Dummies Guide To Solar

[jennyjj01]

Hopefully, to be made a sticky thread. For members taking their first steps towards solar power prepping

Decide what you want to use solar for, and how much you want to spend...

• 1) Charging small USB devices

• 2) Charging USB Powerbanks with which to charge other USB devices.

• 3) Charging small AA cells to be used to power small devices such as radios.

• 4) Charging bigger 12V batteries to run 12V lights and some 12V devices

• 5) Charging bigger 12V batteries to run 240V Mains devices

1) Charging small USB devices:
Buy a small solar panel with integrated USB-A outputs such as one of these (up to about £50)
This will only charge your phone or whatever as the sun is shining. It lacks any storage of its own. Not ideal.

2)Charging USB Powerbanks:
Combine a solar panel with USB-A outlets with a 'powerbank', such as one of these (about £20) which is an intermediate storage battery reservoir. Make sure that power bank has USB-A and USB-C outputs. You can buy power banks with built in solar panels, but those solar panels are small and not ideal.

3) Charging AA cells:
Combine a solar panel with USB-A outlets with a USB AA Cell charger such as one of these (about £8).
Then buy lots of AA NiMh cells such as Ladda AA from IKEA

4)Charging bigger 12V batteries to run 12V lights and some 12V devices
Buy a bigger solar panel of 50W - 150W such as a Renology 100w Panel
and couple that with a PWM Charge controller such as one of these (about £10)
and store your energy with a 12V Car battery or similar. You'll need the car battery.

PWM controllers are much cheaper than MPPT controllers, but they waste up to half the collected energy, which, let's face it, is free. Controllers usually have a couple of USB-A charging points.

Use the 12V car battery to power 12V LED lamps such as MR16 in suitable fittings. Some small appliances run off 12V, especially Caravan fridges.

5) Charging bigger 12V batteries to run 240V Mains devices:
This is getting expensive. Augment the 12V battery system with a mains inverter such as one of these
But note that you will need a lot of storage battery and a powerful inverter to run much more than, say, a small TV or fridge. Don't expect to run any sort of heating devices. Power calculations are out of scope for this intro.
You can get an integrated solution for several hundreds of pounds such as a Jackery 'Power Station' (from about £300)*

AVOID buying cheap solar panels on ebay which feature tie-down eyelets in the corner. They are usually rubbish
AVOID buying power stations from FaceBook marketplace, where fraud is rife.

[mcprepper]

Thank you so much for this Now I just need to get my head around it all. Questions will probably follow …
From a grateful ‘dummy’

[GeraldTheBonzai]

You can also go up in stages.

I always had a lot of rechargeable (AA, AAA, C) batteries ( and Black Friday is always a good time to stock up). My first solar project was a small (30W) panel, a cheap charge controller and a car battery. Also got a 12V to cigar lighter/ USB panel. The solar could charge the car battery, but also charge either the rechargeable batteries or anything else that used USB. No sun, no problem - just get the power from the car battery, obviously remembering to keep it charged.

Over time, I've built up a collection of power banks, plus rechargeable lamps. Ended up getting an EcoFlow, which is really good. But charging that off of a 30W panel was pushing it.

Project 2 was the shed. This is where a bit of planning was needed. I wanted to be able to keep the freezer running, and be able to recharge things, in the event of a power outage. Assume a day or so outage. Ended up with a 175W panel on the shed, a Renology 20A charge controller, a 2000W pure sine wave inverter, and two 100Ah AGM batteries in parallel (so 200Ah). In building it, I acquired all the tools needed to wire up solar panels etc and learned a fair bit. Add in a few led lights and I now have power in the shed, enough power to run mains tools (without having to run an extension cable into the garden), can charge things up and keeper the freezer ticking over for a bit.

I'm now at the limit of what I can do with the kit I have, but it's served its purpose. Next step is to go to 24v or 48v and have a much bigger solar array. And batteries. But that means I need to swap out all my kit for bigger stuff.

(on an aside, maybe we could do with a "used kit for sale" section.)

