Which power inverter to buy? Newbie here!

[Intheswamp]

I figured the book would be a little interesting for you. Just remember to give them four square feet each in the secure coop area and you'll be fine. Yeah, chickens can do pretty good if they can stay high-and-dry and out of the wind/draft. Naturally on those really cold nights some extra caution wouldn't hurt. The screened area doesn't have to be that big...actually just one side (I'd face it southward). Yeah, you want enough roost for all those birds. Quiet a flock there! Have you ever played them music on the radio? I've heard that classical kind of spellbinds them. A lady setup a radio playing and when she came back they were all standing around the bucket she had the radio sitting on...like they were at a concert!!!? See, another use for solar in the coop!!!

 

[Vafarmer]

I figured the book would be a little interesting for you. Just remember to give them four square feet each in the secure coop area and you'll be fine. Yeah, chickens can do pretty good if they can stay high-and-dry and out of the wind/draft. Naturally on those really cold nights some extra caution wouldn't hurt. The screened area doesn't have to be that big...actually just one side (I'd face it southward). Yeah, you want enough roost for all those birds. Quiet a flock there! Have you ever played them music on the radio? I've heard that classical kind of spellbinds them. A lady setup a radio playing and when she came back they were all standing around the bucket she had the radio sitting on...like they were at a concert!!!? See, another use for solar in the coop!!!

Lol, never played music for them. But, I’m definitely going try out my little cordless Milwaukee radio in there this weekend to see how it goes.
BTW we also use that solar electric netting fence to keep our goats, chickens and German Shepherd on the property. Works really good on our small 3 acre lot.

 

[Vafarmer]

I found my old 375 watt Tripp-lite inverter that I used in my truck for 15 years. I hooked that up and it’s been working for over a month now.
BTW I checked out my batteries and they are MDC not MDP. They have 80ah not 65ah.
Currently hooked up is
1 bulb 6w
Chicken coop waterer warmer 60w
1 small radio also!

 

[Vafarmer]

You are already setting yourself up for failure. I can immediately tell you that what you are putting together is totally inadequate, and it's wasted money.

First, your batteries are ~65Ah each? That means 130Ah total. What's optimal for charging is (130Ah/8) X 13V charging X 1.175fudgefactor = 248W. So, a 250W panel instead of one 100W panel.

In the middle of summer, you are not likely to get more then 5 sunhours per day, so 100W X 5 sunhours = 500Wh of power total. Most inverters in the price range you are looking at consume about 2A of power, so just leaving the inverted turned on with no load consumes 2A X 12V X 24hr = 576Wh of power. Add things like a frig on top of that, and you will never keep your batteries charged. They will die a quick death from sulfination. In winter, it might not last three days.

A modified sine-wave inverter is most likely going to damage the motor on the mini-frig.

So, after all the money you've already put in, you'll need to spend more to buy more panels, buy a better inverter, and buy a replacement refrigerator.

I found my old 375 watt Tripp-lite inverter that I used in my truck for 15 years. I hooked that up and it’s been working for over a month now.
BTW I checked out my batteries and they are MDC not MDP. They have 80ah not 65ah.
Currently hooked up is
1 bulb 6w
Chicken coop waterer warmer 60w
1 small radio also!
Everything was free and working so, to me it doesn’t seem like I set myself up for failure wouldn’t you agree?

 

[Intheswamp]

I'm happy you got this up and running! The 375w inverter should power that setup fine. I'm a bit surprised, though, that the batteries and panel are keeping up with the usage. Could you provide the actually hours of use for the bulb, water-warmer, and radio? Especially the water-heater.

When summer gets here you will be basically swapping out the water-heater for a fan...on high-speed a 20" box fan will draw 10-20 watts more than the heater, from what I've read. I'm thinking that two fans may use too much of your available power...another panel might help that situation out, though.

Btw, did the chickens pay any attention to the radio? Classical, remember!

 

[Vafarmer]

I'm happy you got this up and running! The 375w inverter should power that setup fine. I'm a bit surprised, though, that the batteries and panel are keeping up with the usage. Could you provide the actually hours of use for the bulb, water-warmer, and radio? Especially the water-heater.

When summer gets here you will be basically swapping out the water-heater for a fan...on high-speed a 20" box fan will draw 10-20 watts more than the heater, from what I've read. I'm thinking that two fans may use too much of your available power...another panel might help that situation out, though.

