Simple 12v solar setup

Model 2. Second, then connect your solar panel to your charge controller. Be careful at this step, because if the panel is inserted incorrectly, you can have reverse polarity and short the system causing damage to the panels or controllers. Exclusions may apply See Details.

Home Learn System Setup. An in-vehicle or hard-wired setup is often around Ah. Given that in our example above, our appliances are consuming So, we need some way to charge the battery after these timeframes. Note that these figures are never exact. There are inefficiencies that need to be allowed for, so use these calculations as approximations.

Solar panels will keep your battery charged. If your battery is hard wired to your vehicles charging system then driving your vehicle every day will keep your battery topped up. Solar panels are generally rated in Watts, the higher the wattage the quicker they charge your battery.

Use the formula to figure out how to keep your battery charged. But, remember that our fridge is still consuming 1. The rate at which the battery is actually being charged in this scenario is the difference between input amps and output amps, which in this case is about 6.

So at 6. This is far more than the 22Ah we need to charge a depleted battery. The angle of the sun and the atmosphere all impact the amount of sunlight reaching a solar panel and reduce the output.

You can usually find details on your alternators Amp output in your vehicle manual. Once your 12V system is set up, it will serve you well. Trekker, surfer, climber, mountain biker, runner, camper.

Participator in most things… master of none. Your name. Very useful post. Particularly the maths. Helped me work out I can easily run my 5 watt composting toilet extraction fan with a 42ah Lithium powetech and an 80 watt solar panelPowerTech. I camp year round and often in cold, overcast weather. Would using w of panels and a 40A mppt work? That being said, these are the things that do come to mind. That way you can use the same device to get the most from both DC and solar charge. Your theory on having larger panels to still get power on an overcast day is a good one though.

I hope that helps. Great article, thanks, wonder if you could answer a question, I have 2 batteries in parallel isolated from the starter via a redarc. If you have both a DC-DC charger and MPPT in your system whilst driving, then you may need to be careful about what voltages each is sensing before they cut out. In doing this setup, I would ensure that the voltage and wattage coming from the panels accounting for inefficiency are appropriate for the specs of the fridge.

The output of a solar panel fluctuates, the open cell voltage can reach around 25V for a W panel which is much higher than batteries or appliances can generally handle. Having solar go through a solar controller and then stored in a battery means that there is always an appropriate and reliable power supply for the appliance. Whether you can use the power directly from a solar panel to a device is not something I know anything about sorry.

In the instance the sun disappeared behind the clouds, your appliances would likely stop working. Ive just had a dual battery setup installed with a DCDC charger and will be using a w solar blanket to charge my battery when camped.

I note that on the DCDC charger there is no voltage meter for the auxiliary battery as is sometimes present on other regulators. I wired up a small voltmeter in the cabin of my car that you can get from most auto shops, it has a readout for both main and Aux battery.

Hi, just wondering if a w solar panel will keep a ah battery charged in order to power a 60l waeco fridge. Use a cover, keep it shaded and in a cool position, and only open it when absolutely necessary. There might be some points of interest in there for you and you are welcome to jump into our podcast Facebook group where Ben or Lauren might be able to go onto more detail specific to your setup. Hope that helps, cheers! That is a myth of folklore proportions. Unfortunately this is not a myth.

If fully discharged it will last only recharges, ie half the life. If you are a weekend camper only you probably will not notice the difference. If you travel full time, you will. Whack it in the fridge make room by taking a Beer out for about as long as it takes to drink the aforementioned Beer. Just coincidence I promise. I found it necessary to attach 3 or 4 1cm plastic stoppers see picture "Stoppers" between cells on one panel and a Cork see Pic "Cork on another to prevent the perspex touching, and possibly damaging, the cells.

That was my second big mistake. In my hurry to my first 70watt panel finished I attached the Perspex too soon resulting in damage to the inside surface of the perspex which reduced the performance of the Cells.

I have to replace it in the near future. In our climate, inland Australia, the panels get extremely hot inside. Plan really well for good airflow I put vents at top and bottom of the back of the panel but more would be better see picture , even consider small 12volt fans to pull more air through they could be powered by the panel itself. The cooler the Cells are kept the higher the output. In it I give details on joining cells correctly and constructing panels on a tight budget. Solar Controller.

The Controller is the brains of the system. Your panels charge your batteries through it and it supplies that power to your appliances. It controls the amount of charge that goes to your Battery Bank and protects your batteries from damage. In my case I use 12v controllers and appliances but 12v panels can also be used to make a 24v, 36v, or 48v system. Choose one of a voltage that suits your application. You also need to calculate the total amp output from your panels and buy a controller rated to handle at least that amperage keep in mind that you may wish to add panels to your system in the future.

They are joined in Parallel positive to positive. This gave me a amp hour bank which is being charged by watts of panels. These are joined in Series positive to negative to give 12v. They're ex telecom style deep cycle batteries out of a communications system UPS emergency power supply. These batteries are a great starting point as they're cheap or should be and still have a few years of life in them if looked after properly. Mine had some Sulphation on the plates but that disappeared after a few days of charging from my panels.

Sulphation occurs when the batteries are left flat for a long period of time and is frequently reversible but not always. To charge this set of Batteries I built a 90watt Panel and bought another controller and now have an emergency backup power supply for the 12volt appliances. Connecting Wire. You might think that only being 12v your system need only use thin wire ie: speaker wire. Not True.

