Power Station and Solar Charger

[Bryman31]

Re: Power Station and Solar Charger

I don't know how much draw all your devices will have on your battery, so I really can't recommend the right size solar panel that would suit your needs. But I do know that a 15 watt panel, even in full sun, amounts to a trickle charger. Battery maintainers aren't meant to keep up with a battery in use, they're just supposed to keep a battery that doesn't get used topped off so it doesn't self-drain to where it won't take a full charge.

As far as whether or not it's worth the hassle, I would say definitely not, but I'm a big fan of solar. I'm more or less Mr. 12 Volt when I go camping. I've got two 100 watt panels, 4 different inverters and 6 different batteries to configure for what kind of camping trip I'm on. LED lights everywhere, a stereo, mp3 players, fans, inflators, a battery charger for my drill, a CPAP machine for one of my friends and, of course, cell phone charging. You definitely won't need that much juice, but if you're like me and do go solar, you'll love being able to charge your battery just about anywhere without having to run a generator or a vehicle a.k.a silently.

glad to see im not the only one needing/wanting batteries and solar for his CPAP. i have a yeti 400, thinking of getting a few extra batteries since they are fairly cheap, mounting them into a box and chaining them to the yeti to triple the battery life. i figure doing that will get me about 6 full nights sleep before needing a full charge (good for power outages) or just keeping them plugged into the solar panel to trickle charge during the day.

[Happy Joe]

Re: Power Station and Solar Charger

Have to disagree with that. I have a hinge on a pair of 100 watt panels and it works just fine.

Edit: When I finally get out on a trip, I'm going to try to put together a bunch of pictures including some details of some of my MacGyverings, including the folding solar panels. Hinged on one side, latches on the other, it holds all the wire and the controller inside. I don't think it's too unwieldy, but what a person is willing to carry might just be subjective. I need lots of power so, to me, it's well worth the effort. The first test I just did in my back yard gave me a solid 10 amps in full sun - and that with a simple PWM controller. Anyway... I put it in my truck up against the back of the jump seat with all the soft goods - blankets, pillow, tent etc. - to keep it from moving around and it only takes up about 3 inches of the seat.

I agree with subjective, packing and what to carry; definitely is.
While I haven't gone through the effort to calculate the forces on the, quite thin extruded frames, My over all impression from handling the 50 watt Renogy panels is that the frame strength vs, the stress of a hinge would be marginal/not worth the risk, at least for me (based on afew years as a metal worker using thin and thick aluminum extrusion)... If I were going to do it, I would (probably) run the numbers first, to see how close the forces on the frames would be to bending the frames and/or tearing them loose and thus how high the safety factor.

(Edit After originally purchasing the Renogy panels and examining them my impression was that the frames could probably be braced (corner braces and side to side braces) to spread the forces and reduce the risk of tearing off a side.

Pic of the small hinged (NOT Renogy) panels;


Enjoy!

[markkee]

Re: Power Station and Solar Charger

I found a 160 w poly crystalline solar panel from a local dealer that was one of kind for $160. I mounted it on a pair of Yakima roof rails and thought I had the coolest set up until I realized my fuel economy went down about 1.5-2 mpg! That added up on an 8,000 mile camping trip.

I bought an 80 ah LifeLine battery last year and ran it off a CTEK D250 battery isolator connected to a fused 12 volt charging circuit. It worked fine unless I was parked for a few day.

The solar panel was supposed to work great until I shortened the battery life by letting it sit all winter without sitting on a charger. LifeLine may replace the battery as it's supposed to be a deep cycle and able to be drawn down 100% several times without killing the battery.

I bought some plastic rv roof mounts that I plan on glueing the roof of my van with adhesive spray or tape from 3m.

I run a 62 quart ARB fridge freezer that draws about .5 amps per hour average.

I think I have a good set up. I will post after I get the battery back from the dealer.

[Happy Joe]

Re: Power Station and Solar Charger

Sounds good...
I would recommend adding a solar charge controller (Amazon has more than a few)... get one that agrees with your panel's highest amp rating (going too big doesn't always work well). By using a solar controller you virtually eliminate the chances of battery damage due to over charging.

I have also had pretty good luck using Harbor Freight trickle chargers (although a better maintainer/charger or a charger with a float cycle/setting would be better) during medium to long term battery storage (longer than a month or so). It seems like lead/acid batteries tend to loose charge in storage and storing a partially charged battery can lead to formation of sulfate on the plates which reduces the battery capacity. (Folks with flooded batteries need to regularly check & replenish the water lever too).

I would like to run a portable fridge/freezer but my personal lack of vehicle space (and an aging 35 AH battery) so far has influenced me to stay small... although real world numbers like 0.5 amp average power consumption are pushing me toward using one... (maybe I'll try it in the spring, already have an Edgestar (ElCheapo)).
... If I get the time/inclination I'll do a thread on reinforcing and hinging the 50 watt panels (above) to keep this old battery charged with the additional draw of a fridge (the reason that I originally purchased them).

Enjoy!

[markkee]

Re: Power Station and Solar Charger

The CTEK d250 has built in solar charge controller.

[Happy Joe]

Re: Power Station and Solar Charger

The CTEK d250 has built in solar charge controller.

Great!
You have your set up pretty much together then (always feels good when all that is left on a project is the, seemingly never ending, fine tuning).

Enjoy!