Hi Everyone,
I hope I'm posting in the right section (sorry if not).
I work from home and am looking to build a home office here in the UK. Nothing big just a small shed style with good insulation. For power I would like to have something portable to bring into the house at night (crime is an issue here) and ideally solar powered.
I've checked my office watt usage using a simple Maxcio meter (cheap off ebay but seems to do the job) and other than my initial surge of just under 1000w the stable usage is 170-210w.
As such, I've looked at portable power stations and the PowerOak EB150 (also called BLUETTI in america I think) seems to suit the job with 1500watt power with a solar input option. I can see it has been mentioned on this forum a few times so I won't go into the specs here etc.
The problem I am having is trying to work out what solar panels I can use. I'm new to solar and trying to learn as fast as possible!
The EB150 says:
Further down the page it says:
They do seem to sell their own mobile solar panel (foldable) but I would prefer to get some proper panels and fix them to the roof as I feel it would be much cheaper (plus their foldable panel isn't water proof from what I can see).
As such, I was looking at 2 X 100 watt panels from https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08KW1DCJR (with the aim to buy more in the future and join them as and when money permits). I would then charge the EB150 overnight in my house then in the day take it to my office and use the solar to help slow down the discharge of the battery (with the end aim being to have enough panels that I no longer need to charge it in the home at night).
They panels above have the following specs:
Now before I carry on, I'm more than happy to swap to any other solar panel brand etc if someone knows a good one that is well suited to my situation.
My understanding is that the EB150 can accept a max of 500 watts. The above panels connected in series (assuming everything I have read is right!) means that the if if bought 2 panels it would be 2X12V panels and would mean 24 Volts and still only 5.78 amps (5 X 12V panels would then be 60 Volts and still 5.78A). Is this correct?
So using what the EB150 stated online:
If I bought 5 panels I would get 60 volts (which would be at the limit of what it can do) and I would have 500 watts of power but still 5.78A.
The part that's confusing me is the OCV/VOC. On the solar panels it says :
This is what I don't understand.
I think OCV/VOC are the same thing and it means the voltage if I tested a panel without anything connected (correct?). If so, would that be the volts and not the 12V stated in the product title? e.g. should I be doing 21.6V + 21.6V for two panels (43.2V)? If so, 5 panels would go well over the 60V limit the EB150 states.
Sorry for all the questions!
Thanks in advance for any help provided
Jon
p.s. I've just re-read my post and since the EB150 says:
I think I'm correct in saying you would add the 21.6V together for series. If that is the case, I could only have two panels in series as three would be 64.8Voc. So does that mean I would need to do a Parallel connection so the Voc stay the same but the ams go up?
However, EB150 has a max of 10A. Does that mean two panels is 5.78A * 2 (11.56A) which would be over 10. As such, I'm clearly missing something here!
I hope I'm posting in the right section (sorry if not).
I work from home and am looking to build a home office here in the UK. Nothing big just a small shed style with good insulation. For power I would like to have something portable to bring into the house at night (crime is an issue here) and ideally solar powered.
I've checked my office watt usage using a simple Maxcio meter (cheap off ebay but seems to do the job) and other than my initial surge of just under 1000w the stable usage is 170-210w.
As such, I've looked at portable power stations and the PowerOak EB150 (also called BLUETTI in america I think) seems to suit the job with 1500watt power with a solar input option. I can see it has been mentioned on this forum a few times so I won't go into the specs here etc.
The problem I am having is trying to work out what solar panels I can use. I'm new to solar and trying to learn as fast as possible!
The EB150 says:
1.How to choose compatible Solar panel?
1)Open Circuit Voltage(OCV):16-60V/Max.10A, Max.500W (DC7907 to MC4 Charging cable is included)
2)MC4 Connector
make sure the total OCV(open circuit voltage) is no more than 60V if you connect several solar panel in series!!!!!
Further down the page it says:
3. Can I connect the solar panel in series or in parallel?
yes, you can. for example, connect 2*DC18V(rated power)/150W solar panel in series, if the OCV(open circuit voltage is 22V), so connect 2 pcs in series, it is finally total 44V/300W.
They do seem to sell their own mobile solar panel (foldable) but I would prefer to get some proper panels and fix them to the roof as I feel it would be much cheaper (plus their foldable panel isn't water proof from what I can see).
As such, I was looking at 2 X 100 watt panels from https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08KW1DCJR (with the aim to buy more in the future and join them as and when money permits). I would then charge the EB150 overnight in my house then in the day take it to my office and use the solar to help slow down the discharge of the battery (with the end aim being to have enough panels that I no longer need to charge it in the home at night).
They panels above have the following specs:
ECO-WORTHY Solar Panel
100 Watt 12 Volt Monocrystalline Solar Panel
Maximum Power at STC: 100W
Open-Circuit Voltage (Voc): 21.6V
Short circuit current (Isc): 6.13A
Working current (Iop): 5.78A
Output Tolerance: ±3%
Temperature range: -40℃to +80℃
Now before I carry on, I'm more than happy to swap to any other solar panel brand etc if someone knows a good one that is well suited to my situation.
My understanding is that the EB150 can accept a max of 500 watts. The above panels connected in series (assuming everything I have read is right!) means that the if if bought 2 panels it would be 2X12V panels and would mean 24 Volts and still only 5.78 amps (5 X 12V panels would then be 60 Volts and still 5.78A). Is this correct?
So using what the EB150 stated online:
Open Circuit Voltage(OCV):16-60V/Max.10A, Max.500W (DC7907 to MC4 Charging cable is included)
If I bought 5 panels I would get 60 volts (which would be at the limit of what it can do) and I would have 500 watts of power but still 5.78A.
The part that's confusing me is the OCV/VOC. On the solar panels it says :
Open-Circuit Voltage (Voc): 21.6V
This is what I don't understand.
I think OCV/VOC are the same thing and it means the voltage if I tested a panel without anything connected (correct?). If so, would that be the volts and not the 12V stated in the product title? e.g. should I be doing 21.6V + 21.6V for two panels (43.2V)? If so, 5 panels would go well over the 60V limit the EB150 states.
Sorry for all the questions!
Thanks in advance for any help provided
Jon
p.s. I've just re-read my post and since the EB150 says:
make sure the total OCV(open circuit voltage) is no more than 60V if you connect several solar panel in series!!!!!
I think I'm correct in saying you would add the 21.6V together for series. If that is the case, I could only have two panels in series as three would be 64.8Voc. So does that mean I would need to do a Parallel connection so the Voc stay the same but the ams go up?
However, EB150 has a max of 10A. Does that mean two panels is 5.78A * 2 (11.56A) which would be over 10. As such, I'm clearly missing something here!
Last edited: