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Post by classhd on Nov 11, 2017 4:43:30 GMT -8
Hello! It is my first thread. I bought a 100w Monocrystalline starter kit, a 35ah battery and a Bestek 400w inverter. I am without electricity due to hurricane Maria and my intention is to use 7w LED bulbs, a 50w fan and if possible a 75w LED TV. I have questions, how long can I use the fan with that system? How long can I use the TV? If I decide to buy a 100ah battery, how long does it take a 100w panel to charge it? Should I buy another panel? Is the installation of electric fuses necessary for such a small system? I will appreciate the help you can give me.
I have the main beaker on off position and I am connected to a single phase of my breaker box which allows me to use the switch lights and receptacles in the house as if I had normal electricity.
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Post by rabird on Nov 11, 2017 6:00:08 GMT -8
35ah is small, let's say you can use 20ah/day and recharge 20ah on a sunny day. Let's ignore inverter inefficacy for a moment. 50w fan @ 12v is 4 amp so in 4-5 hrs you've used up all the 20ah from the battery. 75w TV @ 12v is 6+A or 3 hrs at best! How much can a 100w panel make? I call 100w panel a 5A panel so it should make 15ah in winter, 20 spring/fall and 25 in the summer. Pointing at the sun/moving it around and ya might do better. A 400w inverter likely has poor eff, say 80%. so the above hrs of operation will be reduced. Also note that there is a constant draw on a battery hooked to an inverter with no load so turn it OFF when not in use. Inverters Low voltage cut off may also limit how low you can drain the battery I'd stick to just one or two LEDs and limit their use! One dreary/cloudy day and you are out of power! irradiace multiplier for location, time of year and angle (use the results to multiply by 5A (100w panel) to determine your ah produced) www.solarelectricityhandbook.com/solar-irradiance.htmlOn a sunny day, if the battery gets to 14.4v and stays there from enough sun, that might be a good time to use excess solar power. A charge controller if it gets the batt up to 14.4v then limits power so as to not overcharge, you can use this extra power but if you use too mush the batt voltage will drop. Long term repeated undercharging will limit the life of the battery, get it FULL at least every few days.
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Post by classhd on Nov 11, 2017 6:14:11 GMT -8
Thanks for your quick response. If I buy a 100ah battery and another panel could I use my lights, fan and the TV wisely?
Excuse my ignorance I do not have much solar knowledge and I detest the gasoline generators.
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Post by tattoo on Nov 11, 2017 7:32:04 GMT -8
Thanks for your quick response. If I buy a 100ah battery and another panel could I use my lights, fan and the TV wisely? Even with adding a 100ah battery and just one panel it's still going to be minimal... You can do what you need in the day time if you have full sun but you will be very limited at night even if your careful...
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Post by classhd on Nov 11, 2017 9:38:46 GMT -8
Thanks for your quick response. If I buy a 100ah battery and another panel could I use my lights, fan and the TV wisely? Even with adding a 100ah battery and just one panel it's still going to be minimal... You can do what you need in the day time if you have full sun but you will be very limited at night even if your careful... What system would you recommend me to be able to use everything with peace of mind?
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Post by tattoo on Nov 11, 2017 11:57:28 GMT -8
I would go up to at least 400w in panels and at least 2 12v 200ah batteries... What Charge controller do you have??
You need to remember you really don't want to go below 55% of your battery charge and you can only use half of the power you can make in a day...
That's why I have the system I have today.. I also started with a small system.. Which was much larger than the one you have now. And smaller than the one that I suggested to you..
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Post by classhd on Nov 11, 2017 17:01:56 GMT -8
I would go up to at least 400w in panels and at least 2 12v 200ah batteries... What Charge controller do you have??... This is the starter kit that I have: www.renogy.com/renogy-100w-12v/starter-kit/ I only desire to turn on a 7w light bulb where I will be, use a 50w fan at night for my wife, my daughter and I for 6-8 hours, and if possible at least to turn on the TV 2 hours a day to see the news of what is going after Hurricane María. Where I live everything is a disaster and bad up to get food, water and money. Would be great to have an off grid system in order to various uses in my home when the situation is normalize but for the moment I just want to survive the crisis in a decent way.
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Post by tattoo on Nov 11, 2017 19:08:28 GMT -8
www.renogy.com/renogy-100w-12v/starter-kit/ I only desire to turn on a 7w light bulb where I will be, use a 50w fan at night for my wife, my daughter and I for 6-8 hours, and if possible at least to turn on the TV 2 hours a day to see the news of what is going after Hurricane María. Where I live everything is a disaster and bad up to get food, water and money. Would be great to have an off grid system in order to various uses in my home when the situation is normalize but for the moment I just want to survive the crisis in a decent way. I totally understand, but I was just being honest... You are going to be hard pressed to do what you want with such a small system no mater what you have been told... Good luck with your situation...
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Post by tattoo on Nov 11, 2017 19:22:48 GMT -8
I did some figuring and you are going to be hard pressed to just run your fan for 6 to 8 hours and stay above 50%... Your small battery is your biggest problem... If you could get a few more batteries at this point, even car batteries will work.. I think you should get enough sun everyday to charge the batteries with one panel.. Just don't over do it...
Make sure your panel is pointed exactly at the sun..
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Post by classhd on Nov 12, 2017 15:29:14 GMT -8
I did some figuring and you are going to be..... I wanted to thank you for all the support you have given me. I'm trying my best to get a lead-acid deep cycle AGM battery, if I do not get 100ah at least a 70-90 battery would be great to increase the usage time. The panel is very well oriented, the controller kept me up until 6:15 p.m. Within two weeks I will be able to buy a 100w Monocrystalline expansion kit and thus have at least 10 amps of charge. Am I on the right way?
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Post by tattoo on Nov 12, 2017 16:05:34 GMT -8
What is included in the expansion kit?? and how much is it?? Many times you can buy the items separate cheaper than in a kit... Plus you don't get things that you don't need...
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Post by classhd on Nov 12, 2017 17:21:53 GMT -8
What is included in the expansion kit?? and how much is it?? Many times you can buy the items separate cheaper than in a kit... Plus you don't get things that you don't need... Renogy 100 Watt 12 Volt Monocrystalline Solar Expansion Kit features a 100 Watt Monocrystalline Solar Panel, a set of Zbrackets, and a pair of branch Connectors for $157.20 free shipping. could you help me decipher if adding a panel and 100ah battery could help me use the led bulbs I need at the moment, a TV at least 2 hours during the day and a fan at night for at least 8 hours? I also have an electronic timer that I can adjust to turn off the fan at a certain time. And there comes a voltmeter on the way that can help me easily see the voltage level that I have.
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Post by tattoo on Nov 12, 2017 17:46:33 GMT -8
Yes you should be fine in the day time to watch TV, It amazing what you can do when the sun is shinning.. And you should be ok to just run the fan for several hours at night..
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Post by rabird on Nov 13, 2017 7:22:59 GMT -8
Can you estimate usage in amp-hrs? 75 watts @ 12v is 6.25 amps and each hr of use is 6.25 amp hrs plus the ineff of the inverter. A 50w fan @ 12v is 4.2 amps, each hr of use is 4.2 amp hrs.
Can you add up the espected usage? You need to add in the inverter use when on and its eff with a load.
Did you go to the irradiance link and find how much sun ya get based on location, time of year, panel angle?
Is all this information a secret or can you share it?
If I could generate ~20 ah a sunny day and had an 100 ah battery and limit use to 20ah a day, on not so sunny days my battery could go a couple of days using 20ah a day, when the sun shined again the battery would NEVER get FULLY charged again if I use 20 and can make 20! On sunny days I need to make more than I use so I can FULLY charge the battery. I could turn everything off for several days or I could make more than I use to get the battery FULL.
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Post by classhd on Nov 17, 2017 12:53:18 GMT -8
rabirdif I am using this forum is because I do not understand solar energy very well and without phone signal or internet access is very difficult to learn, I achieve talk to a person who installs solar panels and I oriented them as he said, I do not know so much about coordinates or numbers to calculate Watts or amps. Now I have 2 100w solar panels, 100ah battery and 400 Watts inverter. When I have a good signal I will look for information, for the moment I need your knowledge. Thanks
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