Recently got interested in home solar energy and decided to build a simple DIY home solar project for an off-grid garage. This will allow me to run a few power tools, charge batteries, mobile phones and run some LED lighting. I plan to expand on this simple setup as I learn more about producing my own electric.
I gained a lot of my knowledge and ideas from http://www.sunsprite.co.uk who have a really good website, with loads of information and tutorials on how to get started then build on existing setups. Well worth a visit…
You can watch a short update on this video here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivO68DEbehQ
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I made it, learned on inplix website. great solutions I think.
Quick question. I'm looking to do the same thing for a tiny house. Does the inverter connect directly to the batteries? What happens when they're topped off mid day? How would you run power directly from the solar panels?
This is an old video, so I realise I might not get a reply, but why are you not using the load side of the charge controller? This circuit has discharge protection to save over discharge of the batteries.
I'm afraid the voltage-StateOfCharge table is not really accurate,
but I really like the clean and proper build up of you're panel,
compliments for painting it and putting all the wires behind it.
What happens once the battery bank is full ? What happens to the excess current coming from the solar panel ? I'm sure I've seen charge controllers that automatically redirect any overflow current directly to the load and use it as an energy dump essentially. I have been looking at the exact same system as yourself but I am unsure because of this matter.
Where did you get your voltage chart ? Been having a look but unable to find it.
That's a really nice video. I've done a similar solar project in one bedroom of my house. I run lights, radio, chargers for phones/ipod/nook, and my computer from my little off-grid system. I have 30 Watts of solar panel charging a 35 amp hour deep-cycle battery. I also have a portable charging system with 14 amp hours of battery – paralleled two 7 ah batteries similar to your configuration. I take the portable system with me when I fly my RC aircraft so I can begin recharging at the field. I have a 150 watt Samlex sine-wave inverter. I use the same inverter and solar panels with both systems.
Thanks for your video. Your workmanship looks great.
What type of fuses are you using in this system, understand you need fuses but finding out what one and size has not been easy
so the batterries are conected directly to inverter? it is an parallel conection betwin inverter, charger controller and batteries? thank you
Hiyaaaa! Have you thought about – Maxim Earth 4 Energy (Have a quick look on google cant remember the website now)? Ive heard some interesting things about it and my m8 got great returns with it.
wow that is so much neater than mine 🙂
Good Video, Cool project I like the way you put it together, Nice and neat!
How upgradeable is the system ?
In England, can you go off the grid totally and not pay the government or electricity company any money ? Or do they tax you for disconnecting ?
nice setup.
but like someone said….better to have nothing above your inverter (can get very hot).
Yep, me too !
lol, I tested almost everything in my house when I got mine haha
Ha ha, funny you should say that…just bought one !
Just ran the Baofeng charger through a wattage meter, and it's consuming 5.8w. The battery in the radio is still pretty well charged, but it shouldn't draw any more power when at a lower charge level.
If you're interested, Maplin sell small electricity cost monitors, that will read in amps and wattage, for £9.99. Might be worth getting one to monitor total power consumption/inverter load at some point.
The main reason I mention it, is your inverter looks identical to my old Draper one, which has a max rating of 400w, but continuous 200w. Even running things at 150w gets mine pretty hot. It should be fine for things like phone chargers and small battery chargers though, as most of those draw less than 10w, sometimes as little as 2w (depending on mAh). Fast chargers can draw a lot more though, like power tool 1h chargers, so worth checking 🙂
Yes, that had crossed my mind Adam. It wont be run for long periods of time, so am going to monitor how it does. Thanks for the advice (I need it…!)
Awesome stuff so far mate. Little word of thought though. You might want to place the inverter in a more open area. Those things can overheat pretty quickly if they haven't got air circulating around them all the time. Hence the big heat sink casing 😉
Cheers Marc…
looking good mick 🙂
Thank you Tito, it was indeed a rewarding project, with lots more to come…
Great job and very interesting project, Mick Thanks for sharing.
Have a good one!
Greetings Tito
Thank you, more to follow as and when I upgrade, amend, change swap etc…
Thank you…
Thanks John, Its been an interesting project to play around with…
Eeek, 40w Solar Panel, Extension Lead & charge controller £98.00… Fuse box £5.00… 3 Gang switches… £3.00… Inverter £14.00… Batteries…£27.00
Cheers for that…now sorted !