Dude - this is the first beginners video that explained the basics (a live, explained diagram) effectively. Simple, slow, concise, visually able to be absorbed, demonstrating minimal systems then allowing the system to grow without confusing us. CanNOT thank you enough for this - good service on your part.
+Sid Vicious I appreciate that! Before I got into solar I also tried to watch some videos and came away confused and frustrated. So I wanted to put something out there that was simple and used actual components to demonstrate how it works instead of a drawing.
So i looked up a bunch of solar panel videos, and you are literally the only one i've found so far that i can actually move forward with and do on my own after watching your videos.
Great education; I'm loving it and need more. Keep up the great work! I am of the belief that these contents need to be condensed either into a step-by-step how-to book or another video that takes a newbie's hands from ground zero, where he or she knows nothing about this stuff and turns them into a pro, so as to start a project from small to larger more complex projects like electrifying a house off-grid. Have you ever thought about doing anything like this? You are greatly appreciated!
I agree. I've wanted to make an e-book for a long time but haven't had time to do more than a few chapters. I have a new solar for beginner video on my list.
Your a DIY GOD js. I cant tell you how many videos I've watched in my life that have completely wasted my time. Short, simple, direct easy to understand and the info is explained perfectly. Felt ultra compelled to say this since I went through way too many videos to learn it from you in like 15 mins fucking bravo dude
Just want to say thanks for the videos. I've been thinking about making a tiny home/man cave for my nephew. I like the idea of the switch to chose between immediate power from the panel or flipping a switch to take from the charged battery. It'd be great as a night time back up if he needed to escape for a few hours. You've really given me hope that I might be able to pull this off without burning something down. :D
Stitched Wicked DC electricity is not as dangerous as AC, especially at such low voltage. Start with a simple system like this and play around with it and use it for something small. You will learn a lot and avoid a ton of mistakes later on that would cost you much more than this simple setup costs.
Great Job! I say, you have done a way better job than most in explaining a AC and DC setup. Solid visuals and comments, couldn't been easier to follow.
Great man. An excellent and clear demonstration for understanding solar energy usage for beginners like me. Thanks very much hope more and more video as raised by FAQ.
I saw the new video. Great explanation, wow thank you so much You should open a blog! I will post you the video of my project when done, so you can give me advice and idea. The panel 50w is about 3 to 4 Ah\ so a battery should be full charged in About 10h. The load is gonna work pretty much on evening (daytime no body at home) so I think enough time to charge the battery. Yes the load pretty much is gonna be a led lamp for the all the system box, two pc fan to reduce the heat, then in the house on DVD player about 15 watt and two iPhone charger and one regular lamp for the room, for outside one 12dc led lamp. Box led and pic fans they gonna have a switch on off so they will work when I need, without consuming the battery. I like your way to set up is clean and fine, just I think there is something I can't fix, I was thinking to have the external lamp set as solar sensor( just work when no sun) and the inverter on demand when I need power inside house, but in this setup the inverter is gonna work just when there is no sun. What about put a relet on the inverter that is gonna switch on battery when there is not power from the light output? Thank you so much, really appreciate your advice
If I were you, I would make a 2nd system instead of trying to switch things on and off. You will spend just as much money on relays and sensors and extra wiring plus have more stress trying to figure out how to make it all work with one system. Go get a 10w solar panel (www.solarblvd.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_25_39&products_id=2892) and a cheap lighting charge controller (www.amazon.com/ECO-WORTHY-Charge-Controller-Regulator-Control/dp/B00OH8QVKY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1424534406&sr=8-2&keywords=solar+light+controller) along with a 8ah battery and hook it to the outside LED lamp. Then you can keep the 50w panel and other batteries for your inside system. I have 2 separate systems similar to this. One 20w panel system powers my shed lights and I have 600 watts of panels powering my indoor system. I really think you are going to need at least 100w for your indoor system but you can try it out first and see. The reason I think that is because cloudy days in the summer or winter days with less sunlight may not fully recharge your batteries and you may run out of power after a few days.
Appreciate you breaking it down for me. I plan to start small and hope to get some experience and confidence to get bigger solar use for my place. Millenniums around the corner man!
Thank you for explaining this. I'm planning to get a small solar system set up to start offloading electrical costs from the grid. These videos are great.
thanks for sharing this... i am new in owning solar panels and i got only little idea on how it works i need more research to do but thanks to your video im solve..
I liked how you dumbed down the basic solar panel. What can you tell me about having a panel with a battery. I have a camper that has a battery that charges through my car while I'm driving. I want to add a solar panel for when I'm not driving. I operate lights, 2 small fans, and a coffee pot! Thanks in advance. You're awesome.
That is a great question. You don't need much: solar panel, charge controller, and wiring. When you stop at a campground to camp you would disconnect the cable that connects the battery to the camper alternator (which charges it while you drive). Then you can attach the wires to the battery and those would attach to the "load" or output connectors on the charge controller. Then use the rest of the wiring to connect the solar panel to the charge controller at the appropriate connectors for the input or "solar" side. You will want the wires to be as thick as you think you can get away with so that you don't lose any voltage through the wires. If you mount the panel to the top of the camper, make sure you can swivel it to face the sun as it will obviously be different each time you camp. If you don't want to permanently mount the panel to the camper, you could build a small wooden mount with some spare 2x4's or something that would sit on the ground and hold the panel toward the sun. If that is too basic for you and you have more specific questions, fire away!
Love this!! Answered a lot of my questions but how about adding a battery like I have 3 of those, how do I hook them together and keep everything else like you have it?? Please do another video!!! Thanks haha
I have lots more videos like this. Look for one on parallel and series wiring for batteries. That will answer your question about how to hook up 3 batteries.
This was a very helpful video, one of the best I have seen of your videos as it is very similar to the set-up I would like to do in my small shed. I like the mini-breaker box you made and how you connected them to multiple loads. I'm planning to set up 2 or 3 inset LED lights in my shed and have an inverter to plug in a lap top and cell phone charger. I'm gonna try and calculate how much battery back up I will need to do this setup. Thanks again!
You are welcome! I am glad this was helpful. If you need help looking for good components, I have put together a 10W and 100W kit on kit.com with components that I have used through the years and can recommend as good starter pieces of equipment: kit.com/LDSreliance
This video just answered my question... On how to directly hook up an inverter to the charger controller load... So I can have the controller timer turn the inverter on and off... Its for heat lamps in a chicken coop... Thank you.. #MuchLove...
+Sheila Davis Yep, that is exactly the type of scenario where an off grid setup shines. Just don't expect it to heat your home. It will give you some light and recharge your portable electronics pretty easily for not much money, though.
***** Are you in the United States? Just curious so I know if you are talking US dollars and if you can source parts from US suppliers. What are the power requirements for the fridge? What country do your parents live in?
Great, I am glad I could help. I am also building a generator. Check out this video series and it might help you in your build: ruclips.net/p/PLbKwoGlXEWaqgIzm4xGjYeRA0jf2_HH4j
my idea in my tiny house is to wire a solar light up. the solar collector will b outside while the portion will be inside. I would collection on roof top for optimum sun & then wires (wire up) the light inside the house via a box & switch with connection to a battery (ies) for saving stored energy. I see (from video 1) I'd need a control regulator to keep a steady flow to storage and for use. (something I thought I might need but not sure. ty for clearing that up). I also considered add an breaker box / inverter for plugging in USB or other electrical connections (located more towards front of the house or opposite of first idea).
