The 2 BIG takeaways from your video. 1 100 watt solar panel produces 400 watts / day and a 100 amp hour deep cycle battery can store 1200 watts (12 volt system). I must've watched 50 videos from people trying to explain solar and your video was the first one that I could understand! Much thanks :)
Second that! Thanks man. I've been trying to work out our needs for way to long. Now just need to work out how much my phone uses to charge from dead lol
@@MsCharlieowl wire up a "cigarette lighter" port directly to the battery and charge the phone with a car charger, it's 90% more efficient. You lose 45% going from DC to AC, then you lose another 50% from the phone charger that takes it from AC back to DC. A fast charger for most modern phones uses 15w at 115v, so 0.1 amp. Since you're losing 90% of the power in conversion, you need to multiply that by 1.9. So it actually uses 30 watts. If it takes 2 hours, that's 60 watts. If you wire straight to the battery, it's just 15w " 2 hours
It’s classic to have linguistic blips with skills that you show here. I can read a dictionary but couldn’t make sense of solar. Mr. , You are one gifted teacher. Thank you so much.
thank you, this made me understand solar...don't let the negative comments get you down...I'm a 70 y/o grandmother, and you taught me a lot. those people with negetive comments are always around...like a stinky old hound craving attention,..keep up the good work
Sharon Buck there are a lot of haters for free power because they may end up without a job, like us😂😂😂😂 they should have let me work when I was working
I think the overall point that everyone should take from this video is that either using good or bad math a 100w solar panel isn't going to get the trick done . Just like a $100 3d printer $5 drone kits and free VR glasses it should fall into the category of : Toys/entry-level learning tools that teach basic principles. Just like the potato clock, buzz board and motorized erector sets from years past this should be treated the same, to expand knowledge and better understanding of concept . Look at your electric bill or more specifically calculate your current hourly usage from your meter outside and apply to get a general idea how many 100w solar panels you would need to function your household. I think a great plan would be to have solar panels running your refrigerator and maybe a light independently for emergencies , roughly that would take a 1k -2k watt solar panel system with 2-4 deep cycle batteries,fuse disconnects for protection and an inverter to convert direct current to alternating current basing it off of a 600 watt per hour refrigerator in a region that gets moderate sunlight (this is not calculating the initial 1.8kwatt power surge of the fridge once it is turned on) after all is said and done with initial setup with just parts it will be well over $2.5k to start . This is more of a financial hit ( considering what it costs to operate a refrigerator through utility electric)at first and cross your fingers the equipment lasts well past the warranty time type of plan that in the long run may payback, but highly unlikely considering the inevitable maintenance/replacement.
you did not learn a thing deep cycle batteries are made to be discharged way down and then recharged that is just one nonsense thiose so called calculations were bullshit panels Will charge on a cloudy day there are sveral kinds of panels
OMG...I have been struggling to understand all of this for about 6 months of research. The more I researched the more confused I got. I finally got it thanks to you. I saved this video and subscribed to your channel.
I appreciate your video because I'm about to go off grid and I'm researching everything. I just need the long and short of the equation to get one cabin up and running. Time doesn't permit me to go back to school and get certified. I like when someone explains things in such a way that increases my understanding in a short period of time.
ALL I CAN SAY IS YOU HAVE MASTERFULLY COMPLETED THE BEST VIDEO I'V EVER SEEN AND I AM A 65 YEAR OLD HANDYCAPPED MAN NEEDING TO GET READY FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN. THANK YOU BROTHER!
Hey man, I really appreciate you sharing the basic concepts of what you know concerning solar & being on point heading into the right directions! I generally received exactly what you were talking about! Thanks!, and I'm sure by now you've gotten even more better w/doing this! Great job man!
He did a great job explaining. I have electronics background , work with fiber optics etc. He broke it down close enough for the common joe would understand. Mathematics, close. He used what they call ohms law. E = volts I = current R = resistance. Power calculations P = watts I = current E = voltage. This is basic to anyone with electronics background, however, the common joe wont understand. ( unless shown on paper ). So, sit back listen to his video again and when mama says you have too much plugged into an outlet - you can say no, that I listened on youtube a video of a person that took HIS time to HELP people understand the basics. Good job.
Awesome my friend and a big thanks for your help explaining electrics.far to many people these days think they should be paid for helping someone when if you are a good soul help shouldn't cost a thing. I Wish you all the best my friend.
So 3 batteries would give you approx 3900 watt hours or 1950 at 50% of battery. I'm planning on building a van with solor so all my wires will be close. I was planning on 3 100 watt pannels on the roof with like a 5000 watt inverter
@@herschelgross5187 Yes, 3 100 amp-hour lead-acid batteries will provide you with 1800 usable watt-hours at 50% discharge before recharging. Ask yourself if you truly need a 5000w inverter as most inverters are only about 87% efficient (check your specific inverter efficiency rating) so the larger the inverter the higher the power loss and the bigger the drain on your batteries. also, 3 100 amp hour batteries would only power your 5000w inverter for 20-30 minutes before needing a recharge. that's assuming you are getting a 5000w inverter because you need to run 4000 watts continuously for some reason.
Thanks for making it easier to understand solar power needs. Most videos are more complex than they need to be, yours is one of three I found to make it very easy, and I used each vid to give me a consensus, great vid!
Thank you for an explanation I can understand. Electricity has never been my thing. Now I am trying to plan a solar set up for my RV. This will be so much help as I move forward. Good job.
I have had all the components for a basic solar system for about a year. I haven't put it together only because I didn't want to mess anything up. THANK YOU so very much! Because of your video, I now can feel confident in starting to use my system without being so nervous. Don't worry about the people who post negativity. You have done the very best job in explaining and I have got to say I have looked/listened to many trying to explain what you have, and by far, your explanation is the best!
You just laid it out so nicely in laymans terms...Im in Arizona and we have sun sun sun...I already change my lights to LEDs..3.5 now my plan is to get 2) 145 watt panels and calculate what i can supply power to...Tv,Refrig ,lighting.....
Thank so much, first time I was able to understand what was being said about solar, I had listen to 5 clips before you. ( so that mean you can move to front of the class.)
