![]() ![]() The controller itself came with a warning stating that the rear was actually a heat-sink and this should be considered when mounting. I chose to use a sheet of 10mm Plywood on which I laid out the controller, connection terminal blocks, fuse and fuse box. I decided I wanted to mount most of the main components on a distribution board which could constructed and then be simply installed and connected in the shed. I'm sure if you shop around some more on eBay most of the components could probably be found cheaper as well.įor me, the fun part of this project was always going to be the build. This cost can be reduced significantly if you chose a lower wattage panel & smaller battery capacity. Panel Connectors: Generic MC4 Connectors - £5.50 Terminal Block: 4-Row Terminal Strip - £5.50 Solar Panel: 100w Pollycrystalline PV Panel - £70.00īattery: 12v 35Ah Leisure Battery - £50.00įuse Box: 4-Way Automotive Fuse Box - £6.00īattery Lead: Ring Terminals, inline fuse and 'Anderson' connector - £5.00 MPPT Controller: eSky Intellegent LCD 30A - £20.00 With all that in mind, I opted for the PWM model and set about buying the other components I needed. PWM has been around a lot longer than the MPPT technology and as a result is generally cheaper and are available in a greater selection of sizes and models. In comparison, the MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) charge controller is far better at optimising the output from the solar array and can deal with the solar array generating excess voltage which can be harnessed and used to improve charging efficiency by 20%-25% (under the right conditions). The first, PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) is better suited to low power applications (< 170W) however it is not capable of dealing with any over voltage generated by the solar array. There are two main types of controller PWM and the MPPT Controller. This unit is able to regulate the flow of current to the battery and therefore prevent overcharging and also prevents the load from draining the battery too far which also causes damage. To prevent this you use a Solar Charge Controller, a device which sits between the solar panel and the battery. however this all goes very badly when the battery is fully charged and you will actually damage the battery if you push anymore current into it. You can hook a solar panel straight up to a battery and charge it. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the components of a solar charging system, it goes something like this: I had no knowledge of how to put one of these together and so it took a few days before I felt I'd learnt enough to know what I was doing. I Googled a lot before I went any further. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |