Solar BACK UP kit not full time OFFGRID ? help please?

[GrannyMike]

[quote='River Song' pid='74187' dateline='1382904043']
NR

Can you possibly point us towards a link for a 12v power hub?


check out plug and play portable solar power kits on e bay
saw one made by Duracell sound ok but pricey at270
I am sure you could make one solar panel battery contor etc set in a box]

[NorthernRaider]

Sorry have not got a link, I bought mine from Halfords last August, it’s a male 12VDC plug on a curly lead into a canister that has 4 outlets, 2 x 12VDC female and 2 x 5 volt USB 2 ports with a set of micro LEDs to show the charge rate. It cost about £10.

All I did was cut the male plug off the curly cable and joined it directly to a small solar battery top up panel thingys leads. (My large 80Watt Panel is still boxed up and in store.)

Obviously the USB2 5 volt outlets are regulated by circuitry inside the canister, but I’m trying to fathom out how or if I need to regulate the fag lighter 12VDC outlets ????? without incorporating a storage battery or charge controller into this very basic simple system ?

(27 October 2013, 21:00)River Song Wrote: NR
Can you possibly point us towards a link for a 12v power hub?
Ta

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Naturally ten seconds after finishing that reply I find a link to the hub thingys ( proper name is multi sockets apparently)

http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/store...ltisockets

(27 October 2013, 22:42)NorthernRaider Wrote: Sorry have not got a link, I bought mine from Halfords last August, it’s a male 12VDC plug on a curly lead into a canister that has 4 outlets, 2 x 12VDC female and 2 x 5 volt USB 2 ports with a set of micro LEDs to show the charge rate. It cost about £10.

All I did was cut the male plug off the curly cable and joined it directly to a small solar battery top up panel thingys leads. (My large 80Watt Panel is still boxed up and in store.)

Obviously the USB2 5 volt outlets are regulated by circuitry inside the canister, but I’m trying to fathom out how or if I need to regulate the fag lighter 12VDC outlets ????? without incorporating a storage battery or charge controller into this very basic simple system ?

(27 October 2013, 21:00)River Song Wrote: NR
Can you possibly point us towards a link for a 12v power hub?
Ta

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BTW if your loaded like SD you can always buy a complete micro off grid kit designed for third world countries but absolutely ideal as a back up kit from British preppers

http://www.bboxx.co.uk/solar_kits.php

[River Song]

NR

---- MWAH --

[Nix]

Had a look on ebay for a system that should suit a lowish budget of £125 ish or less. All items are new and delivered to your door. Please note that I can't actually vouch for any of these cos I haven't bought them myself. DON'T buy from outside the UK, there's a good chance you'll be paying extra taxes plus, any problems will be a nightmare to sort!

Four essential items are:

- Solar Panel - 40W
- 10A Controller
- Deep Cycle Battery
- Inverter (optional)

Solar Panel:
Found a 40W polycrystalline panel here for £41.99 delivered. These guys also seem to hold auctions so there's an excellent chance of paying less, have a look in their ebay shop. This panel also comes with MC4 connectors which are waterproof connectors. Depending on the length of cabling needed, you can either buy an extension cable with MC4 connectors on or cut what you have and connect straight to the controller.


10A Controller:
I picked this one cos it will control 12v and 24v systems automatically so is flexible for future voltage upgrades. It also incorporates PWM technology thereby giving more efficient charging plus longer battery life here for £9.99 delivered.


Deep Cycle Battery:
Gotta be a little careful here cos quite a few sellers trying to sell auto batteries as leisure batteries. This little one here seemed excellent value for money at £59.95 delivered. It's an 88ah deep cycle battery with a 4 year warranty. Not bad.


Inverter:
All cheap inverters are modified sine wave ie the wave is a bit harsh and NOT suitable for things like power tool chargers. They seem to be ok for phone chargers (I tested one out on an old mobile), LED lights, computers, etc. The one I picked is 150W max and has two usb charger ports here for £13.99.


12v Power Adaptor:
For those who don't want the inverter but still want to charge small devices, this comes in at £3.49 and has a usb port plus three 12v power points to play with.


