What did you achieve today?

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I love my solar and being off grid when I was on the sailboat. Golf cart batteries?



drove to the exercise loop but the streets were closed, stupid marathon
bought groceries
took a shower
ate some chocolate

very nice small scale solar set up .... looks very efficient . May i ask where you purchased your /her charge controller from ?. It looks like a lead acid battery pack you are using??

Managed to microwave a very nice meal for dinner for myself including vegatables .

^^^veggies, what a concept i need more of those as well. in french they call 'em "leh-gooms."

These are used Sealed Lead Acid batteries from two electric scooters.
One scooter was 24V, so it had two of the 12V batts in series.
The other scooter was 36V, so it had three of the 12V batts in series.

Each of the batts is 7 Amp-Hours, and they're all wired in parallel, giving what is essentially a 12V, 35 Amp-Hour battery.




This is the eBay listing I bought it from:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284564758479?nma=true&si=OYJ85SC7y0qzwzF44shDfEPFDuU%253D&orig_cvip=true&nordt=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

thank you for the ebay listing .
Have been trying a 14 volt max output solar panel on a 12 volt car battery with a 12 volt battery maintainer inbetween .. but it does not seem to keep the 12 batteries charge up .. do you have any suggestions or thoughts.
charge contoller already ordered TY

I walked over to the gym this morning, to see what the battery voltage had dropped to overnight, running the 10-Watt LED flood light. Voltage was at 12.7 shortly after dawn, which is great, so I can be assured that adding another small light or two to the building should be just fine, assuming that the 47-watt PV panel can fully recharge the batts today well before the Sun dims again.




I think you'll find that a proper solar charge controller, even a very basic one like we're discussing here will suit your needs much better than any improvised solution. Be sure to follow the directions regarding which order in which to connect the battery, solar panel and load to the controller, to avoid damaging anything.

If you ever step up to a serious system, consider using a MPPT charge controller, because they will optimize the output of any given solar panel:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximum_power_point_tracking

The little 10W LED flood does a great job of illuminating the only functional doorway into the old Gym:



Darron

Can you PM me a photo of the data label on that solar panel?

I have a feeling that "14V max" may not mean what you may assume it means.

Darron

Oh boy .... no label available ... these are very old small panels originally purchased by the TRW company . Was told ...lolz ? that these were 12 volt panels . They appeared to be very good in construction. the metal the Photovoltaics were bonded to is aluminum heatsink material, they are very much in excess of 30 years old. But measured in direct sunlight some 15 or more years ago
voltmeter output was 14 vdc .. recently during last years install still 14 volts in direct sunlight.
but their location does not afford constant light all day. Was only hoping they would maintain the charge on the car battery they are connected through the float charger . So once a year might jump start a riding lawnmower . They came to me as Industrial surplus (used) They spent most of the time i owned them in storage. So basically most of my install is all based on used parts. Except the wire and solder. The TRW panels are 7 in number and wired in Parralell ..Open to opinions. No load has ever been done on them. but initially did find they did run a very small 12 volt car cooler as long as good sun. This has been a very long term project. As am disabled but determined . Was very proud to get it all hooked together with solid connections . Hopefully a good charge controller might help it . As i wrote am open to opinions.

Snow plowed by professional, just in time
Groceries delivered to the door
Ordered medicine delivery
Caring for very sick daughter
Still sick myself, Day 18 of our isolation
Keeping sanity for the most part


If the snow wasn't plowed in time we wouldn't have been able to get any deliveries, so that counts as something that made me happy today. It's all relative, I suppose.

I just wanted to say I hope your daughter, and you, make a speedy and full recovery.

and that the bugs permanently leave Isabella and company alone.

Today, I woke up early and went to the mechanic to have my truck worked on. It's been 5.25 hours. I just wrote a detailed paragraph, and then deleted it.

I had dinner with two vaccine free people and didn't turn the mob on them or wish them dead

walked the exercise loop, lots of people, MLK, jr day,
took a shower and shave
ate some chocolate

Discovered it's not my flue that's broken. It's the damper.

(Same piece, same problem, but I didn't know what it was called).

Ordered plastic sheeting to cover the fireplace instead of tinfoil.

Counting the days until I can get a fireplace fixer person to come.

got outta bed, rubbed in pain-reducing cream, took pain pills. ate some smoked salmon.