# electricity in a squat



## m3030078 (Apr 18, 2012)

hey im 17 and when i turn 18 my parents are kicking me out i might get a job soon (hopefully) and my plan is to squat in an abandoned factory about 8 miles from my current home ive takin care of locks and hopefully il have some bedding soon but what im really concerned about is electricity to charge my laptop and hopefully later on run a refrigerator but whats the best way to do this?
all iv thought of so far is buying a solar panel from harbor freight

any help would be appreciated peace and love


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## Thoreau (Apr 18, 2012)

let me say what your planing to do sounds very nice and i had that idea too, in a factory about 2 miles from my home.
now you can do that with a solar panel to get energy but you need to know the wattage? is that the word, well the consumption of what your planing to be on at the same time. I think laptops use in max about 80-100W of electricty so a small panel should do it. But for that to work you must have a battery connected to the solar panel becouse the energy output will not be constant.

Are there any houses around or someone from wich you can use electricty from? in exchange for something, helping out on their house or anything.
You should talk to an electrician before doing anything though


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## Pheonix (Apr 18, 2012)

I'm sure if you ask a shady electrician they can illegally turn the electricity on for a small fee and as long as you don't suck down juice the electric company might not find out for a long time.


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## Thoreau (Apr 18, 2012)

pheonix said:


> I'm sure if you ask a shady electrician they can illegally turn the electricity on for a small fee and as long as you don't suck down juice the electric company might not find out for a long time.


 
xD my grandpa is an electrician and he does just that, but its not all free, a percentage of electricity is legitly counted for and paid. 

For a squat you will probably use electricity equivalent to an high power street light, and they sure are many


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## m3030078 (Apr 18, 2012)

i dont want to go the shady electrician rout because its long term abandoned and kids have gotten in and smashed up fuse boxes and stolen copper but more info about solar panels wind mills ect would be appreciated also theres a somewhat large pond near by if that can be of any use
(edit)
i can afford a 45 watt solar panel


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## Earth (Apr 19, 2012)

Yeah, I know about that - kids destroying everything...
A couple of my bro's secured a semi legal space in an old mostly abandoned industrial complex for dirt cheap - like $240 a month - with electricity pretty much included. 
And this space is huge, on two floors too.
Problem is the last legit business (gun manufacture) is leaving, so that may spell the end of their electrical provider however, they are looking in to getting a line run, etc... as the rent is so cheap and the location is perfect for what it is they are doing.

Best advice I can offer you is don't do anything that's gonna attract attention.
Keep the area super clean too.... no polluting!! because that really pisses of people more than anything else.
Good Luck...


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## m3030078 (Apr 19, 2012)

Earth said:


> Yeah, I know about that - kids destroying everything...
> A couple of my bro's secured a semi legal space in an old mostly abandoned industrial complex for dirt cheap - like $240 a month - with electricity pretty much included.
> And this space is huge, on two floors too.
> Problem is the last legit business (gun manufacture) is leaving, so that may spell the end of their electrical provider however, they are looking in to getting a line run, etc... as the rent is so cheap and the location is perfect for what it is they are doing.
> ...


yea ive got a job interview tomorrow and after that ima start sweeping up the broken glass and beer cans also there are some places (mostly on the other side of the building) that someone has taken a sledge hammer to and it looks a tad asbestosy any advice for neutralizing that health risk?


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## Deleted member 2626 (Apr 19, 2012)

haha asbestosy. I've worked with that before in construction. not sure how to keep you safer from it. best bet dont fuck with it. bumping or smacking it causes it to get into the air.


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## ped (Apr 19, 2012)

Get yourself the biggest deep cycle battery from an autoparts store. Get your inverter, MC4 cables, charge controller and panel online. That 45w harbor freight thing is way over priced. A laptop will realistically use 3-4 amps per hour. From one group 27 deep cycle you will have about 50 amps reserve. With a solar panel in good sun you will get roughly half the amps than the wattage is on the panel. So a 100 watt panel will provide about 50 amps.

So however much you plan to use a laptop and lights (use LED lamps to save alot of energy) everyday should be the size of you panel array at minimum. So figure 6 hours of computer at 3.5A x 6hrs a day = 21A + 1A for lights x 6hrs = 27A daily useage. The more batteries you have the longer you can go on extended clouds. With one battery you should last about 3-4 days of clouds max. An appropriate size panel would be at least an 80W (35-40A per day).

here's a 85W panel for $168 shipped
http://www.ebay.com/itm/85-WATT-12-...339?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4164bcd1e3

Here's a charge controller for $12 shipped
http://www.ebay.com/itm/CMP-Solar-P...110?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cc4849576

Double the wattage of the harbor freight for the same price. The battery will run you about $100 and the MC4 cable from the panel to controller will cost about $35. You need at least 8 gauge welding cable from the controller to the battery and you have to keep it as short as possible as 12v DC has alot of voltage drop (resistance) and you will never get the batteries charged right if you're not getting 14.4v at the battery. You'll also need a 20 amp fuse block on the positive wire from the controller to the battery. A 200-400 watt DC-AC inverter can be had for $25-35 online as well.