Yeah, the math got a little off but this was SO HELPFUL! Thank you for making it simple for me. I’m planning a small camper van and trying to decide between the simple Honda jackery all in one system or piecing together my own system. Thanks for making this process much easier!
Thanks for the video. This helps explain the questions i had in my head. I just hand a food trailer built to feed the needy and homeless. I wanted to do a solar panel rather than a generator. Now I now what I will need to operate the items i will be needing to use in the trailer. Thanks again. And do what I do, ignore the complainers! Thumbs up!
I love this , Thank- you so much ! I finally understand how now ! You are right , not all our brains are wired the same for understanding this... I've been waiting for an explanation to usage of solar just to take the next step and you did it in less than 25 minutes . Thank you again !
this is the first video that I have watched it has made me halfway understand what this is all about. Everything else I've lost has made my brain feel like it is boiling. Thank you for your effort it really helped me :-)
Im 63, and i did too. Im a retired commercial/industrial electrician with a little fiber optcs training. And armed with past experience, 12 years ago, and what i learned here. Its all about the math.
Just when I thought I hit the end of the internet trying to find this explanation (it's been hours per day for weeks), I finally came across your video. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! I can stop crying now. I have answers.
Nice job! Thanks for taking the time to explain this. I'd rather have someone like you who kept it simple over an engineer that would have over explained it and made it complicated. Thanks!
My biggest problem with this video was finding it again to show my husband. Finally..someone who explains it so we got the basics down pact. Thank you.
Where were you like 2 months ago. I have been struggling to figure out how all this works, as far as watts volts. Such as how many panels needed to run TV or other devices. Finally this video makes sense and I know now exactly how many batteries and panels I need. Thank you so much and god bless you bro.
8:04 That should be 285, not 265. You should try your best to find DC adapters for your electronics like TVs, DVD players or LED lights. The cheap inverters are really inefficient. Even the low efficiency numbers printed on the box are actually the maximum efficiency they reach at a specific load. They usually have a fan running etc. You should try to get appliances designed for truckers because they use 12V.
Ditch DVD players outright and get some other media device. Ripping those DVD to some sort of fire stick for instance or a raspberry pi would save alot of power as well. Converting an old laptop screen into your media screen would save alot too. As they generally less costly to run. But at that point a cheap Ultrabook is your golden device.
I have been using 12v power for decades. Back in the mid 90s, I had a jumpstart battery and I would power my JVC Kaboom Box using the 12v cigarette lighter plug. I ran that think for two days and nights of camping. I just bought a 100 watt solar panel to charge a 12v 35ah lead acid battery.
It took many educated men hundreds of hours for as many years to work this stuff out, and you managed to work your way through it from the viewpoint of the humble layman and you did it buddy. Well done I now know more than I did before this video. 👍
I think you explained it so people understand the concept great job. The spell checkers and math critics should are probably to smart to be watching You Tube videos anyway.
Very helpful. It doesn't matter if your calculations were off a bit. You helped me understand the whole concept of how solar works. Thank you for making this video.
I was about to skip this but am so glad I didn't. You explained everything very clearly and in a way that made it easier to understand. Thanks for your efforts on this topic. Really helpful !!
Just came across your video. Thank you! You have broken it down really well so people understand what you are saying. Now I know what solar panels to buy yep u r on my to watch list. 😁
The explanation for this is absolutely sound. Im guessing you generally use a calculator for working out the actual numbers . Never realised there was such a loss compared with how they rate the actual panels. Very handy.
Cheers mate..... This is one of the best explanations I've heard in general layman's jargon. I have a much better understanding now. Will follow your calculation methods. Appreciate the videos. Thanks again.
I am a 60 year old female . I appreciate the way you explained it. In simple terms.I finally got to understand better. Thanks to your video. Great help!
Thank you very much for taking you time to explain this information to us. you have helped me so much with the knowledge you put online. It is going to help me go off the grid. I'm pressing the like button now. I will also share this with as many people as I can for you. Thank you for making this easy to understand!
Thank you for presenting this video. Many of the other videos that I have seen or articles that I have read overcomplicate the subject to the point that it becomes confusing. You gave a great explanation that can be used in a real world application...Thanks again!
even 2 years down the track I found this video and it's bloody amazing Imma put this away for another day. Thanks so much for this information for dummies hahaha Its gona help me sort out what I need to get. Thank you
Thank you Thank you Thank you. I've been watching many videos and I get so confused. I'm new to this concept and am working on what and how much I can do and spend. I want to convert some of my Little Cabin into 12v lighting and maybe use some 12v appliances. Your video has explained the wattage, volts and kwh usage where I can understand it. Because of your explanation I am confident that I only need 2 100W panels. I'll also use a 24v battery system. I now understand this too. Thanks again. You've really helped this 55 yr old woman on disability understand solar power.
You are great I never could find anyone who explained it to the point so regular folks could understand THANK YOU SO MUCH You are a the smartest on explaining
Now I have watched a lot of videos by the so called experts beating their chest but this is the first time I have understood any of these solar calculations. Thanks so very much. Keep up the good work. You have a new subscriber!
I agree, sticklers can move the heck on. I know how hard it is to do what you are trying to do. Lead, follow , or get out of the way. Keep on doing your videos. thank you
Richard Miller Thank you, for being to the point, with the grammar police, our interest here lies in learning from the person who knows, could care less about perfect or correct language, I M O.
@@ghz24 Yeah the units and maths is a bit off...watts x hours = watt.hours, not just watts and 300 - 45 = 255. Otherwise this video is pretty good for most people
the hilarious part of this video is that the equations and explanation are all 100% correct, he just did not add/subtract/multiply correctly, but aside from that he is correct.
