Thanx for letting us watch you play with your solar rig. I have 2 of the harbor freight 100 watt kits powering my micro camper with 2 large deep cycle batteries and in my experience they will run the tv and mylights all well but I would suggest to all of you out there to have a reasonably large battery to store up enough juice to store the power these produce during the day to drive the tv and lights and such at night. I have 2 of the 114 amp hour batteries and I can stay up all night with the tv and lights blazing. Enjoy these harbor freight solar kits, they put out enough juice to drive more than you might think right off hand. GO CAMPING
Thanks again. There are practical uses for these solar panels. I have a friend that shares a house with his brother and they have a well and they used the 45 watt harbor freight solar panels to run the pump for the well and never lacked water. I know the 100 watt system will run more.
Great information. Thank you. We've got our ft'r that we enjoy at the beach, mountains and out in the middle of the desert. I appreciate knowing these hf solar panels will suffice with the proper AH batteries I'll need as well. Great information to roll with and, again, thanks
Kevin, Sounds like you know what you're talking about. Do you have the time to e-mail me to maybeexplain some things to me regarding my 100w solar kit?
Thank you, you explained it well. Saturday came and it was sunny 8 hours plus hours, watched tv, had a fan on and all on solar with batteries (6 deep cycle). I loved it. Had the family over and they could not believe it Again thanks.
I was thinking of buying this battery for use in my pop-up camper so we can watch a movie at night. This video answered that question precisely. Thanks
People are watching these videos and going I'll just get a solar panel and a battery and watch movies all day. People are not calculating the difference between AC and DC, you are the only person who actually factored in the multiplication of 10 for DC amps. People are going out there, spending 800 dollars on 2 solar panels and a 40amph battery, boy are they in for the shocks of their lives (or not shocks hehe) thank you for this video, it helps alot in clearing up some peoples misconceptions of how appliances work. This video was straight forward I appreciate it.
Thanks for you video you explain very well in all the other video i been watch. You video i understand good now i have better idea about solar panels thanks very much sir
I love your videos! you give a lot of information and I like how you play with the solar panels to see what they can put out. Keep pushing the videos out very helpful
Thank you so much for the video . Every time I go camping always afraid to use my car battery . Now I know when to say yes to my wife or how to say no to me kids .
For anyone looking to do this try to find a TV with DC input. Than you don't need to waste power going through an inverter. Also the backlighti setting can make a huge difference on power consumption. Example a 32" tv might only use 16 watts on low, but 45 watts on high.
I have 2 of those 35 amp hour batteries as well. I got them off of Ebay new for around $69.00 with shipping included so you CAN get better deals on them than what some people want for them. I will recommend that you NEVER drain your batteries below 10 or 11 volts because once you do that you shorten their life span significantly. MOST places will say what you did, that you should never go below half way. Yes, you CAN go that low but if you want peak performance ALWAYS from those batteries then NEVER allow them to go that low. I also purchased 10 smaller batteries and 2 of the 125 amp hour batteries from Amazon. I think I paid around $200 each for the 125 amp hour ones so you can definitely get some decent deals on solar stuff. I am soon to get 2 of those Harbor Freight systems and set them up here.
Very good demo in layman's terms. I'm considering buying one of these h.f. solar kits and this was good use of common household devices everyone can relate to.
Thank you. If interested... here is the playlist we have created that includes all the solar videos we have made to date. ua-cam.com/video/0wGJqgR7dx4/v-deo.html
Don’t overlook the vampire current use of your appliances. In order to start quickly they stay turned on but at a low level. This trickle usage can drain your battery when you think nothing is happening. A killawatt meter between your outlet and your device’s plug will tell you how much energy it eats when just sitting there. You might also test to see how long it takes to recharge the battery to full just as you top of a tank and then refil it to estimate your gas mileage. In other words, how long will it take under best conditions to recharge the battery after xx hours of usage. How long must your solar setup run to replace 4 hours of usage? 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 16 hours? This is important. Of course adding panels will reduce the time.
I usually think small HDTV's are useless, but when it comes to running on solar power, they are PERFECT to have. My large HDTV's would drain that battery quick.
THIS IZ VERY HELPFUL TO US NEWBIES TO THIS (SOLAR POWER 💡) ENERGY ( VISUAL & KNOWLEDGEABLE VIDEO ) TO BE ABLE TO SEE HEAR & KNOW YOURSELF THAT IT (ACTUALLY WORKS) IZZZZ A (BIG TIME "COMFORT") 👈🏼 ....... ( KNUCKLE👊🏽BUMP ) Billisa .....
Will the 100 watt Harbor Freight Solar Panels charge up one or two 1000 AH deep cycle batteries ???, I was wanting to run a TV and DVD as you showed in your video.