Btw, did the chickens pay any attention to the radio? Classical, remember

 

[Vafarmer]

Yes, I did try the radio and it was pretty funny. The chickens did love it lol.. the waterer only kicks in when the water gets below 35 degrees. It turns off when the the water temp is approximately 45-50 degrees. I have the water insulated so that helps also. The lights only turn on when we go in to lockup the chickens and count them. Maybe 5 minutes per day. Not sure the radio wattage I’ll have to check that out but, I only left it on all night one time. The radio mainly stays on when I’m cleaning the coop or the hay room for the goats.
As far as the summer. 2 fans for cross ventilation 24/7 I’m definitely going to add Atleast 2 more panels. I can have 4 panels with this charge controller but, I’m having fun with this and it’s pretty addicting.

I’ve been online looking to upgrade to a decent system to run the whole barn including the goats side also.

 

[Intheswamp]

Glad to hear the chickens enjoyed the music! It sounds like lighting power is a very minimal so the bulk of the power is going to the water heater. Are your deep cycles FLA? Have you checked them at the end of the day and first thing in the morning to see what type of charge/discharge cycle you're getting? That would be interesting. Whatever the case, it looks like it's working good for you. You should be good to go until out in, what?....late June where you really need both fans running???

 

[Vafarmer]

Glad to hear the chickens enjoyed the music! It sounds like lighting power is a very minimal so the bulk of the power is going to the water heater. Are your deep cycles FLA? Have you checked them at the end of the day and first thing in the morning to see what type of charge/discharge cycle you're getting? That would be interesting. Whatever the case, it looks like it's working good for you. You should be good to go until out in, what?....late June where you really need both fans running???

Yes, they are FLA batteries. I do check the batteries every morning. I have a cheap 30am wander charge controller. It’s normally green in the morning except for a week when we had some cold nights low Teens all week. I would wake up and the battery light would be light green/yellowish tint. But, it would charge back up during the day. Yes, late June is when I would be running both fans.

 

[Rednecktek]

I’m having fun with this and it’s pretty addicting.

You said you got most of this stuff for free?? As in the first hit??

Yeah, it is totally addicting. Not long from now you'll have multiple systems running multiple wattage sets and STILL looking for advice!

I only have 3 solar systems... OK 4... I can quit any time I want!

 

[Vafarmer]

You said you got most of this stuff for free?? As in the first hit??

Yeah, it is totally addicting. Not long from now you'll have multiple systems running multiple wattage sets and STILL looking for advice!

I only have 3 solar systems... OK 4... I can quit any time I want!

Lol, yeah I can’t stop checking out Amazon Warehouse Deals so I can upgrade!!

 

[Intheswamp]

VaFarmer, I think I'd be checking voltage and specific gravity once a week or so, but that's me. And the electrolyte levels. The LED indicator lights on the SCC are good for letting you know "in the ballpark" conditions of the battery...and is probably enough. I tend to be a little OCD about things, though, which sometimes works well for me...or it doesn't. ?

Yeah, "addictive" I believe would be a good description. For me, I'm looking at setting up two systems. Reading, listening, scratching my head a lot, spending way too much time surfing the Internet looking at different aspects of alternative energy, primarily solar electricity, etc.,. The only system I have up and running is the giant one that's powering my garden's electric fence charger...100ah battery, 20w PWM IP65 SCC, and a whopping 15w(?) pv panel...not exactly a balanced system but it's working great!

 

[Vafarmer]

VaFarmer, I think I'd be checking voltage and specific gravity once a week or so, but that's me. And the electrolyte levels. The LED indicator lights on the SCC are good for letting you know "in the ballpark" conditions of the battery...and is probably enough. I tend to be a little OCD about things, though, which sometimes works well for me...or it doesn't. ?

Yeah, "addictive" I believe would be a good description. For me, I'm looking at setting up two systems. Reading, listening, scratching my head a lot, spending way too much time surfing the Internet looking at different aspects of alternative energy, primarily solar electricity, etc.,. The only system I have up and running is the giant one that's powering my garden's electric fence charger...100ah battery, 20w PWM IP65 SCC, and a whopping 15w(?) pv panel...not exactly a balanced system but it's working great!

