transformers somewhere in the circuitry and these would be trivial to adapt to say 12V with my trusty soldering iron  

A shed roof wired for solar with guttering to catch rainfall into butts would be truly cool and froody, as Zaphod would say.  

Just thinking aloud here. Thanks for listening!

[WG.]

Takes more than a soldering iron to convert DC into AC  

[donald.cape]

You don't get many power tools with a 12v transformer. Why not get a single gas stove, £8.99 complete with cartridge from Aldi at the moment.
When you build the shed buy a solar powered shed light about £25 from Maplins, you can also get a solar powered shed burglar alarm for less than £15, might be worth it if the plot is isolated
If you do decide to go for a generator remember you will have to move it around the plot or use a long extension, you could then have problems with volt drop and high current which would cause the generator to trip out depending on it output rating.
Sorry to be all gloom and doom.

[yanfoex]

Just got a solar shed light for my birthday - 5 leds - so that I can take my boots off in the dark in Winter!

[Ice]

Takes more than a soldering iron to convert DC into AC  

Funny thing WG, that's what my gay friend Andrew says too.

[WG.]

 

[Ice]

You think I'm bad.  He makes me sound like Mother Teresa.

[WG.]

You think I'm bad.

Yes

[Aidy]

I got a new 800Watt genny for £35 it has run eveything so far that I needed to run without any problems, got it from Macro.

[Gwiz]

nice idear, but if you are thinking of boiling a kettle, most are around the 3000 watt mark, so you are going to need about 3500 watts to be on the safe side. now you are getting into abigger bit of kit/ price.
better to go for cheaper petrol tools and a thermos as per WG's suggestion.
generators can be heavy old lumps to lug about as well, the temptation would be to leave it in your shed.
i'll bet you a pound to a pinch of salt your genny wouldn't stay in your shed too long once the local theiving toerags sniff it out. if your cheapy strimmer at £50 goes walkabout it's a pain in the neck, a genny at £400 or more would be a blooming dissaster!

[bigsprouts]

you could try having a word with your commitee and see if everybody wants electric,club together and get a cattle generator build a solid shed round this put exhaust through roof and wire to near the middle of each four plots or so
these are powered by diesel and can hack anything you throw at it  :twisted:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/GEN-SET-INDUSTRIAL-GENERATOR-30-KVA-SKID-MOUNT_W0QQitemZ180131786941QQihZ008QQcategoryZ46412QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PERKINS-50-KVA-DIESEL-GENERATOR_W0QQitemZ170125441407QQihZ007QQcategoryZ46412QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Perkins-90-kva-Diesel-Generator-Stamford-Accoustic_W0QQitemZ200120947599QQihZ010QQcategoryZ46412QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Aidy]

Cant see our lot spending that much, we struggled to get £1.75 off them for membership to the national lotty society thingy, but to clear my point, the genny is used for flood lighting in winter if I am down there after dark and power tools, its small enough to get into any car boot. The leky kettle would probably melt on the camping stove so I use a metal one    but to be serious I have found that little genny a good buy so far, it has run everything i needed to use down there.