Solar Power Installation Update
- Filed under: Solar Power and Off-Grid Living
- Date: Mar 9,2008
Last weekend was my sisters Birthday. Mum, Marina and I drove down to Kingston for the weekend to enjoy some supper, Karaoke, and then 1.5 days of “simple” life. I obviously took the time to Check up on my Solar Install to see how things were going.
I guess things are going more or less as expected. The power they use and the power that gets put back in the batteries seems to equal itself out, which is good AND bad. The Batteries seem to be always between 11.9 and 12.3. When I first installed it, the batteries were at 12.5 . They definetly need a little extra charging power, whether it be another solar panel or a Generator to charge the batteries here and there.
I installed a By-Pass switch for the charge controller (I’m wondering if it might be hurting more than helping, and the panels have built in anti-blocking diodes to prevent discharge through the panels) and i’ve also changed the angle of the solar panels to a more winter-friendly angle. (I was able to spent the full day tracking the sun and examining the angle I should have it at) I’m not sure if any of these things will make much of a difference though.
Ps : The picture of the Solar panels above is from BEFORE I changed the angle. Now they’re much for tilted towards the south.
Take care from TechieNation.Com !
2 Responses for "Solar Power Installation Update"
A year or two ago, I bought a set of Coleman solar panels (from Costco). Three panels (12W each)in a box with a regulator and a pile of wire. In full, straight-on, sunlight with an inverter I can power my laptop. My experience has been that the angle of the panels really does make a difference. In my case I use these when we’re camping. For years prior I only had one panel laying on the roof of our camper. That was enough to keep my one marine battery charged for some modest lighting use in the evening and running a small fan for moving air over the fins of my propane fridge.
The biggest improvement I made (beside getting the 3 matched panels), was switching filament bulbs to LED’s. What is your sister using in their house?
Sharon and Calvin are using Compact Fluorescent Bulbs. 13 Watts. (Light equivalent to a 60 Watt old fashioned light bulb) In their case it’s not even an option to use the old filament bulbs. I think LED’s are even better than the compact fluorescent bulbs they’re using, but the problem with those is that the light is more of a beam. (It lights one spot well, but not so well all around it)
You pretty much have the same amount of solar panels as they do, (They have 2 X 15 Watts) but the difference is they use it everyday. It has been a couple of months now, and it’s still going strong, but it seems to be going down ever so slowly. They need ATLEAST another 15 watt panel to keep from discharging I would say. I think they’re considering the Generator though to charge the batteries which will help alot.
Also, they have 2 kick-ass Deep Cycle 6 volt 225 amphour batteries, which is probably more power than you have in your Marine Battery, and therefore needs more solar panels just to stop the natural discharge of the batteries. (with nothing plugged in!)
Thanks so much for all the comments Ed !
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