Hi, 

 

Has anyone setup a solar system for a 8 channel analoge CCTV, and could share some tips?

 

I want to power a 8 channel analogue DVR, with 3G router and 8x 800TVL day/night cameras. The cameras use 12V 800mA power supply, the DVR, 12V 2A and the 3G router also 12V 2A, so this gives me a total of 12A (12A/hr?)

 

My calculations is as follows:

12A x 12V = 144W/h. 

So if I want to run it at 24/7 I need 3456W. 

 

This makes me believe I need 3x 300W solar panels to charge the batteries, and a 280Ah battery bank. 

Does that make sense?

 

It would be useful if you could test the equipment with an amp meter or energy monitor while it is working.

The equipment should use less than the power supply can provide because the power supply should be able to handle the start-up surge.

I have a clamp meter and a Efergy plug in monitor to do this.

 

I run my TV (42 inch LED), Hi-fI,DSTV,4G router off an inverter during load shedding and it only runs at about 170W

Hi, 

 

While I agree with you that it would be better to measure the current, the problem lies in the fact that I don't have anything in place yet. I first want to see if my calculation is correct, as it would determine cost / feasibility on the items I have in mind. 

As Clint said, best would be to measure the current consumption and then decide on a power solution.

 

I'm also running an 8 channel DVR and 8 700TVL 50m IR cameras.  The thing with the cameras are that they only draw a high current when the IR LEDs are on at night, during day time mine draw about 50mA each and when the IR LEDs are lit, they draw about 450mA each although they were sold with a 1 amp power supply each. My DVR also came with a 12V 2A power supply, but does not draw that much, not even while the HDD is accessed. I'm running all 8 cameras and the DVR from a single 12V 5A switch-mode power supply without any issues.  

Ok, lets say you looking at 150W constant.

 

That is 3600W for 24 hours.

 

So, to return that into battery storage in say 6 hours, you need 3600W/6 = 600W of PV.

Now we know PV to be 50% usable at best, so really you looking at 1200W of PV to get the full 600W.

 

For battries you looking at 150W at 12V?

So that is 150/12 = 12.5Amp

So, backing that up for say 24 hours, is 12.5A x 24h = 300AH (This shounds a bit rough to me....)

But now, you really should only use 50% of your battery capacity, so now you looking at 600AH !!!

 

See, this can become extremely expencive very quickly, if you do it right.

Ok, lets say you looking at 150W constant.

 

That is 3600W for 24 hours.

 

So, to return that into battery storage in say 6 hours, you need 3600W/6 = 600W of PV.

Now we know PV to be 50% usable at best, so really you looking at 1200W of PV to get the full 600W.

 

For battries you looking at 150W at 12V?

So that is 150/12 = 12.5Amp

So, backing that up for say 24 hours, is 12.5A x 24h = 300AH (This shounds a bit rough to me....)

But now, you really should only use 50% of your battery capacity, so now you looking at 600AH !!!

 

See, this can become extremely expencive very quickly, if you do it right.

I don't have a system to test with, but let's work on the 5A that superdiy gets on his kit.

5A (keeping everything in 12V for as little loss aa possible), it seems I can get away with a 300Ah battery bank

And then to recharge it,I could get away with say 600w PV?