How to connect solar power ?
I needed a circuit diagram on how to connect my siemens s75 solar panel with the controller and an inverter to my battery bank. Kindly help me with the easy diagram cos i want do it myself. I wanted to use the solar for my outdoor light and garden . Net consumption is 600watts. The inverter is 800watts and bank is 200A/H
Hey Hausawa, I need to start by asking, is that 600 watt-hours your lights use, or is it actually 600 watts when running? It is a lot to ask of a 75 watt panel. You might be able to run a 600 watt light from an 800 watt inverter, or it might not start up, but your battery would be quite dead after a night or two, and that 75 watt panel, which puts out about 4 amps during peak sunlight, will take days to recharge the battery.
At any rate, the information you need, and much more is easily found at Home Power Magazine. It’s the only periodical that covers this material with any depth. In most of thier issues, there are several articles on people who have done projects like yours, and larger ones. They always include wiring diagrams and sources for information, plus places to purchase any other parts you need. We started reading it 11 years ago. Our home is now entirely powered by the wind and sun. It was a steep learning curve at first, and we made plenty of mistakes. My suggestion is you do some reading first before trying to hook it all up cold turkey. With a 200 amp hour battery pack, you could hook that panel directly to the battery without any charge controller because its peak amperage is less than 2% of the battery’s amp hour capacity. Check out Richard Perez’s book at the library for a better explanation of this. All you need is a diode to keep the battery from backfeeding the panel at night. You can find one at Radio Shack for about 79 cents. Make sure it is rated at least 25 peak inverse volts and 6 amps forward current.
We started with a small system just like the one you are trying to build up. If you subscribe to Home Power, you can use their search to look for an old article called, “Trying the Small System First.” It is actually about our first system. Good luck, and take care, Rudydoo
Off the Grid power-alternative to wind or solar power