The Power Trailer

For reasons of convenience and safety, I decided last year to install the various components of the renewable energy system into a hefty trailer. This would make the job of preparing the system to go out to the Oregon Country Fair each year a whole lot easier. My utility trailer, which is the rear half of a 1956 Ford ½ ton pickup, was beginning to complain loudly about the 2,500 pounds of equipment it was being asked to haul. Added to this was the possibility of disaster on the road from the overloaded trailer. Mostly, I just got tired of lifting twenty-four 80 pound batteries on and off the utility trailer in the middle of hot weather. The best choice for a new trailer would be one designed to carry a lot of weight, one with a low center of gravity, and most of all, cheap. The obvious answer was a horse trailer. Designed to haul around 3,000 pound or so of equine weight, low floor for the ponies to step into, and again, most of all, cheap. Tandem axle utility trailers sell for $1,500 to 4,500. Old horse trailers go for $750 to 1,000, and they come with a building already constructed! Easy choice!

On the outside, it looks like a regular tandem axle horse trailer.

Inside, it's a portable renewable energy system, or if you prefer, a really huge uninterruptible power supply. Enough power to run the average PC for two weeks without recharging.


Two views of the batteries, without the hydrogen collection manifold,	...and with. The manifold is constructed of plastic rain gutter material and carries the gases produced during charging safely out of the trailer

The rear, "business end" of the trailer. From the right, the 400 amp DC disconnect, which contains additional fuses, circuit breakers and metering shunts. Under the clock is the metering and control panel, including the E-meter and Trace remote panel. A standard AC watt-hour meter records consumption. Two circuit breaker panels protect the AC input and output of the Trace inverter. The brass plaque reads "General Electric AC Generator, 2,000 Kilowatt output."

Last Update:
Dec 8, 2002