Alexander12 2 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 Can we use a car battery for solar panels? In my case it would be 12v 60ah Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vassen 147 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 3 minutes ago, Alexander12 said: Can we use a car battery for solar panels? In my case it would be 12v 60ah Yes you can. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander12 2 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 Just now, Vassen said: Yes you can. Okay so it doesn't change anything? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Stanley 76 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 It will work, but car batteries are designed slightly differently to deep cycle batteries. They are not meant to be discharged very deeply or very often, so if you do cycle a car battery it will probably not last very long. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vassen 147 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 22 minutes ago, Stanley said: It will work, but car batteries are designed slightly differently to deep cycle batteries. They are not meant to be discharged very deeply or very often, so if you do cycle a car battery it will probably not last very long. That’s somewhat true although the actual claims may not always be true. My neighbor for example has had better luck with car/truck batteries on a simple Ellie’s trolley than he has with deep cycle batteries. His company has done tests and found the non deep cycles to perform better. I have no personal experience with them though. Richard Mackay 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander12 2 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 1 hour ago, Vassen said: That’s somewhat true although the actual claims may not always be true. My neighbor for example has had better luck with car/truck batteries on a simple Ellie’s trolley than he has with deep cycle batteries. His company has done tests and found the non deep cycles to perform better. I have no personal experience with them though. That's actually very interesting. I still don't know which battery I should choose, but on amazone I only found 12v 60ah car batteries which can be delivered where I live. (Switzerland) So you think car battery could work even if it is said that it doesn't last a lot? And how much does a car battery ~ last? Less than 2 years? Is it luck? If I use a good charge controller, it should be fine? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Richard Mackay 102 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 1 hour ago, Alexander12 said: So you think car battery could work even if it is said that it doesn't last a lot? And how much does a car battery ~ last? Less than 2 years? Is it luck? If I use a good charge controller, it should be fine? You need to describe what you are using these for. We need to know your setup is and what you're wanting it to do.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander12 2 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 16 minutes ago, Richard Mackay said: You need to describe what you are using these for. We need to know your setup is and what you're wanting it to do.. Okay sure. So I would like to use a solar panel 12v 100w (Nominal voltage (Vmp) 23.1 V Nominal current (Imp) 4.3 A Open Circuit Voltage (Voc) 21.8 V Short-circuit current (Isc) 5.98 A Cellular efficiency 20%) with a EPEVER AN MPPT charge controller 10A, 12V. My goal is to charge my laptop and my phone with it, so I need a battery. I would like this battery to last at least 2 years and I need a 60ah 12v battery. So I looked on amazone and I saw only car batteries which have 60ah and can be delivered where I live. Like this one: So I don't know if this car battery could work for what I want to do. Like I said, my goal is to charge my laptop and my phone for 2 years at least without to change the battery. Would this battery work, or I should use an other one? (I can't buy a battery which cost more than 90 euros). I will connect with this battery a 12v cigarette lighter adapter with a fuse. And this will be connected to my Hp (my computer) cigarette lighter charger so I can charge my laptop with it. Some others people told me to do like that. So what I still don't know, it's which battery to use for that and which cable to put on the positive and negative pole of the battery ("crocodile clip" or "circles clip"). First: the cable from the charge controller to the battery and secondly: from the battery to the cigarette light adapter. And I think except this, I know everything I need to know to do this project. I hope it is cleared now. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vassen 147 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 3 hours ago, Alexander12 said: That's actually very interesting. I still don't know which battery I should choose, but on amazon I only found 12v 60ah car batteries which can be delivered where I live. (Switzerland) So you think car battery could work even if it is said that it doesn't last a lot? And how much does a car battery ~ last? Less than 2 years? Is it luck? If I use a good charge controller, it should be fine? You can search on amazon for solar battery and you will get a few options. Its difficult to say what car batteries are like in Switzerland. Temperature affects battery performance. So a battery that performs well in south africa may not perform the same in switzerland. Some questions: 1. When do you want to use the laptop. During the day or night. 2. How many hours of sun do you get on average or more specifically, how many hours of sun will the solar panel get in a day. 3. How many days in a row do you get with no sun. 4. What will you do if there are many days with no sun and the batteries cant recharge The charge controller that you specified is an mppt which is good. these are the most efficient and will ensure that you are able to get the most power out of your panel. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander12 2 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 15 minutes ago, Vassen said: You can search on amazon for solar battery and you will get a few options. Its difficult to say what car batteries are like in Switzerland. Temperature affects battery performance. So a battery that performs well in south africa may not perform the same in switzerland. Some questions: 1. When do you want to use the laptop. During the day or night. 