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Curtis
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# Posted: 16 Jan 2008 09:06am
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Hello from Kelowna BC. We recently purchased our dream acreage in green wood BC about 2hrs south of Kelowna.
When I read what you are using for solar power I just smiled, I have the exact same system that I hooked up this weekend, with a few variances. I decided to purchase the 30 amp battery controller offered at Can tire for 130.00. The LED display is great, it not only gives you the status of battery charge but will show you the voltage and amperage output of your solar panels.I decided to purchase 3 -15 watt panels (believe it or not) they are almost 5.00 per watt cheaper than most other panels.
I only had about 2hrs of daylight left once I got the panels mounted on my homemade portable mount system, but I have to say, Each panel worked as advertised, about 26 volts out of each one (regulated down to 14 volts by the controller) and 1 amp out of each panel.I purchased the Can tire portable power box as you have and am so far quite impressed with it. We turned it on @ 6pm on friday night till midnight and again on saturday. The low battery alarm came on Saturday night about 9PM (not bad considering I did not charge it since we arrived, and we run 3 43watt compact flourescent lamps and a portable cd player. I am sure, now that the panels are operative and charging it will easily last us the entire weekend.
I am contemplating buying 3 more panels for more charging amps and another power box for backup when we have the longer stays at the cabin.
I was looking to buy just an extra battery as suggested in the power box manual, but so far it makes much more sence to just buy the power box for cheaper. Glad I found your site, Keep up the great work!!!
Regards
Curtis
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 16 Jan 2008 09:31am
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Curtis,
Thanks for sharing your experience with solar power setup.
I looked up that 30A charge .. quite nice thing indeed. It also said it works with both lead acid and gel cell batteries (some people prefer those).
Enjoy your cabin living!
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2009 12:07pm
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The powerbox you talk are the 1200 I suppose. IS it better to charge it at home first than use the 15 or 30watt pannel to maintaint the charge. I have the opportunity to buy the now discountinued powerbox 1200 at 150CDN, but this is a demonstrator and canadian tire lost (or trash) the original box and all the accessories (charger cables: 5A AC and DC/DC) and the user guide. Can I charge the batterie with a regular batterie charger?
Xantrex sell a AC cable charger for they'r 1500 xpowerpack, don't know if it can fit. Maybe for my use ( recharging camera batteries and light) , I should go with the powerbox 800.
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2009 01:18pm - Edited by: CabinBuilder
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Quoting: Anonymous Is it better to charge it at home first than use the 15 or 30watt panel to maintain the charge?
I doesn't really matter - it will just take longer to charge with the solar panel than with the AC/DC charger/maintainer.
I think I used the AC/DC charger only once, when I bough my PowerBox 1200 first. Afterward I brought it to my cabin, connected to the solar panel through the charge controller and it has been like that since.
My PowerBox is several years old now, and battery in it is not that good anymore... may need to replace it soon. (I actually opened it - it has three 12V lead-acid sealed batteries).
I didn't know 1200 model was discontinued by the Canadian Tire... It was a good unit.
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avan
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2009 03:06pm
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The 1200 unit was made by Xantrex in BC like all the motomaster powerbox. The newer model are the Xpower 1500 and can be buy directly at the Xantrex web site, but the price are close to 500USD. And Canadian Tire doesn't carry anymore this model. How much do you use it? My initial question (under anonymus) was : it's the 1200 unit to big for my need and also as it lack the accesories, the bargain sale it's not one anymore as the AC charger cost 60USD and have to wait for
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2009 04:36pm - Edited by: CabinBuilder
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Quoting: avan it's the 1200 unit to big for my need
The 800 unit should suffice for recharging camera batteries and light. Actually, the big variable is "light" - how many lights, what kind/wattage, and for how long they will be on...
I looked at 800's description on CT site - it has 28 Ah power cell. At 12V it's 336W/h, (i.e. 336W consumption for 1hr, or 33.6W consumption for 10 hrs, etc.).
Have a look at this Electrical Appliance Power Consumption Run Time Chart - it should give you an idea.
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avan
Member
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# Posted: 9 Jul 2009 05:31pm
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Well i'm thinking of using only a single regular 110v lamp with like 14watt FluoCompact bulb. manly for reading before sleep or prepare the lunch at night. other use are the charging big nimh batteries for digital video and digital SLR camera.
www.pbase.com/jeelee/galleries
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Vince P
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jul 2009 10:14am
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I considered that 30A charge controller until I found this lower priced alternative.
http://greenenergiesllc.com/zencart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=2&zenid=07ed68f5d 6e8270587b45631a76df5ce
It's 15A, but at only $23, you can buy multiple ones, and buy a cheap multimeter from harbor freight to hard wire for keeping track of battery condition:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90899
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 3 Sep 2009 04:53pm
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for new (3X) 18AH/12 volt battery for your powerbox 1200 see here: https://www.addison-electronique.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=5_5000&products_i d=201835&osCsid=57e38a715f92a8c81775e87e4d561a85
this is recharcheable battery use for house security kit
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White Cloud
Member
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# Posted: 25 Jan 2010 03:02pm
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Hello
I just purchased the Motomaster 1200 power box (used), and 1 15W solar panel, and 1 7 amp charge controller.
I have seen the solar set-up diagram and feel confident I can set this up.
My question is can I add batteries externally to this or do I have to replace the 12V batteries inside only?
Thanks
David
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 25 Jan 2010 04:22pm
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Quoting: White Cloud My question is can I add batteries externally to this or do I have to replace the 12V batteries inside only?
I assume the purpose is to add more batteries / additional energy storage.
You can add some more batteries in parallel ("+" to "+", "-" to "-") using connectors at the back of the unit (those connect directly to the internal battery).