That's because he's getting confused with common core and regular arithmetic. Happens every day to our kids in school. They get taught both ways, but can ONLY GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL BY PASSING THE STANDARDIZED COMMON CORE TESTS. And god forbid you use the wrong formula in one class, get the correct answer but get the problem wrong for using the wrong formula for the class your in. Same issue when these poor kids get to college. Colleges need to have the kids forget common core and use only regular math. Which means the kids have to go early to take a remedial course to reprogram their math skills. Lol
@@davidford7843 - School should not exist to teach your brain WHAT to think. Rather, it should exist to teach your brain HOW to think. Thereby, the function of Common Core - is to expand the brains ability to think beyond... To teach the brain HOW to think - through things that don't naturally make sense.
Peter Bailey from England, really appreciate the Video, well explained for someone that isn't clued up like the others, i will keep you video. Again, Thanks Pete
Thanks bro for the very best explanation. Been trying to figure out how my small solar system keep loosing so much power. I started without any background idea at all. Awesome
Thanks a lot man thought me a lot already!! Do you think you could make a video on your setup and maybe a wind energy video if you know anything about making one from scratch I'm trying to figure out a cheap way to power my 32ft trailer for the summer
ty! omg I have been hoping I could find someone to explain solar to me, spending hours looking and listening to what I consider foreign language haha You are a wonderful teacher Ty again
Oh my gawd i'm doomed! Nearly 4 years after this video was made and the corona virus is shutting us down and making us stay inside except for 'essentials'. I thought to myself "Self, maybe a solar panel will come in handy incase things get real bad and electricity gets turned off. You wanted one for camping anyway 🤔" This is a good video. I understand it a bit better now. Whereas other videos went over my head. But this is something i need to learn with my hands on the equipment (settle down fellas ☺️) It's Autumn in Australia! Clouds all over the bloody sky! What will power up the SOLAR panels 🤦♀️ But even so, we just put our bushfires out last month that burned for nearly 6 months. We havn't seen the sun in fck knows how many months. I'm just a few days away from coming out of self isolation for 14 days after coming back from Bali. I've gone batty 🤪🦇 after watching so many solar panel you tube videos I can do this 🙄👍
Great job man, helped me wrap my head around solar panel systems. I recommend you re-title your video, “Solar for Dummies by instructor Powder”. Excellent Job
I have wanted to go camping and I've wanted to use solar energy to charge small lights, fans and ice less coolers, but I had been fearful of messing up. I could not understand exactly what I could charge. I understood that I can't go past half or it damages the battery but I could not get....that simply by adding a 2nd solar panel I'm doubling my capacity and so less of a chance of depleting my battery.. I have been trying and trying to understand this type of stuff and felt so overwhelmed....but hallelujah I finally get it a whole lot better! THANK YOU so very much for making this video! You are a great teacher.
You have done a better job explaining this than anyone I've ever heard. I'm 100% off grid and sure could have used this video when I was trying to educate myself on solar years ago.
something funny is, we invert our 12v to 110 ac and get a loss,then we power a transformer in most things we use,that takes the 110 we made at a loss back into a dc voltage ,and a lot of times that transformer is putting out 12 volts ,lol at an additional loss. anything that gets warm,is a loss, look for things that run on 12v,
Great point immrnoidall, here is another strange action we take . . . . We take tea bags, boil them, then we put ice in the liquid it produces, then we put sugar in it to sweeten it, then we add some lemon to sour it up a bit.
Jim Fyffe yup, led strips use 12v also automotive led lamps use 12v, thats why i use a load center that allow me to turn on the inverter only when needed
I appreciate anyone trying teach others so they start out their Solar Experiments on the right foot. Bless those people, may they get plenty of sunshine for their panels throughout the year. You folks realize technology is constantly improving, as we speak (write, etc...) We now have REMARKABLE daylight 6000k LED STRIPS for less than $10 that will outshine any incandescent bulb and they're more durable. You can get them in 5volt, 12volt and 24volt, plus they are waterproof and they run cold to the touch. I run a 5v led strip with a single solar charged 18650 battery (3.7v) which is about the size of an AA battery. It gets better, you can search for COB or SMD chips (led arrays) that can run on 3.7v, 6v or 12v and make solar lights too. There are $3 remotes for turning on and dimming those led projects too. Bang Good, the app, sells 3.7v 20 watt daylight led boards with a remote for less than $5. Aliexpress, the app, is another great source for everything solar and lighting, on the cheap.
The answer is yes and no. The battery has the capacity however the 400watt solar configuration does not create enough daily energy. There are three components to this equation: the amount of energy used by the MacBook Pro 15 (assumed to be 2015 or more recent) and the two 10w light bulbs; the amount of watts created by the solar panel, 400w; and the capacity of the battery when fully charged, 12v and 200amp hours. The amount of energy required for the MacBook Pro 15 made in 2015 is 13watts/hour. Two of these are 26 watts per hour, to which is added 2 10watt LED bulbs for another 20 watts per hour for a total of 46 watts per hour. If you are going to run the two laptops and the two LED lights for 10 hours, then you would need 460 watts of energy for the 10 hour day. So a 400watt per day solar system would not be enough for the 460watts needed. The 12v battery holds 200 amp hours, so the battery has 12 x 200 or 2,400 watts capacity. The battery has enough capacity for a 10 hour day running the 2 MacBooks and 2 LED light, however the 400w a day solar configuration would not be enough to charge it sufficiently. The solution would be to add another solar panel that would produce at least another 8 watts per hour. (An additional 60 watts per 10 hour day is needed or 6 additional watts per hour. Since there is 20% loss of energy from the solar panel, you need to generate 8 additional watts to get the 6.4 needed.)
Just keep in mind that you don't go off-grid solar to save money. No matter how high your electric bill is, it WAY cheaper than the same amount of power generated from an off-grid system. For a system just to power your energy efficient fridge, you can expect to need about $2500 worth of equipment, (pure sign wave inverter, charge controller, panels, battery bank, fuses, and wiring). The average fridge cost some $65/yr to run, so over 4 years to break even. The batteries will need replacing after several years, at a cost of +$600. (You need REAL deep cycle storage batteries, not automotive nor Marine.) Now, having said that, what an off-grid system is REALLY good for is some remote location with no utilities, or an emergency power backup. There are some LED solar light kits on Amazon that can also power your phones and tablets during a blackout. These make more sense and also useful for camping.
