THE WORLD'S FIRST MOBILE SOL AR POWERED CINEMA

LINKS

SUNSHINE TO ELECTRICITY

The Solar Cinema uses two arrays of polycrystalline photovoltaic panels. Have a look. They are on the roof of the Lorry at the side of the Cinema. One solar array is made up of 4 x 200w panels, configured to charge a 600 A/h, 24v battery bank. The second solar array consists of 2 x 100w, 24v panels, charging a 600 A/h 24v battery bank. Charging is controlled by 45A PWM regulators, to prevent over charging and to ensure charging at maximum efficiency. A fully charged battery bank can run the Solar Cinema for at least ten hours. *the Amp/hour rating on batteries is misleading. The useful power which can be drawn from a battery is about half of the A/h rating, without damaging the cells. A battery should never be used below 11 volts, and discharged batteries should be recharged as soon as possible to prolong their life*

BATTERIES TO EQUIPMENT

The 600 A/h, 24v battery banks power all the Video equipment. A 1200w, 24v inverter converts 24v DC into 220v AC to power mains video players and the projector. * It is important to use a Pure Sine-Wave Inverter. The cheaper, modified sine wave inverters will run most equipment, and seem like a bargain, but can cause a nasty buzz on audio equipment, and have a tendency to over heat transformer and power supplies. We once blew up three audio mixer power supplies at one event using modified sine wave inverters. Beware!* A third battery bank, 200A/h at 12 volts, charged with 2 x 75 watt panels, powers the Sound System. A 1000w 24v amplifier runs two Turbosound full range speakers. A second amplifier runs a sub bass bin whenever we need abit more thump. The sound system only uses an average of 200w under normal conditions.

POWER CONSUMPTION

The secret to running on renewable energy sources is to reduce your consumption as much as possible. All of our equipment has been chosen with energy efficiency in mind. All the lighting in the venue is provided by low energy compact fluorescent bulbs and LED clusters. The Projector uses by far the most electricity.

PROJECTOR - NEC LT380, 3000 Lumens, LCD Video Projector ..........250w

Laptop PC. .........................................................................70w

2 x DVD/VCD ........................................................................30w

2 x Media player hard drives ....................................................40w

1 x DVD Recorder ..................................................................35w

1 x VHS Player.......................................................................20w

1 x Mini DV Player/ Cameras...................................................10w

Panasonic Digital Video Mixer..................................................30w

Berhinger Mini Audio Mixing Desk............................................30w

24v Amplifier and Turbosound PA system..................................600w

LED Parcan lighting rig...............................................................50w - 100w

TOTAL MAXIMUM PEAK POWER COMSUMPTION = approx 1145 watts

TOTAL AVERAGE POWER CONSUMPTION = 540 watts

The TOTAL POWER required to run the WHOLE of the THE GROOVY MOVIE PICTURE HOUSE under average conditions is about HALF the amount required to power ONE LIGHT on the main stage, or a QUARTER of the power required to boil your kettle at home!