Solar power

C

Criggy

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Cape Town
My tank is now completely off the grid
All it took was a 300w 24v solar panel, a charge controller, 2 12v lead crystal batteries and a 2.2kw 24v true sinewave inverter.
Thanks eskom...but no thanks

Powers tank, all the lights in my house and most plug points except for kettle, oven, toaster, geyser etc uploadfromtaptalk1425737195853.jpg

uploadfromtaptalk1425737195853.jpg
 
Cool, what aH batteries? Remember not to discharge them to low and a good investment is a battery monitor
 
100ah x2. They lead crystal so can be drained dead and will not affect them. Tonight will be the test..hold thumbs!!
 
Lead crystal are best for solar and varied climates, have about 3000 disharge/recharge cycles
 
Not sure how far you will get on 300w for most tanks (not an expert) but 300w x 5.5 hours sun a day will give you 1.65 units (KWH) per day (in winter you can half this). Those batteries should work well for load shedding

My tank needs 24 units (KWH) a day, I will need 4300w worth of panels. In winter it will only cover half of the 24 units required per day.

If my calculations are wrong I would be happily corrected because it would mean what I am planning will give more units / be much cheaper..........
 
Riaanv said:
Not sure how far you will get on 300w for most tanks (not an expert) but 300w x 5.5 hours sun a day will give you 1.65 units (KWH) per day (in winter you can half this). Those batteries should work well for load shedding

My tank needs 24 units (KWH) a day, I will need 4300w worth of panels. In winter it will only cover half of the 24 units required per day.

If my calculations are wrong I would be happily corrected because it would mean what I am planning will give more units / be much cheaper..........
Click to expand...
As far as my techs tell me the panels charge the batteries via the charge controller, the batteries thru the inverter power the tank

I will post a diy tut during the week
 
i may need to add another 300w panel. The tank consumption is at min 160w and at max 660w if lights are on and heater is on which in summer- heater is never and lights are on 7hrs p/day. i averaged it out to approx 300w. If it is not sufficient i will add 1 more 300w panel. lastnight i was at the rugby and when i got home the inverter had switched off but the charge in the batteries was still 24v. Will be at home toniht to do a test on the batteries and if they do not run the tank throughout the night i will add another 2 batteries. Im currently getting an avg of 280w from the panel. Will need to see what this drops to in cloudy conditions/shortened daytime etc. Will be interesting to see how jt turns out.
 
18k so far. All high end equipment though and allows for easy upgrading and additions.
 
Should last 8-10 years and range btwn 2-3k depending on size and quality. A nice way to keep your tank running in the event of loadsheddung is to get 1 decent battery and a 1kw inverter which should handle a 3hour loadshed. If you need power for longer then add batteries
 
dallasg said:
As far as my techs tell me the panels charge the batteries via the charge controller, the batteries thru the inverter power the tank

I will post a diy tut during the week
Click to expand...

Thanks Dallas would appreciate that
 
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