HI from Australia. Some background on me i have experience in engineering and automotive type industries, but very little in the way of electrical since i left school 10 year ago lol.
Anyway what im looking at doing is slowly converting the house to run from 12v that regenerates through solar panels, and accumulates in a couple of deep cycle caravan batteries.
I have got a few light fixtures to start with, 12v only.
I have read quite a bit on here and the info is almost too comprehensive
im looking at diy. What im doing is running new wiring to certain rooms that have the new bulbs, so there is a dedicated 12v circuit in eventually every room. Then at the base point when its all hooked up, having 2 "feeds" one from the batteries, and another that is 12v converted from 240v if/when the batteries run too low. Im looking into voltage sensing curcuitry to switch a relay so the lines 12v wires in the house are always live. This would somehow need to be separated from the panel side, or somehow used to augment the panel as a last resort.
What im falling down is the basic theory of figuring out how much input and storage capacity i need for a given amount of power draw/time at night when the suns gone. If someone could help out with a basic method of figuring out this stuff would be great, so i can get the right volt/amp soloar panels and the right batteries to last long enough.
Thats the first thing, the second is, at what point can you go no gurther with running off batteries? i mean from a viability perspective. Lights are probably fairly easy, but what about some more energy hungry things like air con or a tv? Is it scaleable so one could continue to add more panes on the roof (at least 50sq/m)?
What about hot water generation? there only 2 people in the house, so not alot of water gets used. (2x 5 minute showers per day).
changing over to a renewable source is something that should be at least attmpted i think so im keen to have a go and see how much we can do with a diy system.
Thanks Scott
Anyway what im looking at doing is slowly converting the house to run from 12v that regenerates through solar panels, and accumulates in a couple of deep cycle caravan batteries.
I have got a few light fixtures to start with, 12v only.
I have read quite a bit on here and the info is almost too comprehensive
im looking at diy. What im doing is running new wiring to certain rooms that have the new bulbs, so there is a dedicated 12v circuit in eventually every room. Then at the base point when its all hooked up, having 2 "feeds" one from the batteries, and another that is 12v converted from 240v if/when the batteries run too low. Im looking into voltage sensing curcuitry to switch a relay so the lines 12v wires in the house are always live. This would somehow need to be separated from the panel side, or somehow used to augment the panel as a last resort. What im falling down is the basic theory of figuring out how much input and storage capacity i need for a given amount of power draw/time at night when the suns gone. If someone could help out with a basic method of figuring out this stuff would be great, so i can get the right volt/amp soloar panels and the right batteries to last long enough.
Thats the first thing, the second is, at what point can you go no gurther with running off batteries? i mean from a viability perspective. Lights are probably fairly easy, but what about some more energy hungry things like air con or a tv? Is it scaleable so one could continue to add more panes on the roof (at least 50sq/m)?
What about hot water generation? there only 2 people in the house, so not alot of water gets used. (2x 5 minute showers per day).
changing over to a renewable source is something that should be at least attmpted i think so im keen to have a go and see how much we can do with a diy system.
Thanks Scott
