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  • My DIY Tailgate project

    Aloha everyone,

    Let me start by saying that I have no knowledge of Solar systems, which is why I'm here asking all of you for your help. Most of what I've done up to now has been purely DIY and reading forums and watching some videos.

    I guess I just need a place to bounce ideas off of. Anyhow, I had this idea to make a portable solar battery setup to power my tailgating parties. Basically I just needed it to power my curved 27" led monitor, charge my iPhone X, and power my bluetooth speaker, and maybe a few other things here and there, but nothing that draws too much power.

    A few details on my small project build:

    -To house everything I repurposed an old .50 Cal Ammo can. I plan to use these to house the expansions on my bank. They fit the batteries that I;m using perfectly, allowing me to close them up and transport them easily.

    -For batteries I used a pair of 12v, 18Ah AGM deep cycle sport batteries. I guess I though it would be a good idea because I had used something similar for my high power CB Radio setup before.

    -I used powerwerx.com to get some cables made to wire the batteries together in parallel. I chose 4ga welding cable. They were made identical lengths.

    -I managed to get a small display wired onto one of the batteries to show me the voltage readout. I know, its not much, but it was what I could get my hands on.

    -From there I drilled two holes and added grommets to send the POS and NEG wires out the box to a quick disconnect.

    -I fashioned another quick disconnect to the Inverter wiring, and the inverter is mounted to the side of the box. I chose a 1000 watt inverter. I know now that it is a little overkill, but I never planned to run that much power to it. I just bought it knowing that I would be expanding the bank to double the size very soon using the same box setup. I read in the sticky posts that this could pose a problem.

    - Lastly I bought the Boulder 50 watt panel from Goal Zero and the charge controller. Hawaii does get a lot of sun, but we also have a lot of overcast weather. I guess I had other options but this one seemed to have what I was looking for.

    This all started as a small thing I wanted to try to be able to watch the other college games while tailgating for our home team. It has grown to sort of an obsession now that I've got it working pretty smoothly I think. Like I said, I want to build expansion boxes with the same setup (minus the inverter) to be able to wire together. So instead my current 2 batteries, with another box I'll have 4.

    Any help or such would be appreciated. I know you all are pretty much professionals so what better place to grab some knowledge?

    Thanks!

  • #3
    I sure hope those battery terminals never come into contact with a metal ammo can.

    The inverter cables, should be wired on the DIAGONAL at the battery ( see http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html )

    Your inverter is 8x too large for your small battery bank. Even if you double your bank, it's still way too large, and will flatten your little batteries with it's self-consumption.

    A 50 w panel would need 6 hours of good sun, to recharge a 80w load that ran for 3 hours. More panel would not hurt.

    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 Mike90250 View Post
      I sure hope those battery terminals never come into contact with a metal ammo can.

      The inverter cables, should be wired on the DIAGONAL at the battery ( see http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html )

      Your inverter is 8x too large for your small battery bank. Even if you double your bank, it's still way too large, and will flatten your little batteries with it's self-consumption.

      A 50 w panel would need 6 hours of good sun, to recharge a 80w load that ran for 3 hours. More panel would not hurt.
      Yeah those pictures dont show but I have since insulated the inside of the can to keep them from making contact.

      What size inverter do you recommend? 400w?

      Would you suggest I double the size of the panel? I believe they sell a 100w version or i could piggyback another one of the 50w ones.

      Thanks for the help!

      Comment


      • #5
        You size the inverter for the loads you anticipate. With 2 batteries (less than 40ah) or 4 batteries (less than 80ah) you don't have much power there to play with.
        I like to size the inverter so my expected load is about 70% of the inverter continuous rating. My favorite low power inverter is the Monringstar Suresine 300.
        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


        • #6
          Originally posted by Mike90250 View Post
          You size the inverter for the loads you anticipate. With 2 batteries (less than 40ah) or 4 batteries (less than 80ah) you don't have much power there to play with.
          I like to size the inverter so my expected load is about 70% of the inverter continuous rating. My favorite low power inverter is the Monringstar Suresine 300.
          Awesome I appreciate all the help! I guess I didn't know exactly how the inverter worked. I'll do some math and see just how much power I actually need here. Like I said it's not that much power that I need.

          One more question, and this may seem a little naive, but just how do I know how much wattage is stored in those two batteries? Is it just volts x amp hours?

          Comment


          • #7
            Yep, battery WattHours is V x Ah.
            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


            • #8
              Originally posted by Mike90250 View Post
              Yep, battery WattHours is V x Ah.
              Thanks mate for all your help!

              Comment

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