whiteshepherd
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2022
- Messages
- 11
For several years I have run a small solar backup system for my house. 700 watt solar panels, x4 235ah 6v flooded batteries (Lithium batteries weren't cheap then), and a 2500k pure sine wave inverter. It powers my modem, router, server for a free community web hosting service I run ( In Light of Us Community Web Hosting -"Solar Power" button on my site has pics of my solar system build). It also makes a good backup for when the power goes out letting me run medical devices, LED lights, fridge, phones, etc. I live off a very limited budget. But I live within my means and am always looking for ways to save money. My first dive into solar was some Harbor Freight panels I used to power a buck converter/water pump I had connected to a old spring pond with lots of fish in my back yard. The water pumped into a PVC pipe and through the roots of vegetables sitting in holes cut in the top of the PVC pipe then back into the pond. A simple system that worked well. I have some basic experience with computer programming and electronics.
I noticed how cheap used solar panels have become compared to batteries and was wondering on ways to use mainly panels? I have thought of setting up some panels to power a home made heat pump for heating/cooling basically turning the home heat/cool into the storage.
I also a few years back purchased a used Bolt EV Premier 2017 for pennies on the dollar (it just got a new battery too). I was thinking I could maybe build my own EVSE cable with a Raspberry Pi (there are already plans online for things like this) to do the communication with the car and manage the PWM. However my thought is I could use the Pi to monitor the PV amps produced. 1) Require sufficient PV amps to power EVSE for a continuous 60s before turning on relay to power inverter. 2) Regulate the amps fed to the car via PWM based on what amps the PV produces to prevent voltage crashing. 3) When amps are too low de-power relay to the inverter. The inverter would be protected from solar voltage variation by a buck inverter and some super caps I have around to the house to help prevent low power "chatter". That's the idea so far. Question though is there anything like this already out there that does this for a reasonable price? That would save a lot of work. If not are there examples of what others have done I can read up on? I haven't found any yet. Any knowledge gained can help along the way. Thoughts?
I noticed how cheap used solar panels have become compared to batteries and was wondering on ways to use mainly panels? I have thought of setting up some panels to power a home made heat pump for heating/cooling basically turning the home heat/cool into the storage.
I also a few years back purchased a used Bolt EV Premier 2017 for pennies on the dollar (it just got a new battery too). I was thinking I could maybe build my own EVSE cable with a Raspberry Pi (there are already plans online for things like this) to do the communication with the car and manage the PWM. However my thought is I could use the Pi to monitor the PV amps produced. 1) Require sufficient PV amps to power EVSE for a continuous 60s before turning on relay to power inverter. 2) Regulate the amps fed to the car via PWM based on what amps the PV produces to prevent voltage crashing. 3) When amps are too low de-power relay to the inverter. The inverter would be protected from solar voltage variation by a buck inverter and some super caps I have around to the house to help prevent low power "chatter". That's the idea so far. Question though is there anything like this already out there that does this for a reasonable price? That would save a lot of work. If not are there examples of what others have done I can read up on? I haven't found any yet. Any knowledge gained can help along the way. Thoughts?
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