Hi. I have a science fair coming up in May and I would really appreciate some help. This is my plan, please correct me where I'm wrong and tell me if there's a better way to do certain things:
I am going to buy a 10w 12v solar panel (I might be able to get a 40w for a bargain) which will charge a battery. Would it be better to get a 12v lead acid battery or a 12v lithium battery? Do these DC splitters connect devices in series or parallel? How many Ah would you guys recommend? Although I suppose it doesn't matter too much because I just need to show that it works at the expo but I'd like to use it now and then. The battery will connect to a 12v LED light and a 12v to 5v USB charger.
What about diodes? Do I need them? How will I make sure that the device charging doesn't get fried? The solar panel should have a diode inside it. I see a lot of solar charge controllers that don't say what types of batteries they support.
A charge controller isn't necessary if I use SLA batteries, is it? I'd also like to add in a switch to cut off power to the USB ports, power to the light and power to the battery from the solar panel. Do you think I can afford the power draw of the LED on these toggle switches and two of these? The cheapest charge controller I can find is £65.93 which is about 3 times the price of my 6800mAh battery. Is this right or am I just not looking in the right places. I would have liked to use Lithium because of the space I'd save but it doesn't seem like I'd be able to if the charge controller costs 3 times the price of the battery.
Thanks a lot, I appreciate it.
I am going to buy a 10w 12v solar panel (I might be able to get a 40w for a bargain) which will charge a battery. Would it be better to get a 12v lead acid battery or a 12v lithium battery? Do these DC splitters connect devices in series or parallel? How many Ah would you guys recommend? Although I suppose it doesn't matter too much because I just need to show that it works at the expo but I'd like to use it now and then. The battery will connect to a 12v LED light and a 12v to 5v USB charger.
What about diodes? Do I need them? How will I make sure that the device charging doesn't get fried? The solar panel should have a diode inside it. I see a lot of solar charge controllers that don't say what types of batteries they support.
A charge controller isn't necessary if I use SLA batteries, is it? I'd also like to add in a switch to cut off power to the USB ports, power to the light and power to the battery from the solar panel. Do you think I can afford the power draw of the LED on these toggle switches and two of these? The cheapest charge controller I can find is £65.93 which is about 3 times the price of my 6800mAh battery. Is this right or am I just not looking in the right places. I would have liked to use Lithium because of the space I'd save but it doesn't seem like I'd be able to if the charge controller costs 3 times the price of the battery.
Thanks a lot, I appreciate it.
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