That is a great use of solar as it will be simple to set up and will not require a ton of expensive equipment. You will need a solar panel or two, a charge controller, a battery or two, some wire, a breaker box, a breaker, and an inverter. The only challenges will be how to mount the solar panel on your roof (there are numerous mounting kits and brackets out there) and how to connect all the wiring as far as what connectors to use, etc.
thank you i will do so! another 50watt panel ( total 100watt 2 panel joint in parallel) and another 20 ah batter with a small controller. so the 2 panel in parallel they will enter in both controllers. thank you
Thank you - excellent and clear. I have a simple 10W solar panel directly attached to my car battery to stop it going flat. Does it need a diode? When it's dark, will the panel drain the battery? Thanks!
If you aren't going to use a charge controller then you do need a diode. The power from the battery can drain through the panel in that scenario. I would highly suggest that you get a charge controller for your setup instead, though. You can get them as cheap as $10 on Amazon and it will accomplish the diode protection and manage the charging process. A 12V solar panel actually inputs 16-18V which is too high for that car battery so you risk damaging the car battery the way you are doing it now.
great videos you explain this in the simplest way than anyone online that i've seen. but not just in a simple way the fact that you're using a small system allows me to visualize how to scale this up to a level that i could use for my operation. thanks. also how long does it take to charge your small battery in direct sunlight?
Thanks for the feedback! I am glad you found it useful. It depends on how discharged the battery is, what size panel you have, what size battery you have, how many hours of direct sun in a day, and some other factors. I would say with the system I showed in the video it will take 1 full day with no load to charge it.
Great and simple explanation, I finally got it now! What is the max. power of such system? Is it battery dependant? Does the charger automaticaly start to charge when voltage of the battery is low? Tnx a lot!
Solar panel systems for dummies. Great video. Just one question, say I have 3 different devices i wish to power with solar. A big freezer, a TV, and a set of lights. Would it be much simpler to get 3 different sized solar panels, 3 different solar charge controllers, that will essentially be for each of the devices without using a breaker box? Thanks
Thanks for the support! No, it would not be simpler to get 3 different systems. You can use all of those devices on the same system without a breaker box. I showed that in the video to illustrate a combiner box, which is for a bit larger systems or for expanding your existing system later on. If you size the system properly for your loads from the beginning, it will be very simple and straight forward. Let me know if you have any questions!
Hello, Thank you very much for posting. Your videos are simple, easy to understand and well explained. I would like some insight on something please. What would be the best way to take care of a battery ?
It depends on the type of battery. The battery I show in this video is a sealed lead acid battery which means you don't need to add water or worry about it tipping over. But you would still need to keep it away from extremes in temperature. The colder a battery gets the less it can do its job. So keeping it insulated and warm in the winter.
I was asking about skipping the charge controller. We have a panel, battery, and standard outlet. We want to make a little generator my husband can plug his cpap into when we go camping.
Irene Sommerfeld Yes, you can skip the charge controller although it is very inexpensive. If you do so, though, you will have no protection from overcharging the batteries by the solar panel and no protection from over-discharging your batteries by the inverter.
Hey. I didn't forget to post the video. I was waiting the wood shop to make me the box to contain the system. Anyway I decide to expand the system a little bit. 4 panel 50 watt (200watt total) 3 battery 45ah (135 total) 30a controller and 600 pure wave inverter. I am working on it, I will post video in couple of days ( still waiting for some parts from Internet) Thanks
Just wanted to add a safety feature, when using this type of set up, you may want to add an Earth Ground. That way when running house hold electric from this Panel, you will have a separate place to run the bare ground wire. An Earth Ground wire is just an 8' x 1/2" rod drove into the ground and then attached with a clamp and 0 gauge bare copper wire ran from the rod to this box. Also you will need a separate screw bar to keep the Black Wire, now White, separate from the Bare Ground wire. The confusing part is DC wire is Red Pos and Black Neg and AC wire, Black is Pos, White Neg and Bare Ground so when adding wires it can get confusing. Of course you can always use 3 way wire, that has an extra Red and not use the White at all, but it's almost 2 times as much for 1 extra wire, but depending on your run, it may be easier to wire properly because you only use the Black and Red, plus Bare just to be safe. I hope this helps...
Paul Bialozor I do use an earth ground in all of my permanently placed systems. I actually did a few videos on how to drive in the grounding rods. Check them out if you have time: ruclips.net/video/-kpI8PFNYl4/видео.html ruclips.net/video/K5eorpQBml0/видео.html
I know you made this awhile ago, but you answered a lot of my questions with you videos. Thank you so much. Can you tell me what type of batteries you are using? I need some small batteries. Also, please let me know how to built a small array of panels. I.E. I bought 3 20w panels, I want to use them all on same system. Is there anything I should know?
Hi.. Great vids and u have simple and good way for explanation. Question: Have managed to source a mini peltier device which needs only 5V and 2amps. Intend to do a personal project for a handheld solar operated air cooler. Need your advice on best way to power this type of peltier along with a low power laptop type fan. Many thanks..
This is a good video! I have couple questions. Why did you use Anderson connectors instead MC4 connectors? Do we have to use more than one load? Is the power more efficient dividing the load? What about if I need more USB ports how can I add them to it? Thanks
Hello I really like the explanation on solar panel connectors, my question is if I want to use two batteries, how do I make them charge and both stay with the equal voltage to feed the invertor?
Really nice video. cool. sorry i have a question, i saw many other systerm where the connect the inverter to the bactery and not to the dc12 volt out... it makes same difference? to the efficence or lifetime of the ecquipment? thank you so much
You can do it either way. The reason why I would connect the inverter to the charge controller output is because the charge controller (usually) has a feature called "low voltage disconnect" which protects the batteries from being overdrawn by the inverter. The inverter will shut off when it gets to low voltage, too, but it may be a lower voltage than is safe for the batteries. I think both ways of connecting them are fine if you know what you are doing. If you are just starting out, I would recommend connecting it to the charge controller.
your explanation was ok, only a little just a little detail so like me I just learning so im coming from different background so keep focus on which cable is negative how it goes to the next and so which cable is positive and so how it goes to next and so. thanks
Am wanting to install an electric wall heater for an added mud room and use a solar unit to power the heater to keep the electric bill down. If the heater is 1500W, 115V with thermostatic control, would a 50W monocrystalline solar panel do the trick? And can the panel be hung just inside a window or does it need to be outside? Would the who setup consist of an inverter, battery and what else? Thanks for directing me in this.
+Karen Barton Good questions. Unfortunately, I think you answered your own question in your second sentence: can a 50w source power a 1500w load? You will need a MUCH larger system to power a heater like that. 50 watts is about how much a small laptop uses. Heater, refrigerators, hair dryers, microwaves, and air conditioners all consume massive amounts of electricity and require large battery banks and many solar panels to operate. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. But to answer your other questions, solar panels need direct access to sunlight and cannot be used indoors. Yes you would need an inverter, batteries, solar panels, a charge controller, lots of wire, and fuses and/or breakers.
+Karen Barton Well resistive heaters aren't fussy, they will take those 50W just the same but it obviously can't give out more then 50W of heat (which is about what comes off a small light bulb). For heating you are far better off with solar heating panels, far simpler/cheaper and you get 90% or more heat from that sunlight.
