Questions tagged [solar-energy]
Form of renewable energy emitted by the Sun, coming in two flavours: photovoltaic and thermal. The former, especially, relates closely to electrical engineering since it is traditionally harnessed through semiconductor devices and converted to AC in order to feed the electric grid or individual users' homes.
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How does this charge controller work? [closed]
I just bought this PWM charge controller (https://www.bimblesolar.com/offgrid/chargers/5a-pwm-waterproof-v2) to go with my solar panel as I was planning to use it to charge some batteries.
I have a ...
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How to prevent a nichrome wire from melting under variable energy?
I’m experimenting with a DIY “sand battery”.
The “battery” is a pot lined inside with an insulator and filled with sand. The sand is heated by a nichrome wire placed at the bottom. The wire is ...
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Effects of Solar Distributed Generators on Utility Grid
The figure Below is a test block diagram that I would like to model and simulate in DigSILENT PowerFactory Software to analyze the effects of SDGs on the utility grid’s Power losses, Voltage ...
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Why is there loss of power between solar inverter and utility meter?
I have an on-grid 10 kW system installed with two-way recording meter. Recently I have noticed that units generated as shown by inverter are more than the units recorded by utility meter. Previously, ...
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I am trying to DIY outdoor gazebo solar lights
Im no electrical engineer. Just a bored ADHD mum trying to make her home nice and eco friendly.
So we just set up a gazebo tent un our courtyard and it gets really dark at night. We dont have any ...
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Connecting two solar panels in parallel with different voltage - circuit model
I am interested in understanding how two solar panels with different voltages in parallel work. Despite it is not recommended, but it may occur when for example one panel is defected, under shading or ...
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How to Install 10kW FSP Hybrid inverter [closed]
I have an FSP 10kW inverter which shows a circuit diagram for a separate input from Grid and an output for the urgent load.
My question is what is this output for when I only need the main consumer ...
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Different load on series connected solar panels
I have a setup consisting of three solar panels connected in series, which supply power to a variable frequency drive (VFD) that runs a three-phase motor. I am planning to incorporate an MPPT (Maximum ...
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Can a single CT Clamp go to 2 energy meters?
I have a Split Core CT CTSA016 - 100A/50mA Yuanxing CT Clamp(Datasheet is here) around my mains - and it is feeding into my Solar Inverter.
I have just purchased a Shelly EM 2 Channel WiFi energy ...
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How much of installed solar power is usable on average?
1 GW is the equivalent of 8.76 TWh in a year. When you say that you installed 1 GW of solar capacity do expect that it will generate 8.76 TWh in a year? On average, how much would 1 GW of solar ...
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How to directly wire a solar panel through the wall socket without a battery? [closed]
I apologize for this the multi-ponged line of questions. I am thinking, I can wire the solar panel to a pure sine wave inverter then use a extension cord with 2 male plugs, one going to the inverter ...
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The most minimalistic solar charge controller possible: will it work?
I want to build a solar panels device that can supply power to my doorbell, which is installed over a gate with no access to wires or power. The gate has a "bar" on top where I can install ...
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IEC 61851 - reason for minimum current?
I would like to understand the reason for the minimum charging current of 6 amps. This poses a serious limitation for people with charging stations and smaller solar installations. While they may have ...
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How do I calculate the type and size of battery to use for this solar-powered USB charger?
I've been out of the electrical mathematics for a while and want to see what battery I need to do this.
5 V USB output, 5 V DC solar power panel (I do have two I could use together, assuming the ...
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How to calculate short circuit current contribution of a PV plant into network?
I want to calculate the short circuit current contribution of my PV plant. I have only data from the inverter manufacturer but I am not sure if I have to simply add up all the inverter's short circuit ...
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MPPT bulk charge voltage vs sealed lead acid battery fully charged voltage
I could do with some help making sure I understand some MPPT battery charging fundamentals. Been reading up on this but can't find anything that has made it 100% clear for me.
An unloaded, fully ...