The thicker the better. Because 12v doesn't have much "push" to get it along the wires you need to spread the effort as much as you can when any distance over 1 meter or so is involved. If you don't the resistance will cause serious voltage drop and will cause the wires to heat up. Several house fires have been caused by wires overheating to the extent of short circuiting.

Once again it's a case of doing your research then, keeping safety in mind, buying the best you can afford.

I used "Molex" connectors recycled from old PC's and 2. The appliances connect to the controller Load output through very very thick car "boomf boomf" subwoofer cable I had to solder a small length of 2. To achieve this you need to buy or build a Solar Tracker and mount your panels on it. You have 2 choices here The innovation here is not mine. Dave's a really helpful bloke who's health doesn't always let him build his units as fast as he would like.

He's a fair dinkum Aussie who'll give it his best shot so support him. When ordering please bear this in mind and be Patient When I was satisfied that it was a good investment, which didn't take long, I built the bigger unit to house the 3 X 70 watt and the 90 watt panels. This is a very basic "no frills" Dodgy brothers style of tracker Because I'm old I'll be giving most measurements in Imperial measure. Building the Demountable Tracker.

As I'm in rented accommodation I had to build the tracker to be demountable. My methods and materials will differ to an extent when I rebuild it as a permanent rooftop unit when we finish renovating the house we own. The Materials 1 X 10ft Farm Gate.. This bolt is for the end of your actuator ram so check the size first.

Heavy Poly pipe or similar for spacers. Various bits and pieces for attaching the bottom of the Actuator to the post. The Method The 2'" Gal pipe is welded to the centre of the "back" of the Gate. I have not included close up photo's of my welding lest you be overcome with mirth. To make the unit not seasonally adjustable as I did the 2 Picket Posts are hammered vertically into the ground about 10ft 6" apart on a North South alignment. The 1" pipe and posts are drilled, the 1' pipe slid into the 2" pipe if necessary a Spacer slid on to prevent the gate touching the post and the 1" pipe is bolted to the Picket Posts.

To make the unit seasonally adjustable the Equator end of the unit needs to be able to be lifted up and down to keep the panels pointing as directly at the sun as possible all year. To achieve this you will need to put that end post in the ground on an angle so that the 1" pipe can be lowered and still be bolted to the post.

The following is Theory only and has not been tested. Hammer the non equator end post vertically into the ground. A foot or so should be far enough. You can find the angle your adjustable end post needs by bolting the 1" pipe loosely at the other end and resting the unattached end on the ground. Put the end of your post on the ground a few inches along the 1" pipe and mark the pipe. I woke up with a start at about 3 this morning yep If it's not then the gate won't have enough room to do it's East West thing Have a helper lift the 1" pipe halfway up the post and mark the pipe again then lift it to the horizontal position and line the top end of the post up with the mark you made.

Hammer the post into the ground keeping it lined up with that mark. Drill 2 holes, one at each mark through the adjustable end of the 1" pipe. Make sure they line up with each other. Drill the same size hole through your post 2 inches from the top. Drill 2 holes down the length of the angled post, one near the centre and one near the ground. Find the exact positions by lining the up with the holes in your 1" pipe.

These will be your seasonal adjustments. Cut 2 Spacers. Refer to Diagram2. This spacer will stop your gate from touching the post. The 1" pipe is slid into the 2" pipe, the spacer put in place, the gate is lifted up and the 1" pipe bolted to the posts. Attaching the Actuator to the gate is done via the Bookshelf bracket. The bracket on my unit attaches to the end of the gate about 8" from the side. See Diagram 3. The "leg" of the Bookshelf Bracket not attached to the gate is twisted at right angles to allow it to be attached to the Ram.

The bottom of the Actuator attaches to the Post about 32" down from the Gate. These distances are another Trial and Error thing. Experiment till you find the positions that allow the Actuator to move the gate from a morning position facing Sunrise to an Evening position facing Sunset. You Must use a method of attachment that allows the actuator to move at each end.

We can run this sound system about 3 hours a day in winter, and as much as we want in summer. Light : The big change for our home is electric lights.

We have replaced our kerosene lights with a few of these LED lights, which are only 7 watts each. Internet : Our solar system also provides adequate power to run a laptop computer, a tablet and to recharge cell phones. Small tools and appliances : The system also recharges small tools, such as a battery-powered driver-drill. Our system recharges the battery for this tool in about 30 minutes.

These are the principle applications we use which are provided by the solar power system described above. However, you can use a wide variety of electric devices as needed. Today, we enjoy the benefits of our system without feeling a technological intrusion into our off-grid homestead and lifestyle.

The refrigerator especially has made a big improvement in our day to day living, since storing food is so much easier. It does require some restraint to keep things simple, but the few electric amenities we now have are most appreciated! Greg Seaman Originally from Long Island, NY, Greg Seaman founded Eartheasy in out of concern for the environment and a desire to help others live more sustainably.

Greg spends his free time gardening, working on his home and building a wooden sailboat with hand tools. Read Article. Bringing some of the benefits of electrical power to our off-grid home has been a hit-or-miss affair. This was time consuming and inefficient. Charge Controller We use a Morningstar ProStar30 Charge Controller that automatically adjusts the amount of power running into the battery.

Charge Controller. Battery Bank Two 6-volt golf cart batteries are wired in series for a 12 volt system. Inverter The final piece of the system is a small inverter which converts the 12 volt DC power into volt AC power. This is our small Nexxtech inverter.