Hello,
I am new here and a small farmer in rural UT who by necessity has been learning how to do things myself over the years. I'm very detail oriented so feel free to skip the first paragraph of my introduction!
The more expensive everything gets the more I try to expand my arsenal of knowledge. Add in the nearest town is about 45 minutes away and you get the picture. I have a lot of small solar battery maintainers (various brands) on the farm but they have been alternatively successful and failing over the years. Mostly failing. I live at high altitude (7000' ASL) and it seems to me the sun is much harsher on all of my outdoor equipment. I have a 2 battery sytem and Renogy 100w panel on my camp trailer which has been going strong for almost 7 years now. I have helped neighbors install similar setups on their camp trailers (for free of course). I do my own mechanic work and wiring and have learned a lot through hard experience. Since I've gone solar I spend significantly less on batteries and I am hoping to do things much more efficiently. Here's what I want to do and I look forward to hearing from much more knowledgeable people about all the roadblocks and problems in my way. Don't worry about hurting my feelings, I really want to learn.
My goal:
I would like to create a consolidated shack or parking area where I can park my unused equipment and vehicles and keep the batteries maintained. I have several resources at my disposal but not a lot of extra money to throw at it. I have 2 x Renogy 100w panels and 30A charge controllers. 1 is available. 1 x 100w panel I bought at an auction that's over 20 years old (stored on a pallet unused but old technology), and a 60w panel on a pipe stand I got at a garage sale. Probably 20+ years old. I have hundreds of feet of high quality 10/12/14ga true copper automotive wiring, heat shrink, copper lugs, hydraulic crimper, etc etc etc at my disposal from all of my other projects. I also have 50+ feet of 2/0 welding wire and 40+ feet of 8ga copper wire I've used to power custom ruggedized fuse blocks on some off road vehicles. 200+ feet of 12/3 household wire and conduit.
Execution?
What I picture in my head is setting up a 100w (minimum) panel facing south on a structure where I park everything. I get a lot of great sunlight for at least 7 hours a day on average. This would power a battery bank of group 31 lead acid truck batteries (I can add up to 4 identical batteries). From there I can perhaps run conduit with "outlets" so to speak containing spooled lengths of 12v wire and a connector. I can park a vehicle in a space and connect to the battery via alligator clips or preferably one of those battery maintainer plugs (like on the Polaris Rangers for example). How would one regulate maintaining multiple different batteries off a central solar system and battery bank? I'd have one good charge controller coming off the panel going to the master battery bank.
From there should I:
- Connect a power inverter and then a bunch of little 0.5A-1A 110v battery maintainers running off outlets powered by some 12/3 wire in conduit?
- Or should I skip the inverter step and run 12v wire branching off to a bunch of small 30A 12v charge controllers inline (Like a few I've bought online for 20$/ea) to each individual parking space?
What would be smarter, cost efficient, and safer? I'm just tossing around ideas.
-To simplify even more: What if I setup a master battery bank in a little tool shed with a shelf for loose batteries. From that bank how would you connect/charge a bunch of loose, odd sized batteries of varying ages and outputs without compromising the original battery bank? The above ideas are for a larger system in a parking bay I'd like to build in the future. Your advice and input, big or small, is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Note: The reason I am using group 31 lead acid batteries is I am able to purchase them wholesale from a friend for dirt cheap (seriously cheap). They're the same ones we use/abuse in our semi trucks at work. They are subject to just as much abuse at the farm and have held up magnificently over the last few years so I prefer to keep using them. I can't afford spending $1000+ on fancy dedicated solar batteries unfortunately. They are Exide PX31925C commercial batteries. Best specs I can find are 925CCA 180 minute RC. I had difficulty finding more detailed specs on these but they have been working fantastic on the farm for a couple of years now so I like them.
I am new here and a small farmer in rural UT who by necessity has been learning how to do things myself over the years. I'm very detail oriented so feel free to skip the first paragraph of my introduction!
The more expensive everything gets the more I try to expand my arsenal of knowledge. Add in the nearest town is about 45 minutes away and you get the picture. I have a lot of small solar battery maintainers (various brands) on the farm but they have been alternatively successful and failing over the years. Mostly failing. I live at high altitude (7000' ASL) and it seems to me the sun is much harsher on all of my outdoor equipment. I have a 2 battery sytem and Renogy 100w panel on my camp trailer which has been going strong for almost 7 years now. I have helped neighbors install similar setups on their camp trailers (for free of course). I do my own mechanic work and wiring and have learned a lot through hard experience. Since I've gone solar I spend significantly less on batteries and I am hoping to do things much more efficiently. Here's what I want to do and I look forward to hearing from much more knowledgeable people about all the roadblocks and problems in my way. Don't worry about hurting my feelings, I really want to learn.
My goal:
I would like to create a consolidated shack or parking area where I can park my unused equipment and vehicles and keep the batteries maintained. I have several resources at my disposal but not a lot of extra money to throw at it. I have 2 x Renogy 100w panels and 30A charge controllers. 1 is available. 1 x 100w panel I bought at an auction that's over 20 years old (stored on a pallet unused but old technology), and a 60w panel on a pipe stand I got at a garage sale. Probably 20+ years old. I have hundreds of feet of high quality 10/12/14ga true copper automotive wiring, heat shrink, copper lugs, hydraulic crimper, etc etc etc at my disposal from all of my other projects. I also have 50+ feet of 2/0 welding wire and 40+ feet of 8ga copper wire I've used to power custom ruggedized fuse blocks on some off road vehicles. 200+ feet of 12/3 household wire and conduit.
Execution?
What I picture in my head is setting up a 100w (minimum) panel facing south on a structure where I park everything. I get a lot of great sunlight for at least 7 hours a day on average. This would power a battery bank of group 31 lead acid truck batteries (I can add up to 4 identical batteries). From there I can perhaps run conduit with "outlets" so to speak containing spooled lengths of 12v wire and a connector. I can park a vehicle in a space and connect to the battery via alligator clips or preferably one of those battery maintainer plugs (like on the Polaris Rangers for example). How would one regulate maintaining multiple different batteries off a central solar system and battery bank? I'd have one good charge controller coming off the panel going to the master battery bank.
From there should I:
- Connect a power inverter and then a bunch of little 0.5A-1A 110v battery maintainers running off outlets powered by some 12/3 wire in conduit?
- Or should I skip the inverter step and run 12v wire branching off to a bunch of small 30A 12v charge controllers inline (Like a few I've bought online for 20$/ea) to each individual parking space?
What would be smarter, cost efficient, and safer? I'm just tossing around ideas.
-To simplify even more: What if I setup a master battery bank in a little tool shed with a shelf for loose batteries. From that bank how would you connect/charge a bunch of loose, odd sized batteries of varying ages and outputs without compromising the original battery bank? The above ideas are for a larger system in a parking bay I'd like to build in the future. Your advice and input, big or small, is greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Note: The reason I am using group 31 lead acid batteries is I am able to purchase them wholesale from a friend for dirt cheap (seriously cheap). They're the same ones we use/abuse in our semi trucks at work. They are subject to just as much abuse at the farm and have held up magnificently over the last few years so I prefer to keep using them. I can't afford spending $1000+ on fancy dedicated solar batteries unfortunately. They are Exide PX31925C commercial batteries. Best specs I can find are 925CCA 180 minute RC. I had difficulty finding more detailed specs on these but they have been working fantastic on the farm for a couple of years now so I like them.
