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Forum Index : Solar : Cheap solar for playhouse

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iconrl
Newbie

Joined: 24/09/2011
Location: United States
Posts: 4
Posted: 09:17am 04 Jun 2013
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I have two daughters that are very young and I'm going to build a playhouse this year. I've always wanted to play with solar power, but have never gotten around to it. I started thinking this would be a good opportunity to start the process and understand how to set up a solar system. Sorry if I sound like an idiot, but I'm attempting to learn.

I would only need to run a few lights and maybe a small fan. If I had extra power, I could hook up a small inverter too.

I also have two UPSs from work that still have life left in the batteries. They are 4 7ah 12v batteries wired for 24v. I have two of these available for use, as well as a few single 7ah batteries with some life left.

I was looking at maybe just a 20w panel or something similar and a cheap ebay charge controller. I was looking at 12v panels before I tested the batteries at 24v. Would that require a 24v panel?

I thought maybe I could get by for under 80$ for the components, but I don't want to waste my money. I'd rather take a different direction if this will not work. I could always hardwire it to another breaker on the house.

I'm really looking for direction and to get a little solar experience under my belt for little investment.
Any advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
 
Privatteer
Newbie

Joined: 09/06/2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 39
Posted: 11:51am 04 Jun 2013
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If you just want a light out there probably be ok with a 20w solar, charge controller, the batteries and a LED light. I've tried a couple of the small 12v 10w led floodlights. They only were using about 5w of power and light a small room well enough. 120cm 12v high flow computer fan perhaps?

Personally for the cost of panels I would probably make it a 40w myself to cover winter days. Would advise using a regulator with load control to stop kids leaving the light on and draining battery totally.Edited by Privatteer 2013-06-05
 
iconrl
Newbie

Joined: 24/09/2011
Location: United States
Posts: 4
Posted: 03:51am 05 Jun 2013
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Thanks for your reply Privatteer. I was thinking of light bulbs and a computer fan or two just like you said.

I found a 40w panel for $56 and a 55w panel for $72. They're both 12v. Can I hook that directly to the battery bank, or would I need to rewire the batteries in parallel?

Is a "regulator with load control" somewhat the same as a charge controller that shuts off power from the battery if the voltage gets too low?
Sorry again for the basic questions...I'm just trying to understand it all.

Thanks again.
 
Privatteer
Newbie

Joined: 09/06/2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 39
Posted: 05:42am 05 Jun 2013
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Yes same as a charge controller. Most have a load terminal that will shut down on low battery.

Basically you have to decide what voltage you want to use and stick to that. So 12v panels is fine but then you wire batteries in parallel and use 12v led light.
For your setup 12v would be fine.
You are taking the batteries out of the UPS right and not going to try to use it to supply power? They have quite a large standby current and will drain batteries pretty quickly even without powering anything.

Do make sure you have a fuse at the battery terminal just incase the kids short a wire somehow. Only small battery but still plenty to start a fire.
 
iconrl
Newbie

Joined: 24/09/2011
Location: United States
Posts: 4
Posted: 06:25am 05 Jun 2013
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I'll probably pick up a cheap 10A charge controller on ebay, but will check that it regulates the battery voltage too. I am new to this, but I doubt the difference between PWM and MPPT will matter much with this small of an application. Please let me know if I'm wrong.

Ok, I'll pull out the batteries and rewire them in parallel. I was only going to be using the batteries and not the rest of the UPS. Each series of 2 batteries has a 60A fuse on it right now. Do you think that would suffice?

Again, thanks for your help. I truly appreciate it and am enjoying learning the basics of this process.
 
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