- This topic has 9 replies, 1 voice, and was last updated 1 year, 8 months ago by
keebler t.
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December 21, 2018 at 9:21 pm #6647
Jon Painter
ParticipantWe have a 2 by 3 feet solar panel and would like to know what would make a good Faraday cage?
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December 21, 2018 at 10:55 pm #6652
namelus
ParticipantYou can’t and have it function outside you would have to take it down. You can get breakers that would trip in time but for that small a system breaker would cost more than system.
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December 22, 2018 at 2:49 am #6662
OldMt Woman
ParticipantIs that too large for a metal trash can? A metal locker? Cover a box with several layers of heavy duty aluminum foil? Use metal tape to seal it? Make sure to insulate it from the metal sides.
OldMtWoman….too tired to be creative tonite.
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December 23, 2018 at 6:52 pm #6717
namelus
ParticipantUse a grounded intemodal container grounded with panels off the wall and any other conductive materials inside intermodal container. Just use copper wire over the air inlets grounded to the metal shell. It allows for atv generators and other large items including vehicles at a cost of under $3000 per containt it’s a deal.
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December 24, 2018 at 11:12 am #6731
Mouse Wizard
ParticipantIt’s actually cheaper to have a duplicate set of solar panels and charge controller. Wrap everything in copper screening and don’t ground it. Just let it sit there. The EMP will flow around it and on to other things. Lead-acid batteries (flooded or sealed) are emp-proof, so no worries there.
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December 26, 2018 at 1:08 pm #6785
James Mitchner
ParticipantI agree with several of the others. There is nothing you can do to protect it and still have it outside an in operation. You could choose to store it away in a faraday cage that you can construct yourself in the anticipation of an EMP or MCE. Just don’t ground it. EMPs and MCEs have a ground re-bound that can destroy grounded equipment.
I stumbled across a solar system company that advertised for additional cost they could EMP-proof a system you purchased from them, but I didn’t keep the link. Sorry.
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July 16, 2019 at 6:57 pm #20974
Devils Advocate
ParticipantSolar panels can be protected while in use, however, the entire system must be protected or it will not do any good.
To protect the panels you will need to increase the number enough to compensate for losses, and having a back up set with back ups of the other components in a separate Faraday cage will be a very good idea.
If you want to operate and still be protected you have to start from the ground up. Lay down 20 opi (Openings per inch) or tighter copper mesh on the ground. Drive ground rods and connect at each corner. This ‘floor’ should be large enough, plus one foot on each side, to hold a building that will contain the batteries and electronics for the solar system, plus anything else you want protected that is part of the electrical system.
Stub up metal conduit in a couple of places and run it out four feet or so from the site, securely connecting it to the grounded mesh. Build a wooden structure on the mesh that will contain the solar system components except for the panels. Install the solar panels on the roof. Make standoffs that will be six inches to a foot above the solar panels. Be sure to seal the roof if they penetrate it.
Install one or more metal conduits through the roof and seal them against moisture. Run the solar panel wiring through these into the power house and secure them into place.
Add 1×2 or similar to make a grid over the solar panels. Add a layer of the 20 opi copper mesh over these supports and down the sides of the building. Lace it into the mesh on the ground, making sure there are no gaps. For the doors, cut out the areas for the doors, allowing at least three inches past the door frame. Wrap this around magnetic strips and fasten them to the wall all the way around.
Make panels of the copper mesh to overlap the door and door frame. Add strip magnets to the edges of the mesh and fold the mesh over and secure it so the magnetic strips on the door panel mesh will pull the mesh of the door tightly against the mesh on the wall.
Add two inch risers on top of the first layer of copper mesh and make the wooden grid being very careful not to disturb the mesh already secured. (It will probably be best if this is done at the same time as the first layer to avoid problems.) Offset a second layer of 20opi copper mesh from the first one over the new support grid. Do not let this mesh contact the first layer on the roof. Use standoffs that do not go through the first layer to hold the second apart and drape it over the edges of the roof. About three to four feet down this second layer can be laced into the first layer.
However much square feet of coverage there is of the mesh plus the support grid over the panels will need to be added in additional panels.
Inside the power house, the inverters can be wired up to power lines run from the house. Use a solid copper panel at the point the conduit comes through the mesh. Make a copper box over the conduit end and install gas gap protectors for each power line leg, and ground. This will prevent EMP from coming in from outside on the power lines. Everything else is inside the Faraday cage that is the power house.
To protect anything past that point will require running the power lines in grounded metal conduit, all the way up to the distribution box, which should be metal and grounded. Then, from that box, everything must be in conduit to each appliance. Whether or not these will survive is going to depend on how they might be protected.
If they have much wiring, it could carry the EMP out toward the power house, but the protection where the wires go through the mesh and solid copper panel should stop it.
This is a huge amount of work and money to only possibly being able to run anything on the power that you will have that is not inside the power house.
So says the Devil’s Advocate.
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July 16, 2019 at 10:08 pm #20977
namelus
ParticipantIt won’t stop it from line wire…. the layering will help but as.long as wire ciruit not cut it will.propogate the emf wave and field. You need an air gap. And that is expensive.
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July 16, 2019 at 10:21 pm #20978
Crow Bar
KeymasterDont recall where it was, but some European scientists did a series of tests exposing solar panels to EMP like conditions (i.e. no bomb).
The panels themselves survived fine (IIRC they went up to 100,000v).
The inverters on the other hand, did not. -
July 27, 2021 at 11:26 am #38907
keebler t
Participanthaving spare Diode’s might be a good idea as well.
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