How do you calculate the power you can get from solar panel vs how much power is used by your loads. Surely if you run too many things the battery will be draining faster than it will be getting charged back up?
Hello LD srelliance , I have started watching clips with regards with solar energy , am student specialising in solar technology , I would love to get some additional notes , on this demostrated illustrations tell me how I can reach out on them , thanks .
+Mamidanna Kalyan If the sun is not shining directly at the panel it will not produce electricity (or at least not very much if it is indirect). So in this video when I am indoors, it is not actually producing anything. I am just demonstrating how it all works.
***** That is because they are connected to a battery via the charge controller. Everything is connected how it would be if you were installing it for real but the solar panel is not actually producing any power in this video.
I so much love your video. Please, I picked an interest in the small inverter you showed in your video. I would like to know it name, capacity and how I can procure one. Thanks a lot
Thank you very much, it is easy to understand. Btw, can you store power to car battery. I m planning to try at my overseas farm house, it is hard and costly for the battery for solar panel. Could car battery to be used?
Hi, I had a doubt. Just as there is a way to set the potential difference on the terminal hooked to the battery, is there a way to set the potential difference on the terminal containing the load independent of the battery terminal?
Thanks for your videos, very informative. Have a mobile scooter which uses a round 3 plug for charger. Wish to trickle charge while driving scooter, by using small solar panel. It has cigarette lighter fitting. Can I just remove that and replace with a 3 pin plug (such as on adapters) without damaging existing system.
William Palmisano So let me understand. The 3 prong plug charges the batteries with AC power from your house when you are not using the scooter. But it also has a 12v car cigarette lighter adapter so you can connect an accessory while you are driving around? If that is the case you should be able to charge the battery through that cigarette adapter.
thanks for your prompt reply.Yes re the 3 prong. The cig lighter adapter is attached to a solar panel. Since contacting you have sourced an adapter which I hope will do the trick , will let you know.
Jodie Marie Buschman 1 second ago I'm a bit confused here (maybe a lot). My RV set up is 300 watts on the roof feeding into a 40amp MPPT controller to 4 6V AGMs (400ahs). My 1500 watt inverter is connected to the batteries with #4 cables for a 8 ft run. Here's my confusion; If I understand you correctly, I can run my 1500 watt inverter directly from the controller load connectors. Wouldn't the #12 gauge wires from the controller to the inverter be too small? My inverter instructions called for #4 cable for my run. Thanks for your time and knowledge.
Great videos. I have a small solar panel on my boat to charge my battery and was wondering if I could hook up my12 volt radio directly to the solar panel as well without a charge controller?
No, 12v solar panels actually produce 17-18v so you will probably damage any 12v devices that you hook directly to them. You pretty much always need a charge controller, even if it is just a cheapo one.
I saw these solar panels on eBay. Can you tell me the difference between them please other than the watts? Is it better to get the most watts that I can find? 10 Watt 12V Polycrystalline Cells Solar Panel Poly Solar Module Battery Charger $30.30 and ALEKO 15W Monocrystalline Solar Panel 12 Volt Output $42.29 I am looking to keep my batteries charged up on my pontoon boat when not in use. Maybe 5-6 days days unattended.
Mono is better if you can afford it. They are more efficient and are less affected by shading or low light and high heat. But there is usually about a 20% price premium.
Great explanation, thanks. i hope you can keep making videos about how to make the most out of it. I already have a hybrid set up but i want to keep expanding it.
hmm everything. safetips. how to maximize the power generation (or minimize power lost due to inefficiencies). how to mix several power generators (several panels or mix with wind generators) to keep the batteries full.
Sas Asa I got the breakers from Home Depot. I would recommend the QO series of breaker boxes and breakers from Schneider Electric. They are rated to handle DC power.
Hello and thank you for making sense of this , I would like to run a 12v dc small motor on sunny days, the motor current is 35amp and 6 rpm .Can I connect motor directly to panel and, what size panel would I need ?
+euniversal1 You are welcome. Thanks for watching! 35a x 12v = 420 watts so that is a lot of power needed. Unfortunately, there is no solar panel that big so you would need multiple panels. In my experience, motors like that usually need a big surge of power to start up, also, so having batteries or a large capacitor would probably be required to store enough energy to start the motor up. I'm afraid I would recommend a full off-grid solar panel system for this application. If you tell me where you live and exactly how many hours per day you would run this device I can tell you how big of a system you will need.
Yes you could. There are tradeoffs. More advanced users will definitely do that. But newbies won't have any kind of protection for the batteries (unless they are lithium with a BMS). So keep that in mind.
instead of running the load center from the charge control could you just run a board of switches from the charge control with the switched piggy backed off each other? and each switch running to a different appliance?
If I understand you correctly you are talking about having a wire come from the charge controller to a switch and then a load and then another switch and another load, etc.? Basically that would put multiple loads in series like the way your house is wired? Yes, that would work but you would only have limited control over switching each load on and off.
Hi, with a cross over (male-male) power cord, could you plug this into a homes wall socket, to feed into a house? and potentially if no one is home, could it power the items that are always on, like refrigerator, and microwave, and clocks, etc? Or is there additional components needed for a back feed?
Here is the PC, legal, covering my butt answer. Don't ever do that! It is illegal, highly dangerous, and could cost you millions in damages. The real answer is yes you can. The reason it is illegal and dangerous is because the power you are feeding into the grid is not known to the power company and, in a power outage situation, can hurt a lineman working to repair the lines. They will think the line is dead but you might be feeding power into the grid. To get around that, if you were going to use a device like this you would have to isolate that circuit that you are plugged into OR your entire house from the grid. You can do that with an interlock kit on your breaker box or a manual transfer switch. The other reason it is dangerous is because the male prongs of the power cord are "live" and transmitting power. Normally, for safety, only female plugs are live. That way you can't accidentally touch something and send electricity through you or an object. So you would have to keep that in mind when you are plugging and unplugging such a device. They are called "suicide cords" for a reason.
Thank you LDSreliance,on ur pt1-vid,most off all for keeping it simple,1step at a time approach,for us beginners to understand.Ur vid confirms for me,that i can use a solar panel to charge the 12v deep cycle battery used to power the trolling motor.Now that seems like fair enuff,but then other Qs comes up.Im setback,coz lack of specifics on my particular system application.Was wondering if u cud help me with sum diy advice.(1) size of solar panel,(2) charge controller type to efficiently charge the (3) single 12v deep cycle car battery used to power the,(4) trolling motor.
A car battery does not deep cycle so it only needs a trickle of power to recharge. You need about 2 amps to charge the battery so that would mean you would want a 30 watt panel at least. Just get a cheap pwm charge controller as they will get the job done and won't break the bank.
Hey been watching some more videos. A couple questions, what kind of solar panel would you recommend to power a 500gph bilge pimp and a fish finder? Also in a marine setting could your “load center” be a switch panel and marine bus bar? Do they make charge controllers with two load out outs already built in? That would be a great for my use!
For this simple explanation and demonstration video I didn't get into AC power. The inverter will provide single phase power. If you need three phase you are talking a very large solar system with some seriously expensive equipment and that is beyond the scope of what I have done. Sorry. The load center is what they now call a breaker box. It is just a box that has a bunch of breakers to separate one input (from the electrical grid) into multiple circuits that go to different parts of your house. It can also be used backwards (combiner box) to take multiple inputs and create one output.