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White Cloud
Member
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# Posted: 26 Jan 2010 08:58am - Edited by: White Cloud
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Hello CabinBuilder:
Thanks for your reply.
Your answer was very helpful.
I will follow your directions.
My other question is:
How/where do I attach the cables from the 7amp battery charger if I have extra batteries attached to the back posts?
ie. from the back of the battery I will attach the extra battery cables and then the 7amp battery charger cables or does it matter?
Thanks so much.
My wife and I love this website and everyones assistance in setting up our "little piece of paradise".
David
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 26 Jan 2010 10:05am
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Both connectors/posts at the back of the main battery will have wires from the charger and the secondary battery attached, all matching "+" and "-".
Look a the this solar power setup diagram - yours would be like that, except you will have 2 additional wires connecting "+"s and "-"s of the batteries.
Hope this helps.
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White Cloud
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jan 2010 10:26am
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Hello Cabin Builder:
Thanks for you advice.
Great help.
My last question is:
With this set-up how do I ensure the power box gets charged first, or does it matter?
Thanks,
David
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CabinBuilder
Admin
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# Posted: 27 Jan 2010 12:42pm
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It doesn't matter. Both batteries will charge at the same time, and will be used at the same time. Basically, it will be like having one larger battery.
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Moontreeranch
Member
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# Posted: 29 Jan 2010 01:41pm
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I recently modified my solar laptop station to accept an additional solar panel or battery...simply plug them in with banana plugs to my control panel
I have a video about it at my blog
http://kmswoodworks.wordpress.com/2010/01/23/modifications-to-solar-laptop-station/
The added panel inputs are wired in parallel with the primary solar and battery wiring respectively, I use these location now to monitor voltage..
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White Cloud
Member
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# Posted: 6 Feb 2010 10:58am
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I am using the set-up listed above and works great.
Very easy. Plug + Play.
Now the challenge will be affix the panel to the cabin/off the ground and run the cables into the cabin.
Any advice on affixing to the cabin?
Thanks,
David
Our property is seasonal/island so will send pics in spring when completed.
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dextercath96
Member
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# Posted: 15 Apr 2010 07:40am - Edited by: dextercath96
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Hello Curtis and other member in small cabin,
I have read your post. It seems that I want to know your ideas about http://www.sunpowerport.com
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 15 Apr 2010 08:02am
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Hello Dexter:
That seems like a lot of money at $695 for the power generated.
The system that CabinBuilder (and now I have) costs less than half that when purchased on sale, and generators double the power.
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MikeOnBike
Member
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# Posted: 15 Apr 2010 04:11pm
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The SunPowerPort is nicely packaged and portable but you should contact a few solar resellers and ask them what you can get in your price range. Batteries should probably be purchased locally because of shipping costs. Here is a quick example of what $700 could buy. Twice the solar wattage and batteries included.
Sample:
65 watt solar panel $325
2 - 12v Deep cycle RV batteries $150
Modified Sine Wave Inverter $100
Charge Controller $125
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Fin
Member
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# Posted: 10 Nov 2010 08:41pm
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I just wanted to thank everyone for sharing their advice and experiences. I haven't even started building our cabin yet but you can bet we'll power our little piece of paradise by solar with a setup gleaned from your posts.
Brilliant resource you have here.
Thanks again CabinBuilder.
Cheers
Fin
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Fin
Member
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# Posted: 11 Nov 2010 12:58pm
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Canadian Tire has their Eliminator 1000W inverter on sale for $99. Regularly $159. Hmmmm?
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Youngster
Member
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# Posted: 25 Feb 2011 10:08pm
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Top 10 solar power mistakes
http://offgridissues.com/site/off-grid-energy/31-off-grid-energy/65-top-10-solar-powe r-mistakes
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Greyowl
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# Posted: 6 Mar 2011 04:11pm
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Sure some great info here. I am new to the site and new to solar so am soaking up what I can. I'm almost embarrassed at my lack of understanding it all with so much info out there. I live where the grid is not an option. I have a great honda 6500 watt inverter and it supplies everything I'll ever need but want a solar system to run the computor, external hard drive ,Wife's computor is 85 watt mac and lamp and printer. About the time I think I may have found a simple "package " I read more negative stuff about it all in the product reviews. I usually run the generator evey couple of days for my shop and figured if I get a good battery storage I can charge up things at the same time when there's no sun. Shouldn't be much of a problem but still considering !
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Pylonman
Member
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# Posted: 16 Mar 2011 01:13pm
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When I purchased our cabin, it had two of those 1200 powerpacks from Cdn Tire, dated 2005 and 2006. The previous owner left them over the winter and it just killed them. My Cteck battery charger did extend their life batteries a bit. The lowest price I found for the small 12 volt batteries was $36.00 plus shipping. I might just drop in a 2 lawn tractor 12 volt batteries in there place.
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sujiro
Member
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# Posted: 27 Jun 2011 07:55am
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Solar system may have the same..but have many variations...just like what observe from my friend's system and mine in Solar Panels Brisbane, it has many similarities but also have difference..in terms of its functionality and the process how it works.
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grinnil
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# Posted: 28 Jun 2011 06:48pm
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how many deep cycle batteries and solar panels do i need to run a small fridge and a 110 window unit. there is 5 to 6 hours of good sun light
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Just
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# Posted: 28 Jun 2011 07:06pm
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grinnil
You would have to know the wattage used, but I would gess at least 10,000 $
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grinnil
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2011 09:14am
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do th "DIY" solar panels work??
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grinnil
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# Posted: 29 Jun 2011 09:16am
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i need about 3000 watts. im only 800 feet from power poles, but they want thousands of dollars to run it back there
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