St8kout $65 per year to run a fridge would take over 38 years to recoup the $2500 investment. Where in hell did you take your math courses? I'd have to say you failed, miserably. (and i figured the 38 years in my head!). If you're going to attempt to correct others, ya might make sure you have *your* shit straight first. Sad.
gokblok, that was what I was trying to find out, although I think people probably spend $2500 or more on solar things. I don't have _any_ solar things so I would like to find out before I do anything. It seems expensive so far...
Seems he means not all the $2500 solar investment is just to run the fridge, you run other equipment, the portion of the $2500 investment dedicated to run the fridge is equivalent to the $65 x 4 years = $260 out of the $2500
At last! I am living in a vintage camper in Africa and have an average 3000 hours of sunshine each year. So far have spent quite a few of those hours trying to figure out what I need to power a small minibar sized refrigerator. Your video was SO helpful. I get it now😁 Thankyou.
Thank you so. We are investigating adding solar panels to our RV and now I know what to check on the electronics to estimate the watts per hr per item x estimated hrs of usage per day which will give me a guesstimate of my daily wattage needs. Then I will estimate an avg number of hrs of sun x 100 watt panel for avg watts output per day minus inverter & wiring loss to see how many panels I need. This really helped so much to help get me started and to be able to have some info when working with the purchase and installation of the solar power. Keep up the good work.
no it don't , The nominal (fully charged) voltage of a lead acid battery is around 12.7 to 13.00 volts at rest, a 50 percent discharged battery wil measure around 12.00 volt measured at res whit no load on it,, to fully recharge the battery you wil charge it til no less then 14,4 volts! this is for a standard lead-acid, for a closed AGM it is even higher 14,7 volts, for a gell cel it wil be a little lower 14,2 volts hope this helps
no, while its unload(or while your still using the battery ) it shouldnt read below 10.5v(at best you don't want to take it below 11v) under a good load (say at about 50watts if load). when the load is disconnected from the battery it read about 12.00v
Heh, if your 12V battery is reading 6V, it's destroyed and only useful as a boat anchor, (well, maybe get a few bucks on a trade-in). Reading the specific gravity is the only REAL accurate measure of charge. You can get one for maybe five bucks from any automotive store.
12.2 V. is about 50% charge. I cut mine off under load @ 12.0 V. Depends on how much the load is. Usually 150 Watts. I have a LOW voltage alarm set up to protect my batteries.
100W @ 12 Volts of the panel make 8,33Amps. 100W @ utility voltage of 110 make 0,9Amps. Power (in Watts) divided by system voltage (in Volts) gives you the intensity of the current (in Amperes). It depends therefore in what voltage your system works per each case. The problem (just in order to give you a simple example) is that if you want to light up a 100W lamp working in 110 Volts (drawing 0,9Amperes as shown above), you need to transform the voltage of the panel to 110V. Usually you need an inverter for this purpose. Neglecting the losses of the inverter, you will draw from the panel these 8,33Amps in order to light that lamp (if the day is so shiny for the panel to give you this, almost the nominal, output)...
The 2 BIG takeaways from your video. 1 100 watt solar panel produces 400 watts / day and a 100 amp hour deep cycle battery can store 1200 watts (12 volt system). I must've watched 50 videos from people trying to explain solar and your video was the first one that I could understand! Much thanks :)
Second that! Thanks man. I've been trying to work out our needs for way to long. Now just need to work out how much my phone uses to charge from dead lol
@@MsCharlieowl wire up a "cigarette lighter" port directly to the battery and charge the phone with a car charger, it's 90% more efficient.
You lose 45% going from DC to AC, then you lose another 50% from the phone charger that takes it from AC back to DC.
A fast charger for most modern phones uses 15w at 115v, so 0.1 amp. Since you're losing 90% of the power in conversion, you need to multiply that by 1.9. So it actually uses 30 watts. If it takes 2 hours, that's 60 watts.
If you wire straight to the battery, it's just 15w " 2 hours
@@zp944 lol no
It’s classic to have linguistic blips with skills that you show here. I can read a dictionary but couldn’t make sense of solar. Mr. , You are one gifted teacher. Thank you so much.
None of this solar stuff made sense til I watched this video. Thank goodness for you sir ❤
thank you, this made me understand solar...don't let the negative comments get you down...I'm a 70 y/o grandmother, and you taught me a lot. those people with negetive comments are always around...like a stinky old hound craving attention,..keep up the good work
Sharon Buck there are a lot of haters for free power because they may end up without a job, like us😂😂😂😂 they should have let me work when I was working
I think the overall point that everyone should take from this video is that either using good or bad math a 100w solar panel isn't going to get the trick done . Just like a $100 3d printer $5 drone kits and free VR glasses it should fall into the category of : Toys/entry-level learning tools that teach basic principles. Just like the potato clock, buzz board and motorized erector sets from years past this should be treated the same, to expand knowledge and better understanding of concept . Look at your electric bill or more specifically calculate your current hourly usage from your meter outside and apply to get a general idea how many 100w solar panels you would need to function your household. I think a great plan would be to have solar panels running your refrigerator and maybe a light independently for emergencies , roughly that would take a 1k -2k watt solar panel system with 2-4 deep cycle batteries,fuse disconnects for protection and an inverter to convert direct current to alternating current basing it off of a 600 watt per hour refrigerator in a region that gets moderate sunlight (this is not calculating the initial 1.8kwatt power surge of the fridge once it is turned on) after all is said and done with initial setup with just parts it will be well over $2.5k to start . This is more of a financial hit ( considering what it costs to operate a refrigerator through utility electric)at first and cross your fingers the equipment lasts well past the warranty time type of plan that in the long run may payback, but highly unlikely considering the inevitable maintenance/replacement.
I'd rather have a stinky old hound than a stinky old grandma
you did not learn a thing deep cycle batteries are made to be discharged way down and then recharged that is just one nonsense thiose so called calculations were bullshit panels Will charge on a cloudy day there are sveral kinds of panels
Sharon Buck are you related to the late Jeff Buck??