With this set up, could I put it all together in a box, (glued to the walls of the box for safety and solar panel on outside) and use this setup to say have a portable battery that charges itself
Howzit, I just watched both your videos and found them to be very informative. Thank you for that. I have a few questions for a off grid diy system I have in mind... I am looking at setting up security lights around my property and run them off of solar power. I want to use between 4 and 6 10w 12v small LED spot/ flood lights that will be on throughout the night (10 to 13 hours depending on season) and 1 or 2 10w 12v small LED spot/ flood lights with motion sensors. What I want to know is will the distance of cable used between each light (between 10m to 25m) cause major line loss and if yes how do I overcome that problem? How many 12v batteries would I need for a system like this? Would a 1 20w solar panel be sufficient for the system? These are the specs on the solar panel I have in mind: Cell : Polycrystalline solar cell (78mm x 52mm) No. of cells and connections : 36 (6 x 6) Dimension of module (mm) : 550 x 368 x 25 Weight : 2.5kg Characteristics Model : SD ECO PLUS 20Wp Open circuit voltage (Voc) : 21.6V Optimum operating voltage (Vmp) : 18.2V Short circuit current (Isc) : 1.28A Optimum operating current (Imp) : 1.10A Maximum power at STC (Pm) : 20Wp Limits Operating temperature : -40 degrees Celcius to + 85 degrees celcius Maximum system voltage : 1000V DC Temperature and Coefficients NOCT (Nominal Operation Cell Temperature) @ 48 degrees Celcius ± 2 degrees Celcius Current temperature coefficient : %/K; 0.035 Voltage temperature coefficient : MV/K; -0.37 Power temperature coefficient : %/K ; -0.5 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Solar Module Watts 20W Module Voltage 12VDC - 23VDC Panel Type Rigid Maybe I should also ask what size battery bank I would need to make full use of the power supplied by such a solar panel? (I hope this question makes sense) Would I be able to connect a water heater and an electric gate motor to this set up also? Thanks in advance.
Theo Bessit Where to begin? This is a common situation that you are in as you are just getting into the "hobby" or industry. I had to learn a lot of this the hard way because I didn't ask questions like you are doing. I just jumped right in. So kudos to you for asking!The first major issue we have is that you will lose a LOT of voltage transmitting 12v of power over distances of 10-25m. Even with gigantic wires you will lose too much power and the lights will be dim, if they turn on at all. One way to solve this is to have a small solar panel for each of your lights and mount it on the pole or side of the barn/shed/building that the light is mounted to. Then the cables would be 1-2m at most and you would be fine. So you would need 1 small solar panel (10-20w or so), 1 small battery, and 1 cheap charge controller per light. Obviously this might be a bit pricey for your proposed setup. I would estimate $100 per light including the light fixture and bulb and panel and battery, etc.The other option is to use some larger solar panels, a battery bank, and one more expensive charge controller as well as an inverter to switch the power immediately to AC power from the batteries and then transmit the AC power to the lights. This would be beneficial because the AC power at 120v will not lose much, if any, voltage even over long distances. Also, the bulbs and fixtures for normal AC lights would be much cheaper than 12v bulbs and fixtures. I would estimate at least $1000 USD for proper sized panels and the equipment to make this happen. I don't have time to do the math right now but if you want me to try to spec something out for you I can try to do that in the next few days.
can you connect a inverter to the load side then use a power board for multiple loads also i was told that pure sinowave is for anything with a motor and just(modified) sinowave inverter is used for anything that dosnt have a motor like batteries to charge but use pure sinowave for mob telvision shavers etc
Just to clarify something, it is not the volts that can kill you , but rather the amps. A taser can have 80,000 volts and while it is not comfortable, it doesn't cause damage because it has low amperage.
Dude - this is the first beginners video that explained the basics (a live, explained diagram) effectively. Simple, slow, concise, visually able to be absorbed, demonstrating minimal systems then allowing the system to grow without confusing us. CanNOT thank you enough for this - good service on your part.
+Sid Vicious I appreciate that! Before I got into solar I also tried to watch some videos and came away confused and frustrated. So I wanted to put something out there that was simple and used actual components to demonstrate how it works instead of a drawing.
So i looked up a bunch of solar panel videos, and you are literally the only one i've found so far that i can actually move forward with and do on my own after watching your videos.
Awesome! I am glad they helped you out so much. I have dozens of solar videos so be sure to check out the rest.
this is the best solar video i ever watched
Thanks! I appreciate that a lot.
Thx I am learning something new
Awesome! That is my goal.
Great education; I'm loving it and need more. Keep up the great work! I am of the belief that these contents need to be condensed either into a step-by-step how-to book or another video that takes a newbie's hands from ground zero, where he or she knows nothing about this stuff and turns them into a pro, so as to start a project from small to larger more complex projects like electrifying a house off-grid. Have you ever thought about doing anything like this? You are greatly appreciated!
I agree. I've wanted to make an e-book for a long time but haven't had time to do more than a few chapters. I have a new solar for beginner video on my list.
This is a good tutorial video, has helped me as a beginner to start understanding solar as i wish to adapt solar into my camper.
I am so grateful for your videos, watched the 1st beginners video and I'm hooked, God Bless and have a great day Sir. 🇺🇸
That is great, Doug! Thanks for finding my channel. There are over 100 solar videos on there. Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions!
Your a DIY GOD js. I cant tell you how many videos I've watched in my life that have completely wasted my time. Short, simple, direct easy to understand and the info is explained perfectly. Felt ultra compelled to say this since I went through way too many videos to learn it from you in like 15 mins fucking bravo dude
Just want to say thanks for the videos. I've been thinking about making a tiny home/man cave for my nephew. I like the idea of the switch to chose between immediate power from the panel or flipping a switch to take from the charged battery. It'd be great as a night time back up if he needed to escape for a few hours. You've really given me hope that I might be able to pull this off without burning something down. :D
Stitched Wicked DC electricity is not as dangerous as AC, especially at such low voltage. Start with a simple system like this and play around with it and use it for something small. You will learn a lot and avoid a ton of mistakes later on that would cost you much more than this simple setup costs.
Great Job! I say, you have done a way better job than most in explaining a AC and DC setup. Solid visuals and comments, couldn't been easier to follow.
Hey thanks! I really appreciate that. Glad I could be helpful. Thanks for watching.
Great man. An excellent and clear demonstration for understanding solar energy usage for beginners like me. Thanks very much hope more and more video as raised by FAQ.
I saw the new video. Great explanation, wow thank you so much
You should open a blog!
I will post you the video of my project when done, so you can give me advice and idea.
The panel 50w is about 3 to 4 Ah\ so a battery should be full charged in About 10h. The load is gonna work pretty much on evening (daytime no body at home) so I think enough time to charge the battery. Yes the load pretty much is gonna be a led lamp for the all the system box, two pc fan to reduce the heat, then in the house on DVD player about 15 watt and two iPhone charger and one regular lamp for the room, for outside one 12dc led lamp.
Box led and pic fans they gonna have a switch on off so they will work when I need, without consuming the battery.
I like your way to set up is clean and fine, just I think there is something I can't fix, I was thinking to have the external lamp set as solar sensor( just work when no sun) and the inverter on demand when I need power inside house, but in this setup the inverter is gonna work just when there is no sun.