You mean 100 ah battery's. But if you have 1000 please let me know where to buy. One panel is good for minimal usage. 2-4 for running fans and other small appliances. 1-100watt panel produces 22 volts in full sun/ 17 in the shade with no load. ...one panel will charge a battery if there's full sun for at least 5-6 hours
No, These panels have a diode that will not let the battery drain over night. You will like our video that will go live in the morning. We explain in great detail this subject. We have mounted the solar panels to the roof of our van and explain the set up.
Awesome video thanks for the info! If it's a hundred watt amp power system can't you run a hundred watt amp hour battery at just charge it? I'm considering the Harbor Freight Thunderbolt but they don't seem to sell hundred- watt amp hour batteries only the 35s why is that?
Check what kind of battery you buy. Yes you can charge all sorts and different amp batteries with these solar panels. Harbor freight sells an AGM battery. If you are going to charge and use a battery in a closed space inside.. use AGM batteries so you do not have any hydrogen gas explosion.
Great question. The controller will drain the batteries a little over night but do have great protection not to over charge. I disconnect the charge controller from the batteries over night. Hope I understood your question.
Very informative. I have an identical setup I'm experimenting with, but I am unclear what do you set the "normal" target charging voltage at. Right now it is set at 12.9V. Could you tell me what yours is set at?
at the 8 minute and 50 second point of this video I explain this.... ua-cam.com/video/VmAM8kNvrHs/v-deo.html it is my understanding that 12volt batteries are fully charged at about 13.3 volts. A battery with a voltage reading of approximately 12.3 volts is half charged and needs to be recharged. Your battery at 12.9 volts could use a little more charge. The solar panels should show and open voltage of about 20 volts and under load if the battery need charging the charge controller could read as much as 14.5 volts to bring the battery up to 13.3 volts. Then the charge controller will settle down. Hope this helps. Thank you.
I just purchased same exact kit with the same exact battery you are showing. I don’t know why my 230 watt TV Immediately creates an overload and shuts off. My 12 V battery is fully charged and Should be able to put out 420 watts (12 V x 35 A = 420 watts). Any ideas?
You need an investor I believe.......keep researching vids....their are quite a few good simple ones.... I’m learning b4=I purchase, lol...... one guy hasVERY SIMPLE Set up.... I think his channel is Bush something , vid is called 100 watt solar on off grid cabin, something like that.... he is really good at explaining.....& he reuses things he already has......love that! Good luck!
Hi! Thank You for your Solar Tips! I'm a Solar Newbie living in L.A. We've been experiencing a swarm of Quakes recently and I'm reminded we'll all be off-grid when the big one strikes. Tryin' to learn, then buy, some Solar Equipment now so as to avoid the massive traffic jam into *Harbor* *Freight* Parking Lots once one of our Earthquake Fault Lines decide to "cut loose".
Um, no they aren't working at full amperage in the shade like that even if they read 14v You're still using lead acid so you'll be called granpa till you switch to lifepo 4 I'm tryin to survive 3 days of darkness, look like you tryin to survive around 3 hours of it. I'm just messin with yooz, I like what you do, I pressed the like button.
Well... That quick set up was just for the information of that video. In our van all 12 volt "items" using power have built in fuses that would blow. We do have an inverter converting the dc to ac power. The inverter has a fuse. That is good enough for me. Thank you for commenting.
You did a very good job! with explaining power usage and setting this all up. I was able to understand everything. I do have a question though; Can a person get longer cords for the solar panels, I do understand longer cords use more juice, create more resistance.
You can buy a little box that costs $10 and it's like a solar panel kit that has a long extension wire in it with a bunch of other little goodies where you can put your solar panels farther away and it's at Harbor Freight also.
Awesome vlog! Awesome video! Awesome day! Thank you, this video provided the correct solution to my problem. After two years how have they held up? Are you still using the same charge controller that came with the kit?
Yes. Everything is still working great. We have new videos on this subject. We have installed the system on top of our Van for use inside the Van. We have laid off the word awesome ...lol.. The videos are on our channel May 21st through May 23rd.
Interesting video but you keep referring to the panels being in the shade and speculating about being in the sun... Why not do a video showing their full capability? I'd like to see what they are capable of doing in the intended environment. Keep the videos coming as I am enjoying them.