Those are the basics on a low budget. I recommend you actually get the highest Wattage solar panel you can plus as much of a battery back up as you can afford. General rule of thumb is that you get what you pay for but there are bargains if you are willing to hunt them down. The items above seemed a fair bet and represented great value from what I could see. Connections are fairly straight forward, connecting +ve/-ve solar panel output to +ve/-ve controller input. Then +ve/-ve controller battery output to the battery itself. Then it's simply connecting the battery via a suitable inline fuse to the inverter/12v power adaptor. For this set up, I'd probably use a 10 amp inline spade fuse. Cables no smaller than 1mm but 1.5mm would be better.

BTW, I use quick release battery clamps that I get from Amazon here for £7.24 delivered.


Also, I highly recommend you to buy a little LCD voltmeter to keep an eye on things here for £6.20 delivered:


There's a lot more info here in my original posting about solar back up systems here, might give you a better idea of the workings.

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Forgot to mention that the 10a controller would allow you to add another 40w panel in parallel if you so wish as a single panel is only 3.5 amps max output. You could also always add, in parallel as well, more batteries to make a proper battery array. More energy stored, more energy to use later!

[Nix]

Real sorry folks, bit tired last night and only checked my links this morning, the one for the inverter should be this one and not really the one above. The picture is correct, just not the link.

Sorry bout that.

[NorthernRaider]

Nix thanks very much for the feedback and advice it will be very useful to many of us, One point though for me and a few others in particular is I want to built and uber simple system that does not have a battery in the system, A direct charge from a PV panel through a hub to the device if you will. Like the sort of devices you can get that directly charge I phones from a clip on mini PV panel.

I'm not looking to STORE the energy generated you see, I want a system I can set up in minutes when the sun is out or the skies clear to directly charge devices.

Can you advice on the best way of achieving a battery free system, the kid next door has a PV panel as an integral part of his school rucksack which he uses to top up his I pad as he walks to school, its that route I'm looking for to begin with.
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Seperately Ta again for showing the shortcoming in the off the shelf water pump, so again I would like to find a panel and pump that will lift water at least 2 meters to 3 meters even if its only a steady trickle during daylight hours.
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I'm looking for self contained ( integral battery) solar powered rechargable LED lights that can be stored away quickly then deployed if TSHTF, I storngly desire keeping all three systems as self contained seperate systems.
Thanks again
NR

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Ooops forgot to mention I already have 1 x 80 watt monocystaline panel, 10 amp charge controller and leads to play with, it would be nice if there was a way of utilising that panel into the direct charge battery free system if possible.

[Nix]

NR - if you already have an 80W panel and 10A controller, you're practically there tbh. Unless you go for a mini usb solar charger, I'm afraid you have to connect a battery, even a really small 12v one, to the controller for it to initiate properly and get a reference voltage. This should prevent an over voltage situation with whatever is attached. Small 2.1ah alarm back up batteries might do the trick for you. Otherwise, you may consider a 10W panel with diode option that will give a direct connection of about 0.9A on a good sunny day? Problem with these is that the voltage range on a lot of 12v solar panels can go up to 17v and could damage an attached unit that doesn't like anything above 12v - 13v eg some cctv cameras where a regulated supply is an absolute must! I suppose, thinking about it, if you did have one of these 10W trickle charge panels and connected a 12v car power adaptor it may regulate some of that voltage range for you as it would have to cope with a vehicles higher charging voltage as well. Without trying it myself first I wouldn't really like to recommend it though.

Personally, I'd play safe and go for a small alarm battery to utilise what you already have and connect your hub to that. The battery should act as a voltage regulator and get everything working properly. Don't think of it as stored energy but as an essential part of the system. If it needs to be portable, there's a good range of light weight flexible pv panels that roll up but are more expensive.

The above set up should also provide enough energy to power a suitable 12v pump to shift some water. It'll simply be down to finding the right pump with enough oomph to satisfy your 3m height criteria.

[NorthernRaider]

Nix thanks very much for the clear and concise advice, I will gladly take it, I will go find a 12VDC battery and use that as as you describe.
Thanks
NR

[Highlander]

Out of curiosity, would a solar panel need to be in a Faraday cage in the event of a large EMP?

[Nix]

Excellent question, I doubt it but the controller and inverter might benefit from EMP protection due to their pcbs!