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What are the highest permissible current harmonics input to the grid?
I'm in the process of completing my Master Thesis and I need to model the current harmonics input of large-scale PV plant into the grid. We're talking about 100MW connected to the 110kV line, using ...
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TP4056 low output voltage, 5 V solar panel
I am using using a 5 V solar panel connected to a TP4056 to charge two 18650 batteries in series.
Has your TP4056 ever shown an output voltage in millivolts when using a multimeter?
When I check the ...
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Using clothesline steel core wire rope for AC and DC
As I am currently in a war zone, I don't have many options for cabling.
I found this clothesline (steel core plastic wire rope) that appears to be one mm of diameter (steel core diameter.) 13 meters ...
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Question about my small solar panels
I have some small solar panels and I wanna build a project. My project includes the solar panels and a phone power bank that has input of 2 A. Right now I have the solar panels connected to each other ...
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How can I use my two 33v solar panels to charge my two 12v trailer batteries while at same time providing 12v power to trailer?
Is it possible to have at least one battery connected to our trailer circuits while both batteries in series (ie. 24v) are being charged by our two 33v solar panels?
Will solution require a "...
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Generic PWM solar charge controller signal flow - not as expected/assumed
I bought a cheap, generic PWM solar charge controller to test some solar panel and wind turbine ideas and decided to pull it out of its case so I could look at the PCB.
I'd assumed the solar panel ...
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Is this a good way to think about solar cells?
Imagine we want to power a load with resistance R with a Solar Panel.
To figure out how the solar panel will interact with it, draw a line with slope 1/R on an IV graph. Where that line and the solar ...
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How can I warm lithium-ion batteries from a solar panel?
I have a solar-powered system with a 12 V LiFePO4 battery which will need to operate in -20 to 60 °C conditions. I have a charge controller with a temperature sensor which will disable charging below ...
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Is it legally allowed to install lightning rods in rainy or cloudy weather?
I had a look at some standards (such as IEC 62305 & IEC 62561 Standards for Lightning Protection) on how lightning rods should be constructed, and also searched the internet. I found no real ...
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How does applying an MPPT algorithm on a buck converter result in maximum current into the battery?
When an MPPT solar charge controller —in my case, based on buck topology— is charging a battery in constant current(CC) mode, the MPPT algorithm is applied to find the PV panel voltage (or input ...
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Watt meter and load
I have recently purchased a watt meter from Adafruit to measure the cumulative watthours of a non-constant (DC) current.
When I use a multimeter to test the voltage and amperage, I get what I expect: ...
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Can I use an INA219 to measure the load while using a solar panel?
I am using a a solar panel connected to this solar power manager. On the output (5 V) I will connect a circuit with an Arduino, sensors, and an INA219 on a breakout board to measure the total load ...
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How to charge a 24 V battery driving a solar tracker (no AC available)
I am working on a solar tracker which will be located some distance from the inverter, and will not have AC available.
The motors driving the tracker will be DC, probably 24 or 48 V. The array panels ...
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How do I calculate the required batteries and solar panels for my needs?
I am building my camper and want to know how to calculate exactly what batteries I need, and what solar panels to meet my needs.
Here is my list of the main and most powerful devices that I will use, ...
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How to power an embedded board using capacitors and solar panels?
I am working on a battery-less system. The system has the following energy pipeline:
Solar panels -> DC-DC boost converter -> capacitor -> microcontroller.
Here the solar energy is harvested ...
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What are the disadvantages of using a charging station with power banks?
I want to have good power system for my van. I liked Jackery Explorer 240 . Price is good: $219.99. But the problem is that its capacity is only 16.8Ah and only 2 USB ports.
I can buy a more expensive ...
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Error in modelling a photovoltaic panel using Plecs software. What could be wrong?
I have a work titled MPPT P and O algorithm with a buck-boost converter.
The software I am to use is Plecs.
First I wanted to design a photovoltaic model in Plecs. I tried to follow an example I got ...
