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Hi everyone,
This is mostly an introduction post, but I would also love feed back on my tiny little test solar system.
I'm Paul from the UK, Northern Ireland specifically, so we don't get much sun. A rain panel would be a better option here
I currently live in an apartment and have no ability to put a panel outdoors without going via the landlord and bolting it to the roof or outside wall. I intend to buy a house this summer/autumn, so I decided to start with a small indoor system, just to gain some experience of DIY solar.
I bought a mono 50W panel. A 10A Charge controller (EPever Tracer A) and a 26Ah Yuasa deep cycle SLA. The panel sits in a south facing window and produces power between around 9am and 4pm although it really only produces decent output between 10am and 1pm due to the angle of the panel and the window cutting the light.
So far peak output has been 28W which given the panel's location I'm fairly happy with.
The SLA is used to charge downstream Lithium 18650 packs and LiPo batteries which I then use in various places around the house to power battery powered devices.
Currently that list include:
* All my eCigarette batteries.
* My phone.
* Occasionally a 3W LED to light my desk.
* My electronics bench supply (Buck/Boost converter 0-50V, 0-5A)
* My headphone desktop amplifer
A week with a few sunny days and I can get ahead on the main battery voltage, but a dark week in January I was actually going backwards and started switching the whole system off at night to save power. As the days get longer and the panel can produce more than it consumes (65mA) before I get up in the morning I will start leaving it on overnight.
I made a Wifi monitoring dongle for the Tracer A that people might be interested in. See here:
It is designed to work with my datalogger, but the concept should give you ideas.
I have a few questions, if I may:
1. MPPT. Given the panel is behind a double glazed window I'm assuming the charge controller keeping the panel around 13-14V is due to the window and that is the MPP of the panel in that location?
2. Given the above, am I doing the right thing by running the main battery at a lower level and not running it full charged at 13V? I tend to run it between 12.6V down to 12V or on the odd occasion down to 11.8V
3. UK Specific: If I wanted to experiment with a small GTI, say a 300W GTI, if my house is not consuming 300W at that moment (unlikely) will it run my mechanical meter backwards? The thing is, doing that is a criminal offense in the UK as it is seen as tampering with the utility equipment and fraud. Does attaching a GTI to your internal plug ring amount to connecting equipment to the grid and thus the electric company need to be informed? Or is it a matter that at such a small output it would not be noticed anyway?
Thanks,
Paul
This is mostly an introduction post, but I would also love feed back on my tiny little test solar system.
I'm Paul from the UK, Northern Ireland specifically, so we don't get much sun. A rain panel would be a better option here
I currently live in an apartment and have no ability to put a panel outdoors without going via the landlord and bolting it to the roof or outside wall. I intend to buy a house this summer/autumn, so I decided to start with a small indoor system, just to gain some experience of DIY solar.
I bought a mono 50W panel. A 10A Charge controller (EPever Tracer A) and a 26Ah Yuasa deep cycle SLA. The panel sits in a south facing window and produces power between around 9am and 4pm although it really only produces decent output between 10am and 1pm due to the angle of the panel and the window cutting the light.
So far peak output has been 28W which given the panel's location I'm fairly happy with.
The SLA is used to charge downstream Lithium 18650 packs and LiPo batteries which I then use in various places around the house to power battery powered devices.
Currently that list include:
* All my eCigarette batteries.
* My phone.
* Occasionally a 3W LED to light my desk.
* My electronics bench supply (Buck/Boost converter 0-50V, 0-5A)
* My headphone desktop amplifer
A week with a few sunny days and I can get ahead on the main battery voltage, but a dark week in January I was actually going backwards and started switching the whole system off at night to save power. As the days get longer and the panel can produce more than it consumes (65mA) before I get up in the morning I will start leaving it on overnight.
I made a Wifi monitoring dongle for the Tracer A that people might be interested in. See here:
It is designed to work with my datalogger, but the concept should give you ideas.
I have a few questions, if I may:
1. MPPT. Given the panel is behind a double glazed window I'm assuming the charge controller keeping the panel around 13-14V is due to the window and that is the MPP of the panel in that location?
2. Given the above, am I doing the right thing by running the main battery at a lower level and not running it full charged at 13V? I tend to run it between 12.6V down to 12V or on the odd occasion down to 11.8V
3. UK Specific: If I wanted to experiment with a small GTI, say a 300W GTI, if my house is not consuming 300W at that moment (unlikely) will it run my mechanical meter backwards? The thing is, doing that is a criminal offense in the UK as it is seen as tampering with the utility equipment and fraud. Does attaching a GTI to your internal plug ring amount to connecting equipment to the grid and thus the electric company need to be informed? Or is it a matter that at such a small output it would not be noticed anyway?
Thanks,
Paul