Lindy bought two Renoogy 100 watt 12 volt solar panels some time back and they have sat unused up til now. I woul dlike to use them to provide some night time LED lighting in the barn whare there is currently no power. Tell me how te get from the panels to battery to lights without spending a fortune. I already have a battery I can use.
You just need a charge controller. You can find them on eBay for $15-25. You want a PWM based module. It will have a solar input, battery output and power output connections. You need to run the heaviest wire you have from the panels to the controller (placing it as close to the battery(ies) as you can. Generally, the panels will provide 20-30vdc at so many watts. You need to match the controller to the volts and watts. If you hook your lights to the power out on the controller (as opposed to the battery), the controller will cut off the power before the battery's voltage drops to a point that it would damage them.
So, I would be better off to run the panels in series and have higher voltage to the controller and less amperage for my LED lighting scenario?
It is going to depend more on how many amp-hrs you will need (total load and how big a battery bank). In parallel, the two panels will charge you battery faster, in series, you will have less loss (can use smaller wire). I would do in parallel so you are getting the most charge.
If they are hooked parallel will they actually charge the battery enough since they are 12 volt panels? Enough to charge a two battery bank?
I have been using a renogy 100 watt panel for lighting my pole barn for several years. They have a good sale on charge controllers now and have wiring schematics on their site also. I have mine hooked up to one of their charge controllers and then 2 big deep cycle 12 volt batteries in parallel. I think the panel puts out 24 volts and the controller can handle a 12 or 24 volt system. I have a 700 watt power inverter that runs 3 of those 5 socket 50 ft temporary lighting power cords with 15 of the 23 watt 100 watt equivalent 110 volt cfl bulbs. I can get about 3 hours a day of light during the summer. Someday when the price comes down I will switch to led bulbs. I had a problem starting the cfl bulbs with a low cost inverter at first and had to step up to a better grade inverter to light them when it is cold out. :)
Quote from: LeeB on March 25, 2018, 02:10:25 PM
If they are hooked parallel will they actually charge the battery enough since they are 12 volt panels? Enough to charge a two battery bank?
What is the peak voltage on the label? To charge a 12v battery, you need at least 13 to 13.5 volts. If the peak is only 18 to 20v then they are "12v" panels. A 24v system uses 30v panels. If you hook the batteries in parallel, the voltage is still 12v but your amp hours goes up (longer run time).
Can't sat what the peak voltage is from where I'm sitting right now. Once I get home I can take a look. :D
Alrighty then. Looked up the specs for the panels I have and it says optimum voltage 18.9V and 5.29A. Guess that tells me what I need to know. Now on to researching what lights I want to use.
OK, so you need to hook them up in parallel and they will deliver 10.6 amps. Get a controller that is good for 12 to 15 amps (or more). The panels can actually do better then the rated amp in certain situations so go bigger then 10 amps.
Google is your friend. You can find out how much power you will get on a typical day and use that to size the battery bank. Remember to preserve your battery life, you only drain the battery to a certain level, never to dead flat.
Yes sir, google does help a lot, but input from you has also helped by guiding me toward the searches I need to make. Thank you much.
My recent craze has been 12 volt offroad LED lights for floodlights on my house. I am using PC power supplies to power them off a standard 110 plug. The lights I found are available on amazon it was $20 for a 2 pack of 12" spot flood combo light bars. Makes the best flood lights I have ever had and the cheapest. May be worth looking into just running offroad LED lights direct off the battery.
The reason I went this route is due to the high cost of 110 powered LED floodlights.
I geeked out on the 12 volt leds as well, I've been putting them on everything!
I also bought a 10 pack of 4' led tubes to replace fluorescent lights. instead of putting them in fixtures I wired up a 6' pigtail to connect to the pins on the bulb and plug the other end direct into an outlet then hung them from the ceiling using a curved piece of romex as a hook.
This serves many purposes.
1. I gots me light for cheap.
2. did not have to deal with all the bad ballasts I had in my shop.
3. made the best drop light ever. I just reach up to the ceiling grab a light and poof instant drop light.
these bulbs are 110 variety but still almost no power draw and very reasonably priced about $12 per bulb.
Quote from: Crusarius on March 26, 2018, 10:10:18 AM
My recent craze has been 12 volt offroad LED lights for floodlights on my house. I am using PC power supplies to power them off a standard 110 plug. The lights I found are available on amazon it was $20 for a 2 pack of 12" spot flood combo light bars. Makes the best flood lights I have ever had and the cheapest. May be worth looking into just running offroad LED lights direct off the battery.
The reason I went this route is due to the high cost of 110 powered LED floodlights.
How many lumens are they?
I don't know I will have to look them up. If I ever get around to mounting them up on the soffit of the house they will light up my entire yard.
They work very well just sitting in the window.
Like Barbender I use 2- 210 chip 12 volt led bulbs for a 24 by 32 shed. Bulbs have a screw in base like a regular bulb. Lights the whole shed up.
here is the lights I bought for floodlights
Liteway Pair 12Inch 72W CREE LED Light Bar Fog Light Spot Flood Combo Beam Bumper Lights for Car Truck Headlights Driving Work Light Waterproof for Jeep Offroad Camper ATV SUV 4WD, 2 Years Warranty
I lied the amazon price I paid total was $32.50
(https://forestryforum.com/gallery/albums/userpics/39553/lumens.jpg?easyrotate_cache=1522225699)
This thread has enlightened me. Thanks. Never knew about LED fluorescent tubes .
Quote from: tawilson on March 28, 2018, 04:51:10 AM
This thread has enlightened me. Thanks. Never knew about LED fluorescent tubes .
Well they aren't Fluoro tubes, just a string of LEDs with some control circuitry, wired up in the shape of an old school fluoro tube.
But with modern LEDs, the efficiency of the new lamps is quite an bit better than Fluoro tubes. And assuming they are designed properly they should last for years. Suspiciously cheap ones either skimp on the driver circuitry, or "overdrive" the LED chips so they die early.
be careful when searching LED tubes. there are 3 types.
direct replacement: remove fluorescent bulb and put in LED. This requires a working ballast
power 2 ends: this removes the ballast from the light fixture and has power to each end of the tube
powered 1 end: this also removes the ballast but is only powered on 1 end.
my opinion the last option is the best option. easiest to wire and get rid of all the bad ballasts in your lights. plus best for energy saving.
For 5 bucks a bulb I'm picking up a box of the direct replacement and then take it from there. Thanks for the info.
Quote from: Crusarius on March 28, 2018, 07:24:21 AMpowered 1 end: this also removes the ballast but is only powered on 1 end.
Ok... How can a light light with only one wire?
2 pins on one end.
If you are going to run these and want to put it into the same fixture you currently have you need non shunted tombstones. (the white things the bulbs clip into)
most led tubes will come with them.
When you replace the florescent lights with the no ballast leds are there any temperature concerns? In my unheated garage the fluorescents don't work to well when it gets really cold.
none at all my garage spends plenty of time at 30 degrees and they light right up no problem. I would highly recommend even if the ballasts are good replace the fluorescent with no ballast LED. the ballasts will fail eventually.
then you will also have spare ballasts for the light you do not convert right away