My Grandfather just purchased a cheap solar panel kit for his ranch that could not muster enough power to run his mini fridge.
He has two 6 volt batteries running positive to negative and would like to add more batteries. Probably 12volt. How would he go about hooking up the other batteries and what kind of wire or coil should he use.
Also, I saw on youtube a guy recommending a lead-acid battery from walmart for under $ 20. I was just going to go to ecology and just pick up some used batteries but I may be wrong.
Any help for a first timer might help me and my gramps out will be appreciated.
Thank you
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Sorry, I can’t really help you :[
Google some stuff, look for help from people who know what to use.
If I were you, I’d go with the lead-acid battery.
If he is going to be running off batteries at night, he would be better off with “traction” batteries.
Traction batteries are true deep cycle and can better withstand deep discharge. Golf cart batteries at Sam’s Club (the other half of Walmart) are “traction batteries.”
If your grandfather needs safe refrigeration, a mini fridge won’t do it. A 110 fridge takes too much power to run off solar panels and most won’t hold their cold very well if unplugged for long.
I run a fridge off grid with hybrid deep cycle marine starting batteries. It’s an Engel 40. The price has gone up over $ 100 since I bought mine. It’s a real fridge with a compressor and freon 134a. But it runs on 12v dc or 110vac and only uses 36 watts running because of a special compressor design. It will freeze food if you turn the dial down to 2 out of 5. It can also deep freeze.
I use mine to keep eggs, milk, cheese and fruit juice.
Your grandfather would need 400 amp-hours name plate rating of batteries at 12v to run the Engel, and probably 100 real watts of panels to recharge his battery bank. The Harbor Freight 45 watt panel set only puts out 30 watts on a clear cool day. That won’t do it.
If interested in much more info about solar panels then I would suggest reading these articles
http://renewableenergyarticles.blogspot.com/search/label/solar%20panels