Solar power system goes live at Anchors house

[Anchor]

Today is a good day. I am writting this on my Laptop that is being completely powered by my portable 12V PV system - almost off grid style (except the 3G modem used to connect to the internet) - but crucially - no household electrics, communications etc are used.

On a perfect day, with the panels perfectly square on to the sun, I can generate about 160W, my little Sony Viao laptop only needs 30 of those watts.

Just now I used a WAECO car kettle to boil a litre of water for tea (stupid thing to do normally, but I needed to test it, and empty the battery a bit so I can see the system recharge properly )

I know this isn't going to add much to the pool of information here, sorry about that, but I figure it would be fun to post about it. Later I will write up more details of how the system works for anyone interested.

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[joe2288]

anchor i thought u were a moderator what happened

It's a great start!

[oldpaganfreak]

right on anchor. my home is totally solar powered. it's great to be off the grid. the only connection from the outside world is the phoneline and drakonianlky ssslllooowww dialup connection.

[sunflower]

Hi Anchor, do enjoy your system and please write about it. I have been looking at a portable one using two folding panels and am waiting for a call back from the company I contacted. 160 sounds a lot better than the 2 x 62 suggested to me and I would be interested in your info.

[sunflower]

Old Pagan Freak, if we were building we would certainly try our best to go completely solar. It would be worth putting our money on that. Right now if I can just keep a computer going I 'd be satisfied.

[alyscat]

I'm interested, too. I'm going off grid, except for the phone/DSL hookup, in my new home. And it appears I'll still need generator power in the winter, for sure.
alys

Hi Anchor,

Explain your system (for those of us - including myself - who are not real sure what you are talking about). Give us some specifications if you can, and don't mind.

[Tez]

Originally Posted by oldpaganfreak

right on anchor. my home is totally solar powered. it's great to be off the grid. the only connection from the outside world is the phoneline and drakonianlky ssslllooowww dialup connection.

Thats great Anchor

It's great stuff living off grid.

I did for about 5 years, and proved to myself that all was possible if you wanted to live that way when the time came - all solar power plus a wood fired stove, but like you had the phone connection to the outside world and the dialup modem - never had power bills, no water bills as was on tank water as well, had a composting toilet system etc etc, and was all good.

[oldpaganfreak]

my system is 390 watts. it supplies all my needs, but there are compromises. i don't have a fridge, for example. lots of things in your fridge don't really need to be there (pickles, condiments, veggies) and i can all of the meat i don't eat fresh.
i'd include a picture of my panels, but i don't know how (yes, it's pathetic, i know, but i'm a kinda a ludite)

[oldpaganfreak]

p.s. i also don't have running water, use an outdoor biffy, and live with wood heat. my phone bill is my only recurring bill, but i tolerate ridiculously slow dialup.

[Anchor]

Portable PV

My main house power backup system is based on a 3Kw inverter, 300Ah batteries, 75A charger. There is no solar on this system yet because I rent and I am not allowed. The plan is later on that this system will be augmented with a combination of Solar and Wind; but it has to wait for early next year when I hope to move and get that all sorted out. (I quite realise that I may be cutting it fine )

In the mean time, my objective in having a portable PV system was that I could take my system from place to place. Its a bit like the systems you would have in an RV or campervan.

The main reason for the system is to provide power for such things as:

• Recharging batteries for everything battery powered. (This includes almost ALL my power tools which are 18V battery powered and recharge from a car charger)
• Powering Laptop
• Radio scanner
• CB and HF Radio etc
• Radio and possibly TV/DVD
• Lighting
• 12V Fridge (not yet purchased)

Whenever I buy anything electrical these days I always ensure that it can run from a car 12v outlet. However this has not always been possible, so my system includes a small (600W) sinewave inverter.

The system starts with the 2 x 2 folding solar panels. Each is made of two 40W panels that are hinged and have fold out stands on them. Thus the total capacity is 2 x 2 x 40W = 160W. They have a design life of 20 years. The reason I chose two instead of one larger one, is that using the pair I have, I can adapt them if needed to trickle charge my 24V "home" system in an emergency.

For each folding panel the output of each panel is connected together in parallel into an Anderson plug. My first job therefore was to make a Y cable so that I could combine the output of both pairs of panels. From there I used an 8 gauge wire pair to take the power to the regulator. You need thick cables to minimize voltage drop.

