Category Archives: Solar

DIY Solar Power – The Results

Now that is has been a full 4+ months since my previous post I’ve finally made some progress  with my solar power supply.

I have picked up several pieces that are key to getting a fully off grid low voltage power supply.  I was able to get a Kyocera KC50t Solar Panel,  a Xantrex c35 Charge Controller, a DC breaker box and breakers, interconnect wire, and mounting hardware.

Xantrex C35 an breaker mounted
Xantrex C35 with Baby Big Box DC Breakers

I mounted a piece of 1/2″ plywood to my garage wall as a backer board, and there I mounted the DC breaker box along with the Xantrex C35 about half a foot above that.  Then onto the wiring from there.

Wiring together all of the components took longer than I had expected.  Due to the distance of my panel from the electrical components I needed 10g wire. I was actually right on the cusp of needed 8g wire and the cost jump was double, so I was happy to be in the 10g range.  After some effort I finally got everything wired together.

So now I have 10g leads from my battery pair to a DC breaker in the box as a cutoff.  From there more leads went to the Xantrex on the battery terminal and common ground.  Then another lead from the PV Array terminal and common ground on the Xantrex to another DC breaker.  From the other end of that breaker was my long lead up to the roof where the panel would be mounted.  Also I have incorporated a ground wire interconnecting all of the pieces together with a grounding stake that is just outside my garage.

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Continue reading DIY Solar Power – The Results

DIY Solar Power Setup – Part 1

I’ve been interested solar power for a few years now.  I found the technology fascinating and the applications nearly limitless.  Ideally I could have a system that would power my house, and tie into the electrical grid if there was energy above our needs.  Some former neighbors of ours who now live in Arizona had a $7 electricity bill one month this fall.  Wouldn’t that be nice!?  I’ve also read articles about people down south that have thousands of dollars in credit from the utility for the surplus energy they have fed into the grid.  Unfortunately, the bottom line purchase price shows that a system of any real value can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $30,000+ depending on your needs and what you wand to do.  I’m not interested in taking out a Home Equity Loan to get solar into my house so this size setup is not possible.

Another option that is more within my budget is a small solar setup.   I found this interesting as eventually our family would like to get an RV, and adding solar to an RV can greatly extend the battery power and help limit the need to run a generator as much.  This type of setup has been in use for years and has proven to be highly effective.  Unfortunately we do not have an RV yet, so that wasn’t very useful!

Still struggling for justification to fiddle around, I decided that I could build a small setup to power my HAM radio.  This would allow me to run my on my primary power source even if the power from the grid is off during an emergency.  The solar panel will keep my batteries charged while not in use, and hopefully replenish the juice quickly when needed.  I don’t use the HAM all that much, so there would hopefully be some excess power to experiment with.

The design of small solar systems can vary greatly depending on the application.  Often they consist of a few solar panels, a solar charge controller, some array of batteries for storage, and some kind of power inverter to run the standard household appliances.   In my case an  inverter was not required as the HAM radio run on standard 12v DC.  This could be added for additional flexibility at any time though.

After months of debating I decided to start designing and piecing together a setup.  I started with two 6v deep cycle batteries run in series to get the standard 12v DC.  This would allow me to run my radio on the batteries right away while charging them with standard charging equipment until the rest of the solar was in place.  Selecting the size and type of battery that is right for you is not an easy decision.  It took a great deal of research to decide on what I ended up with, and even now I’m still not certain I’ll be 100% satisfied!

Two 6v Crown batteries run in series for 12v DC.

 

In a forthcoming post I will talk about the solar panel and charge controller as well as the hardware to interconnect everything.  Then onto the build and hopefully a working system!

UPDATE: DIY Solar Results post here!