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Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Icon_minitimeToday at 8:05 am by VanRougeT4

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 Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites.

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VanRougeT4
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VanRougeT4


Call Sign : G1DBS - F4WEY
Posts : 162
Times Thanked : 12
Join date : 2024-02-17
QTH or Location : Montreuil sur Mer
Equipment Used : XIEGU G90 + XIEGU XPA125B

Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Empty
PostSubject: Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites.   Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Icon_minitimeThu Sep 19, 2024 10:07 am

When we moved into our ancient farmhouse in France, the down-side was we'd have a huge amount of work to do to get it comfortable to live in. Our five year plan turned into a ten year plan, then fifteen, twenty, and still much to do. However, the up-side was that we had a very big plot.  My husband, Alex, is a keen gardener, and collects RN books and memorabilia in his 'man cave' converted from an old boiler room, so that's him sorted with hobbies.

Cabin...

My interests were/are music and writing (I write niche category novels) so I earmarked a site 60m from the house as a perfect place to build a cabin for me, but it wasn't until 2010 that this came to pass.

60m is a long way to trail an extension lead; I'd need electricity after all. And the risk of running over it with the mower was high. There had to be another way. Digging a trench for a buried supply didn't appeal, and a noisy petrol generator was the last thing I needed.

In 2010, solar for domestic use was available, but the technology was in its infancy. Amorphous panels were physically big for the power they produced, and expensive, too. But we dived (dove?) in and bought eight 15w panels from Maplin (remember them?) and erected a southwest facing framework behind the cabin to mount them on.

We wired the interior for lighting, and built a distribution cabinet. A PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) solar controller was installed along with a 600w inverter to convert 12vdc into 230vac. Two period meters were obtained from a steam rally odds-and-sods stall. One for amps in from the panels (highest ever was only 8 amps) and one for amps out. The 120ah Halfords Sealed Lead Acid deep cycle 12v battery we bought is still going strong after almost 14 years!

Because this year I have successfully applied for my lapsed ham license and bought more radios and equipment than in reality I need, I've upgraded the cabin solar to a single 150w monocrystalline panel which is more powerful than, and a fraction of the physical size of, the old ones, not to mention a fraction of the price, too.

Campervan...

Having learned so much about solar with the cabin build, installing panels on the campervan was a no-brainer. 250w total open circuit (two panels) on a roof rack into a Renogy MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) solar controller, keeps two 85ah SLA leisure batteries fully charge year round (plus tops up the starter battery), and also charges our 1248wh portable power station that runs the 230vac appliances in the van; m/wave oven, induction hob, and coffee machine. And now I have my portable ham gear, there's plenty of power for operating from the van.

Conclusion...

Although having solar to power ham equipment is a great workaround in an isolated or mobile situation, it does have downfalls!

Whichever type of solar controller you choose, they are electrically noisy.

Avoid laptop computers that require more than 12v to charge. 230vac inverters are very noisy electrically. Even the 12v laptop converters produce a lot of noise across the spectrum. I've found a cheap laptop that only requires 12v to charge, so all good for me.

If you reached the end of this post without falling asleep, well done.

Deb

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Victor
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Victor


Call Sign : 26-CT-3228 / M7VIC
Posts : 6136
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Join date : 2019-11-10
QTH or Location : Bedford
Equipment Used : Various

Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites.   Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Icon_minitimeThu Sep 19, 2024 10:40 am

Nicely written article there Deb and a pleasure to read with a lot of useful first hand information that can be invaluable. Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. 1f44d 

(I've still got Maplin stock in the shack and miss them as we had a store just down the road from us.)

We had a near neighbour with solar panels on their roof which for all intents & purposes could've been a massive S.E.T.I. transmitter with the amount of RF spewing into the cosmos from it!! (Especially dawn/dusk with their inverters - ruined my greyline work. Rolling Eyes )

Luckily they sold up and the new owner saw fit to remove it all from the crumbling 70 year old roof tiles it was clinging on to.

The 'noise' issue was the main reason I stayed away from typical solar inverters let alone cheap chargers and hence why I just have an inexpensive battery workaround with a relay control. (Great for the last power outage we had after a lightning strike nearby.)

I might just have to take a look back at it all with your pointers on how the technology has come on leaps and bounds.

Thanks again, brilliant stuff and just perfect for this new forum section. Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. 1f44d 


All the best,
Victor



(Like I do you've apologised in a roundabout way for a long article - Keep them long, it's enjoyable to read!)

