July 28, 201511 yr Hi, Can anyone, who has setup a solar system for an 8 zone alarm? I am not sure how to spec this. The alarm looks the same as those kits that ADT installs. It has a keypad and some passives in the house, 2 beams outside and a siren, as well as a 12V7Ah battery.
July 29, 201511 yr Author By just replacing the 7AH battery with a 12AH unit, you already a winner. Sure, but do you know how much current such an alarm draws?
July 29, 201511 yr Sure, but do you know how much current such an alarm draws? Disconnect the mains and use your multimeter to measure the current drawn from the battery. If you are going to run it off solar power, just ensure that your set-up can supply the siren with enough juice when it needs to make a noise - depending on the siren(s) used that can be anything from 10W upwards.
July 30, 201511 yr Author Disconnect the mains and use your multimeter to measure the current drawn from the battery. If you are going to run it off solar power, just ensure that your set-up can supply the siren with enough juice when it needs to make a noise - depending on the siren(s) used that can be anything from 10W upwards. The problem is, I don't have the alarm with me. It's 300km away on the farm, and there's no electricity.
July 31, 201511 yr The problem is, I don't have the alarm with me. It's 300km away on the farm, and there's no electricity. That's a bummer. You can try to get specs of all the components and add it all up, but best would be to measure the real current draw.
August 2, 201511 yr Get a Great Dane! The last unsolicited visitors we had could not get back into their vehicle fast enough. The driver ran around the bakkie only to find one of the chaps who had been sitting inside the canopy on the back had already commandeered the driver seat. The driver's proportions was of such a nature that he would not fit into the space left inside the canopy. Shadow's consumption I think one will find compares favourably with other security systems.
August 25, 201510 yr Suggestion. Get a 2nd hand UPS (12v or 24v 105ah batteries) and connect the alarm to it. Will last for weeks.
August 26, 201510 yr Author Suggestion. Get a 2nd hand UPS (12v or 24v 105ah batteries) and connect the alarm to it. Will last for weeks. A 105Ah deep cycle battery lasts 3-4 days... have tested it recently. So I'm going to try it with a 150W panels and see how it goes.
August 26, 201510 yr If you use 100ah battery/ies, just make sure the panel/s can charge the battery in +-5.5 sunlight hours, otherwise the battery/ies will never get fully charged, and therefor not last long. Been there, done that, got a few T-Shirts in the process.
August 27, 201510 yr Author If you use 100ah battery/ies, just make sure the panel/s can charge the battery in +-5.5 sunlight hours, otherwise the battery/ies will never get fully charged, and therefor not last long. Been there, done that, got a few T-Shirts in the process. well, that's why I posted this... Was hoping someone already did something similar and could tell me which components to use. We're not in the plot often or long enough for me to play with this. So I'll see if the 150W panel works well enough. The security guards in the area swap the batteries out every three days, or when they get a low battery signal. They'll let me know if it works or not.
August 27, 201510 yr My calcs say that a 1 x 100ah battery will need about 169w panel. It takes into consideration the battery age, losses in wires, panel etc. To be save, I would therefor consider a 200w panel with a Victron MPPT Bluesolar 75/15 controller. Controller can take up to 2 x 200w panels (depending on their specs), if you want to charge 2 x 100ah batteries later. Ps. if the 75/15 controller interest you, I have one, few months old, client upgraded, for R 1 000.00
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