Swamp, thanks I just grabbed my multimeter once I read your comment. Great, now I’ll be checking my exact voltage every morning!!! Not sure if I should say thanks lol…It was pretty cold out last night so the voltage dropped to 12.3
I’m going to order another panel for now. I’m thinking 3 100 watt panels for 2 24MDC 80ah batteries would save the in the long run!!!

 

[Intheswamp]

Ooh, I didn’t mean to spread the my OCD over your way!

Swamp, thanks I just grabbed my multimeter once I read your comment. Great, now I’ll be checking my exact voltage every morning!!! Not sure if I should say thanks lol…It was pretty cold out last night so the voltage dropped to 12.3
I’m going to order another panel for now. I’m thinking 3 100 watt panels for 2 24MDC 80ah batteries would save the in the long run!!!

Sorry about that, didn’t mean to spread my OCD over your way!? What I would be looking for is to know how the batteries are holding up after a night of keeping the water warm and then seeing how well they get charged back up during the day. 12.3v is getting close to a flat 50% discharged level. I’m wondering what happens when you have a day or two of cloudy/rainy weather.

 

[Intheswamp]

Be sure and let the battery rest a while in the evening before testing the battery to get a more true reading.

Also, do you have a hydrometer? Even one of the small ones with four floating balls in it can help monitor the batteries. I’ve worked with flooded lead acid batteries most of my life and the hydrometer is the first tool I grab if a battery is having a problem.

The first thing the hydrometer does is get you to pull the caps off so you can quickly check the electrolyte level. When a battery is actively charging or right after it stops being charge the volt meter will read high....the hydrometer will tell you the batteries’ more truthful charge state.

The four-ball hydrometers are often looked down on but they break the “reading” down into 25% increments and is much better than nothing.

Even how fast or slow a ball rises or falls can clue you in a little closer than 25% at a time...if a third ball rises slowly I read it as a mediocre 75% charge. If the third ball scoots right on to the top fast I figure it’s a real good 75% charge...if you see what I mean.

Also pay attention to notable differences in hydrometer readings between cells as that tells you that the battery needs a good strong charge (equalization) to even the cells out. If your checking a battery and it shows 75 or 100 percent by the floating balls but one cell floats no balls then you most likely have a very toxic boat anchor...load testing usually confirms that the zero gravity cell is shorted.

A new, fresh ball-type hydrometer will tend to collect tiny air bubbles on the balls and mess up the reading. You really have to tap the tube on the side of the opened cells to dislodge them. As time goes by the hydrometer will actually get better and the bubbles won’t adhere and be much of a problem anymore. I’ve actually drawn up some electrolyte into hydrometer tubes and let the balls soak every now and then to speed the curing up!

Another couple of panels sound great! Your going to need them for the fans this summer. ?

 

[Jordi]

I have a 100W test setup with a supercheap Aliexpress inverter. I only use the stored energy on demand rather than having the system on 24/7.
Having the system on 24/7 would require me having a bigger battery and more panels. The inverter consumes around 10W without load; thus 240Wh per day. This is just a practical example of what other commented already. My setup has just 250Wh battery and with the 100W panel I can manage to charge my laptop once per day, plus phone, plus some led lights and If there are 3 cloudy days in a row, forget about it. The efficiency of the inverter is 85% but for small loads that require AC like the laptop, the real efficiency is around 70%. Fortunately the phone and led lights are directly connected to the DC, that helps.

 

[Intheswamp]

Jordi, I wonder if you could get a female DC-cigarette lighter-receptacle and a male cigarette lighter plug to power your laptop directly off of your battery rather than going through the inverter? Do you do the heavy laptop charging during peak sun hours?

 

[Rednecktek]

Jordi, I wonder if you could get a female DC-cigarette lighter-receptacle and a male cigarette lighter plug to power your laptop directly off of your battery rather than going through the inverter? Do you do the heavy laptop charging during peak sun hours?

Most modern laptops call for a 19v power plug unfortunately.

 

[12VoltInstalls]

modern laptops call for a 19v

I mourned when I discovered that too

I have a 300W pure sine Giandel that is .26A idle draw. Or basically 4W.
That will power my 19V cheapo Onn laptop charger. They’re like $55 and you have it. I modified mine with sae connectors so it has alligator clips, ciggy socket, and of course will plug into an sae outlet.

 

[Intheswamp]

It used to be so simple, 6v, 12v, 120v, 220v.....it's all Ben Fanklin's fault!!!!! (He hasn't been blamed for much lately<g>)