OMG...I have been struggling to understand all of this for about 6 months of research. The more I researched the more confused I got. I finally got it thanks to you. I saved this video and subscribed to your channel.
I appreciate your video because I'm about to go off grid and I'm researching everything.
I just need the long and short of the equation to get one cabin up and running. Time doesn't permit me to go back to school and get certified. I like when someone explains things in such a way that increases my understanding in a short period of time.
Thanks
can join you?
oxox:P
True
he did a really good job with how easily he can explain hard things
margaret gardner
ALL I CAN SAY IS YOU HAVE MASTERFULLY COMPLETED THE BEST VIDEO I'V EVER SEEN AND I AM A 65 YEAR OLD HANDYCAPPED MAN NEEDING TO GET READY FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN. THANK YOU BROTHER!
Hey man, I really appreciate you sharing the basic concepts of what you know concerning solar & being on point heading into the right directions! I generally received exactly what you were talking about! Thanks!, and I'm sure by now you've gotten even more better w/doing this! Great job man!
This is the most ive learned all week
Thanks man!
He did a great job explaining. I have electronics background , work with fiber optics etc. He broke it down close enough for the common joe would understand. Mathematics, close. He used what they call ohms law. E = volts I = current R = resistance. Power calculations P = watts I = current E = voltage. This is basic to anyone with electronics background, however, the common joe wont understand. ( unless shown on paper ). So, sit back listen to his video again and when mama says you have too much plugged into an outlet - you can say no, that I listened on youtube a video of a person that took HIS time to HELP people understand the basics. Good job.
But know that Moma WILL only slap you again - rightfully... Because you may not fry the house - but you WILL fry something you have plugged in. 😉
Awesome my friend and a big thanks for your help explaining electrics.far to many people these days think they should be paid for helping someone when if you are a good soul help shouldn't cost a thing.
I
Wish you all the best my friend.
So 3 batteries would give you approx 3900 watt hours or 1950 at 50% of battery. I'm planning on building a van with solor so all my wires will be close. I was planning on 3 100 watt pannels on the roof with like a 5000 watt inverter
3 100s at 80% would give me 240 per hour 1200 at 5 hrs of light
@@herschelgross5187 Yes, 3 100 amp-hour lead-acid batteries will provide you with 1800 usable watt-hours at 50% discharge before recharging. Ask yourself if you truly need a 5000w inverter as most inverters are only about 87% efficient (check your specific inverter efficiency rating) so the larger the inverter the higher the power loss and the bigger the drain on your batteries. also, 3 100 amp hour batteries would only power your 5000w inverter for 20-30 minutes before needing a recharge. that's assuming you are getting a 5000w inverter because you need to run 4000 watts continuously for some reason.
FINALLY ! Explained in a way I understand. Thank you!!
Thanks for making it easier to understand solar power needs. Most videos are more complex than they need to be, yours is one of three I found to make it very easy, and I used each vid to give me a consensus, great vid!
Finally someone explained it simply ... Thanks a lot
Thank you for an explanation I can understand. Electricity has never been my thing. Now I am trying to plan a solar set up for my RV. This will be so much help as I move forward. Good job.
Man! You are one of a very few people who actually make all this understandable! Many thanks from the *UK!*
I have had all the components for a basic solar system for about a year. I haven't put it together only because I didn't want to mess anything up. THANK YOU so very much! Because of your video, I now can feel confident in starting to use my system without being so nervous. Don't worry about the people who post negativity. You have done the very best job in explaining and I have got to say I have looked/listened to many trying to explain what you have, and by far, your explanation is the best!
Thank you this helped me just understand watts/volts/amps way more in 23 minutes than I've learned in 33 years
Just got 125 watts of solar panel and appreciate your explanation
Forget the calculations, your explanation was just what I needed. I finally get it. Thanks for taking the time to do this video.
Your video is the first video I've come across where it is actually beginning to make sense
You just laid it out so nicely in laymans terms...Im in Arizona and we have sun sun sun...I already change my lights to LEDs..3.5 now my plan is to get 2) 145 watt panels and calculate what i can supply power to...Tv,Refrig ,lighting.....
Thank so much, first time I was able to understand what was being said about solar, I had listen to 5 clips before you. ( so that mean you can move to front of the class.)
Yeah, the math got a little off but this was SO HELPFUL! Thank you for making it simple for me. I’m planning a small camper van and trying to decide between the simple Honda jackery all in one system or piecing together my own system. Thanks for making this process much easier!
you have no idea how many videos I have watched on this topic and you are the first where I actually grasp the concept!
Thanks for the video. This helps explain the questions i had in my head. I just hand a food trailer built to feed the needy and homeless. I wanted to do a solar panel rather than a generator. Now I now what I will need to operate the items i will be needing to use in the trailer. Thanks again. And do what I do, ignore the complainers! Thumbs up!
YOU ARE MY HERO!! You ROCK!! THANK YOU SOOOOO VERY, VERY MUCH FOR DOING THIS, you are a LIFE SAVER!! ~ 🙏🏻👍💃🏻💓🎉...
I love this , Thank- you so much ! I finally understand how now ! You are right , not all our brains are wired the same for understanding this... I've been waiting for an explanation to usage of solar just to take the next step and you did it in less than 25 minutes . Thank you again !
this is the first video that I have watched it has made me halfway understand what this is all about. Everything else I've lost has made my brain feel like it is boiling. Thank you for your effort it really helped me :-)
Great job explaining solar power. Thanks for the work you have done.
I'm 36 and I've just learnt a whole lot this evening
Im 63, and i did too. Im a retired commercial/industrial electrician with a little fiber optcs training.
And armed with past experience, 12 years ago, and what i learned here.
Its all about the math.
@@brianroberts5740 never too old to learn brother
Just when I thought I hit the end of the internet trying to find this explanation (it's been hours per day for weeks), I finally came across your video. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! I can stop crying now. I have answers.
Very good job explaining the break down. I hope people find your video helpful. You did a great job explaining.
You did great! I may need to watch this video a few times more 😂!! Thank you for taking the time to do this.👏😉
Thank you so very much, my light finally came on, and I now feel my comfortable about understanding solar power:) Blessings!