What about put a relet on the inverter that is gonna switch on battery when there is not power from the light output?
Thank you so much, really appreciate your advice
What about a rele reed?
If I were you, I would make a 2nd system instead of trying to switch things on and off. You will spend just as much money on relays and sensors and extra wiring plus have more stress trying to figure out how to make it all work with one system. Go get a 10w solar panel (www.solarblvd.com/product_info.php?cPath=1_25_39&products_id=2892) and a cheap lighting charge controller (www.amazon.com/ECO-WORTHY-Charge-Controller-Regulator-Control/dp/B00OH8QVKY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1424534406&sr=8-2&keywords=solar+light+controller) along with a 8ah battery and hook it to the outside LED lamp.
Then you can keep the 50w panel and other batteries for your inside system. I have 2 separate systems similar to this. One 20w panel system powers my shed lights and I have 600 watts of panels powering my indoor system. I really think you are going to need at least 100w for your indoor system but you can try it out first and see. The reason I think that is because cloudy days in the summer or winter days with less sunlight may not fully recharge your batteries and you may run out of power after a few days.
Watching from Bougainville (PNG)
Appreciate you breaking it down for me. I plan to start small and hope to get some experience and confidence to get bigger solar use for my place. Millenniums around the corner man!
Yep, it certainly is. Lots of wars and rumors of wars and tempests and vapors of smoke :) Gotta start getting ready.
Much appreciated I used this to understand buying options and what gear I needed for a simple 200W system, thank you, stay safe all.
Thank you for explaining this. I'm planning to get a small solar system set up to start offloading electrical costs from the grid. These videos are great.
You are welcome. Thanks for the support and for watching!
thanks for sharing this... i am new in owning solar panels and i got only little idea on how it works i need more research to do but thanks to your video im solve..
+Samantha Darwin You are welcome. Thanks for watching and good luck! Be sure to thumbs up the video if you haven't already to help me out.
very good for learners like me and u have a lucid way of explaining.
I appreciate that! Thanks for the kind words and for watching the video.
I liked how you dumbed down the basic solar panel. What can you tell me about having a panel with a battery. I have a camper that has a battery that charges through my car while I'm driving. I want to add a solar panel for when I'm not driving. I operate lights, 2 small fans, and a coffee pot! Thanks in advance. You're awesome.
That is a great question. You don't need much: solar panel, charge controller, and wiring. When you stop at a campground to camp you would disconnect the cable that connects the battery to the camper alternator (which charges it while you drive). Then you can attach the wires to the battery and those would attach to the "load" or output connectors on the charge controller. Then use the rest of the wiring to connect the solar panel to the charge controller at the appropriate connectors for the input or "solar" side. You will want the wires to be as thick as you think you can get away with so that you don't lose any voltage through the wires. If you mount the panel to the top of the camper, make sure you can swivel it to face the sun as it will obviously be different each time you camp. If you don't want to permanently mount the panel to the camper, you could build a small wooden mount with some spare 2x4's or something that would sit on the ground and hold the panel toward the sun.
If that is too basic for you and you have more specific questions, fire away!
Thank you for the information and what kind of battery should you use in a solar setup?
Thanks, man.i watched parts 1 and 2.
I have a way better understanding tham before.
Best luck in the new year!
You are welcome. Thanks for watching and good luck!
Love this!! Answered a lot of my questions but how about adding a battery like I have 3 of those, how do I hook them together and keep everything else like you have it?? Please do another video!!! Thanks haha
I have lots more videos like this. Look for one on parallel and series wiring for batteries. That will answer your question about how to hook up 3 batteries.
man, just watched pt2, really well done - clear and useful and nicely presented- thanks a lot!
+Grant Perkins Hey, thanks! I appreciate that. Thanks for watching and be sure to thumbs up the videos to help me out.
This was a very helpful video, one of the best I have seen of your videos as it is very similar to the set-up I would like to do in my small shed. I like the mini-breaker box you made and how you connected them to multiple loads. I'm planning to set up 2 or 3 inset LED lights in my shed and have an inverter to plug in a lap top and cell phone charger. I'm gonna try and calculate how much battery back up I will need to do this setup. Thanks again!
You are welcome! I am glad this was helpful. If you need help looking for good components, I have put together a 10W and 100W kit on kit.com with components that I have used through the years and can recommend as good starter pieces of equipment: kit.com/LDSreliance
LDSreliance, I will definitely check it out! thanks for the reply and advice!
You are welcome. Good luck and let me know if you need any help!
I watch both videos,and thank you for explaining this much I have been in the dark about this issue on solar off grid and on grid... awesome..
Thanks for watching and the positive feedback!
This video just answered my question... On how to directly hook up an inverter to the charger controller load... So I can have the controller timer turn the inverter on and off... Its for heat lamps in a chicken coop... Thank you.. #MuchLove...
You are welcome! Thanks for watching.
Thanks for this great video.
i cant wait to try this i live in the woods of wi power goes out for days sue to storms this will be great
+Sheila Davis Yep, that is exactly the type of scenario where an off grid setup shines. Just don't expect it to heat your home. It will give you some light and recharge your portable electronics pretty easily for not much money, though.
*****
Are you in the United States? Just curious so I know if you are talking US dollars and if you can source parts from US suppliers.
What are the power requirements for the fridge? What country do your parents live in?
Thank you! I've been thinking about building a small solar generator, and your videos explain everything in such a clear and concise way.
Great, I am glad I could help. I am also building a generator. Check out this video series and it might help you in your build: ruclips.net/p/PLbKwoGlXEWaqgIzm4xGjYeRA0jf2_HH4j
Great vid! Thanks for taking the time to share your knowledge.
solar flared No problem! Thank you so much for watching and commenting.
Enjoy the video's so far it's definitely intrigued me into looking at this more
Thanks! I am glad you are interested in it. I really enjoy playing with this stuff and learning more about the capabilities and limitations.
my idea in my tiny house is to wire a solar light up. the solar collector will b outside while the portion will be inside. I would collection on roof top for optimum sun & then wires (wire up) the light inside the house via a box & switch with connection to a battery (ies) for saving stored energy. I see (from video 1) I'd need a control regulator to keep a steady flow to storage and for use. (something I thought I might need but not sure. ty for clearing that up). I also considered add an breaker box / inverter for plugging in USB or other electrical connections (located more towards front of the house or opposite of first idea).
That is a great use of solar as it will be simple to set up and will not require a ton of expensive equipment. You will need a solar panel or two, a charge controller, a battery or two, some wire, a breaker box, a breaker, and an inverter. The only challenges will be how to mount the solar panel on your roof (there are numerous mounting kits and brackets out there) and how to connect all the wiring as far as what connectors to use, etc.
Fantastic video I’m really interested in this. Thanks for sharing new beginner class. I’m learning something new. Great stuff👍👍
Thanks, Jay! Glad you found it useful.
thank you i will do so!
another 50watt panel ( total
100watt 2 panel joint in parallel)
and another 20 ah batter with a small controller. so the 2 panel in parallel they will enter in both controllers. thank you
You are welcome. Keep me posted on how it works!
Thanks you teacher... Now i totally understand... Now i can build just a begjnner...
Thank you - excellent and clear. I have a simple 10W solar panel directly attached to my car battery to stop it going flat. Does it need a diode? When it's dark, will the panel drain the battery? Thanks!
