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Solar Project on the farm (with questions)

5K views 20 replies 11 participants last post by  Sterling Silver 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm starting my first solar project, without the benefit of my father being around (the guy was like Mr. Wizard on TV many years ago) and I have all these questions that my goats and 6 dogs and my burro Pablo can't help me with... (I bet I'm not the only old guy on GM Volt who wishes his father was still around :( None of the local "villagers" have any experience-expertise nor interest in solar, and they are mad at me for installing a braying burro sound module on my Volt, in place of the pedestrian tooter. (Villagers, when they see me going to the feed store in my "E-LEK-TRICK car" often holler "Watch out! Here comes that jackass in the Volt."

None of the aforementioned critters have any engineering and mechanical skills like my brainy father (who didn’t pass along these traits to his idiot son) so I go to YouTube looking for answers to my questions. I come across this 12 year old kid who obviously will enter college and then one day become an electrical engineer. His video is pretty interesting. How could you not like a kid like this one?

My question… I need a good voltage regulator but I’m not certain where it goes in the mix for my project (which is a quick and dirty Harbor Freight menagerie consisting of 12 each solar panels, yielding 180 watts and somewhere in the neighborhood of a little less than 4 amps. (My Chinese is bad and the instructions are vague…)
Farm Grass Land lot Vehicle Field


The Harbor Freight kit comes with a charge controller (looks anemic) and I wish to bypass it. All the panels are fed into a harness/collection box and from here the panels feed several new 12 volt golf cart batteries which output to my inverter that is 5,000 watts continuous and 10,000 watts max surge. Each battery is somewhere around 100 pounds and $175! I went with these at the recommendation from someone who suggested they can handle more abuse than a regular deep-cycle battery. I'll probably have 4 total of these batteries when I finish this project.
(I know what certain people might say about a cheesy Harbor Freight kit, but this is a learning project for me and I'll do better next project...)

Where in this mix would the voltage regulator go? The wire harness from Harbor Freight does not offer the ability to interface a voltage regulator into the system upstream of the battery or downstream from the collection box. I suppose I'll have to splice into the stock wires somewhere and install a suitable voltage regulator, and I'm under the impression a company called Outback makes good products?

The inverter (5,000 watts continuous, 10,000 watts max) is very robust and I’m able to operate every power tool I’ve tested so far.

The solar panels are mounted on a trailer I built years ago, Farm Technology Vehicle Grass Plant community

that once ran an assortment of propane and gasoline generators. I am able to articulate the panels for optimum “aiming” at the sun and the trailer, as pulled on my Kubota diesel 4x4 RTV900XT (camo, what else works better in the country?) makes it easy to orient the panels towards the sun as it crosses the sky. The solar set-up is grounded to the trailer, which will be grounded to various sources where I have 8 foot copper rods driven into the ground already for an electric fence surrounding the farms.

I also welded a frame above the seat on the Kubota where I’ve mounted a 45-watt group of solar panels that keep a battery charged for a spray-rig. Vehicle Technology Roof Aerial photography Car
The Kubota set up can feed into the trailer “array” and supplement the charge going to the 12-volt golf cart batteries (I’m glad I’m not a golfer needing expensive golf cart batteries!)

Any tips or links to a source that clarifies where a charge regulator might go in this mix is very much appreciated.
 
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#6 ·
Harbor freight is over priced junk, crappy Asi panels and you need much more than a voltage regulator

The best forum on the internet for solar is http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/forum.php

FYI, I was a design engineer for Xantrex and MorningStar in RE for almost 8 years, doing an offgrid system isn't a simple thing, join the forum and ask your questions, it will take some time, but you'll get good answers on the forum. Good luck!
 
#10 ·
Harbor freight is over priced junk, crappy Asi panels
No argument from me about Harbor Freight. I just needed something "quick and dirty" I could use in a mobile application on our farms. I need to run some power tools when I'm away from our electrical source and keep a tiny refrigerator running and eventually providing a way to keep newly hatched chicks warm when cold weather sets in. The Harbor Freight kits offered a simple solution and serves as a platform for me to learn more about solar projects.
 
#7 ·
The links are great. You may also want to PM a member here by the name of DCFusor. He has a system like the one you're talking about -- off grid not grid tie -- and I'm sure he'd be willing to help you out and/or point you in the right direction.

Generally speaking the technical challenge is managing the batteries and figuring out what to do with the extra power if the batteries are fully charged.
 
#11 · (Edited)
Thanks Don:

I'll contact him tonight and as I approach the time for building a new house, I'll probably look for a nearby contractor here in Central Texas having experience in this. Just makes sense to me, with the abundance of wind and solar here, to jump head-first into this with a cheesy Harbor Freight kit (I loved HeathKit when I was a kiddo, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathkit) and I might learn something in the process.
 
#8 ·
Personally I like this site better than solar panel talk.

These guys forgot more about solar than most others even know. It is strictly all business, no politics, religion ..., just solar and wind.

http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/forum.php

Be ready with your data about consumption and they can talk you through a pretty good system setup.
 
#9 ·
Visit www.thefieldlab.org. The fellow there might give you insight into what works and doesn't, as he lives off of the grid.
 
#15 ·
, and they are mad at me for installing a braying burro sound module on my Volt, in place of the pedestrian tooter.
Did you really replace the pedestrian warning? I'd love to do that, since I think the standard one is a little "too much." I searched for an instructional post, but had no luck. Can you enlighten us on how and what the options are? I'd like something that sounds like an ICE.

Thanks!
 
#16 · (Edited)
I have some video clips from my dash-cam of driving through a crowded parking lot when I "tooted" my braying burro tooter and I'll edit tonight and post on YouTube in the morning. Works a lot better than the stock pedestrian tooter that comes "stock" with the Volt, and folks don't seem to get as mad, plus they kind of start smiling, when they see an old jackass driving a Volt, trying to herd them out of harms-way.
 
#18 ·
Were you able to get your "Burro bray" tooter to work instead of the double chirp one, or did you just do it as an "add-on" button?
 
#21 ·
Jerry:

I can't (at this moment) divulge the nature of my contraption since I am in the process of working with a manufacturer in China to possibly produce this. The sound of a burro or a chicken or a goat alerting pedestrians, is much more "user friendly" than a tooting horn and EVERYBODY looks and notices.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Avoid harbor freight solar items for longevity. Good for a short period learning or hobby experience. Dont get too fond of them. High failure rate and not worth the money spent as they produce very little power.

Go to www.homepower.com and buy their online subscription. Access to two years or more of magazine issues. Also, what you want to do will cost more than you think it should (whatever that may be). Batteries need a good MPPT charger and enough solar power to charge them even on moderately cloudy days. You will always need more batteries than you think you need.

One web site forum that may be ok but has a few guys who are more antagonists than help is www.solarpaneltalk.com.
 
#20 ·
Avoid harbor freight solar items for longevity. Good for a short period learning or hobby experience. .
Yes... it was one of those "I need it fast and now" projects and most definitely a convenience and learning project. I can't hardly yank on a rope starter on my petrol generators due to bursitis. This temporary solar project will work for me now and I doubt not too far in the future.

Thanks for the link also.
 
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