Solar stuff...

[SvenMarbles]

Has anyone else here found solar power to be a pretty fun "hobby"?... Am I a weirdo?...

There's just something sort of gratifying from harvesting some completely free electricity. Even if it's just on 100 watts worth of panels into a power bank. It's fun knowing that you can harvest and store a functional amount of electricity completely non-reliant on any sort of subscriber infrastructure. Can keep some phones, handheld radios, a laptop, flashlights, and the bare essentials charged if the power were to not be available.

I used to be a generator nerd lol. I still have my big 9500 watt generator, but all that those do is convert a stored energy source into another... Gotta have gas, and you're essentially just using jugs of gas as batteries, and the conversion method is a loud mechanical nightmare. So what's better than just harvesting LIGHT and storing that as electricity? The sun will always be around, and if not, we've got bigger problems anyway..

 

[SteveShannon]

13 minutes ago, SvenMarbles said:

Has anyone else here found solar power to be a pretty fun "hobby"?... Am I a weirdo?...

There's just something sort of gratifying from harvesting some completely free electricity. Even if it's just on 100 watts worth of panels into a power bank. It's fun knowing that you can harvest and store a functional amount of electricity completely non-reliant on any sort of subscriber infrastructure. Can keep some phones, handheld radios, a laptop, flashlights, and the bare essentials charged if the power were to not be available.

I used to be a generator nerd lol. I still have my big 9500 watt generator, but all that those do is convert a stored energy source into another... Gotta have gas, and you're essentially just using jugs of gas as batteries, and the conversion method is a loud mechanical nightmare. So what's better than just harvesting LIGHT and storing that as electricity? The sun will always be around, and if not, we've got bigger problems anyway..

 

I haven’t embraced it as a hobby, but I respect anyone who gets such joy from something. 

[gortex2]

I think solar is great for those that can use it, my issue is it getting crammed down my thoat. 

For use case our SAR Team has a 40' shipping contianer. This is divided into a 20' storage unit and a 20' classroom. Being we are volunteer and not funded a monthly electic bill isn't the best. We installed a 100 watt panel and some batteries. This year we got a grant to replace the 30 year old batteries. Doesn't cost us anything and is more than enough for a class, or to stop and grab gear at night. 

I also have a shed on my property. NO AC power in it and only way is overhead due to concreate. I put a 20 watt solar panel, a 3ah battery and a LED strip light. On a motion detector. Perfect to go in grab a wrench or other tool and leave. It wont last 8 hours but fills a need. 

On the other hand I could not run my house or want to. I wont be alive by the time I make my money back. 

 

[Lscott]

19 minutes ago, gortex2 said:

On the other hand I could not run my house or want to. I wont be alive by the time I make my money back. 

And as luck would have it something better will come along too. Back To The Future and Mr. Fusion.

https://www.backtothefuture.store/products/back-to-the-future-mr-fusion-scaled-prop-replica?srsltid=AfmBOoqH5KdIyFrYjZQwazZ6elK2rHomryWK5jx8rQ-RyXCgWU3NsWjQ

 

[SvenMarbles]

1 hour ago, gortex2 said:

I think solar is great for those that can use it, my issue is it getting crammed down my thoat. 

For use case our SAR Team has a 40' shipping contianer. This is divided into a 20' storage unit and a 20' classroom. Being we are volunteer and not funded a monthly electic bill isn't the best. We installed a 100 watt panel and some batteries. This year we got a grant to replace the 30 year old batteries. Doesn't cost us anything and is more than enough for a class, or to stop and grab gear at night. 

I also have a shed on my property. NO AC power in it and only way is overhead due to concreate. I put a 20 watt solar panel, a 3ah battery and a LED strip light. On a motion detector. Perfect to go in grab a wrench or other tool and leave. It wont last 8 hours but fills a need. 

On the other hand I could not run my house or want to. I wont be alive by the time I make my money back. 