If you aren't going to use a charge controller then you do need a diode. The power from the battery can drain through the panel in that scenario. I would highly suggest that you get a charge controller for your setup instead, though. You can get them as cheap as $10 on Amazon and it will accomplish the diode protection and manage the charging process. A 12V solar panel actually inputs 16-18V which is too high for that car battery so you risk damaging the car battery the way you are doing it now.
@@LDSreliance Thank you! Very helpful and appreciated!
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Great video to watch and easy to understand. Im new to solar power and my question is.....can car batteries be use to store also for storing energy?
they are good but there are many cheaper and better options
great videos you explain this in the simplest way than anyone online that i've seen. but not just in a simple way the fact that you're using a small system allows me to visualize how to scale this up to a level that i could use for my operation. thanks. also how long does it take to charge your small battery in direct sunlight?
without a load running
Thanks for the feedback! I am glad you found it useful.
It depends on how discharged the battery is, what size panel you have, what size battery you have, how many hours of direct sun in a day, and some other factors. I would say with the system I showed in the video it will take 1 full day with no load to charge it.
You sound like George Clooney. Thank You for the information.
3rd axis Haha, you are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Can you please show us how to plug in a heater (grid-tied)? I just want a small heater to help stay warmer.
What do you mean grid tied? If you have a grid tied solar panel system you would just plug the heater into the wall outlet.
Great and simple explanation, I finally got it now!
What is the max. power of such system? Is it battery dependant? Does the charger automaticaly start to charge when voltage of the battery is low?
Tnx a lot!
great tutorial! Can you also make video on how to choose batteries and solar charge controller?
Excellent video, perfect for what I’ve been looking for 👍
Thanks! I appreciate that.
Solar panel systems for dummies. Great video. Just one question, say I have 3 different devices i wish to power with solar. A big freezer, a TV, and a set of lights. Would it be much simpler to get 3 different sized solar panels, 3 different solar charge controllers, that will essentially be for each of the devices without using a breaker box? Thanks
Thanks for the support! No, it would not be simpler to get 3 different systems. You can use all of those devices on the same system without a breaker box. I showed that in the video to illustrate a combiner box, which is for a bit larger systems or for expanding your existing system later on. If you size the system properly for your loads from the beginning, it will be very simple and straight forward. Let me know if you have any questions!
Hello, Thank you very much for posting. Your videos are simple, easy to understand and well explained. I would like some insight on something please. What would be the best way to take care of a battery ?
It depends on the type of battery. The battery I show in this video is a sealed lead acid battery which means you don't need to add water or worry about it tipping over. But you would still need to keep it away from extremes in temperature. The colder a battery gets the less it can do its job. So keeping it insulated and warm in the winter.
Thank you very much
Linda Tseng You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
I was asking about skipping the charge controller. We have a panel, battery, and standard outlet. We want to make a little generator my husband can plug his cpap into when we go camping.
Irene Sommerfeld Yes, you can skip the charge controller although it is very inexpensive. If you do so, though, you will have no protection from overcharging the batteries by the solar panel and no protection from over-discharging your batteries by the inverter.
Is possible that I can use this method for my 5 aquarium and if so how can I know what solar and batteries I need to use can I get help please.
Yes you can use solar for almost any energy need. Start by checking out one of these kits: kit.com/LDSreliance
Hey. I didn't forget to post the video. I was waiting the wood shop to make me the box to contain the system. Anyway I decide to expand the system a little bit. 4 panel 50 watt (200watt total) 3 battery 45ah (135 total) 30a controller and 600 pure wave inverter.
I am working on it, I will post video in couple of days ( still waiting for some parts from Internet)
Thanks
Very cool! Can't wait to see it.
Just wanted to add a safety feature, when using this type of set up, you may want to add an Earth Ground. That way when running house hold electric from this Panel, you will have a separate place to run the bare ground wire. An Earth Ground wire is just an 8' x 1/2" rod drove into the ground and then attached with a clamp and 0 gauge bare copper wire ran from the rod to this box. Also you will need a separate screw bar to keep the Black Wire, now White, separate from the Bare Ground wire. The confusing part is DC wire is Red Pos and Black Neg and AC wire, Black is Pos, White Neg and Bare Ground so when adding wires it can get confusing. Of course you can always use 3 way wire, that has an extra Red and not use the White at all, but it's almost 2 times as much for 1 extra wire, but depending on your run, it may be easier to wire properly because you only use the Black and Red, plus Bare just to be safe. I hope this helps...
Paul Bialozor I do use an earth ground in all of my permanently placed systems. I actually did a few videos on how to drive in the grounding rods. Check them out if you have time:
ruclips.net/video/-kpI8PFNYl4/видео.html
ruclips.net/video/K5eorpQBml0/видео.html
Ahhhhhh I asked the question before I saw the invert in video. Thanks
Very helpful. Thank you.
I know you made this awhile ago, but you answered a lot of my questions with you videos. Thank you so much. Can you tell me what type of batteries you are using? I need some small batteries.
Also, please let me know how to built a small array of panels. I.E. I bought 3 20w panels, I want to use them all on same system. Is there anything I should know?
Hi.. Great vids and u have simple and good way for explanation.
Question: Have managed to source a mini peltier device which needs only 5V and 2amps. Intend to do a personal project for a handheld solar operated air cooler. Need your advice on best way to power this type of peltier along with a low power laptop type fan.
Many thanks..
+Ahmed Abdulrahman how did you go with your air cooler?
This is a good video! I have couple questions. Why did you use Anderson connectors instead MC4 connectors? Do we have to use more than one load? Is the power more efficient dividing the load? What about if I need more USB ports how can I add them to it?
Thanks
Thanks my friend. Well done!
You are welcome! Thanks for watching.
Another very informative video. Thanks for posting.
No problem. Thanks for watching. I will definitely try to do another video in this series soon. Stay tuned!
Hello I really like the explanation on solar panel connectors, my question is if I want to use two batteries, how do I make them charge and both stay with the equal voltage to feed the invertor?
You need to wire them in series or parallel. I shot a video on how to do this: ruclips.net/video/4yxR-Iz2Xdc/видео.html
Really nice video. cool.
sorry i have a question, i saw many other systerm where the connect the inverter to the bactery and not to the dc12 volt out... it makes same difference? to the efficence or lifetime of the ecquipment? thank you so much
You can do it either way. The reason why I would connect the inverter to the charge controller output is because the charge controller (usually) has a feature called "low voltage disconnect" which protects the batteries from being overdrawn by the inverter. The inverter will shut off when it gets to low voltage, too, but it may be a lower voltage than is safe for the batteries. I think both ways of connecting them are fine if you know what you are doing. If you are just starting out, I would recommend connecting it to the charge controller.
your explanation was ok, only a little just a little detail so like me I just learning so im coming from different background so keep focus on which cable is negative how it goes to the next and so which cable is positive and so how it goes to next and so. thanks
Am wanting to install an electric wall heater for an added mud room and use a solar unit to power the heater to keep the electric bill down. If the heater is 1500W, 115V with thermostatic control, would a 50W monocrystalline solar panel do the trick? And can the panel be hung just inside a window or does it need to be outside? Would the who setup consist of an inverter, battery and what else? Thanks for directing me in this.