No problem. If you have any questions feel free to ask.
Tks I'm 77 yrs and finally understood it great job I will build one
For a beginner, I've learnt so much thanks to you.
Genuinely found this to be really helpful. Stripped back, clear and concise! Thanks.
Clear and concise?
Fuck me, why say in ten words what you can say in a thousand
Nice job! Thanks for taking the time to explain this. I'd rather have someone like you who kept it simple over an engineer that would have over explained it and made it complicated. Thanks!
My biggest problem with this video was finding it again to show my husband.
Finally..someone who explains it so we got the basics down pact.
Thank you.
Where were you like 2 months ago. I have been struggling to figure out how all this works, as far as watts volts. Such as how many panels needed to run TV or other devices. Finally this video makes sense and I know now exactly how many batteries and panels I need. Thank you so much and god bless you bro.
8:04 That should be 285, not 265.
You should try your best to find DC adapters for your electronics like TVs, DVD players or LED lights. The cheap inverters are really inefficient. Even the low efficiency numbers printed on the box are actually the maximum efficiency they reach at a specific load. They usually have a fan running etc. You should try to get appliances designed for truckers because they use 12V.
America......ranked 32nd in world education. Yes....I live in America. 😞
Ditch DVD players outright and get some other media device. Ripping those DVD to some sort of fire stick for instance or a raspberry pi would save alot of power as well. Converting an old laptop screen into your media screen would save alot too. As they generally less costly to run. But at that point a cheap Ultrabook is your golden device.
I have been using 12v power for decades.
Back in the mid 90s, I had a jumpstart battery and I would power my JVC Kaboom Box using the 12v cigarette lighter plug.
I ran that think for two days and nights of camping.
I just bought a 100 watt solar panel to charge a 12v 35ah lead acid battery.
It took many educated men hundreds of hours for as many years to work this stuff out, and you managed to work your way through it from the viewpoint of the humble layman and you did it buddy. Well done I now know more than I did before this video. 👍
Looking at the replies I was beginning to wonder if I was the only one... LOL
I think you explained it so people understand the concept great job.
The spell checkers and math critics should are probably to smart to be watching You Tube videos anyway.
I concur with your last statements, nice work, were all trying to decipher this jargon!
Very helpful. It doesn't matter if your calculations were off a bit. You helped me understand the whole concept of how solar works. Thank you for making this video.
This was really, really helpful. You explained these concepts in a really practical way. Thank you.
You did a great job:) There is
always someone trying to make
theirselves feel better by correcting others. We know what your saying!Thank you
True. Themselves, not theirselves. Lmao!
I was about to skip this but am so glad I didn't. You explained everything very clearly and in a way that made it easier to understand. Thanks for your efforts on this topic. Really helpful !!
Thank you, this helps explain well to me. Am very new solar. And I greatly appreciate you taking the time to carefully explain how it works.
You did a great job explaining for us beginners out here ♥ thank you sooooo MUCH !!! ♥ :)
thank you for the great video. I feel more confident about it now.
I have listened to hundreds of videos and I’m so grateful for this one because you really tie everything together thank you so much
Just came across your video. Thank you! You have broken it down really well so people understand what you are saying. Now I know what solar panels to buy yep u r on my to watch list. 😁
So glad I found this. Very helpful
The explanation for this is absolutely sound. Im guessing you generally use a calculator for working out the actual numbers . Never realised there was such a loss compared with how they rate the actual panels. Very handy.
Cheers mate..... This is one of the best explanations I've heard in general layman's jargon. I have a much better understanding now. Will follow your calculation methods. Appreciate the videos. Thanks again.
I am a 60 year old female . I appreciate the way you explained it. In simple terms.I finally got to understand better. Thanks to your video. Great help!
You are very talented at conveying a point without Pandantischism. Aughts be a teacher
Thank you very much for taking you time to explain this information to us. you have helped me so much with the knowledge you put online. It is going to help me go off the grid. I'm pressing the like button now. I will also share this with as many people as I can for you. Thank you for making this easy to understand!
Thank you for presenting this video. Many of the other videos that I have seen or articles that I have read overcomplicate the subject to the point that it becomes confusing. You gave a great explanation that can be used in a real world application...Thanks again!
This explanation is really great👍👍👍, sorry I now came across your vid (3 yrs later)
Well, Honestly, thats really the Best Explanation Ever !!, Cleared most of my confusions in calculations, Thanks Manchew !!
Thanks. I can replay this until I get it in my head.
even 2 years down the track I found this video and it's bloody amazing Imma put this away for another day. Thanks so much for this information for dummies hahaha Its gona help me sort out what I need to get. Thank you
Thank you Thank you Thank you. I've been watching many videos and I get so confused. I'm new to this concept and am working on what and how much I can do and spend. I want to convert some of my Little Cabin into 12v lighting and maybe use some 12v appliances. Your video has explained the wattage, volts and kwh usage where I can understand it. Because of your explanation I am confident that I only need 2 100W panels. I'll also use a 24v battery system. I now understand this too. Thanks again. You've really helped this 55 yr old woman on disability understand solar power.
Thanks..your simple and clear explanation was great !! Thanks Again !
Eliza Massey np glad i could help
Oh my😱, thank you soooo much for this. I am 58 and this is the first time that I am able to understand this.
Stumbled on this by accidents. There are no accidents. Subscribed. This is just what I needed. Thanks
I have watched lots of u tube videos and now watching yours I understand for the first time. You have simplified it so well. Thanks!!!
I was shitty at math as a kid, never got it, but explain it so easystandable 😉 thanks, bless ya
Man that was the best explanation ever! Thanks so much!
You are great I never could find anyone who explained it to the point so regular folks could understand THANK YOU SO MUCH You are a the smartest on explaining
Now I have watched a lot of videos by the so called experts beating their chest but this is the first time I have understood any of these solar calculations. Thanks so very much. Keep up the good work. You have a new subscriber!
Thank You! Great Video!
