WE’RE OFTEN ASKED HOW OUR GEAR WORKS, WHAT COMPONENTS ARE INVOLVED...

Our current sound system, centered around a Mackie 8-channel powered mixer / P.A., is a standard rock club P.A. and can make a lot of noise.  We run the whole thing from our battery set through a 1200 watt pure sine wave inverter.  Most of our battery charging happens via the PV panel Alan has mounted to the roof of his car.  A retooled music gear flight case holds the batteries, the inverter, the MPPT charge controller and the remote sensor.

We run our electric guitars through our small digital effects pods and send the line straight to the P.A.  The bass also goes direct to the P.A.  We have small instrument amplifiers available for extra sound or for coffee house gigs. We usually have two mics up for singing / announcements.

Solar PV - we have one main 75 Watt panel, mounted to Alan’s car!

PV ties to MPPT solar charge controller. This feeds battery...

4 X 35Ah  batteries, tied in parallel. Rechargeable AGM.

Batteries tie direct to 1200 Watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter. Turns 12VDC to 120AC

SOLAR PUNCH HAS ITS OWN SOLAR SYSTEM!

Each of the four main components have their cheaply made and superior versions, with different power ratings and capacities. By trial-and-error, and input from friends like Eco Pioneer Scott Gibson, we learned about the difference between PMW and MPPT charge controllers, (aka charge regulator, solar controller, solar regulator, etc.). The more expensive MPPT charge controllers more efficiently convert extra voltage into current which means a beefier charge is getting to the battery from the panel. We also learned about the different inverter types - pure and modified in particular - and how most electronics devices that have clock circuits, (computers, electronic devices, projectors, modern amplifiers), need a Pure Sine Wave Inverter to run efficiently and correctly.

We’re mostly running from solar-charged batteries. Our solar PV capacity is not quite enough to supply our gear with just solar electric, full-time, real-time. We’ll be checking out lots of PV and PV-alternatives through the winter into next spring. No matter real time available light or recently stored light, we are committed to ensuring that what you hear here starts from the sun...