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https://www.qrz.com/db/M7VIC
Alan Pilot
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Alan Pilot


Call Sign : 163-CT-220...
Posts : 2606
Times Thanked : 70
Join date : 2019-11-19
QTH or Location : Anglesey North Wales
Equipment Used : Yaesu FT-991A,,Yaesu FTDX-10,,Icom ic-7610,,Anytone AT-D878UV PLUS",,LINCOLN II+.
Age : 16

Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites.   Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Icon_minitimeThu Sep 19, 2024 10:49 am

Thank's for that Deb.
Very interesting and informative.

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Ivy Mike
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Ivy Mike


Call Sign : 26CT4113/G1HWY
Posts : 502
Times Thanked : 14
Join date : 2021-05-16
QTH or Location : IO90uv
Equipment Used : ICOM radios/antenna farm
Age : 69

Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites.   Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Icon_minitimeThu Sep 19, 2024 9:22 pm

Nice to hear how you did your solar setup.

I was not interested in doing anything solar until the bills sky rocketed.

Had a bit of spare cash and although the shack down the garden had mains
I bought three Renogy 200watt suitcases, the hard panel type and joined them
in series to get around 60volts at 10amps. The suitcases sit on the ground just
outside the shack. The output is fed into a Renogy 60amp MPPT controller which
charges two Renogy 100AH LIFEPO4 batteries in parallel.
This gives me plenty of autonomy even when there is little sun.

The MPPT controller is in the shack and is very noisey radio wise but it's not to 
bad when operating FT8/FT4 as the pulses are normally outside the audio bandwidth.

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John123
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John123


Call Sign : 26CT763
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Join date : 2019-06-27
QTH or Location : Manchester
Equipment Used : Optima, Superstar 360fm, Stalker 9fdx, President Jack
Age : 50

Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites.   Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Icon_minitimeThu Sep 19, 2024 10:48 pm

Hi Deb,

A great read and very interesting.👍

73s John.

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VanRougeT4
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VanRougeT4


Call Sign : G1DBS - F4WEY
Posts : 162
Times Thanked : 12
Join date : 2024-02-17
QTH or Location : Montreuil sur Mer
Equipment Used : XIEGU G90 + XIEGU XPA125B

Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites.   Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Icon_minitimeThu Sep 19, 2024 11:03 pm

Hi Mike, sounds like you have a great setup there Smile

With your 3 panels producing max 600 watts, it's sensible to connect in series for 60v open circuit voltage to keep the current low into the controller.

I'm toying with the idea of upgrading the cabin battery to LifePO4. Does the internal Battery Management System cause any electrical noise on the bands?

Deb
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Ivy Mike
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Ivy Mike


Call Sign : 26CT4113/G1HWY
Posts : 502
Times Thanked : 14
Join date : 2021-05-16
QTH or Location : IO90uv
Equipment Used : ICOM radios/antenna farm
Age : 69

Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites.   Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Icon_minitimeFri Sep 20, 2024 10:07 am

VanRougeT4 wrote:
Hi Mike, sounds like you have a great setup there Smile

With your 3 panels producing max 600 watts, it's sensible to connect in series for 60v open circuit voltage to keep the current low into the controller.

I'm toying with the idea of upgrading the cabin battery to LifePO4. Does the internal Battery Management System cause any electrical noise on the bands?

Deb

Hard to tell, if it does it's masked by the MPPT hash.

What I intend to do is hopefully run the shack with my off grid house setup and do away with the mppt and batteries at the shack. Once I put in separate cable from my 5Kw 48volt hybrid inverter charger and battery I can have AC down the shack. In the front garden I squeezed in six ground mounted 410watt panels that during a sunny day easily charges my 10Kw 48Volt battery.

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Ivy Mike
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Ivy Mike


Call Sign : 26CT4113/G1HWY
Posts : 502
Times Thanked : 14
Join date : 2021-05-16
QTH or Location : IO90uv
Equipment Used : ICOM radios/antenna farm
Age : 69

Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Empty
PostSubject: Re: Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites.   Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Icon_minitimeMon Sep 23, 2024 3:34 pm

Had a bit of time at weekend and decided to change the solar setup.

Took out the LIFEPO4 batteries and MPPT controller and replaced it with
a Bluetti AC200L that I bought a while back for the house.
The AC200L is a 2KWh power station with various outputs for AC and DC.
It has an MPPT that can take 1,200W Max at 12V-145VDC, 15A.


Fitting the power station has stopped all the crud produced by the Renogy MPPT.
Have checked the bands and it appears they are relatively clean apart from the usual
rubbish I used to get, well pleased. Very Happy

Have fitted plenty of ferrites to all the leads and 100watts on the bands appear not to
affect the power station.



Will stick with this unless anything untowards happens.



Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Ac200l10

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PostSubject: Re: Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites.   Solar power for emergency and portable use, and isolated sites. Icon_minitime

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