Took the Solar Plunge
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Thanks for every-ones advice. I'm sure the Renogy panel i got probably only work half their rated capacity, I saw Amazon writeups stating their inefficiency. For $150 for the kit it was worth it for me just to learn with.
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When we looked into sun tracking most advice (and our own conclusions) was that it's cheaper and far more reliable to just add panels. My friend adjusts the angle of his panels a few times a year manually. Never tried a maximum power point controller, kept meaning to bulid one.
This is general discussion:
Feel free to talk about anything and everything in this board.
:)
Steve
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I need to build another big one soon. I'm thinking that in the Philippines I can totally disconnect from the grid if I want - At 25 cent per kw/hour it should be nearly three times as economical as in the USA.
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Would you build an array with a "Branded panel", Hoping in 20 years they will still be around to honor warranty? Or would you go generic.. Like you said earlier Poly looks to getting better.
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Great question.
I like reliable name brands.
My Astro panels are like new and its been a long long time.
I think kyocera might be a good compromise between efficiency/price/quality.
I'd bet they will keep working for decades unless someone hit them with a baseball bat.
If you don't mind spending a little extra, With BP Solar you can't go wrong.
I'd probably go with the Kyocera cells myself though.
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We used BP Solar panels but only because my friend already had them. They must be at least 20 years old and have fallen off thd boat or been hit by stuff countless times, still going strong.
Steve
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Yeah - My kids used to walk and play on my panels in the back yard - I wish I'd taken pics. Its near 20 years and they are still going also.
The frames, glass and backing are as important as the cells themselves.
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"pfsense" doesn't occur anywhere in this thread. Perhaps it belongs elsewhere.
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@gonzopancho:
"pfsense" doesn't occur anywhere in this thread. Perhaps it belongs elsewhere.
General Discussion Feel free to talk about anything and everything in this board.seems to be the right place ::)
I probably could power my pfsense box with a panel and a few batteries.
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Ive thought many times of powering my pfSense (used the correct stance there see that) box and data center with a solar solution. My cousin also needs a pfSense box and probably would not see any drastic reduction in current to the battery letting it run all day. They have more sun throughout the year than I do as Im im near Seattle. Im thinking of building him a pfSense box that runs on 12vdc so that the solar array could keep his pfSense router live and filtering all the bad stuff the new Centurylink DSL connection he has to his place has to offer out.
pfSense mention count- 4
;D ;D ;D :o
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I have multiple Alix 2D13 pfSense running 24/7 from solar+battery feeding 12V DC direct to the appliance.
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Sounds reliable (-:
Compared to a UPS, how much power does that use? Bill every month?
How well does that pair up with the "low power pfsense" that people love so much?
Sounds like a marriage made in heaven to me.
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Thought about mounting a panel on the roof of my SUV and have my pfSense mifi in a nema4x enclosure with external antennas and a couple of 12VSLA's.
Project Codename:pfRoofrack -
@Phishfry:
Thought about mounting a panel on the roof of my SUV and have my pfSense mifi in a nema4x enclosure with external antennas and a couple of 12VSLA's.
Project Codename:pfRoofrackWe have electric rickshaws nowadays in Nepalgunj, Nepal. Maybe I should start pfRickshaw project to keep people online and protected during their rickshaw rides :P
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I know I've asked you this before Phil but I can't remember your reply. ::)
Since you have significant real world experience of this could you put some numbers on it. For example, given that the Alix box consumes ~5W (maybe less when idle?) what size panel and battery do you consider sufficient for continuous running? How many hours of sunlight does that require? Do you use a charge controller of some sort to keep the battery equalised?
These things vary substantially depending on where you are or course but some numbers would be very useful for anyone else considering this.Steve
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I was able to buys a Optima blue top marine battery. It can be use to store energy produced by solar panel. Can anyone confirm this.
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You can store energy in any battery, that's pretty much what defines a battery. ;)
But that looks like it's designed as a starting battery and would not be well suited to deep cycle work like a solar install.
Edit: But it looks like I can't read a website! See below.This thread is in general discussion but this is not the right forum to be asking about batteries in general.
Please keep discussion here to running pfSense hardware from a solar install (or related).
Steve
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Optima blue top marine battery
Lots of experience with those - Yes you can use those and they last forever if charged properly. Over-voltage murders them though.
And you can cycle them hard and they have a very fast charge rate.
Been using those for many years. I charge mine with morningstar sunsaver charge controllers attached to 12v 100w solar panels.
Pretty easy and very reliable. Relatively cheap for small systems.
As far as estimating how many PFsense boxes you can run on them, lets say you get 6 hours of direct sun in a day with 200 watt panel.
1200 watt/hours
if pfsense were using 5w continuous for 24 hours per day thats 120 watt hours… So, with ideal conditions you could run 10.
Conditions are never ideal and I like to leave a big cushion, so I would only really depend on it to run 5 - with a very good battery. Possible with a 100amp hour battery, but 200 would be better and last alot long since it wouldn't be discharging so deeply.
There is a pretty big loss when charging lead/acid batteries. Its generally thought that they are 85% efficient. I'd bank on 60%
Meaning you need to build your system at least 50% bigger in terms of both solar cells used and battery used than you will think by doing simple watt/hour and amp/hour math.
For a single pfsense box:
So, in a place with lots of light, like Hawaii, a single 40 or 50 watt panel and a single 20 amp hour battery should work fine.
If its a northern place and not as much sunlight and frequent clouding you probably want to go with a 100w panel and at least a 50 amp hour battery unless you like having dead batteries and pfsense offline. I would always plus-size solar.
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Optima brand has been sold many times over the years. For a while they came out of Mexico and reports are that 48% of the cells were bad. Now the label states Johnson Controls. They did Navy Base security here for a while.
Either way Ive had a number of Optima battery's go bad on me over the years prematurely and will never buy one again.
Look up Deka Battery's made by the East Pennsylvania Battery Company. I bet your battery bank lives much longer. I tend to use 4XD banks in some of my remote sites and they seem to never go bad.
C&D is another remote site battery company we use which do well in the longevity department.
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If your batteries are going bad you are probably floating them at too high a voltage or running a desulphure cycle thats too aggressive for that type a battery.
Wet cell batteries are far more tolerant of crap controllers and people who do crazy things. You can go that route if you have doubts but they do need maintaining.
That said, Deka is well known and reliable. I personally won't touch gel-cells and only recommend AGM.
If Optima has started making crap batteries I wouldn't know… Seeing as how all mine are a couple decades old at least and have never failed, thus no need to buy new ones lately.
