jamace:
Thanks for the lecture. Good knowledge.

you are welcome

So pick a battery system you prefer. Remember that we have grade abc in every set .

I will be using 18650 battery for my laptop power pack.

U can use car battery but they are heavy for me.

More updates soon

When you are going to need much panels.

Yes there's a time we should install Many panels.

1. When you are powering a house or office.

Without using battery. Much panels is needed.
And the power is inverted directly .

2. When you add more battery to the setup.

So we need as much panels if we are adding many battery.

Sometimes, the power is inverted from panels. Especially during the day.

This works only in the day time.
You won't have light at night.


You need power from battery to have light at night when there's no sun.

eliok:
Tips when getting a good battery

1. For car battery ask the mechanic. They know the best.

2. For deep cycle, get used toris. Especially from Lagos. Around 50-55k should do.

Beware of so many China battery and new ones.

3. For laptop battery. Get brand names like Panasonic, Samsung, LG. And sanyo.

Used laptop battery is like okrika, you need to select them. Samsung has many types but they are generally good. Same with other brands. Here is a pic of the popular one attached.

Which one is toris?

OkoroPeugeot:


Which one is toris?

my brother, battery get different types. Ask the sellers. Use this POst to do your research.

eliok:
my brother, battery get different types. Ask the sellers. Use this POst to do your research.

Ol thought Toris was a brand.
Was not on google

OkoroPeugeot:


Ol thought Toris was a brand.
Was not on google

no its not

ask any questions

So let's talk about panels.

Solar panels is graded in watts.

It's. Usually have vmp= maximum voltage

And Imp = current.

Remember that power equals voltage x current.

Panels are graded in 10watts , 20 watts, up to 280 watts.


For a start, get one panel. Atleast. We should be charging our battery from the sun.

That's why we call it solar system.

Start with a 100 watts panel

Next we shall make on to the connection

Solar panels are rated by volts and watts.

E.g 18v 80 watts
And so on.

Now Series connection is address adding voltage together. 12v + 12v = 24volts.


Parallel connection is 12v 5amp + 12v 5amp = 12v 10amp.


This mean that in series connection we add the voltage . But in parallel we I ncrease the current.

Panels are mostly connected in series.

So that we use a normal wire.

Try to add up in series so that we won't need fat wires.

Now to calculate how many panels you need,

Start from your proposed battery capacity.

To power a laptop for 6 hours

Look at the laptop charger. Usually 19v 3.5a

Power = V x I
So 19× 3.5 = 66.5 watts. This is just for one hour.

So for 6 hours we have

66.5 x6 = 399 watts.


Now a 12v battery is sometimes 12v 100a

Power from battery is 12×100 = 1200watts.

So if you build or buy a 600 watts battery.

If it's a deep cycle battery, only 300 watts is available.
WHY?

For the battery to last.

This is known as depth of discharge.

So our car battery of 12v 100a which is 1200 watts can only be used of half of it's power.

From our initial calculation,

We need 400 watts to run laptop for six hours.

So if we have 600 watts of battery available, to that should definitely do.

Remember that solar panels are rated in watts too.


My personal rule is multiple the watts of your panel by 3.

For example, 100 watts panel will supply 300 watts power in sunlight.


That's for 1 hour of sunlight.

So an 100watts panel can charge your 12v 100a battery for 3 hours.

Let me know if it's clear

Good morning

Please who is your 18650 battery cells plug?

Does he also have the 32700 LiFePO4 spec.(shown below) ?

Hunkyimage:
Please who is your 18650 battery cells plug?

Does he also have the 32700 LiFePO4 spec.(shown below) ?

those battery are good. I go with watts popular also.

18650 is popular and you can buy them anywhere.

But this 32700, I don't have a seller.

Use jumia or other ordering sites to find sellers for it.

It's been 2 days rainfall. Just enjoying the solar without noise.

Wow!

eliok:
It's been 2 days rainfall. Just enjoying the solar without noise.

Wow!

Lets see your set up

Very informative, am also trying to get into solar energy, I definitely prefer lithium ion battery, but there are lots of fake Chinese lithium battery, especially here in naija.
Do you usually buy yours from aliexpress?
Also how do you go about connecting the lithium battery? Spot welding or normal soldering?

zenith4biz:



Lets see your set up

I'm planning on upgrading it.

Waiting for the last item ordered to arrive

But here, I will do the laptop battery bank so that you will see.

Step by step.

eliok:
But here, I will do the laptop battery bank so that you will see.

Step by step.

Pls how much do u get d battery pack? I have a blue Inec Powerbank connected to ups and it trips off when I connect my laptop to the ups.