Logged in users > User Diaries

My solar controller project: One Fridge Off The Grid

(1/2) > >>

SolarTrap:
Hi All,

Over the past 2 years I've been working on a project to use renewable energy in a small scale. It started out of the need to create backup energy -- my area was hit by a storm and we were out of power for 4 days and I wanted to be prepared for the next one.
I researched the market and looked at available technology and bought some solar panels, inverter and batteries. Hooking that up is very simple and it was ready to use. After spending $500 I had a working setup but now it was sitting there all day fully charged and doing nothing.

I decided to hook my fridge up to it and run it 24/7 on the small solar setup. That worked well until there we had a bunch of cloudy days in a row and the battery did not have enough juice to cover it. So I did more research and found out how you have to design "real" off-grid systems and how deep discharging impacts the lifetime of batteries. I decided that is was not worth it and was looking for other solutions. But there are only two models available: "big" grid-tie installation or an off-grid system.

So I had a bunch of solar installer over at my house and we got mostly the same answer: your energy consumption ($50/month) is too low to make the numbers work for you. At first I was very disappointed but then I thought it might be an opportunity. I bought an Arduino and started designing my own controller that should do something very simple: use solar whenever the sun is shining and use the grid at night or on a cloudy day.

After a year I had a stable prototype (which is now running for about 400 days) and I started telling friends about it. They liked it and I started showing the idea on environmental fairs - that got me a lot of positive feedback and I decided to make 5 of the controllers for "field" testing.

I am thinking of going for crowd-funding because to make this unit affordable I need to manufacture at least some hunderds of them. Also crowd funding has the customers sort of "built-in". When I look at other solar projects that get successful funding they are either utopistic "solar roadways" or small portable smart-phone chargers.

I'd love to hear if anyone has any ideas or thoughts about the concept. Any and all ideas are appreciated!
Also, I have two units (follow the link above to see them) left that need testers! If you have a spare solar panel, inverter and battery send me an email!


Markus

Bruce S:
You will notice I removed your link.
Though the site looks nice and the idea is a great one,,, rules state no selling or links until after 50 posts.
The site looks nice and all BUT rules are rules.

DamonHD:
And further to what Bruce says, I had warned you before you even finished signing up.

FIELDLINES IS NOT A FREE MARKETING DUMP.

I do understand your desire to get customers and cash; I too am raising finance for one of my projects, but FieldLines is not the place to do it.

Rgds

Damon

Mary B:
Post more info on the design and what it dos and people who are interested can email you for the website address.

SolarTrap:
Below was a functional diagram but links are not working for me. The “heart” is my controller which is monitoring all connected devices: Battery, solar charger, inverter and utility power.  It is a hybrid solution that uses solar power and a battery during periods of high sunlight and switches back to the grid during periods of low sunlight to minimize battery cycle depth. The function is similar to an off-the-grid system during the day, then automatically switch over to mains power during the night. The idea is to gain the environmental benefits of a grid-tie system while retaining the backup power benefits of an off-the-grid system.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page