babysitting battery's ? a must?

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mrreality13
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2013 9:34 pm
Location: tx

babysitting battery's ? a must?

Post by mrreality13 » Thu Nov 07, 2013 10:55 pm

Hi Troy and gang,
Hey troy several times you mention watchin you battery's IS your tv--is that a must do or since your 100% off grid you do it to protect your self?
reason i ask is i was thinking augmenting my limited electricity grid use w/ some solar to keep costs down(was thinkin a Hf kit and 2 x12v-may have to do the 2 for cost reasons/ OR 4 x6 volt) but watchin your vids it almost seems like its more trouble than its worth.
Thanx in advance and i Hope you beat that flu quick!!
Never ever approach a puter thinking this will only take a minute

techman
Site Admin
Posts: 1329
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:49 am

Re: babysitting battery's ? a must?

Post by techman » Fri Nov 08, 2013 10:21 pm

It depends on how much you use your solar.

My truck solar power that I set up for the weekend trip sits untouched and unchecked since I returned from the trip. As long as the solar panel and charge controller do their jobs everything is fine. Just check it once in a while to make sure everything is still operating well.

But if you are using your batteries quite heavily like I do then yes you must keep an eye on them. I check my voltage multiple times every single day.

Its not burden really, just have a glance at the battery voltage and make sure all is well.

If your batteries are getting down then you have to reduce power usage or cut it out totally until you get your batteries topped off.

I believe that having solar power is a great way to save on energy bills or have an emergency backup for power outages.

mrreality13
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2013 9:34 pm
Location: tx

Re: babysitting battery's ? a must?

Post by mrreality13 » Fri Nov 08, 2013 11:13 pm

thanx troy
-im goin to use my solar for my HTPC and 24 "lcd tv-and my mini fridge --but mostly for my HTPC its got a 750 watt pwr supply,and im on it prolly a average 4-6 hrs a night (watchin movies/gaming) I have a old dell netbook w/ a 19 watt wall wart kind of pwr supply i used for emails/surfin (dont have the HF kit yet w/ giftcards from family im hopin close to thanxgiving)
The electric my land owner lets me use is only on a 20 amp breaker-his words were"il llet ya use it but if i see a huge jump ill give ya 1 warning then if it happens again ill unplug ya"so i will slowly as $$ permits be goin all solar
On 1 hf solar kit w/ 2x12v car battery(cant afford marine or golf carts) do you have a preferred inverter you could recommend round 1400 watts?
I hope your feelin better.
Thanx again for your inspiration! :mrgreen:
Never ever approach a puter thinking this will only take a minute

hi_tech_guy_18
Posts: 120
Joined: Tue May 07, 2013 6:46 pm

Re: babysitting battery's ? a must?

Post by hi_tech_guy_18 » Mon Nov 11, 2013 7:17 am

I'm Afraid that a 45W HF Amorphous kit isnt going to power that 700W HTPC Not unless you want to replace it GUTS with a
AMD FM2 A10 APU then you can Run it on a 250W DC DC Intelligent In Car PSU (even at 250W Directly from battery is quite a stretch for a 45W PV system)
Image

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M4-ATX 250W wide input 6V - 30V Automotive PSU
http://carpcpower.com/product/m4-atx.html
let alone a 1400W inverter

Unless you want to wait +7 days for it to fill up a Battery Bank without using any power at all

Thing is with Solar Power is for them to be any use to you need to know your total watt usage of all the devices you are likely have on at any time at the same time

800 / 1200 watts pull will rapidly eat throw the daily 45W panels Yields Collect (However that's if you have the perfect days of sunshine all year round - thow Rain and Dark cloudy days into it & will reduce a 800W panels system down to 12W or 0W
However for solar You need a system that makes about the same amount of watts as you use + extra on top of that so when you have odd bad weather days you have something to keep you going for a few days.

There is better kits and better solar panels Prices are Dropping for Polycrystalline + Monocrystalline

You do better to save up a little longer and get yourself a

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RENOGY 100 Watt Monocrystalline Photovoltaic PV Solar Panel Module 12V Battery Charging - $169.99
http://www.amazon.com/RENOGY-Monocrystalline-Photovoltaic-Battery-Charging/dp/B009Z6CW7O/ 
its better than 2x of them 45W HF Amorphous kits
Due when you keep adding 100 Watt Monocrystalline PV to reach your 800W it give you more power more efficiency and better yields in low light levels and slightly better yields when the panels hot and a better use of surface area space (uses a smaller space yet collects more watts)

The solar market prices of panels are set to drop more as new next gen KW Panels and next gen Black Monocrystalline come in will push the prices down on the under 500W Range even the Future Next Gens - solar chip - organic solar are already appearing even commercial solar KW panels approaching the MW
You can also wait and shop around I seen 100W go cheaper

mrreality13
Posts: 25
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2013 9:34 pm
Location: tx

Re: babysitting battery's ? a must?

Post by mrreality13 » Mon Nov 11, 2013 9:22 pm

ok im a re name you the solar encyclopedia-thank you so much for the info ! now i have more as i say 'surfing and learning" to do on it
looks like i have some saving up tpo do
I wont be in "crunch' time to save electricity till march any ways thats when we will see 80 degree days on a daily basis here in texas and my ultimate goal is to have solar in place so i can run a AC then
That way i can off set my electric use so landlord will continue to let me use some of his power,he has me a line in on a 20 amp breaker atm
And for me its easier to cool off than heat up,I always hated when we had the weeks of low 30:s high 20's up there i used to ive in king of prussia just west of phily,and spent 2 yrs in buffalo so i feel your winter pain
As to rebuilding pc it runs fine even if it is a older s939 rig(i love amd but hate them for the 939's short life span)
oh just so you know I have water but no indoor plumbing (well outside) plus a septic tank i can discard waste into
talk at ya soon troy and stay warm my new friend (oh and btw the old's that your folks got ya nice ride :D )
Never ever approach a puter thinking this will only take a minute

techman
Site Admin
Posts: 1329
Joined: Thu Dec 22, 2011 11:49 am

Re: babysitting battery's ? a must?

Post by techman » Fri Nov 15, 2013 12:57 pm

You have one of two choices to make. Either lose the power hungry computer and get a laptop or go with a whole lot of solar panels.

If you want to use that computer for one single hour, then you need about 800 watts of solar panels for about two sunlight hours to charge your batteries up enough. Reason is that solar panels do not produce peak power all day. Only a few actual hours in the day time.

Your air conditioner would need about the same thing for the same amount of time.

You also need a huge battery bank to hold all that energy.

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