Solar panel Questions

1,129 Views | 1 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by aggiez03
RedBeardGuy
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I want to set up a solar panel system.
I have a conex box that I would like to run some lights on the inside and a few on the outside. Also want to be able to charge up to 5 smart phones over night.

I have experience with running wires and doing electrical work but I've never done anything with solar other than deer feeders.

Advice? Brands? What not to do?
Vivificus
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AG
RedBeardGuy said:

want to be able to charge up to 5 smart phones over night


You won't get anything out of the panels at night, so you will need power storage. It can be simple as a single panel tied to a 12v car battery and then a 12v car usb charger. For 5 cell phones, your only looking at about 15,000 mA, which is pretty readily available in personal power packs.

You could meet your listed needs with a goal zero yeti 150 and a goal zero boulder 30. That would cost about $450. This would also allow you to take it with you rather than hard wiring something into the structure.

If you wanted something custom you would need a panel or array of panels, a charge controller, a battery bank, and an inverter or other way to charge the phones. You could probably do this cheaper than the goal zero system, but it takes a bit or research to pick out the components. Also the goal zero system is designed to work together whereas a custom system may have some bugs to work out.

If your interested in making a custom system I could tell you about the system I have designed in the past.
Viv
aggiez03
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AG
This shouldn't be too hard....

First off you need to calculate how much power you need for how long. I would recommend buying 12 Volt LEDs for all your lighting needs. They are pretty easy to locate on Amazon and I am sure other places as well. They have strip lights, flood lights, etc that could easily be used to light inside and around a connex.

So determine your total load...
For example....

(2) 12 Volt LEDs @ 18 Watts (18 x 2) = 36
(2) 12 Volt LEDs floods @ 36 watt (36 x 2) = 72
(5) smart phones @ 5 watts (5 x 5) = 25

133 Watts @ 12 volts

Then go here....

https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/solar-calculator.html

And enter you information on your wattage, voltage, hours per day running, how many days of backup power you want (without charging), & approx size of your battery in Amp-hours

Then you can size your solar panel...

Hour of sun per day (assume around 6 for Texas, but you can find a chart online - this is DIRECT sunlight)
https://www.wholesalesolar.com/solar-information/sun-hours-us-map

Solar Panel Sizing ( I would recommend at least 100 watt panel minimum)

So for my example, here is what I entered....

wattage = 133
hours = 4
voltage = 12
days of backup power = 2 days (without charging)
Approx size of your battery in Amp-hours = 125 ah

Hrs of Sun = 6
Solar Panel = 100 Watts

This yields ONE 12 volt 125 AH battery and TWO 100 Watt, 12 Volt Solar Panel

So now for a parts list....

125 Ah Battery - $240 on Amazon
100 Watt Solar Panel = $100 on Amazon X 2
Charge Controller - Morningstar SS-20L-12V Sunsaver-20 Amp With Lvd $100

There are $30 (or cheaper) charge controllers on Amazon and Ebay, but the Morningstar is a very good brand where they others are cheap Chinese controllers that may or may not last. Also, the unit I listed above has a low voltage disconnect which will drop the load once the battery hits 50% of rated output.

This will prevent you from damaging the batteries if you forget to turn a switch off. The unit would just kill the output.

You may need a bigger panel or more batteries (and maybe even a large charge controller) depending on how many lights you want to run and how long you run them, that is why I linked the calculator to help you size the battery and solar panel.

Choose your lights and post them and your estimated run times and I can help you size your equipment if you like.

You can also buy several smaller Ah batteries and wire in parallel if you found a good deal on 35 or 50 ah batteries as well.

aggiez
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