Portable solar charging setup I just built...

[ChrisGarrett]

I just reposted this from AR15.com, to save on time.

I got the portable solar charging panel done and tested it out today, 8/1/12 for 20 minutes, before a big rain cloud came in and forced me to pack up.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, so flame away!

Controller and 12vdc female socket mounted on plastic corrugated 'sign stock':



Controller from the side, 'triangle folds' keep panel in the vertical plane, but still allow for 'flat' packing':



Controller laying 'flattish':



Controller running off of 12v/12Ah battery, powering a Maha C-9000 that's charging 4xAAs at ~1 amp:



Hinged panels in the vertical orientation, pink ropes are carry handles:



Panels from the side, they can be flipped for a more acute angle, when sun is directly overhead:



Shallow tilt, whole shebang charging the battery and powering an Xtar WP2 II Li-Ion charger, note case:



Open voltage before the big rain cloud blew in:



Indoor shot with cereal box for scale:



Facts and details:

Panels: Two Soplay 30w/1.74a (22"x16.5"x1") @ 5.5#. $178 shipped for both, with 2x12" Y connectors.

Battery: Power-Sonic 12v/12Ah AGM/SLA. $37 shipped.

Gun Case: Plano 4 pistol case cut to fit by me. $25 shipped.

Controller: Morningstar SS-10L 12v. This will take up to a 25v input, 10amp load. $70 shipped.

Mc4 Connectors: 3 pair of M/F for the Controller terminations. I ruined 3 halves, so get a few! $10 shipped.

Assorted adapters: Maha, LaCrosse 12v adapters, USB 2.1a adapter, 12v female socket. $35ish delivered.

Hardware: Hinges, bolts, nuts, washers, rope, Gorilla glue (wire was free!) aluminum bar stock: $20-$30.

Most of the stuff, I got new off of Ebay. The fitted case will hold two 12v/12Ah batteries, even though I only have one for now. The case will also hold the Maha C-9000, LaCrosse BC-700, Xtar WP2 II, all three 12v adapters and the little iPhone/iPad 2.1 amp USB adapter with 6' USB cord. The controller and its backing sits nicely on top of the fitted layer of foam.
Everything fits fits fine and closes. With 2 batteries, weight should be about ~22-23 pounds, maybe a tad less.

Chris

[HotWire]

Great job! I have a similar (but smaller) set-up to charge a 12v deep cycle marine battery. 12v charger plugs right in! Power outage? No problem!

[eh4]

Very cool, looking to do the same soon but with LiFePO4 battery chemistry. Disadvantage is initial cost.
Advantages are lower long term cost, Long life, intrinsic safety, cutting weight by 75%, and being able to jump start a car with the same battery that serves as your deep cycle.

[Ualnosaj]

Wow! "Portable" is a relative term, but this is a good effort

[ChrisGarrett]

Wow! "Portable" is a relative term, but this is a good effort

It's not 'backpackable' but it is portable. Car trunk, back seat, walking down three flights of stairs to get to the lake/grass area, to charge things up.

I wouldn't want to walk a mile carrying the thing, but it's not too heavy.

PowerFilm, Sunlinq, Goal Zero and Brunton all make 26-27w foldable panels which put out as much current as one of those panels, but they're expensive and only have 3 year warranties, so nothing compared to the 10yr/90% and 25yr/80% warranties that the rigids have.

Once you get up into that 30w class, you're looking at a minimum of $420 for the PF foldable. I bought everything for a lot less than that.

Chris

[Kilted]

WOW!! Really nice transportable solar power system. The only suggestion I have is when the SLA dies look into replacing it with a Lithium pba drop-in in replacement. They should be affordable by then.

=D~~ Kilted

[Ualnosaj]

It's not 'backpackable' but it is portable. Car trunk, back seat, walking down three flights of stairs to get to the lake/grass area, to charge things up.

I wouldn't want to walk a mile carrying the thing, but it's not too heavy.

PowerFilm, Sunlinq, Goal Zero and Brunton all make 26-27w foldable panels which put out as much current as one of those panels, but they're expensive and only have 3 year warranties, so nothing compared to the 10yr/90% and 25yr/80% warranties that the rigids have.

Once you get up into that 30w class, you're looking at a minimum of $420 for the PF foldable. I bought everything for a lot less than that.

Chris

Chris, what's the goal for this build? I know sometimes we build things "just because", but what's your vision?



________________
Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse the brevity of this message.

[Illum]

Nicely done!

Where did you get MC4 connectors for $10?!

