The Online Test Drive is a useful tool for figuring out whether one of the GTIS Power Systems’ packaged systems will work for you. Plus, it will help you understand a little about using solar energy – the importance of panel and battery sizes, the importance of sky conditions, and the importance of load size and runtime.
Here’s a typical case. A linguist/translator writes, “I would like to set up a village worker with a solar system and notebook computer, buying it locally. It will be a Lenovo ThinkPad 11e Gen 2. The person I want to set up spends part of his time in Alotau town [Papua New Guinea], where 240 volt AC power is usually available, and part of his time in a village situation without power. ”
The Villager-III system is sold without solar panels, so that you can choose the type that fits your needs best. Your choice will depend on how you want to trade off cost vs. weight vs. ruggedness vs. physical size. If you’re using the Villager as a portable system you won’t need a long heavy power cable or mounting brackets. However, for this discussion we’ll consider you want to permanently mount solar panels on your roof.