The combined output goes into a Powertech 20A 12V regulator. Regulators are essential unless you have a truly gigantic battery capacity compared to the current output of your panels. The idea of these regulators is to ensure that the batteries don't get overcharged which shortens their life (or kills them). For my portable setup I have only one 12V battery (gel) at 50Ah capacity (18Kg!), so it is important to have a regulator. If I had a 260Ah or more battery (which would weigh about 90Kg), I could probably get away without one, but even then using the battery to regulate itself does shorten its life a bit and I don't recommend it. Batteries are such an incredibly expensive item that the investment in a regulator is worth making. If you get a good one with a computer in it, it can tell you interesting facts about the battery voltage, how much power has been harvested today etc.

Here is the one I use for the portable rig.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=

Finally the output of the regulator is connected to the battery.

I made a wiring harness for my battery as follows: The terminals of the batteries are connected to big cables (20mm² conductor) for the inverter - I soldered an Anderson plug at the free end. The positive side goes via a 100A fuse. You should always put fuses in anything connected to a large battery because they are capable of delivering huge currents should any electrical short circuit occur, enough to cause fires, destroy batteries, cause explosions, and end up with expensive smelly and smoking wreckages of your secondary PV components.

The Anderson plugs used in the system are found are these ones. They are all the same to keep everything interchangeable. They are expensive but I like them as they are quite safe.

http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=

Into this harness I wire a Euro style merit plug and a conventional car lighter socket. These are soldered in at the Anderson plug end, not the battery terminal end. Even so, they are separately fused at 20A each. This allows me to power 12v devices direct from the battery.

Provided the cable runs are short, it is more efficient to power devices direct from 12V, rather than use the inverter to create mains and then a transformer/power supply to power your stuff. Even the best inverters are only 90% efficient - and that is only when they operating at full capacity.

My powertech inverter is only 85% efficient at 600W. The one I have is an older model. The current model is here:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=

To power my laptop I don't use the inverter, instead I use one of these:
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView...Max=&SUBCATID=

I am sorry I didn't take pictures of the test today. Maybe I will do that later when I get it all out again.

If you have any questions, let me know and I will try to answer them.

Please don't wire this stuff like this up yourself unless you have a good understanding of the electrical theory involved and the safety considerations necessary. Big batteries are very dangerous and can be impressively destructive when misused

Remember "current kills".

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[raulduke]

Hi there Anchor,

Good thread. None of my power here comes from anything off grid, so your post is a good reminder to start thinking about what might happen if our ageing power grid here in the midwest part of the states goes down. Well I'd be s.o.l. basicly, so I'll start looking at that initial investment a bit harder. I know current generation solar panels over their estimated thirty year lifespan, will pay for themselves many times over, but the initial investment right now is still just a bit too high for my current power needs. If we could cut our power consumption by a good bit, then this would probabaly be more feasible. I should really start trying harder to do that anyway.

I do have two of these portable magnesium solar chargers that I take on long campouts. They work surprisingly well. I just wrote about them in the Bug Out Bags thread. Maybe you could use one of these when you go on those long "walkabouts" ( sorry, almost all my knowledge of Australia comes from Crocadile Dundee).

Originally Posted by raulduke

Magnesium solar charger



They'll charge literally anything that can be charged via usb or AC, and hold the charge for a year. 8 hours of direct sunlight is enough to charge my phone or ipod completely or about two hours of battery on the laptop.
They're kind of expensive at $150 and there are cheaper ones, but this one works very well from my experience w/ it.

[Myplanet2]

Great stuff, Anchor. Please do keep us in the loop as you work out your system?

[mudhog92]

I purchased a three panel system from Harbor Freight Tools on sale for $200 http://search.harborfreight.com/cpis...?keyword=solar

cheap inverter: http://search.harborfreight.com/cpis...yword=inverter

and went to the auto store and bought a deep cycle marine battery-they can handle constant charge and drain

figure out your needs: http://www.rversonline.org/ArtInv.html
http://www.rvsolarelectric.com/sizing.htm
http://www.freesunpower.com/designtools.php

haven't hooked it all up yet, too dang cold, but figure I can go awhile off grid if I need. Have a coleman 12V cooler for camping, COleman lanterns, camping stove, small TV, portable DVD player for the kids, ...all is well! Bring on the doom and gloom, I'll go camping at home!

[Anchor]

Originally Posted by mudhog92

auto store and bought a deep cycle marine battery-they can handle constant charge and drain

Sounds cool.

Remember to keep your lead acid batteries fully charged - otherwise they wont last very long.

