It came from the Tuition Bin!! (Warning, image heavy)

[Rednecktek]

So it seems to me there are basically 3 kids of people in the solar world; those who WORK with solar (installers, grid tie folks, etc.), those who USE solar (Tiny Homes, cabins, RV life, etc.), and those who PLAY with solar (people on a really tight budget, learners, old timers, etc.). For those of us who PLAY with solar and have had to learn through trial and error over the years we've spent a LOT of money on "Tuition" (buying parts that you eventually didn't end up using or were only in service for a short time) and have quite the spare parts bin accumulating in the shop.

How many times have people looked at that pile-o-parts and said "I could almost throw together a whole 'nother system with this junk"? Well, I found myself in need of a small solar generator/power supply for a camping trip so I raided my "Tuition Bin" and came up with something fun.

Behold! My Kraptastic-Spare-Parts-0.6Kw-Solar-Generator!!



Parts include:

DC31 Battery Case - $21.86
WallyWorld DC29 110Ah battery - $0 (spare part from old system)
Eco-Worthy 600w AIO with 30a PWM SCC - $0 (bought for a class I was going to throw a couple years back that never happened)
70a DC Breaker - $0 (bought the wrong size once and never bothered to return it)
15a In-Line fuse - $0 (came with some wiring thingy or another)
Combo Cig Port/Dual 2.4a USB port - $0 (pulled from my first attempt at a solar generator about 7 years ago)
DC switch - $0 (pulled from the same old generator)
DC volt meter - $0 (Again, recycled from old solar generator)
Power strip - $0 (part of a 6 pack that I bought years ago)
Various lugs & wire - $0 (had all those floating around)
Length of 12AWG extension cord - $0 (the leftovers from my Solar Dolly project)

Grand total ~$22

Yes, I COULD put in a LFP battery or I COULD make it bigger and get a "RealSize inverter, but that would cost money, so forget that. ?

Anyone else feel like raiding their junk drawer err... Tuition Bin?

 

[400bird]

I must be doing it wrong. My solar related tuition bin has a few breakers, crimp lugs, and spare wire in it, that's about it.

But my tuition bin for small projects has about 6 different Arduinos in different sizes (some with a smoked output or 3), some Raspberry Pis, some hats, multiple ESP8266, sensors, actuators, a linear actuator that was designed out between order and delivery, them forgotten about before the return window ended.

Your spare parts seem way more useful than mine!

 

[sparrowhawk]

Open the pod bay doors please HAL!

 

[Crowz]

Thats how I built the dc battery system for the new house. It runs my cameras, pi computers, gauges, carport lights etc and even has a 1000 watt pure sine wave inverter (nothings hooked to it but it has one )

I kept grabbing parts left over from the old houses spart parts bin and ended up building a decent sized system from it. Only cost to it was the lifepo4 batteries.

The houses ac stuff is all new.

 

[Supervstech]

My tuition bin is several garages and cars and vans crammed with various solar goodies…

Nearly 300kWh of lifepo4, multiples of various inverters and charge controllers… miles of wire, hundreds of solar panels…

I easily could build a few homes worth of setup…

 

[wiseacre]

Just kidding, I haven't bricked anything

PWM upgraded to Victron Smart 100/50 SCC
Fuse upgraded to a Class T
busbars upgraded to a Lynx Power-In

not shown is (2) 12v, 100ah (in series for 24v) Gel batteries (now used for trolling motor) - upgraded to DIY (4) 24v, 200ah LiFePo4