SETTING UP A SOLAR PANEL/BATTERY AND 12 …

1 The Specialists in LIGHT & POWER on the MoveSoterion Pty Ltd 4/37 Rushdale Street, Knoxfield 3180 Tel: (03) 9764 9769 Fax: (03) 9764 9738 TIPS and TECHNIQUES: SOLAR PANEL DIYby George LinardosSETTING UP A SOLAR PANEL/BATTERYAND 12 VOLT FRIDGE SYSTEM The milk s gone off, everything frozenhas thawed and you guys have beenout fishing all day! Those words clearly summarized myfirst attempt in going camping with a12v fridge and SOLAR panel wife was clearly not impressed andto be honest, that camping holiday wasa disaster. I was ill-informed, ill-equipped and I spent most of theholiday shuttling backwards andforwards to friends with powered siteslugging heavy batteries and setup I had simply did not work-even under the best my return to Melbourne I wasdetermined to investigate this topicfurther and subsequently spent manyhours talking to manufacturers andsuppliers of SOLAR panels .

2 Fridges has not made me an expert onthe subject but with some of my newfound technical knowledge behind meand ten or so years camping for amonth each year on an un-poweredsite and conversing with dozens ofother campers using SOLAR /12v fridgecombinations I may be able to help youavoid my initial remember a doctor friend who oncesaid that there is a point in medicinewhere it s no longer a science but anart form! to a certain degree the samecan be said about this subject. We cancontrol the technical aspect but wecan t control the most importantelement and that is IMPORTANTF irst determine whether you intend touse the fridge occasionally on a shortterm stay.

3 Long weekends [3-4 days],or for longer stays of a week or TERM[3-4 days]A 50Lt to 80Lt fridge will require a 100wor preferably a 120w SOLAR panel and a100 AmpHr battery as a TERM [1 week or more]A 50Lt to 80Lt fridge will require two 80wsolar panels and sufficient batteries tohold 340 AmpHrs as a may argue with the above figureshowever as I mentioned before we can tcontrol the sunlight, its duration or clarityand we are preparing for the worst casescenario not just hoping for the SOLAR PanelThe SOLAR panel simply harnesses thesunlight, converts it into energy or powerand stores it into a battery or RegulatorThe regulator limits the amount of powerthe SOLAR panel is putting into thebatteries.

4 Its function is to stop the solarpanel from overcharging and thereforedamaging the BatteryThe battery is the store room of power. Itreceives power from the SOLAR panel,stores it and disperses it to the fridge we are talking about portable fridgeswhich work on 12v power. Most work on240v as well but that does not concern us forthe purposes of this smart fridges are designed to work oneither 12 or 24v and will automatically adjustto suit. The Waeco-C-F-80 is one ofthem. However all of our calculations andset-ups will be based on 12V systems.

5 Duty cycle , when referring to the fridge,means what % of the the time the motor of thefridge is working over a 24hr. like your fridge at home the motor onlyworks in order to keep the contents at thedesired temperature which you have *the bigger the SOLAR panel themore power will go into the battery . Thebigger the battery the more power it willstore. The bigger the fridge the morepower it will draw from the Specialists in LIGHT & POWER on the MoveSoterion Pty Ltd 4/37 Rushdale Street, Knoxfield 3180 Tel: (03) 9764 9769 Fax: (03) 9764 9738 TIPS and TECHNIQUES: SOLAR PANEL DIYby George LinardosCHOOSING SOLAR PANELSThe size and power consumption of yourfridge will determine the size [measured inwatts] of your SOLAR panel or multiplepanels and the size of your battery orbatteries.

6 Beware,there are no short cutshere. SOLAR panels are not order to achieve their maximum powerout- put they need direct sunlight at 90degrees, clear non-haze skies, and evendust on them can prevent achievingmaximum performance. In other wordsconditions must be ideal and very oftenthey are a rule of thumb remember this. A 100 Wsolar panel will deliver amaximum of 6 amps per hour into yourbattery under perfect conditions. Since weonly count the hours of sunlight [sunlight before or after isconsidered too weak] the absolutemaximum or peak power we canSolar panels come in different sizes bothin dimensions and performance rated polycrystalline 12v SOLAR panels [theyare the ones featured in these photos] arecompact, powerful and contrary to popularbelief extremely tough.

7 They will withstandconsiderable force and have been knownCHOOSING YOUR BATTERIESI do not intend to delve too deeply intothis area. There are enough claims,counter claims and a plethora of technicalinformation to warrant a separate s keep it as simple as possible. Themain things you need to know is howmuch power the battery will hold[measured in amps], how many times canrecharge it [described as cycles ] and itsSo you walk into the battery shop and aska simple question like How many ampsis this battery mate? and the salesmanreplies 800 cold crank.

8 Now that s great!We are working with SOLAR panels inamps, our fridge s drain on power ismeasured in amps and all of a suddenwe ve got cranks to confuse us totally. Itreminds me of that commercial I justThey tell me there s no formula to convert cranks to amps so if the amp rating isnot stamped on the battery , don t buy preferred batteries for this applicationare called deep cycle . They are sealed[no spillage of acids] lead acid batterieswith thick plates and can withstand manycharges and discharges. These are whatmost people use with their 12v be aware that they areHeavy.

9 A 100amp deep cycle batteryweighs 33kg. Once you set them up theystay there. There is no maintenancerequired apart from regular YOUR REGULATORSome SOLAR panels come with theregulator already attached and wired toconnect directly to your battery . In theevent that your SOLAR panel doesnot ,then you must buy a regulator to formula is simple. Always choose aregulator with an amp rating greater thanthat of your SOLAR panel or SOLAR panelscombined, if you choose to use oneregulator for both.

10 For example a solarpanel producing 6amps will require a10amp regulator. A SOLAR panelproducing 3 amps will require a 5 prevent the battery fromovercharge and they also preventcurrent flowing backwards from thebattery to. the other choice you may wish toconsider is buying an up-market regulator with automatic LCD regulators [ such as the onefeatured here] actually show you howmany amps your panel is delivering and tthe charge state of your battery .