2. How many hours of sun do you get on average or more specifically, how many hours of sun will the solar panel get in a day. 3. How many days in a row do you get with no sun. 4. What will you do if there are many days with no sun and the batteries cant recharge The charge controller that you specified is an mppt which is good. these are the most efficient and will ensure that you are able to get the most power out of your panel. 1) After I come back home from school so like at 18h00 (for like 2h max) or during weekends (so mabye 3/ 4 hours during the day and 1/2h during the night). 2) Hmm well if it is sunny, it can be like 8h in winter and 12h the summer I think. But I don't think it would always be "direct sun" on my solar panel. 3) It is often cloudy in Switzerland (not necessary raining) and it can be for a few days, but generally not more than 4 days in a row and sometimes we can have several weeks only with sun (often the summer). 4) I will use the energy from the battery until it is close to 50% of the battery and then I will use the electricity from the house (so not mine). Is it a good Idea? 5)Oh great, I am glad to hear that! So does these answers help you? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vassen 147 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 40 minutes ago, Alexander12 said: 1) After I come back home from school so like at 18h00 (for like 2h max) or during weekends (so mabye 3/ 4 hours during the day and 1/2h during the night). 2) Hmm well if it is sunny, it can be like 8h in winter and 12h the summer I think. But I don't think it would always be "direct sun" on my solar panel. 3) It is often cloudy in Switzerland (not necessary raining) and it can be for a few days, but generally not more than 4 days in a row and sometimes we can have several weeks only with sun (often the summer). 4) I will use the energy from the battery until it is close to 50% of the battery and then I will use the electricity from the house (so not mine). Is it a good Idea? 5)Oh great, I am glad to hear that! So does these answers help you? Okay. 2 hours of laptop use on the batteries shouldn’t be too much of a load on the batteries. As long as you monitor accordingly and you have a backup solution then you should be fine. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander12 2 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 (edited) 8 minutes ago, Vassen said: Okay. 2 hours of laptop use on the batteries shouldn’t be too much of a load on the batteries. As long as you monitor accordingly and you have a backup solution then you should be fine. Okay great. And so to learn how to monitor it, I guess I have to read the instructions of the charge controller? And see some videos about it. 2h is enough even in cloudy days? Edited November 25, 2020 by Alexander12 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vassen 147 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 Just now, Alexander12 said: Okay great. And so to learn how to monitor it, I guess I have to read the instructions of the charge controller? And see some videos about it. Yip Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander12 2 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 4 minutes ago, Vassen said: Yip Okay. And do you think 2h using my laptop in cloudy days, is enough? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Richard Mackay 102 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 A very important understanding about RE systems is that their success depends on the efficiency of your system. Don't use inefficient methods or equipment since it will disappoint you. e.g. you haven't mentioned how you are going to get the battery to power your laptop. The common method is to use an inverter. This does work but it's not efficient. You lose a lot of power by converting 12V dc to 220V ac. If you power the laptop directly with the dc voltage that its power supply supplies this would be way more efficient. Unfortunately the laptop manufacturers don't make this easy by using 19V and using special plugs.. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander12 2 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 17 minutes ago, Richard Mackay said: A very important understanding about RE systems is that their success depends on the efficiency of your system. Don't use inefficient methods or equipment since it will disappoint you. e.g. you haven't mentioned how you are going to get the battery to power your laptop. The common method is to use an inverter. This does work but it's not efficient. You lose a lot of power by converting 12V dc to 220V ac. If you power the laptop directly with the dc voltage that its power supply supplies this would be way more efficient. Unfortunately the laptop manufacturers don't make this easy by using 19V and using special plugs.. Actually, I think I already said it. I would charge it thanks to this: It should work I think. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander12 2 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 18 minutes ago, Richard Mackay said: RE systems What are RE systems? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vassen 147 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 18 minutes ago, Richard Mackay said: A very important understanding about RE systems is that their success depends on the efficiency of your system. Don't use inefficient methods or equipment since it will disappoint you. e.g. you haven't mentioned how you are going to get the battery to power your laptop. The common method is to use an inverter. This does work but it's not efficient. You lose a lot of power by converting 12V dc to 220V ac. If you power the laptop directly with the dc voltage that its power supply supplies this would be way more efficient. Unfortunately the laptop manufacturers don't make this easy by using 19V and using special plugs.. He started another thread yesterday and I advised him to use a car charger for the phone and a car charger for the laptop as well. This would be the least complicated and still being efficient. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Vassen 147 Posted November 25, 2020 Share Posted November 25, 2020 1 minute ago, Alexander12 said: What are RE systems? Renewable energy Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Alexander12 2 Posted November 25, 2020 Author Share Posted November 25, 2020 (edited) 11 minutes ago, Vassen said: Renewable energy Okay thanks So I still need to find the battery and everything should work. Edited November 25, 2020 by Alexander12 Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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