Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Direct DC usage

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Direct DC usage

    Hello...
    Normally i am just a quiet viewer here, but right now i need some ideas...
    Love the ideas i found so far, but nothing really fits my need
    So hopefully someone has some great new ones
    I was going to buy a house and with its setup and such i also planned a solar array...
    Well...deal blew...and now i have 20 panels sitting in the basement where they are little of use.
    I got them for free, so thats why i dont have any other equipment yet.
    But the place i live in right now is pretty shady and rented and so not worth any real effort
    But i was thinking if i put them out to the south side and lean/mount them to the house wall, they might catch enough sun to give me some help.
    Cause living in usa means cold,not insulated and damp basements...and would like to just take all the harvest i get and heat somehow my basement...
    I know that it will not be much. but i want them to work for me at least a little.
    So can i just put them parallel and use the 42 volts peak in combined amperage do get anything running without inverter or such?
    With some sun, it should give me at least some energy...but i dont know how to use...
    Any ideas? i dont want to grid tie them, i dont want to store anything in any batteries...just plunge them together, preferred parallel to be more shadow independent and run something that can work a little fr me...
    Only thing i do have equipment wise are APC UPS's in different sizes up to 2000 watt...they use 48 volt...so not sure if they can be tied in somewhere/somehow
    Hope anyone has an idea

    hx for your time

  • #2
    With enough in parallel you will be able to run a heater. I got a bunch of new panels but had no use for them at the camp after 10am in the morning. I connected them to one of those oil filled 1500W radiators. I had a circuit that kept it at power point but most of the day it was just direct connect. It was only 375W at that voltage , but you couldn't keep your hand on it.

    Comment


    • #3
      Beware if using DC through any heating device, or AC rated switches. The thermostats and switches will quickly fail from being operated (cycled off and on) on DC. Crank the thermostat to full hot, switch on, and then connect and watch out for flames
      Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
      || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
      || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

      solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
      gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by darkyputz View Post
        [...] But i was thinking if i put them out to the south side and lean/mount them to the house wall, they might catch enough sun to give me some help.
        If you do that, mount them well. They are like sails in the wind. The amount of mounting required might be more than your landlord would appreciate.

        Comment


        • #5
          Hallo and thx for your replies...it sounds like a lost case...any other practical use that you could think of so that they are not sitting and just catching dust until i find a new house?

          Comment


          • #6
            OK how about just generate heat? Would that work?

            Easy enough to do depending on the panel voltage and figuring out what load to use. Example lets say they are battery panels and you have 20 of them, wire them all in series and terminate them to a electric heating element like you see on older electric stove tops, even an oven element or hot water heater element will work.

            You just got to work out voltage and power to match the heating element.
            MSEE, PE

            Comment


            • #7
              What's your landlord say about mounting the panels? You can't just lean them up against the house and not expect the wind to take them away. They make pretty decent kites. Also what does the increased risk of fire powering the heater?

              Many times the best thing to do is let something collect dust until you have the proper usage of it.

              WWW

              Comment


              • #8
                I would do my best to sell the panels and forget about trying to use them in an unconventional manner, especially when you are in a rental house.
                Dave W. Gilbert AZ
                6.63kW grid-tie owner

                Comment

                Working...
                X