I'm slowly following your path also, just haven't found a significant reason to put it all together. I don't use that much 12V devices, and those I do are for the last resort during a hurricane
Currently I have in my possession
2x EPCOM 50W Crystalline, $150 shipped/each
1x MorningStar SS-10-12V, $53 Shipped/each
1x Tysonic 35AH, $76 Shipped/each

For starters, I'd recommend something like this, which I built. Works well even in moderate sunshine.
2x 10W panels, mine were salvaged... a decent substitute would be LiteFuze, $60 shipped
1x 3A charge controller $17+Shipping
1x 7.5AH SLA $24+Shipping
Optional 1x Murata DC/DC Converter 7-26Vin 5Vout $5+shipping
I used a DC/DC converter to step down 12V because my battery chargers only accepted 5V and that the voltage is regulated. I threw a 2200uF Low ESR caps on both the input and output for good measure.
USB ports were from these, you can probably bum a set from the local PC repair shop

Mine looks something like this, everything is built in a watertight ammo can, can only be hooked up with the lid opened. Everything goes through the battery fuse [left], including the wall charger connector [hidden in the converter well lower right]. the PV passes through its own fuse and everything has a disconnect switch: battery, controller, converter. A voltmeter from Wowhobbies is built in and turns on when the battery switches on. Load from that is negligible. The LEDs on the controller is cut out and panel mounted.


Solar Panels are situated on a [don't laugh] "deluxe irrigation tripod" typically sold with a sprinkler head mounted at Home Depot. A couple plumbing fittings later its now a two piece setup.



While its probably not going to last too long charging anything at 12V, it does a good job charging eneloops on partial cloudy to sunny days. Right now I have on average 33WH of usable capacity with the battery fully charged. Assuming no sunlight input is available, usable capacity on 5v after converter losses is about 5300mAH. Somewhat inadequate, but the entire concept relies mainly on sunlight. the battery is merely acting as a voltage buffer.
Speaking of vision, I really want to have 12V capability because theres alot more things you can run. Just about anything you can plug into your car you should be able to run on the system. 12V fans, 12V Florescent lights, charge your GPS, power your mattress pump, Maybe run a small soda cooler or a small inverter during peak sun hours, who knows. Thats my vision, I'm sure Chris has something much better.

ChrisGarrett, I noticed your MorningStar has a LVD built in, unfortunately it cuts off at 10.5 or some value near that. For sealed lead acids, I don't recommend draining them below 12V unless you've got a good desulfator. In my experience they seem to die very quickly and not cater many cycles. My batteries are typically floating at 13.8-14V here at the house with either BatteryMinder plus or Attwood Battery maintainers and only recieve solar juice when I am on the road or on location to organize/participate in some sort of an activity.

Personally, I think you striked a perfect balance between capacity and weight on the 12AH battery. In my opinion the 7AH batteries are too small and the 35AH batteries are just too heavy. If I was intent on putting a load on the battery at night, I would discharge the battery no greater than 40% rated C/20 capacity, but thats just me. But I would still recommend testing the maximum current load on your battery charger, and estimate a general usage time just for good measure.

[ChrisGarrett]

Chris, what's the goal for this build? I know sometimes we build things "just because", but what's your vision?

Sent from my mobile device. Please excuse the brevity of this message.

I'm in Miami and while my power only went out for 18 and 15 hours during hurricanes Andrew & Wilma, my girl friend, uncle/aunt and former boss lost their power for 7-21 days here in SoFla, so my goal is to be able to charge up any batteries I have, cell phone, radios and perhaps a battery operated fan, or two.

Another goal was to keep it under $400 bucks, as I was approaching 'decent' generator territory if I went higher. I'm in a condo and even during 'power outages', running a loud genset is going to be a problem with the neighbors and the 'whisper model' Honda 2000, Yammie and even the Briggs and Straton are $500-$1000, so I didn't want to go there.

Finally, the objective was to keep it light and portable/transportable and give me enough juice where I won't have to babysit the thing for six hours to charge up what I need charged.

I'm not really a camper, but anything past a day, or three, without power, is where this thing should come in handy. It's a 10 year insurance policy, I figure.

Chris

[ChrisGarrett]

WOW!! Really nice transportable solar power system. The only suggestion I have is when the SLA dies look into replacing it with a Lithium pba drop-in in replacement. They should be affordable by then.

=D~~ Kilted

I've looked at the A123 Systems 7Ah SLA drop in replacement, but IIRC, they're up over $125 and frankly, that's about 4 PowerSonice 12Ah batteries.