[pseudonym]

10Kw stackable, 1Kw Portable

[Frnc]

I just want something that will do 1, 2 and 3, and hopefully a 18650 charger, which presumably is about the same as an AA charger.

[Frnc]

I just want something that will do 1, 2 and 3, and hopefully a 18650 charger, which presumably is about the same as an AA charger.

Got this in my basket
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Erics ... 0CH38CYBG/

[jennyjj01]

I just want something that will do 1, 2 and 3, and hopefully a 18650 charger, which presumably is about the same as an AA charger.

I've a suggestion for a cheap way of implementing a USB powerbank, AA charger and 18650 charger all in one. Indeed, it's almost a free solution ( about £15 or £25 for two ) :-

£15 gets you one bright LED lamp with all these features built in, even includes 2 x 18650 batteries.

Various amazon sellers, some sell these in pairs: Some include or exclude the 18650 cells.
Feature all the functionalonality of a USB power bank. Links below.
The lamps will work off one or two 18650's (Included) or four AA cells. It can be charged by any USB-A source and can be used to power any USB-A or micro USB device. Sadly they don't feature USB-C.

If you're thinking of charging AA cells and/or 18650 cells, and want all that functionality in-one place, you won't go far wrong with this.

Amazon prices and specs change, so check before buying any of these, especially that they include the batteries.
These great little lamps are cheap and cheerful and not very rain resistant. The 18650s are low capacity.

Link to a specific seller, which may expire

Link to the search terms to find these lamps.

[Yorkshire Andy]

In simple terms get the biggest panel you can ... Those compact fold out ones have a place that place is anywhere south of Spain unless it's a flag cracking UK summers day they simply can't get enough light to charge reliably

Id say minimum of 100 w panel for usb charging

Although there are losses charge a decent power bank .. why ... Every time the sun goes behind a cloud the voltage drops the phone beeps vibrated and lights up the screen. Likewise when the sun peeks back out I found mine was discharging faster that it was Charging

[Frnc]

I just want something that will do 1, 2 and 3, and hopefully a 18650 charger, which presumably is about the same as an AA charger.

I've a suggestion for a cheap way of implementing a USB powerbank, AA charger and 18650 charger all in one. Indeed, it's almost a free solution ( about £15 or £25 for two ) :-

£15 gets you one bright LED lamp with all these features built in, even includes 2 x 18650 batteries.

Various amazon sellers, some sell these in pairs: Some include or exclude the 18650 cells.
Feature all the functionalonality of a USB power bank. Links below.
The lamps will work off one or two 18650's (Included) or four AA cells. It can be charged by any USB-A source and can be used to power any USB-A or micro USB device. Sadly they don't feature USB-C.

If you're thinking of charging AA cells and/or 18650 cells, and want all that functionality in-one place, you won't go far wrong with this.

Amazon prices and specs change, so check before buying any of these, especially that they include the batteries.
These great little lamps are cheap and cheerful and not very rain resistant. The 18650s are low capacity.71dM669pLgL._AC_SL1500_.jpg71c8D7ciCqL._AC_SX679_.jpg

Link to a specific seller, which may expire

Link to the search terms to find these lamps.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. I already have power banks, an AA charger, and a 18650 charger. I just need a solar panel that will charge them all. Goal Zero have a good rep but are expensive. The one I have in my Amazon basket is a lot cheaper and has good reviews, so I might get that. One of my powerbanks does have solar, but I've never tried it.

[Frnc]

In simple terms get the biggest panel you can ... Those compact fold out ones have a place that place is anywhere south of Spain unless it's a flag cracking UK summers day they simply can't get enough light to charge reliably

Id say minimum of 100 w panel for usb charging

Although there are losses charge a decent power bank .. why ... Every time the sun goes behind a cloud the voltage drops the phone beeps vibrated and lights up the screen. Likewise when the sun peeks back out I found mine was discharging faster that it was Charging

The one in my Amazon basket has a 54W version, £85, I might go for that. Even that is more than what I want to spend on prep stuff at the moment. I'm still recovering my savings after the roof saga.