Using house solar panels

Hi Phil

The wattage is not a problem ,but the output voltage of the panel may be

Can you check that with the panel in bright sun & with no load on the panel?


Peter

hello phil.
Iv been using one for years now, just alligator clamps straight to the battery, I Must admit that I have to keep an eye on the battery's ,I run an engle from the battery along with the usual charging of phone,and using them for lighting,the panel itself would be about one meter by half a meter the batteries are lifeline 105? they are 5 years old now always in the Ute and being charged when i am travelling I hope this was of some help. oh by the way the solar panel was $20 from a garage sale cheers Bill.

In principle there is no problem at all.

the main concern is the voltage of the pannel.

most pannels on housing or remote area power are 24 volt.

As above bright sun multimeter will show you if the no load voltage is above 24 Volts...guess what...a 12 volt pannel may ahve a no load much higher tha 12 volts 18 volts perhaps but it should not get above 24.

If it is a 24 volt pannel you will need a switchmode or a MPPT regulator that will take the 24+ Volts and output a nice regulated 12 ish Volts.

As far as there not being a regulator available to do the job...rubbish

A mate of mine built a solar powered christmass tree for a client last season with 4 x 180 watt 24 volt pannels charging a large 12 volt battery bank thru a MPPT regulator..he used the 24 volt pannels because they were so much cheaper.

cheers