+Karen Barton Good questions. Unfortunately, I think you answered your own question in your second sentence: can a 50w source power a 1500w load? You will need a MUCH larger system to power a heater like that. 50 watts is about how much a small laptop uses. Heater, refrigerators, hair dryers, microwaves, and air conditioners all consume massive amounts of electricity and require large battery banks and many solar panels to operate. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
But to answer your other questions, solar panels need direct access to sunlight and cannot be used indoors. Yes you would need an inverter, batteries, solar panels, a charge controller, lots of wire, and fuses and/or breakers.
+Karen Barton
Well resistive heaters aren't fussy, they will take those 50W just the same but it obviously can't give out more then 50W of heat (which is about what comes off a small light bulb).
For heating you are far better off with solar heating panels, far simpler/cheaper and you get 90% or more heat from that sunlight.
How do you calculate the power you can get from solar panel vs how much power is used by your loads. Surely if you run too many things the battery will be draining faster than it will be getting charged back up?
Hello LD srelliance , I have started watching clips with regards with solar energy , am student specialising in solar technology , I would love to get some additional notes , on this demostrated illustrations tell me how I can reach out on them , thanks .
You can email me at ldsreliance@gmail.com
If the Solar Panel isn't under the Sun, how is electricity being produced?
Thanks for the helpful videos!
+Mamidanna Kalyan If the sun is not shining directly at the panel it will not produce electricity (or at least not very much if it is indirect). So in this video when I am indoors, it is not actually producing anything. I am just demonstrating how it all works.
+LDSreliance Then how is the fan rotating and the phone charging? I mean it is not an actual electricity-producing thing.
*****
That is because they are connected to a battery via the charge controller. Everything is connected how it would be if you were installing it for real but the solar panel is not actually producing any power in this video.
Awesome thanks brother I bought a bigger panel n battery for back
You are welcome. Good luck!
I so much love your video. Please, I picked an interest in the small inverter you showed in your video. I would like to know it name, capacity and how I can procure one. Thanks a lot
Nice simple explanation. How do you run 12vdc solar when the actuators or any other device you want run are 24vdc?
You would have to wire in a step-up converter such as this: www.amazon.com/SUNKEE-LM2577-Adjustable-Step-up-Converter/dp/B008HMETBE
Just came across your video. Where did you purchase your load center?
Thank you very much, it is easy to understand. Btw, can you store power to car battery. I m planning to try at my overseas farm house, it is hard and costly for the battery for solar panel. Could car battery to be used?
I would not recommend it. You can do it if that is all you have but you cannot discharge it more than 10-20% without damaging the battery.
What do I need in order to power a small 12v frig?
awesome info thanks. I'm really trying to learn about solar. Going to watch the rest of the videos - peace.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Hi, I had a doubt.
Just as there is a way to set the potential difference on the terminal hooked to the battery, is there a way to set the potential difference on the terminal containing the load independent of the battery terminal?
I'm not following what you are asking.
Thanks for your videos, very informative. Have a mobile scooter which uses a round 3 plug for charger. Wish to trickle charge while driving scooter, by using small solar panel. It has cigarette lighter fitting. Can I just remove that and replace with a 3 pin plug (such as on adapters) without damaging existing system.
William Palmisano So let me understand. The 3 prong plug charges the batteries with AC power from your house when you are not using the scooter. But it also has a 12v car cigarette lighter adapter so you can connect an accessory while you are driving around? If that is the case you should be able to charge the battery through that cigarette adapter.
thanks for your prompt reply.Yes re the 3 prong. The cig lighter adapter is attached to a solar panel. Since contacting you have sourced an adapter which I hope will do the trick , will let you know.
William Palmisano OK, let me know if you have further questions. Good luck!
Jodie Marie Buschman
1 second ago
I'm a bit confused here (maybe a lot). My RV set up is 300 watts on the roof feeding into a 40amp MPPT controller to 4 6V AGMs (400ahs). My 1500 watt inverter is connected to the batteries with #4 cables for a 8 ft run. Here's my confusion; If I understand you correctly, I can run my 1500 watt inverter directly from the controller load connectors. Wouldn't the #12 gauge wires from the controller to the inverter be too small? My inverter instructions called for #4 cable for my run. Thanks for your time and knowledge.
Good job.👍
Love your explanation .
Thank you.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Thanks for your explanation and your time, that's really help a lot, best of luck
No problem. Keep watching and I'll keep posting.
thanks great vid for beginner like me
How do you hook up multiple solar panels to the power control
What are the advantages of running the load from the charge controller to the load center instead of the battery to the load center?
I think it might be to prevent the battery from too much discharge?
Correct. This video I shot explains further: ruclips.net/video/k8aVnRpoRLc/видео.html
Thank you. Great videos! I have learned a ton about solar from them.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
simple, clear and informative. Thanks
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Great videos. I have a small solar panel on my boat to charge my battery and was wondering if I could hook up my12 volt radio directly to the solar panel as well without a charge controller?
No, 12v solar panels actually produce 17-18v so you will probably damage any 12v devices that you hook directly to them. You pretty much always need a charge controller, even if it is just a cheapo one.
Thanks again. You probably saved me a lot of greaf and money. Keep the great info coming.
Andy
Andy St. Michael Will do. Thanks!
I saw these solar panels on eBay. Can you tell me the difference between them please other than the watts? Is it better to get the most watts that I can find?
10 Watt 12V Polycrystalline Cells Solar Panel Poly Solar Module Battery Charger $30.30 and
ALEKO 15W Monocrystalline Solar Panel 12 Volt Output $42.29 I am looking to keep my batteries charged up on my pontoon boat when not in use. Maybe 5-6 days days unattended.
Mono is better if you can afford it. They are more efficient and are less affected by shading or low light and high heat. But there is usually about a 20% price premium.
Great explanation, thanks. i hope you can keep making videos about how to make the most out of it.
I already have a hybrid set up but i want to keep expanding it.
Thanks for the feedback. What else would you like to see an explanation or demonstration of?
hmm everything. safetips. how to maximize the power generation (or minimize power lost due to inefficiencies). how to mix several power generators (several panels or mix with wind generators) to keep the batteries full.
Great ideas. I will put those in the pipeline for future videos. Thanks!
Your video is very helpful, thanks and more power!
You are welcome! Thanks for watching and for the support.
I'm new to all this... it would of been a huge help if you had also give links where we could of get these items
True. Sorry about that. If you want to put together a system I can send over some links. Just tell me what you want.
where'd you get that breaker !
Sas Asa I got the breakers from Home Depot. I would recommend the QO series of breaker boxes and breakers from Schneider Electric. They are rated to handle DC power.
ok
Meme Luvlly Huh?
Hello and thank you for making sense of this , I would like to run a 12v dc small motor on sunny days, the motor current is 35amp and 6 rpm .Can I connect motor directly to panel and, what size panel would I need ?
+euniversal1 You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
35a x 12v = 420 watts so that is a lot of power needed. Unfortunately, there is no solar panel that big so you would need multiple panels. In my experience, motors like that usually need a big surge of power to start up, also, so having batteries or a large capacitor would probably be required to store enough energy to start the motor up. I'm afraid I would recommend a full off-grid solar panel system for this application. If you tell me where you live and exactly how many hours per day you would run this device I can tell you how big of a system you will need.
Really appreciate your videos. Cheers
Hey, thanks! Glad they are helping you.
What is the difference for in sequence solar panels and single panels? Doe's it create more or less power connecting them in sequence?