As far as refrigeration forget it or be prepared to buy a really expensive danfoss compressor based unit (~$750). A minifridge will use about 100A per day give or take. It depends on how hot it is outside and how cold you want to keep the fridge. You'd need something like 4 batteries and at least 300-400W of solar and hope you don't get too many cloudy days in a row. An engel type camping fridge/freezer will use about 35-45A daily.


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## Maxx (Apr 26, 2012)

i havent had a fridge in a little over a year and its no big deal unless you live down south in the summer. if you think you need one i would recommend a propane fridge but youll be lucky to find one of those for under $750. ped knows what their talking about and thats a damn good deal on that panel, i would recommend getting a charge controller with mppt ( max power point tracking ) if you want your battery to last. also food for thought; inverters are extremely inefficient; the way we do it our whole house runs on 12v DC with special cf and led light bulbs, a bumpin DC sound system, a car lighter bus for our cellphones and if/when we need to charge computers we use an inverter (its just a good way to minimize loses, we get shit sunlight here in PGH).
another thing to consider is wind and bicycle generators. either can be constructed for $200ish or less if you scavenge the parts. were working on a bike gen right now ill let yall know how it goes.


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## wildboy860 (Apr 26, 2012)

how many squatters does it take to screw in a light bulb? . . . . the squat has electricity?


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## Dead horse (Apr 26, 2012)

For all that effort why wouldn't you just wait till your employed and drop your dough down on a place you wouldn't have to worry about people comming in and pooping on your floor and taking all your stuff?


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## Maxx (May 10, 2012)

Dead horse said:


> For all that effort why wouldn't you just wait till your employed and drop your dough down on a place you wouldn't have to worry about people comming in and pooping on your floor and taking all your stuff?


Ideally a squat (as it is to the vast majority of squatters in the world) is not that kind of a place. though ive lived in a few punk houses we paid rent for and still had to worry about people coming in pooping and taking your stuff, luckly every established squat ive lived at i didn't have to worry about that. the first priority when liberately an abandoned home (for me at least) is security because i don't want cops and for that matter junkies breaking in it makes it a lot easier to sleep at night.

also fuck employment the reason i squat is so i dont have to have a job suck the life out of me.


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## fenriswolf (Aug 16, 2012)

ped said:


> Get yourself the biggest deep cycle battery from an autoparts store. Get your inverter, MC4 cables, charge controller and panel online. That 45w harbor freight thing is way over priced. A laptop will realistically use 3-4 amps per hour. From one group 27 deep cycle you will have about 50 amps reserve. With a solar panel in good sun you will get roughly half the amps than the wattage is on the panel. So a 100 watt panel will provide about 50 amps.
> 
> So however much you plan to use a laptop and lights (use LED lamps to save alot of energy) everyday should be the size of you panel array at minimum. So figure 6 hours of computer at 3.5A x 6hrs a day = 21A + 1A for lights x 6hrs = 27A daily useage. The more batteries you have the longer you can go on extended clouds. With one battery you should last about 3-4 days of clouds max. An appropriate size panel would be at least an 80W (35-40A per day).
> 
> ...


 
Great technical info bud. Thanks.


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## ElectroGypsy (Aug 16, 2012)

Please, please, pay very close attention to the location of the battery. Keep it either covered outside near your solar panel, or in a very well ventilated area. A standard lead acid battery will produce hydrogen gas when it is charging, and I think will produce more than normal if over charged. Even worse if the battery is old, or has some plate damage, bad/low electrolyte, etc, it can produce hydrogen sulfide which is really not at all good.
Unfortunately, the sorts of batteries you would want to use for this will be something like a Gel Cell, but those are seriously expensive in the capacity you want. And do not for an instant even think about trying to charge a laptop battery or cell phone battery straight off the panel, even if you match the voltage, they will more than likely explode as you *have to*, match a very specific charging curve, and even then the charger is watching the battery for evidence of bad things starting.
So yeah, The automobile battery is likely your cheapest option, but you have to make certain you are not trapping hydrogen in a place where it can reach a potentially explosive concentration.


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