I agree, sticklers can move the heck on. I know how hard it is to do what you are trying to do. Lead, follow , or get out of the way. Keep on doing your videos. thank you
Richard Miller Thank you, for being to the point, with the grammar police, our interest here lies in learning from the person who knows, could care less about perfect or correct language, I M O.
Ya kniw what i do when i see that saying? I OBSTRUCT. lol, reminded me pf george carlin. Good comment tho
I love how people get branded as sticklers and haters for correcting an intrinsically vital concept being misstated.
@@ghz24 Yeah the units and maths is a bit off...watts x hours = watt.hours, not just watts and 300 - 45 = 255. Otherwise this video is pretty good for most people
Getting by is the name of the game. You did a good job on this. Thanks a lot!
Wow - outstanding! Nothing like the KISS concept...... works every time! Thank you
the hilarious part of this video is that the equations and explanation are all 100% correct, he just did not add/subtract/multiply correctly, but aside from that he is correct.
Red Menace true
Red Menace he's a genius
That's because he's getting confused with common core and regular arithmetic. Happens every day to our kids in school. They get taught both ways, but can ONLY GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL BY PASSING THE STANDARDIZED COMMON CORE TESTS. And god forbid you use the wrong formula in one class, get the correct answer but get the problem wrong for using the wrong formula for the class your in.
Same issue when these poor kids get to college. Colleges need to have the kids forget common core and use only regular math. Which means the kids have to go early to take a remedial course to reprogram their math skills. Lol
@@davidford7843 - School should not exist to teach your brain WHAT to think. Rather, it should exist to teach your brain HOW to think.
Thereby, the function of Common Core - is to expand the brains ability to think beyond... To teach the brain HOW to think - through things that don't naturally make sense.
@@davidford7843 - But no... He was done with school many years before common core was introduced.
It is not thought that way.
It makes a lot of sense.
Thanks for the help.
Now I have to make my own calculations.
My comment is the same as the last person, straight forward, clear step by step process/ explanation. Thank you.
Peter Bailey from England, really appreciate the Video, well explained for someone that isn't clued up like the others, i will keep you video. Again, Thanks Pete
Karer-g G[ J4 JBDFI np pete glad i could help.
Thanks bro for the very best explanation. Been trying to figure out how my small solar system keep loosing so much power. I started without any background idea at all. Awesome
Thanks a lot man thought me a lot already!! Do you think you could make a video on your setup and maybe a wind energy video if you know anything about making one from scratch I'm trying to figure out a cheap way to power my 32ft trailer for the summer
ty! omg I have been hoping I could find someone to explain solar to me, spending hours looking and listening to what I consider foreign language haha You are a wonderful teacher Ty again
Thank you for the explanation. I had no clue as to how to calculate this. thank you for taking the time to help others.
Oh my gawd i'm doomed! Nearly 4 years after this video was made and the corona virus is shutting us down and making us stay inside except for 'essentials'. I thought to myself "Self, maybe a solar panel will come in handy incase things get real bad and electricity gets turned off. You wanted one for camping anyway 🤔"
This is a good video. I understand it a bit better now. Whereas other videos went over my head. But this is something i need to learn with my hands on the equipment (settle down fellas ☺️)
It's Autumn in Australia! Clouds all over the bloody sky! What will power up the SOLAR panels 🤦♀️
But even so, we just put our bushfires out last month that burned for nearly 6 months. We havn't seen the sun in fck knows how many months.
I'm just a few days away from coming out of self isolation for 14 days after coming back from Bali. I've gone batty
🤪🦇 after watching so many solar panel you tube videos
I can do this 🙄👍
"YOU CAN DO THIS>>>"
Did you do this?
Great job man, helped me wrap my head around solar panel systems. I recommend you re-title your video, “Solar for Dummies by instructor Powder”. Excellent Job
I have wanted to go camping and I've wanted to use solar energy to charge small lights, fans and ice less coolers, but I had been fearful of messing up. I could not understand exactly what I could charge. I understood that I can't go past half or it damages the battery but I could not get....that simply by adding a 2nd solar panel I'm doubling my capacity and so less of a chance of depleting my battery.. I have been trying and trying to understand this type of stuff and felt so overwhelmed....but hallelujah I finally get it a whole lot better! THANK YOU so very much for making this video! You are a great teacher.
Excellent explanation. At last someone who describes all this simply. Thanks
You have done a better job explaining this than anyone I've ever heard.
I'm 100% off grid and sure could have used this video when I was trying to educate myself on solar years ago.
something funny is, we invert our 12v to 110 ac and get a loss,then we power a transformer in most things we use,that takes the 110 we made at a loss back into a dc voltage ,and a lot of times that transformer is putting out 12 volts ,lol at an additional loss. anything that gets warm,is a loss, look for things that run on 12v,
Excellent point. Need to buy DC appliances I suppose.
immrnoidall ARB makes 12v fridges that run at 10w
Great point immrnoidall, here is another strange action we take . . . . We take tea bags, boil them, then we put ice in the liquid it produces, then we put sugar in it to sweeten it, then we add some lemon to sour it up a bit.
Ah yes, you nailed it, led light bulbs are 12v now also
Jim Fyffe yup, led strips use 12v also automotive led lamps use 12v, thats why i use a load center that allow me to turn on the inverter only when needed
I appreciate anyone trying teach others so they start out their Solar Experiments on the right foot. Bless those people, may they get plenty of sunshine for their panels throughout the year. You folks realize technology is constantly improving, as we speak (write, etc...) We now have REMARKABLE daylight 6000k LED STRIPS for less than $10 that will outshine any incandescent bulb and they're more durable. You can get them in 5volt, 12volt and 24volt, plus they are waterproof and they run cold to the touch. I run a 5v led strip with a single solar charged 18650 battery (3.7v) which is about the size of an AA battery. It gets better, you can search for COB or SMD chips (led arrays) that can run on 3.7v, 6v or 12v and make solar lights too. There are $3 remotes for turning on and dimming those led projects too. Bang Good, the app, sells 3.7v 20 watt daylight led boards with a remote for less than $5. Aliexpress, the app, is another great source for everything solar and lighting, on the cheap.
Thanks. I learned stuff by watching.
And...