Great comment. Mostly because we made the video when we had time and that is where the sun was. There is also the point that they are amorphous panels. These type of panels do well in sun light not just with the sun hitting them. The total they can produce is 15 watts and 25 watts for each type of panel. in most sun light situations you will get 50 percent. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for the sub, Bill
I have done research on televisions smaller TVs pull less juice and if you select the TV it has the Box on the power cable similar to a laptop charger that is converting it to 12 volts.. if there is a plug on the back of the TV it says 12 volts and you can unplug that plug that means you can run that TV directly off the battery eliminating the 30 or so Watts whatever the case is for the inverter. Then that would allow you to run the DVD player on a far smaller inverter with less loss
Very cool. As you can imagine the plug on the back of the TV that runs to that box do you have to cut that wire after the Box eliminating it from your cord. Without getting the polarities mixed up put a cigarette lighter adapter on it. The center of the cigarette adapter is positive outside is negative double check your schematic on that box that you eliminated or on the back of the TV but I can almost guarantee the plug on the TV it's the same positive on the inside negative on the outside. Be sure check continuity. Center should have continuity on both ends in the outside should have continuity. Cheers
Never go below 50% or they are damaged. A 12V battery at 50% is at 12.10V 60% drain is 12.24V 70% is 12.37V The deeper you drain them, the shorter their life.
Sams club have golf cart batteries you can hook in series with 2 batteries for about 200 or maybe 220 dollars for 2. They will last longer than deep cycle batteries.
Ron B Ron I see a lot of people connecting two 6v intead of one 12v. This is all confusing to me.. Please tell me what makes the golf batteries better?
I'm trying to figure how much storage and generation I need to run a Toyo heater through out the night at Lat. 64 N . Thanks for the info !! Everything is learning for me at this point.
got me one on the first it's still in the box unopened just brought it up to our trailer I have no clue how to do solar I figure this kit would be a great learning tool only have a old marine battery and 3 riding mower batt right now
awesome. If you watch all my solar videos you will not make the mistakes I have made.. lol My latest solar videos are today and yesterday. Go through my video list. Thank you so much for your comment.
I want to run a 5000btu arctic king. am I crazy in thinking that if I have the ahours in the battery storage at 230ah I will be able to do so. sine wave of course.
I have heard people putting appliances like refers on timers. When the refer is not being opened , like during the sleeping night hours, it loses very little cooling, not enough loss to spoil any food. The timer starts up the current from the battery bank at a time set when the solar panels can reach a balance of the current needs as the sun hits them. The same timing could be applied to the inverter, when it is not needed at night, it could be timed to shut off, it would not pull current from the battery bank. These timers are cheap and seem like an easy way to manage and maintain the energy stored in the batteries. Maybe, it could help your situation.
JUST the battery is NOT enough ... if you want to run that sucker all day every day ... then you need the batteries to handle that (at max 50% drain) and the solar panels to recharge those batteries on the shortest day of the year during the solar maximum of that day ... . the device you want to run would be a good idea ... now check out its power ratings .. Watts Amps and Voltages ... also it's efficiency and how often it runs .. if it is like a standard fridge ... or freezer .. then 45% to 50% of the rated operational drain per hour per day ... is a decent rough estimate ... so if its a 60w fridge when it runs but it doesnt run all day but for 10 minutes of each hour ... then every 6 hours it uses 60 watts ... that is what you have to configure your setup for ... so in this example ... you have to cover the power for 4 times the usage ( 24 hours in a day by 6 hours of actual operation is 4) ... so you have to cover the power for 60watts usage for 4 hours of constant use and recharge those batteries during the solar maximum of the day every day (you actually have more time BUT keep that for bad days and basic losses for basic load losses .. thats your error margin) . so you will have enough batteries to cover the amp hours of actual use and enough panels to replace that usage each day ... if it uses 60amps when running then you need a MINIMUM of 240Amp hours each day ... an average of 300 to 360 amp hours would be better (again this covers losses and bad days) . if you live in alaska then having the battery power to cover several days of use with no charge is best ... then add panels to recharge that battery bank on a good day during solar maximum on the shortest day of the year. ... since solar panels do work on overcast days and cloudy days you will get SOME charge every day BUT never fully charged ... so you have a built in safety net because you planned on a full recharge on the shortest day at solar maximum and not on expected day length ... . typically solar maximum is 4hours long generally around the noon hour ... yes it varies the further north and south of the equator you get ... the shortest day of the year has up to 10 hours of light (if youre in the land of the midnight sun get a wind generator) ... so you have 6 hours maximum of extra use of the panels ... this covers stormy days, hazy days ... dirty panels and anything else that will lower your panels effectiveness ... this is your built in real world safety net ... otherwise your trying to make an imperfect system work in a perfect world where it just doesnt happen.
the extension cord plugged into the wall is not connected to anything if you look closely you can see the end of the plug. The little red box near the wall is a converter which is connected to the battery which lets you plug tv dvd player , any 2 prong cords.
Your battery is not putting out 35 amps, it is not a 35 amp battery. It is a 12 v 35 amp hour battery. Amp hour rating is an means of measuring battery capacity. For deep cycle batteries the standard rating is 20 hours. So, if your Absorbed Glass Mat (that is what AGM stands for) battery has a rating of 35 AH @ 20Hr rate, then that battery would discharge over 20 hours at a 1.75 amp load. If you draw more than 1.75 amps, then the hrs the battery will last until depleted (10.5 volts) would be less than 20hrs. for example, if you draw 5 amps... 35Ah/5A= 7 hrs.