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[Carol]

Hi Anchor,

Check out this website as they have a passive ice box that doesn't run on electricity. I downloaded all their info earlier today.

http://fourmileisland.com/default.htm

[oldpaganfreak]

you will find that your 12v cooler will draw far more than it's share of power. electrical refrigeration at any scale is a major challenge off the grid. i have 760ah batteries and i couldn't keep up to a 12v cooler that i had. propane refrigeration is the answer off grid, unless you have a large enough system and a lot of money to buy a proper 12v fridge.
($3000+)
seriously, it is possible to largely wean your self off a fridge. milk is one of the only problems. i haven't had a fridge for several years. there are tricks to learn, but it's possible. for example, for most of the year it's cool enough in the corner by the door for the bottle of milk.
just some thoughts.

[Anchor]

Originally Posted by Carol

Hi Anchor,

Check out this website as they have a passive ice box that doesn't run on electricity. I downloaded all their info earlier today.

http://fourmileisland.com/default.htm

I looked it up. It requires freezing winters to get the cycle going. Luckily in Australia, that isnt happening yet - at least not where I live. Lowest temp last winter was 3degC. Even the guy who invented it is having problems since global warming is stopping him from being able to freeze the big block of ice he needed to keep it working in the summer.

The flip side is that there is a lot of sun.

The fridge issue, I can relate to, but when your ambient temps are high, you do need a fridge for some things - either that or you are facing inconveniences I would rather not face until there is absolutely no choice. I mean: I agree you can slum it without one, but I didn't incarnate in 3D with all the abundance of the universe at my disposal just to find out that I have to do without a frikkin fridge

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[mudhog92]

the older folks around here used to do a lot of canning and use earth cellars or cold or root cellars. Ground stays 55* all year. Get a simple book on preserving food and you can learn to wrap tomatoes in newspaper, store apples in wooden crates, ... all extends shelf life in root cellar.

[Antaletriangle]

Great news Anchor-an inspiration for us all to see all of the info. put into practice!

[sunflower]

Hi Raulduke, so far the magnesium solar charger is not offered in Canada only hybrid and classic. I have one more place to check. I guess I'll have to drive over the border! But the one you suggested makes the most sense to me and is worth waiting for if I have to.

[sunflower]

Anchor and Old Pagan Freak: again many thanks for your info. Anchor, I saved your explanations as a possible guide as soon as I can acquire the various components and the help I would need to put everything together. Definitely not my area of expertise.

I really want to get a portable solar system going. Not that I want to go off the grid but it would be handy for blackout(s), rechargeable batteries etc.

[Antaletriangle]

Originally Posted by sunflower

Anchor and Old Pagan Freak: again many thanks for your info. Anchor, I saved your explanations as a possible guide as soon as I can acquire the various components and the help I would need to put everything together. Definitely not my area of expertise.

I really want to get a portable solar system going. Not that I want to go off the grid but it would be handy for blackout(s), rechargeable batteries etc.

Funny sunflower you mean you want a portable solar system-crikey jupiter and saturn would take up a little car boot space matey!!lol. An orrory?lol.

[Anchor]

Originally Posted by mudhog92

the older folks around here used to do a lot of canning and use earth cellars or cold or root cellars. Ground stays 55* all year. Get a simple book on preserving food and you can learn to wrap tomatoes in newspaper, store apples in wooden crates, ... all extends shelf life in root cellar.

Agree, in a TEOTWAWKI scenario this is the only way to go, since fridges will ulitmately break down. However, I am not really planning for that. (My personal decision and belief about what is necessary ).

Even if life was swinging along merrily and there was no planetary ascension on the horizon and all its attendant challenges, I am sure I would still want to go off-grid, its been a lifelong dream for me.

We actually do intend to build a root cellar once I have some land to call my own and I have some good books on all that for when we get started. Home canning is also on our personal agenda but that is more about being able to eat what we grow all year. The compromise is that we will probably still have a fridge, but it will be smaller and extremely energy efficient. I especially like the look of those converted freezers, linked to above - and will give that some serious consideration.

Thanks for all the helpful posts in this thread - lets keep this one running. When I get more time I will write some stuff I have learned about batteries since there is a lot of misunderstanding about these on the internet.

For example: quoted Ah capacity is often quoted for extrememly low discharge rates, once you get to more reaslistic discharge rates the Ah capacity of your batteries drops (as they work less efficiently when under high loads).

This will take some time to get it all down in legible form.

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