 

Well,.. the whole "money back" thing is if you're foolish enough to get the second mortgage to let a company do a pro roof install. I'm not trying to replace my mains power with off-grid solar that runs the house entirely. I'm more of the mind of having some field deployable solar kit that can get set out in the yard to be a supplement, or bare bones sustenance level capability in the event it would come to it. 

 

But I'll tell you what, I've dug into this stuff enough just as a personal interest that I probably COULD extrapolate what I already know how to do and accomplish a setup robust enough to power a small home entirely.. I wouldn't need to spend 100k to do it either...

[tweiss3]

Speaking of solar, I drove by a solar farm today, still 70% covered with snow/ice. It hasn't snowed in weeks.

[LeoG]

I play.  I enjoy it.  Ya, I'm one of those.

I have 200 watts of panels on my work truck and a charge controller with an AGM battery connected to a 3KW sine inverter.  I use my tools off the back of the gate or I can power my house during short outages.

I picked up 4 LiFePO4 100Ah batteries and have 400 watts of solar but only a 10 amp charge controller so I haven't don't much with it.  I just keep picking up parts and pcs so it I need them at some point I can assemble a power system in an hour or so.

[Lscott]

Here is a nice article on emergency solar power backup for the home.

 

Emergency Backup Solar Power System.pdf

[Lscott]

15 hours ago, LeoG said:

I picked up 4 LiFePO4 100Ah batteries

These people are good to deal with for LFP batteries. They have batteries up to 300 amp-hours.

https://www.bioennopower.com/collections/all

I have one of these I keep sitting around for emergency backup power with the optional charger. It's good enough to keep things like cellphones and some HT's, or mobile radios, and LED light strips going for a while.

https://www.bioennopower.com/products/12v-40ah-lfp-battery-pvc-blf-1240a

I use this one for portable use with HT's.

https://www.bioennopower.com/products/12v-4-5ah-lfp-battery-pvc-pack?_pos=1&_fid=49921c351&_ss=c

For charge controllers I've used these. I purchased a few of the 4.5/5 amp GV5's, one for lead acid, and a couple for LFP types. I have mostly 5 to 50 watts PV panels so that about right for that power level.

https://sunforgellc.com/genasun/#gen_product_row

I've purchased some new PV panels, 10 watt, 30 watt and 50 watt size for these guys. I also got some use panels at flea markets too.

https://www.renogy.com/solar-panels/

 

[LeoG]

I have 4 of these and 2 of them are fantastic and 2 are very good.  Picked them all up for $149ea

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQG8DZ71?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

[Lscott]

1 minute ago, LeoG said:

I have 4 of these and 2 of them are fantastic and 2 are very good.  Picked them all up for $149ea

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CQG8DZ71?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

That's a REALLY cheap price. I wonder just how good is the internal construction and battery protection board that should be inside.

[LeoG]

There's a review out.  If I remember it was a pretty good review.  JDS BMS so it's a pretty well known BMS.  You can use Overkill Solar app to access it by bluetooth which is cool.  And you can program it through the app too.  I think the only complaint was not thick enough wires to the posts.  Lots of batteries end up with that complaint.  But with the short wire you can really push some current through a wire that's not necessarily designed for that current.  Usually it's 1 gauge shy. 

 

[WSGL775]

On 2/10/2025 at 1:29 PM, SvenMarbles said:

Has anyone else here found solar power to be a pretty fun "hobby"?... Am I a weirdo?...

There's just something sort of gratifying from harvesting some completely free electricity. Even if it's just on 100 watts worth of panels into a power bank. It's fun knowing that you can harvest and store a functional amount of electricity completely non-reliant on any sort of subscriber infrastructure. Can keep some phones, handheld radios, a laptop, flashlights, and the bare essentials charged if the power were to not be available.

I used to be a generator nerd lol. I still have my big 9500 watt generator, but all that those do is convert a stored energy source into another... Gotta have gas, and you're essentially just using jugs of gas as batteries, and the conversion method is a loud mechanical nightmare. So what's better than just harvesting LIGHT and storing that as electricity? The sun will always be around, and if not, we've got bigger problems anyway..

