I started with a 5w panel from my automatic gate opener. It puts out about .34amps
which will charge a small battery. I had a 400w inverter, and have used it in the car many times for the laptop, or small power tools. That 400w inverter hooked to a bank of 5 amp/hr UPS batteries works pritty good for stuff I had sitting around the garage.
I wanted more power, so off to ebay I ran. I did some googling and thought I knew what I wanted. Even ran across this board and read some very interesting things.
After a fiew weeks of watching the PV listed on ebay I bid on two 30w panels.
That would be like 10 times the amps I currenlty had. Turns out that I got a really bad deal. These were solar panels with magnifying lenses to up the watts.
BIG Mistake !!!! Don't buy any panels that are from Linwei Li [linwei@ccmfg.com] one ebay or that made by, or Pacific Solar 44843 Fremont Blvd., Fremont, CA 94539 | Tel: 510-979-0112 | Fax: 510-979-1930 Copyright © 2006 Pacific SolarTech.
They look like they are made good, but they don't put out as stated.
I put an amp meter on both of the ones I recieved and at max they made about half the amps of a 30w panel, and only if pointed directly into the sun. Any angle and you were s.o.l. After much hassel, I was able to get the purchase price refunded, but I lost shipping fees. I posted my issues in the remarks section for that seller, and sure enough others got burned too. I have recieved emails from others with the same issue with those panels. One guy had them on his roof, paralleled with his other panels, It didn't occure to him to check them first, till he saw my remarks. He tested and said he was getting like .3 amps from his, and that he was trying to get his money back. Turns out Pacific Solar no longer exists, because the product didn't work, and that some employee is dumping them on ebay.
Next I bid on an 80w BP. It had a good reputation, and I am very impressed with output. It easyly puts out 4amps at 20V and I have seen it got as high as 4.5 on good days.
Next, I needed a controller. This time I did some more searching and asked some guys around here. I decided to go the www.ghurd.info route and bough two kits and the variable voltage regulator to help test things. Ghurd has been a great help, Thanks again ghurd. I am not exactly a soldering iron kinda guy, but I made it through without any Harry Pottering (magic smoke) so far. Here are some photos.
This it the ghurd controler hooked to a p-fet and a Schottky. I have some extra heat sinks waiting for the next step on the left side. Both the Green and Yellow LEDs are on, cause its fully charged, and dumping.
This it the HF $3 multi meter, hooked in just for measuring amps.
And another multi meter, for volts. Starts dumping at 14.4 right on the money.
I have another controler to build and test, and have to work out my battery banks and wiring.
I ebayed a 1200w inverter that is hooked to a car battery(freebe). I use it to power some of my shop/garage. It can't swing my 240v air compressor,or the fridge, but it will run the saws, drills, buffer to wax the boat, and even florecent lighting.
I need to work on where to fuse things and where to ground, and not ground things.
I planned on one big heat sink, ghurd talked me out of that mistake, thanks.
I was also reading about using a diode(crowbar) and fuse together between the controler and battery just to prevent a Harry Potter on crossing the + and - on the battery. Not sure what diode is right for that?
