I am brand new to solar and am trying to set up an emergency power source for my amateur radio equipment and computers so that I can operate indefinitely throughout a power outage in a disaster situation.
I was getting the system set up as a 12-volt system, but I am now considering changing it over to a 24-volt system instead. I have 12 6-volt Trojan T-105 225Ah batteries which can be connected in series and parallel in either 12-volt or 24-volt configurations. The problem comes in with my 100-watt solar panels though as they were purchased for a 12-volt system. I suppose I could also connect these in series and parallel the same way as the batteries are, but I have never tried that before so I am not sure if it would work or not. My MMPT solar charge controller can handle either the 12-volt or 24-volt configuration, but I would have to replace my 12-volt desulfanating charger/maintainer/conditioner with a 24-volt version which is out of stock until next month.
My station radios and computers basically use the same power as an average entire household in a month. I have calculated almost 1000kWH per month if my calculations are correct. This is going to be extremely difficult to try to do this as a solar system with the technology that is currently available, but I am going to try to stumble through it and do what I can with the limited resources and limited space available. Luckily, here in Hawaii, I am able to augment the system with wind power along with the solar. On the mainland, wind turbines are basically useless due to the lack of dependable wind, but here they work quite well because of our constant Trade Winds. As soon as I can find a suitable mast for my 400-watt wind turbine that will be added to my system. I am having difficulty finding anyone that will ship the mast to Hawaii though.
Hopefully one of these days I will get this all figured out and have this system up and running.
Aloha
RC
WH6FQE
I was getting the system set up as a 12-volt system, but I am now considering changing it over to a 24-volt system instead. I have 12 6-volt Trojan T-105 225Ah batteries which can be connected in series and parallel in either 12-volt or 24-volt configurations. The problem comes in with my 100-watt solar panels though as they were purchased for a 12-volt system. I suppose I could also connect these in series and parallel the same way as the batteries are, but I have never tried that before so I am not sure if it would work or not. My MMPT solar charge controller can handle either the 12-volt or 24-volt configuration, but I would have to replace my 12-volt desulfanating charger/maintainer/conditioner with a 24-volt version which is out of stock until next month.
My station radios and computers basically use the same power as an average entire household in a month. I have calculated almost 1000kWH per month if my calculations are correct. This is going to be extremely difficult to try to do this as a solar system with the technology that is currently available, but I am going to try to stumble through it and do what I can with the limited resources and limited space available. Luckily, here in Hawaii, I am able to augment the system with wind power along with the solar. On the mainland, wind turbines are basically useless due to the lack of dependable wind, but here they work quite well because of our constant Trade Winds. As soon as I can find a suitable mast for my 400-watt wind turbine that will be added to my system. I am having difficulty finding anyone that will ship the mast to Hawaii though.
Hopefully one of these days I will get this all figured out and have this system up and running.
Aloha
RC
WH6FQE
Comment