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Why is the load connected to the batteries instead of the load output of the controller?
I bought a small photovoltaic kit to do some experiments.
It is composed of:
PV panels
charge controller
batteries
inverter
In the controller's manual there is this connection diagram:
It makes ...
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Diagram of a simple charge/discharge model of a battery powered by a solar panel with a DC motor load in Simulink
I want to simulate in Simulink a simple electrical system of the following nature: there is a battery powered by a solar panel and a DC motor load.
For example, during the day, the solar panel ...
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Short-circuit rating in a photovoltaic DC combiner box
I am working on a large-scale, grid-connected solar power plant using DC combiner boxes and central inverters.
I am new to photovoltaics but I don't find enough information on DC short-circuit ...
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How does a buck converter maximize the power in the MPPT system?
How can a DC-DC buck converter be used to maximize input power in an MPPT system? I know that an MPPT system consists of a processor that reads the power source and manages a buck converter to ...
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Online UPS: Saving Power with solar panels [closed]
We have a 300kW online UPS for a data center.
An AC/DC converter converts mains to DC, which is used to charge 2 x 50 12V batteries (50 connected in series each) and at the same time feed the DC/AC ...
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Voltage regulator not heating up ... How?
I connected a L7805 to a water fountain that I measured to be consuming 0.1 A at 5 V to regulate power coming in from three 5 W, 12 V solar panels connected in parallel.
The regulator is not heating ...
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Charge 12 V battery bank from a 24 V MPPT solar charge controller
I am planning on boondocking on my RV and am in the phase of designing the system and want to stay at 12 V. I have found the perfect solar panels for it, but the specs make them somewhat odd to wire:
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Does a solar panel's lifespan depend on usage?
I see numbers about the lifespan of solar panels in units of years, but that got me wondering: Is the lifespan of a solar panel dependent on actual power generation, or just a finite number from the ...
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Is it possible to create a circuit that switches from external power (DC) to a battery once it's fully charged?
I was wondering if it is possible to create a circuit that primarily uses external power from an outlet, but will switch to a battery once it gains charge.
The battery would be lithium-ion and would ...
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How does one manufacture a P-N junction?
When I read a physics textbook about a P-N junction, it will tell me that you connect a p-doped semiconductor to an n-doped semiconductor, and you form a depletion region.
However, from what I know ...
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Do I need a buck or boost converter to charge a lithuim battery with solar and wind energy?
I am doing a school project in Matlab Simulink to design a battery charger.
I need to use solar and wind energy to charge the batteries. Since both solar and wind are not always constant voltage and ...
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How to use a 49Voc solar panel for USB charging after a calamity (without using proper solar charge controllers)?
Some background first, actual question at the bottom:
Last year December my area in the Philippines was directly hit by a super typhoon, international name: Typhoon Rai.
For three weeks after that ...
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Off grid solar PV performance analysis
I need to compare a single axis solar PV tracker system with a fixed tilt solar PV system for how much power produced in 1 day or 1 week or 1 month. Both systems will be off grid. What kind of load do ...
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Surge current capability of LFP batteries
LFP batteries, like all batteries, have a limited max current output. Unlike the grid, understood as a "giant battery," which can deal with an A/C compressor's demand of up to 2x of its ...
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How do/can I charge a Li-po battery without a fancy charger (just using a current)?
I am designing a model airplane that flies using solar cells on its wings. I have a 7.4 V, 2200 mAh battery I want to use for it in case it flies in a cloudy area and needs more power, but everywhere ...
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What size DC circuit breaker to buy for a 12 V, 80 W solar panel?
I have bought a 12 V, 80 W solar panel and before I start using it I want to install circuit breakers between the solar panel and the charge controller, the charge controller and the battery, and the ...
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How does a solar / PV inverter get preference over grid source for the house load?
I've got a solar PV inverter and grid feed supplying the house. They are both connected (via their respective circuit breakers) before the switchboard, so from the junction to the house switchboard it'...
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