Solar Power box With 220Vac / 16vdc Powersupply charging battery bank through a charge Controller

[carguard]

I am looking to build a "Solar Power Box" that will be used to keep Internet fiber router and WIFI access point ringing during utility outages.
I would also like to charge from 220Vac >>> 16vdc Power supply into a Solar Controller.

My thinking is to replace the wall warts and plug them straight into the power box. When utility power drops Internet / WIFI keeps running.

If laptop needs charging, Laptop is charged through an inverter in the system.

See attached a PDF with layout of proposed system.

I investigated USB type-c charging, but it appears that my Laptop can charge another device via USB Type-C,
but it cannot be charged itself via USB charging. However, I am still trying to resolve this USB Type-C, charging question.

A Question, is it acceptable, and/or technically possible for a universal Laptop charger to supply 16vdc to the Solar Panel inputs on a charge controller.
My idea is for the universal laptop charging to provider dc to the charge controller when utility power is running.

When utility power is not available, connect stored solar panels to Charge Controller via a 2 pole transfer switch.

Obviously i still have to do cable, charge controller, battery sizing etc, but want to check that concept is workable.

 

[snoobler]

It might work, but it seems much easier to get a dedicated 12V charger directly to the battery. IIRC a typical laptop supply is only 60W capable. That's not a lot for a bank, but it might work.

If you use a PWM controller, the 16V supply likely won't respond well to being shorted to the battery. 16V might be too low to effectively charge the battery with an MPPT controller.

 

[gnubie]

If the MPPT SCC can be configured so that it never draws excessive current from the power supply it will work. That usually requires a better quality SCC. The cheap end of the market usually can not be limited, the rating on the box is the limit.

If the SCC tries to draw more current from the power supply than it is rated at the power supply will shutdown or if it's a cheap piece of junk, go bang. Either way the charging process will cease. If it's a good power supply it will probably recover automatically if it didn't die but then the SCC will repeat the cycle as it is expecting to see solar panels not a power supply. Repeat this process until you get sick of lights etc turning on and off over and over again, or something goes bang. Even a reasonable quality power supply will eventually object to this sort of treatment.

 

[carguard]

Thank you for the input so far. So the take-away here is to have 2 independent charging circuits.

When utility power is available, a 12v battery charger charges the battery bank.
When Utility Power is NOT available, Solar Panel and Charge Controller Charge the battery.

I have updated the attached PDF as a Version 2.

Before getting in sizing, voltages etc etc, is the attached a feasible idea, given that permanently mounted Solar Panels are not an option.

 

[gnubie]

Yes, that looks OK.

 

[carguard]

Hi - Been doing some reading up on this forum and other forums. It looks like this battery Charger model https://www.victronenergy.com/chargers/blue-smart-ip65-charger while more expensive than others on the market, may be the best option in the "long run" especially if deep cycle batteries are being used.

Obviously would have to be sized correctly. When on battery charger, without laptop Power Supply Connected, I have calculated the total load at 4 amps. Would it be safe to assume that the 5 amp model would be sufficient to power the loads and charge the batteries

My thinking that the 10amp model may be a better bet as their should be sufficient "headroom" to handle load and battery charging / float.

I suppose my question is this. With a AC/DC battery charger powering the load and charging batteries after a Power Outage, what reserve should be planned for. I can find Solar Charge Controller Sizing examples but not AC/DC charger Sizing examples.

Thank you for the assistance and learning experience so far.

 

[snoobler]

Double the current to allow charging and loads.

The only regret associated with extra amps is at the time of purchase. You'll likely never regret them once you have them.