Maybe one day it'll be worth it to me. At under 2# it is pretty light, isn't it?

Chris

[ChrisGarrett]

Illum:

The Mc4s are TUV IP68, so pretty much dust and waterproof. Midwestsolar2012 sells them on Ebay in 3s, 5s, 10s--whatever quantity you want.

The low voltage disconnect on the Morningstar 10L is 11.5v, so a bit better than what you thought, but I don't expect to get down that low, however, I did pay an extra $8 for the feature.

I was even looking at the 18Ah batteries, but ehhh...I went with 12Ah, for better, or for worse. One can always go larger, with panels, voltage, batteries and well, keeping weight manageable was a major thought.

I want to look for a couple of fans and maybe a 12v C/D size charger, if there's one out there. That way I can run the fans and stir the air during the muggy nights without power.

Chris

[Kilted]

I've looked at the A123 Systems 7Ah SLA drop in replacement, but IIRC, they're up over $125 and frankly, that's about 4 PowerSonice 12Ah batteries.

Maybe one day it'll be worth it to me. At under 2# it is pretty light, isn't it?

Chris

Chris, yes I'd like tom shed some weight. There are reasons why we use lithium's in our flashlights and not lead! One thing I discovered do a web search on "lithium motorcycle battery". There appear to be some quality vendors out there. When my 12v 12a SLA dies I will probably replace it with lithium. I have 3 APC-UPS, a house battery bank and two transportable power systems so I need to start learning about these lithium SLA drop-in replacements.

=D~~ Kilted

[ChrisGarrett]

Chris, yes I'd like tom shed some weight. There are reasons why we use lithium's in our flashlights and not lead! One thing I discovered do a web search on "lithium motorcycle battery". There appear to be some quality vendors out there. When my 12v 12a SLA dies I will probably replace it with lithium. I have 3 APC-UPS, a house battery bank and two transportable power systems so I need to start learning about these lithium SLA drop-in replacements.

=D~~ Kilted

It looks like Shorai is the big dog in LiPo motorcycle batteries. The one I'm looking at is their LFX12A1-BS12 , PBeq 12Ah at $129 and 1.54#. Problem is is that they work best with their proprietary charger and 5 pin battery port, although you can use trickle chargers without an automatic desulfation stage, whatever that ultimately means. The charger is ~$84 and only works on AC, so that kind of defeats 'my' purpose for building the solar charger in the first place, although that's why God invented cheap inverters, lol.

I'm no Pb hater, so I'll live with this until it dies. If you wanted to blow $700, you fit five of those suckers in my case for about the same weight as one 12Ah SLA!

Chris

[Kilted]

It looks like Shorai is the big dog in LiPo motorcycle batteries. The one I'm looking at is their LFX12A1-BS12 , PBeq 12Ah at $129 and 1.54#. Problem is is that they work best with their proprietary charger and 5 pin battery port, although you can use trickle chargers without an automatic desulfation stage, whatever that ultimately means. The charger is ~$84 and only works on AC, so that kind of defeats 'my' purpose for building the solar charger in the first place, although that's why God invented cheap inverters, lol.

I'm no Pb hater, so I'll live with this until it dies. If you wanted to blow $700, you fit five of those suckers in my case for about the same weight as one 12Ah SLA!

Chris

Yea I seen those also and they maybe good batteries but kinda suck for our transportable solar chargers. I came across LiFePo4 bat that had a BMS built into the battery case this is the same as the A123 system, like these; http://www.lithiumion-batteries.com/...ts/deep-cycle/

For a small solar power charging station I was thinking of some thing like these; http://www.ballisticparts.com/produc.../batteries.php note the small 4-cell version. Their custom charger looks like a a hobby charger and can be run from 12v dc. Check Amazon for pricing.

I looked at Shorai, Ballistic are a better system. Ballistic are USA made in Wisconsin.
Ballistic Balance Charger instructions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3cuB...ature=youtu.be

OK one more thing these are starter batteries high pulse current for turning a motor over, they are not deep cycle power batteries.

For my Larger battery banks one of the things I'm not finding is the service life of the batteries. My Concorde batteries are at 10-years and if the Lithiums cannot do 20 years then they are not worth it. For stationary applications weight is not a factor, service life and cost are important.

=D~~Kilted.

