Easy DIY Solar Lighting
(Page 3 of 5)
April/May 2007
By Charles Higginson
Having chosen a battery and panel, it’s time to consider the charge controller and safety disconnect. You need to ensure that your total loads don’t exceed the charge controller’s capacity. In our case, a 10-amp charge controller would have ample capacity. However, if you anticipate expansion, you might as well get a bigger charge controller from the start. We settled on a 20-amp model that would accommodate the addition of another similar PV panel and/or extension of our lighting circuits.
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Safety disconnects are heavy-duty switches used to isolate the battery from all other components for maintenance or in emergencies. They’re not necessary for operation, but even in a small, low-voltage system like ours, they are highly recommended for safety.
We also picked up a fuse block. It functions like the breaker panel in standard home wiring: The main power source (battery) feeds to positive and negative main terminals, and the individual lighting circuits, protected by fuses, connect to charged secondary terminals.
Solar panels require solidly anchored mounts. Since our panel is so small, we opted for a simple set of feet designed for mounting panels on recreational vehicles. You could easily fabricate an adequate mounting system of your own.
Miscellaneous Parts
Standard, widely available AC components complete the system — wire, cable, switches and sockets. Interior wiring can be speaker wire, its gauge determined by the device’s amperage and the length of run. Measure your planned installation before buying wire. It may be surprising how quickly the distance adds up. (Real Goods can determine the appropriate gauge.) Use stranded rather than solid wire — it’s more flexible.
Our DC bulbs have standard Edison bases and will screw into any common light fixture. They can’t handle dimmers, so get simple switches. Remember to pick up switch boxes, switchplates and junction boxes to mount your socket fixtures.
Let’s Get It Together
The ideal spot for a solar collector of any kind is a shade-free area, facing south, and tilted at an angle from horizontal that is equal to the location’s latitude. A roof often provides an angle close to ideal. You also can build a simple frame to mount the panel on the ground or a south wall.
Also consider the location of the battery, which should be in conditioned space — batteries don’t like extreme temperatures. For efficiency, it’s best to keep the battery as close as possible to the PV, so you may have to balance several factors to design your system. It makes sense as well to keep the charge controller, safety disconnect and fuse block near the battery. A common approach is to mount all components to a sheet of plywood, then attach it to the wall. Make sure the battery’s exposed terminals are not accessible to a casual passerby; you may need to place it in a lidded box. If you build a shelf for the battery, make it stout: Even a small deep-cycle battery like this one weighs almost 40 pounds.
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