Solar power

[10thmountain]

I bet the experts will be by soon. Great question.

 

[William A. Ellis]

Check out Will Prowse on youtube, he has several tutorials that explain the advantages

 

[Comanche]

Check out Will Prowse on youtube, he has several tutorials that explain the advantages

Yeah I like his videos.
He needs to lay off the eye makeup though.

 

[William A. Ellis]

 

[William A. Ellis]

 

[Leveraction44]

Is there any advantage/disadvantage to running 29.5 v solar panels?
Scored ten of them brand new and cheap.
230w panels but I’m only
Familiar with 12v panels.

There are advantages of higher voltage systems.

1) For the same amount of power delivered from a solar panel, a lower voltage panel/system requires larger diameter wire. This is because:
Power = Voltage * Current
Higher current requires larger wire at higher cost.

2) Many solar generators have a voltage range of suitable input voltages. Generally the higher the voltage supplied, that is within the stated limits, the greater the power transferred to the unit from the panels. For you due to the number of panels you have, you could adjust to a higher voltage with series wiring even if you had lower voltage panels.

 

[liljonh30]

Just get a percolator coffee pot couple bags of charcoal

 

[Charles Marr]

There are quite a few systems available which will power items of your choosing but first you will want to list them out and see what your power requirements are in Watts.

Once you know that you can select the appropriate capacity to fit your needs.

Solar systems basically have three components:
- Solar Array to charge the batteries
- Batteries to store the charge
- Inverter to turn DC into AC

If you have an idea of what you want PM me and I may be able to set you up.

I am Charles in Newnan - saw you responding to a solar panel question and hope you can point me in the right direction?
I am interested in running a “electric heater” big enough to handle a 10x20 room.
I have the yard ‘sunshine’ area and need the equation for # of panel watts, inverter size and # & type of batteries to store nightly needs?
Suggestions? Charles in Newnan

 

[Leveraction44]

I am Charles in Newnan - saw you responding to a solar panel question and hope you can point me in the right direction?
I am interested in running a “electric heater” big enough to handle a 10x20 room.
I have the yard ‘sunshine’ area and need the equation for # of panel watts, inverter size and # & type of batteries to store nightly needs?
Suggestions? Charles in Newnan

1st step get the power requirements from the heater.
Note: Electric heaters require a lot of electrical power.
A small heater might be rated at 1500 watts.
2nd step determine how many hours a day you want to run it.
3rd step is inverter rating is equal to or greater than heater power requirements in watts.
4th step is type and capacity of battery bank. I recommend LiFePO4 batteries.
Size of bank has more variables to consider. As a bare minimum, the watt-hrs of the battery bank will need to be greater than the watts of the heater times the hours of use every day

Before you go any further, price a battery bank of this size. It may very well be outside of your budget.

Of course a BMS and solar cells will be needed on top of that cost.