Anyone have any solar experience?

[sbishop]

I'm getting ready to put some power at my log cabin this summer and is trying to come up with a plan of attack.

I'm planning on building this summer/fall a small floating water wheel and running a PMA to produce power 24hrs a day while i'm there...keeping the batteries charged up.

But when i'm not there i plan on taking the water wheel out of the water because the river can fluctuate a lot and i'm sure it would disappear when the right person comes by...so i was thinking of putting a solar panel on the roof to keep the batteries charged up while i'm not there.

i'm looking at a  12v/33watt  polycrystalline solar panel from northern toolhttps://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=position"> Note:Please read the Forestry Forum's postion on this company (its on sale for $249) and a 7amp solar charge controller.

i just plan on running a few lights this spring/summer until i get my water wheel up and running. my question is, anyone have this model of solar panel?  or would it better to get 2 X 15watt amorphous panels for ($69 each)? What's the difference?

Also, would i need to get another solar charge controller when i get the water wheel going? or should i be able to use it in conjunction with the solar panel?

Thanks
Sbishop

[Gary_C]

A good source for the equipment you might need is from the RV industry. There was a thread on the Alternative energy board recently that discussed some very good systems that some off grid people are using. I also found some very good technical information at one of those camper supply houses.

I actually have a solar system on a camper I got last year and it has a solar charger, two solar panels on the roof, an inverter, and a four battery storage unit. It's not an inexpensive system and it does take some maintenance as I found out last fall and winter when I had a bad battery cable and it cost me four of those deep cycle 6 volt batteries. Also when I bought it, the 5000 watt inverter was bad and the dealer had to eat the cost of a $2400 new inverter.

Edit: Here is that other thread I spoke about,

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,38754.0/all.html

[Dana]

I bought a panel kit through Amazon. It is similar to the Harbor Freight one. A complete kit with regulator and inverter. The inverter is very cheap looking however.

[RSteiner]

A friend of mine from Germany comes and lives in a cabin in the woods half a mile from my house.  He has no electricity, doesn't want a generator, but needed a 12 volt power source for a new propane gas refridgerator he acquired. 

THree years ago I put together a solar panel battery package that allows him to run the fridge and several LED lights.  I decided on a 70 watt panel and a deep cycle battery which gives him enough reserve for a couple of days of cloudy weather. 

He only needs power from May to October so the winter months when there is less daylight is not a problem.  The solar panel arrangement has worked very well.

Randy

[sbishop]

I just ordered two 15 watt panels and a 30amp controller from northern toolhttps://forestryforum.com/board/index.php?action=position"> Note:Please read the Forestry Forum's postion on this company.

i just need a few lights this summer for the wife and kids. i'm planning on putting in a waterwheel this fall or next spring...That will hopefully produce lots of power that i will need. The panels will then keep my batteries topped up while i'm not there!

i've been looking at 12v light bulbs, anyone have any led bulbs? anything compare to a 60w or 100w (110v) bulb?

Sbishop

[SPIKER]

harbor freight has them for 179 for 45 watt 3-panels with built in controllers regular prices are 249, sales 199 to 179.

Mark

[D Hagens]

i've been looking at 12v light bulbs, anyone have any led bulbs? anything compare to a 60w or 100w (110v) bulb?

Sbishop

  I have 12 volt bulbs in my cabin; they run off a 12 volt battery. They look like household bulbs and throw off the same amount of light. The LED'S use a bit less power but the light isn't the same.
A small solar panel to trickle charge the battery is all you need for 4 or 5 lights, when charged it will last all day.
I charge my laptops from an inverter in the truck, start the truck every few days and we are set.
For a small fridge anything without gas just electronics you can run it off 3 banks of batteries and that's a fridge with a freezer.

[Don_Papenburg]

Most of the LED lights that I have   have a directional light pattern  . That is the light shines down in a narrow pattern and the lighting off to the side gets dim real fast.  the light right below the led is bright . 

[RSteiner]

LED lights are still on the expensive side when compaired to incandesent bulbs.  However the wattage consumption of an LED light is a fraction of what the other type bulbs use.  There are more color options available today in LED lights so you don't have to look at the ice cold blue/white light output of the older LED lights.

The directional nature of an LED does make them more like a spot light than the 360 degree output of and incandesent type bulb, but there are LED bulb packages with multipule LED's arranged to spread the output of the bulb.

In my German friends cabin there is a three bulb LED light fixture over the dining table where the bulbs are about 8" apart in a row that gives enough light to read anywhere on the table.

Randy

[SPIKER]

GE has a new bulb LEDs that looks like a decorative standard bulb, 360 degree light and very bright.  also very expensive something like 150.00 each.  with a 17 yr life span in standard edison base. (standard screw base.)   There are some 12VDC bulbs that are pretty bright and are more of a tractor type spot light or work light, I have a sample one under my desk at work, it uses about 3.5 amps and is pretty good somewhat directional as it is designed for spot light/head light.  ( JW SPEAKER 735) series.   I think I will replace my tractor work light using that sample LED :D ;)

mark

[mr T]

Weve had solar for about 9 years now 3 kyocera 110 panels  6 trojan 105 batteries 1500w trace inverter I had the best luck using 110 volt compact fluorescent bulbs also availble now in12v TRied led didnt like the color New england solar electric has good selection of lighting Good luck with waterwheel like to hear more about it

[maple flats]

I have 300 watts solar at my sugarhouse. Unbranded 24V nominal panels. They are 240' from the sugarhouse with overhead 2ga aluminum triplex cable. In the sugarhouse I have a cheap charge controller, cheap 2500 watt inverter and 4 trojan T125 6v batteries wired in series. It works OK but I plan to add 4 more panels this ear, 4 more batteries in a parallel series bank with the first and I plan to get a MPPT charge controller which is much more efficient than what I have. Even on what I have I was able to run 364 watts flourescent light and a 3/4 HP motor on a high pressure blower for combustion for about 5 hours during the daylight when the sun was shining. This kept it quieter for that time than running the diesel generator. Next year should be more that double usable capacity and should even be able to run after dark a couple hours before I start the genny to run the sugarhouse AND recharge the batteries some before shutting down for the night. Most charging would be done by the sun before boiling resumes the next day.
Solar WORKS good. However I have no knowledge of the Harbor Freight panels, just that they were more costly/watt than most on ebay when I was looking. The only advantage I see them offering is that a kit is combined and you don't need to figure what goes with what. If you can, look up panels and look for a MPPT controller. The PWM type looses about 35-40% of the panel energy where a MPPT only looses 2-8% depending on brand and mfgr. Also, be aware that the batteries need weekly maintainance if they are flooded acid. Get good batteries, they last much longer. A RV deep cycle will not last very long.