[ChrisGarrett]

Yea I seen those also and they maybe good batteries but kinda suck for our transportable solar chargers. I came across LiFePo4 bat that had a BMS built into the battery case this is the same as the A123 system, like these; http://www.lithiumion-batteries.com/...ts/deep-cycle/

For a small solar power charging station I was thinking of some thing like these; http://www.ballisticparts.com/produc.../batteries.php note the small 4-cell version. Their custom charger looks like a a hobby charger and can be run from 12v dc. Check Amazon for pricing.

I looked at Shorai, Ballistic are a better system. Ballistic are USA made in Wisconsin.
Ballistic Balance Charger instructions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3cuB...ature=youtu.be

OK one more thing these are starter batteries high pulse current for turning a motor over, they are not deep cycle power batteries.

For my Larger battery banks one of the things I'm not finding is the service life of the batteries. My Concorde batteries are at 10-years and if the Lithiums cannot do 20 years then they are not worth it. For stationary applications weight is not a factor, service life and cost are important.

=D~~Kilted.

Thanks for the links!

First off, we don't really need CCA intensive starter batteries, like the Shorai or Ballistics, do we? As you mention, we want 'deep cycle' cells, correct?

I looked at the Concorde Sun Xtender series and while they're still SLA/AGM and heavy, that brand looks to be at the apex for SLA technology. They rate their batteries over a period of time, the main stat being 24 hrs and to a cell voltage of 1.75v, which is 10.6v for the entire battery, but they state it a different way and give no load.

For example, their smallest 25#, $165 battery yields 34 Ah over a 24 hr period? Would this be a 1 amp load...2 or 4?

Anyhow, I found their PVX-340T on Ebay for $165 shipped.

That's similar in price to the A123 company's LiFePo4 Pbeq 7Ah cell and even the 8 cylinder Ballistic jobbie. But we need another charger and even the 12v versions for PV panels, run $80-$200, so I don't know. That puts me in total cost, almost at a Honda 2000 genset!

The LithiumIon company starts at $399 for their 20Ah Pbeq offering. Ouch!

I'm not wanting to jump start trucks, or motor cycles, so 'starter batteries' aren't my best solution, are they?

Thanks, Chris

[Shadowww]

For example, their smallest 25#, $165 battery yields 34 Ah over a 24 hr period? Would this be a 1 amp load...2 or 4?

Erm.. 34Ah/24h = 1.42A.

[ChrisGarrett]

Erm.. 34Ah/24h = 1.42A.

Thanks.

I was just out smoking a cigar on the patio and started to ponder that question and came up with roughly <1.5a.

My degree is in English Literature and Communications and phizics/maf aren't my forte'.

I guess that battery can run a 100w incadescent bulb at ~.833 amps for 40+ hours!

Chris

[Kilted]

Some discoveries digging into FAQ's and various sales sites. The Ballistic batteries are using 2300 milliamp LiFePo4 cells. The cells are wired 4 in series strings with; 4cells 1 string, 8cells 2 stings in parallel, 12cells 3 strings parallel, 16 cells 4 strings parallel. These LiFe batteries can be 80% depleted vs. for Pb normal usage is 50%. Another FAQ take 1/3 of the Pbeq value will give the internal cell 1C rating. For example LFX12A1-BS12 , PBeq 12Ah / 3 = 4 amp. Use this value to calculate your deep discharge energy.

To work it in reverse the Powersonic 12v 12a pictured above has total watthours = 12x12 = 144 x 50% = 72 whrs of usable energy, 72 / 12 = 6amps x 3 (LiFe conversion factor) = 18 Pbeq. Therefore in Shorai terminology a LFX18A1-BS12 ($171) at .997 lbs will deliver the same energy as the Powersonic PS-12120 at 7.92 lbs.

If you are backpacking saving 7lbs of lead is probably worth it.

=D~~Kilted

[Shadowww]

Some discoveries digging into FAQ's and various sales sites. The Ballistic batteries are using 2300 milliamp LiFePo4 cells. The cells are wired 4 in series strings with; 4cells 1 string, 8cells 2 stings in parallel, 12cells 3 strings parallel, 16 cells 4 strings parallel.

Erm, actually 8 cell is single string of 4 paralleled cell banks, not two strings of 4 cells in parallel. Same with 12cell and 16cell.

[Kilted]

Erm, actually 8 cell is single string of 4 paralleled cell banks, not two strings of 4 cells in parallel. Same with 12cell and 16cell.

Yerr right otherwise the BMS would not work. An FYI parts to assemble your own battery; http://www.evassemble.com/index.php?...=index&cPath=2

=D~~ Kilted