 

Her you go. This should peak your interest! Being weird is okay. We're all weird in our own way!

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07H8CM4F1?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

 

[Lscott]

Looks like where I’m at we’re due to get hit with some significant snow fall starting around 1/2 PM Wednesday. Got my LFP packs on chargers to make sure they’re ready just in case.

The black brick is the 40 amp-hour LFP. Have a smaller 8/9 amp-hour K2 and several 3 to 4.5 amp-hour LFP’s.

The big LFP pack has a 45 amp power pole it came with. I salvaged some of the same type from dead server batteries they trashed at work. Saved a few bucks that way.

Also use Anderson Power poles for interconnections between pigtail adapters.

[Socalgmrs]

I love the solar IDEA but…. Solar panels are terrible for the environment.  Absolutely horrible from start to finish.  So are lithium battery’s.  Much of the worlds lithium is dug up by slave children making pennys a day.  OR it’s dug up by huge diesel diggers and trucks by way of giant holes dug into the earth or wiping away whole mountains.    So as much as I’d love to get “free” energy from the sun the financial and eco trade off is not worth it at all.  It’s the same BS as the electric car thing.  They are horrible for the environment long before they even hit the road.   But I do wish it was worth while.  

[LeoG]

Well, they made them, I bought them and I'll use them when necessary.  I have a bit over 5KW of batteries so I'll be set for a while.  I am lacking on enough solar to keep that charged well though.  Currently only have about 600 watts of panels.  Worse than that is I don't have a charge controller that can handle the power from those panels.

[Lscott]

38 minutes ago, Socalgmrs said:

So as much as I’d love to get “free” energy from the sun

I’m not in it for free energy. My interest is backup emergency power and portable applications. 

[LeoG]

It's far from free.

[warthog74]

I started playing with solar about a year ago. Nothing overboard. Just a little 320ah power bank w/150 watt panel to keep things running and/or charging (phones/handhelds/flashlights/fans/led rope lights/portable tv) while camping, fishing, etc. Also built a small ammo can gmrs simplex repeater thats powered by a 10 watt panel and 6ah battery. Great for extended comms when out in the wilderness.

 

 

[Lscott]

If one doesn't want to spend the money on new panels I've run across a few at flea markets.

If the panel has a tag on the back side with the open circuit voltage and short circuit current you can estimate the max real power output by multiplying the two and them multiplying by 0.75. The last number is what's referred to as the "Fill Factor".

A number of times when I'm at a large flea market I'll carry a cheap 3-1/2 digit multi-meter. If there is no tag on the panel and it's real sunny I can test the panel right there and do the calculation.

You shouldn't pay more than $1/watt of output for a used panel. Now days more like $0.50/watt because the panels are getting cheaper.

20 Watt Daniel Heavy Aluminum Frame Solar Panel.pdf 5 Watt No Name Light Aluminum Frame Solar Panel.pdf 10 Watt No Name Black Frame Solar Panel.pdf

[LeoG]

Last four 100w panels I bought new were 60¢ per watt.

[Lscott]

14 minutes ago, LeoG said:

Last four 100w panels I bought new were 60¢ per watt.

That sounds about right.

[Lscott]

I ran some tests on one of my flea market panels. Had no name plate so I needed to determine the rating. It was a simple setup. This was before I had a professional bench top type electronic load, but worked well enough.

The "Solar24" mention was an integrated charge controller and a small LFP battery pack. The controller wasn't a true MPPT, nor a PWM. It was basically a buck converter which will load down a panel until it reaches the "typical" max power point terminal voltage. Not the best method, but they used a Ti chip that had the required circuitry builtin so it was a simple solution.  The chip datasheet claims it's a MPPT type, but you read through it you'll soon discover it's not.

Solar Panel Test Results (10 Watt No Name Black Frame Panel) Rev 3 - With Datasheet and Photos.pdf Which solar charge controller PWM-or-MPPT.pdf BQ24650 LiFePOS4 charge controller IC With MPPT.pdf