Could you also run your wires from the battery directly to the load center? Why or why not? TIA
Yes you could. There are tradeoffs. More advanced users will definitely do that. But newbies won't have any kind of protection for the batteries (unless they are lithium with a BMS). So keep that in mind.
instead of running the load center from the charge control could you just run a board of switches from the charge control with the switched piggy backed off each other? and each switch running to a different appliance?
If I understand you correctly you are talking about having a wire come
from the charge controller to a switch and then a load and then another
switch and another load, etc.? Basically that would put multiple loads
in series like the way your house is wired? Yes, that would work but
you would only have limited control over switching each load on and off.
Hi, with a cross over (male-male) power cord, could you plug this into a homes wall socket, to feed into a house? and potentially if no one is home, could it power the items that are always on, like refrigerator, and microwave, and clocks, etc? Or is there additional components needed for a back feed?
Here is the PC, legal, covering my butt answer. Don't ever do that! It is illegal, highly dangerous, and could cost you millions in damages.
The real answer is yes you can. The reason it is illegal and dangerous is because the power you are feeding into the grid is not known to the power company and, in a power outage situation, can hurt a lineman working to repair the lines. They will think the line is dead but you might be feeding power into the grid. To get around that, if you were going to use a device like this you would have to isolate that circuit that you are plugged into OR your entire house from the grid. You can do that with an interlock kit on your breaker box or a manual transfer switch.
The other reason it is dangerous is because the male prongs of the power cord are "live" and transmitting power. Normally, for safety, only female plugs are live. That way you can't accidentally touch something and send electricity through you or an object. So you would have to keep that in mind when you are plugging and unplugging such a device. They are called "suicide cords" for a reason.
Thank you LDSreliance,on ur pt1-vid,most off all for keeping it simple,1step at a time approach,for us beginners to understand.Ur vid confirms for me,that i can use a solar panel to charge the 12v deep cycle battery used to power the trolling motor.Now that seems like fair enuff,but then other Qs comes up.Im setback,coz lack of specifics on my particular system application.Was wondering if u cud help me with sum diy advice.(1) size of solar panel,(2) charge controller type to efficiently charge the (3) single 12v deep cycle car battery used to power the,(4) trolling motor.
A car battery does not deep cycle so it only needs a trickle of power to recharge. You need about 2 amps to charge the battery so that would mean you would want a 30 watt panel at least. Just get a cheap pwm charge controller as they will get the job done and won't break the bank.
thank you I find your info easy to understand.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
Great information thank you
Hey been watching some more videos. A couple questions, what kind of solar panel would you recommend to power a 500gph bilge pimp and a fish finder? Also in a marine setting could your “load center” be a switch panel and marine bus bar? Do they make charge controllers with two load out outs already built in? That would be a great for my use!
What about single phase and 3 phase load requirements ? Also does this mean that the load centre is the same as a distribution box/electrical mains ?
For this simple explanation and demonstration video I didn't get into AC power. The inverter will provide single phase power. If you need three phase you are talking a very large solar system with some seriously expensive equipment and that is beyond the scope of what I have done. Sorry.
The load center is what they now call a breaker box. It is just a box that has a bunch of breakers to separate one input (from the electrical grid) into multiple circuits that go to different parts of your house. It can also be used backwards (combiner box) to take multiple inputs and create one output.
Can you charge a fone directly? Or do you need an inverter to plug in a 220ac then a charger to 5v dc?
With this set up, could I put it all together in a box, (glued to the walls of the box for safety and solar panel on outside) and use this setup to say have a portable battery that charges itself
Yes you could. I probably wouldn't use glue but I have done something similar and there are many videos on people doing that on RUclips as well.
Howzit, I just watched both your videos and found them to be very informative. Thank you for that.
I have a few questions for a off grid diy system I have in mind...
I am looking at setting up security lights around my property and run them off of solar power. I want to use between 4 and 6 10w 12v small LED spot/ flood lights that will be on throughout the night (10 to 13 hours depending on season) and 1 or 2 10w 12v small LED spot/ flood lights with motion sensors.
What I want to know is will the distance of cable used between each light (between 10m to 25m) cause major line loss and if yes how do I overcome that problem?
How many 12v batteries would I need for a system like this?
Would a 1 20w solar panel be sufficient for the system?
These are the specs on the solar panel I have in mind:
Cell : Polycrystalline solar cell (78mm x 52mm)
No. of cells and connections : 36 (6 x 6)
Dimension of module (mm) : 550 x 368 x 25
Weight : 2.5kg
Characteristics
Model : SD ECO PLUS 20Wp
Open circuit voltage (Voc) : 21.6V
Optimum operating voltage (Vmp) : 18.2V
Short circuit current (Isc) : 1.28A
Optimum operating current (Imp) : 1.10A
Maximum power at STC (Pm) : 20Wp
Limits
Operating temperature : -40 degrees Celcius to + 85 degrees celcius
Maximum system voltage : 1000V DC
Temperature and Coefficients
NOCT (Nominal Operation Cell Temperature) @ 48 degrees Celcius ± 2 degrees Celcius
Current temperature coefficient : %/K; 0.035
Voltage temperature coefficient : MV/K; -0.37
Power temperature coefficient : %/K ; -0.5
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Solar Module Watts 20W
Module Voltage 12VDC - 23VDC
Panel Type Rigid
Maybe I should also ask what size battery bank I would need to make full use of the power supplied by such a solar panel? (I hope this question makes sense)
Would I be able to connect a water heater and an electric gate motor to this set up also?
Thanks in advance.
Theo Bessit Where to begin? This is a common situation that you are in as you are just getting into the "hobby" or industry. I had to learn a lot of this the hard way because I didn't ask questions like you are doing. I just jumped right in. So kudos to you for asking!The first major issue we have is that you will lose a LOT of voltage transmitting 12v of power over distances of 10-25m. Even with gigantic wires you will lose too much power and the lights will be dim, if they turn on at all. One way to solve this is to have a small solar panel for each of your lights and mount it on the pole or side of the barn/shed/building that the light is mounted to. Then the cables would be 1-2m at most and you would be fine. So you would need 1 small solar panel (10-20w or so), 1 small battery, and 1 cheap charge controller per light. Obviously this might be a bit pricey for your proposed setup. I would estimate $100 per light including the light fixture and bulb and panel and battery, etc.The other option is to use some larger solar panels, a battery bank, and one more expensive charge controller as well as an inverter to switch the power immediately to AC power from the batteries and then transmit the AC power to the lights. This would be beneficial because the AC power at 120v will not lose much, if any, voltage even over long distances. Also, the bulbs and fixtures for normal AC lights would be much cheaper than 12v bulbs and fixtures. I would estimate at least $1000 USD for proper sized panels and the equipment to make this happen. I don't have time to do the math right now but if you want me to try to spec something out for you I can try to do that in the next few days.
lol got my answer about the breakers thanks I´m excited jejeje
can you connect a inverter to the load side then use a power board for multiple loads also i was told that pure sinowave is for anything with a motor and just(modified) sinowave inverter is used for anything that dosnt have a motor like batteries to charge but use pure sinowave for mob telvision shavers etc
Just to clarify something, it is not the volts that can kill you , but rather the amps. A taser can have 80,000 volts and while it is not comfortable, it doesn't cause damage because it has low amperage.