You are the REAL kind of guy.
Hope you are doing well and hang in there.
I need to run 2x Macbook Pros (15), 2x 10w LED Bulbs for 10hrs a day & I live in NE PA. Would a 400w, MPPT, single 200ah Lithium do? Thanks.
Yes but only if you aren't streaming all day
The answer is yes and no. The battery has the capacity however the 400watt solar configuration does not create enough daily energy. There are three components to this equation: the amount of energy used by the MacBook Pro 15 (assumed to be 2015 or more recent) and the two 10w light bulbs; the amount of watts created by the solar panel, 400w; and the capacity of the battery when fully charged, 12v and 200amp hours. The amount of energy required for the MacBook Pro 15 made in 2015 is 13watts/hour. Two of these are 26 watts per hour, to which is added 2 10watt LED bulbs for another 20 watts per hour for a total of 46 watts per hour. If you are going to run the two laptops and the two LED lights for 10 hours, then you would need 460 watts of energy for the 10 hour day. So a 400watt per day solar system would not be enough for the 460watts needed. The 12v battery holds 200 amp hours, so the battery has 12 x 200 or 2,400 watts capacity. The battery has enough capacity for a 10 hour day running the 2 MacBooks and 2 LED light, however the 400w a day solar configuration would not be enough to charge it sufficiently. The solution would be to add another solar panel that would produce at least another 8 watts per hour. (An additional 60 watts per 10 hour day is needed or 6 additional watts per hour. Since there is 20% loss of energy from the solar panel, you need to generate 8 additional watts to get the 6.4 needed.)
@@jkirby32 Thank you so much. I have since decided to configure a 600w setup.
Just keep in mind that you don't go off-grid solar to save money. No matter how high your electric bill is, it WAY cheaper than the same amount of power generated from an off-grid system.
For a system just to power your energy efficient fridge, you can expect to need about $2500 worth of equipment, (pure sign wave inverter, charge controller, panels, battery bank, fuses, and wiring). The average fridge cost some $65/yr to run, so over 4 years to break even. The batteries will need replacing after several years, at a cost of +$600. (You need REAL deep cycle storage batteries, not automotive nor Marine.)
Now, having said that, what an off-grid system is REALLY good for is some remote location with no utilities, or an emergency power backup. There are some LED solar light kits on Amazon that can also power your phones and tablets during a blackout. These make more sense and also useful for camping.
St8kout your calculations are off by ×10. So it would take 40 years to break even with a fridge. Right? Or did I read it wrong?
St8kout $65 per year to run a fridge would take over 38 years to recoup the $2500 investment. Where in hell did you take your math courses? I'd have to say you failed, miserably. (and i figured the 38 years in my head!). If you're going to attempt to correct others, ya might make sure you have *your* shit straight first. Sad.
Could've been a typo, fellas . . .
gokblok, that was what I was trying to find out, although I think people probably spend $2500 or more on solar things. I don't have _any_ solar things so I would like to find out before I do anything. It seems expensive so far...
Seems he means not all the $2500 solar investment is just to run the fridge, you run other equipment, the portion of the $2500 investment dedicated to run the fridge is equivalent to the $65 x 4 years = $260 out of the $2500
At last! I am living in a vintage camper in Africa and have an average 3000 hours of sunshine each year. So far have spent quite a few of those hours trying to figure out what I need to power a small minibar sized refrigerator. Your video was SO helpful. I get it now😁 Thankyou.
Thank you so. We are investigating adding solar panels to our RV and now I know what to check on the electronics to estimate the watts per hr per item x estimated hrs of usage per day which will give me a guesstimate of my daily wattage needs. Then I will estimate an avg number of hrs of sun x 100 watt panel for avg watts output per day minus inverter & wiring loss to see how many panels I need. This really helped so much to help get me started and to be able to have some info when working with the purchase and installation of the solar power. Keep up the good work.
when they say use no more than 50% of a 12 volt battery does that mean I can take it down to 6 volts on my volt meter when checking my battery?
no it don't ,
The nominal (fully charged) voltage of a lead acid battery is around 12.7 to 13.00 volts at rest, a 50 percent discharged battery wil measure around 12.00 volt measured at res whit no load on it,, to fully recharge the battery you wil charge it til no less then 14,4 volts!
this is for a standard lead-acid, for a closed AGM it is even higher 14,7 volts,
for a gell cel it wil be a little lower 14,2 volts hope this helps
no, while its unload(or while your still using the battery ) it shouldnt read below 10.5v(at best you don't want to take it below 11v) under a good load (say at about 50watts if load). when the load is disconnected from the battery it read about 12.00v
Heh, if your 12V battery is reading 6V, it's destroyed and only useful as a boat anchor, (well, maybe get a few bucks on a trade-in).
Reading the specific gravity is the only REAL accurate measure of charge. You can get one for maybe five bucks from any automotive store.
12.2 V. is about 50% charge. I cut mine off under load @ 12.0 V.
Depends on how much the load is. Usually 150 Watts.
I have a LOW voltage alarm set up to protect my batteries.
If you use a deep cycle marine battery you can take it down futher.
So that's about 1 amp??? is it not 120 volts divided by 100 watts comes out to 1.2 amps? That is not much.
Finally, some one with a correct statement
100W @ 12 Volts of the panel make 8,33Amps. 100W @ utility voltage of 110 make 0,9Amps. Power (in Watts) divided by system voltage (in Volts) gives you the intensity of the current (in Amperes). It depends therefore in what voltage your system works per each case. The problem (just in order to give you a simple example) is that if you want to light up a 100W lamp working in 110 Volts (drawing 0,9Amperes as shown above), you need to transform the voltage of the panel to 110V. Usually you need an inverter for this purpose. Neglecting the losses of the inverter, you will draw from the panel these 8,33Amps in order to light that lamp (if the day is so shiny for the panel to give you this, almost the nominal, output)...
I really learned a lot from your video, thank you for taking the time to explain wattage volts and amps
Manchew - This was VERY helpful! Thank you. Moving off the grid soon and you very clearly explained it to me in a way that I could TOTALLY understand.