Buddy do you know why this battery will not run my 230 W TV? I made the mistake you are talking about thinking that 12 V times 35 A equals 420 W which I calculated was plenty sufficient to run my TV. I get an overload error when I try to turn my TV on attached to this inverter to battery to solar panel set up.
What you called an AMG battery is actually an AGM battery. It stands for Absorbent Glass Mat. It has fiberglass mesh between the battery plates which serves to contain the electrolyte and separate the plates. Very thin glass fibers are woven into a mat to increase the surface area enough to hold a sufficient amount of electrolyte on the cells for their lifetime.
So let me get to understand 1 battery I can get 3 hours and a half from a 12-volt 35 amp battery so I hook up two more batteries to the one I already have that would triple my house that will give me 10 hours at 30 minutes battery life nice video by the way
is the math in this video the same for figuring out light bulb usage? If I have a lamp with 3, 60Watt bulbs, do I figure, 180 watts x the 420 (as an example) to get 43 minutes of usage? or is it different for light bulbs? To me, that doesnt seem correct.
Got a 100watt (thunderbolt), 4marine deepcycle 100amp each. 4000w peak inverter (jupiter). How long can I run my 600watt fridge. Question is due to charge contrlor that comes with thunder, is no very user friendly.
right. You have to do the math. You have to know how much power your batteries have and only use half that power. Using more than half your battery power will damage your batteries. Knowing how much power you can use and how much power you are using will tell you how long you can use the power. This is how you determine how much power you need. Currently I am using two 35 amp hour batteries. So I have 70 amps. amps X volts = watts. so in my case 70 x 12 volts = 840 watts. I only want to use half that power so I have 420 watts when the sun is not shinning on my solar panels. The tv and dvd player and the inverter I use in this video as an example use 60 watts an hour combined. The tv is 40 watts, the dvd player is 10 watts and the inverter does use some power to convert the DC power to AC power so I just say 60 watts for this example. I have 420 watts divide by the 60 watts tells me I can run this for 7 hours. I don't watch tv for 7 hours lol. This just gives you an idea so you can add other things like lights etc to your system and grow your system as needed. to continue. If I deplete my batteries in half and use the 420 watts... The next day I have 190 watts of solar to charge my batteries. if I need to recover the 420 watts divided by the 190watts an hour it will only take me about 2 and a half hours of sunlight to recharge. This means I could run the tv and dvd and use 60 watts all day and still have enough solar to also recharge in about 3 and half hours of sun light. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for asking, please subscribe to our channel.
So, the Inverter takes the 12 volts DC from the batteries and turns it into 120V AC correct? Another Question: Will 2 or 4 batteries hooked in series (series or parallel?) take longer to charge if hooked to those same 4 Solar panels? Or does it not matter? I'm thinking that if you are using 4 panels for one battery, you'd need another four panels for each additional battery ..just to help keep the math straight. Also, if using 2 or 4 batteries, would you need a different inverter or would that one that comes with this set handle 4, 8 or 12 panels? Thanks!!
The included controller has an automatic shut off built in- even at night it will kill power to protect the batteries- very handy. It's also programmable so you can change the voltage if you want.
a basic plug timer setup would help ... save draining your battery ... after all if youre running a tv or porch light at night do you really need it on all night long while you sleep ... as for a porch light attach a motion sensor and the light is only on for a short period of time and not constantly draining power uselessly ... if youre running a fridge on it then you need enough battery power to cover that and enough panels to recharge those batteries during the day ... the best approximation to use is a full recharge from 50% drain to 100% full in ONLY the solar maximum for your area on the shortest day of the year ... then you have all the power you need to keep the fridge running every day and not be charged for hydro from the power company for that piece. . also take into account how often you dont have sunny days ... if you live in a place that has lots of stormy weather or the north pole that has months of no sun and months of sun ... then you need batteries and panels to cover a few days of no sun and not drain below 50% on your batteries
I have this same solar array but I went with a 101 amp hr battery from walmart. I run my 19 inch tv and blue ray dvd for 6 hrs max if I want lights all night and a very small fan. I upgrade battery with another 101 amp hr total of 202 ano hr of battery my 100 wat solar isnt liking it it done very well recharge the 101 amp battery but with 202 amp is having trouble stopping off. I dont use anymore power as I did b4 but 202 amp hr battery I get right at 8hr of tv and plenty of power for lights if I want to run tv and dvd 24/7 I'm looking at 500 watt of solar and 500plus amp hr battery should do the job even on cloudy days
Get a smaller flat screen and you'll use less electricity. If you want to live off grid don't go expecting to live the same way that you did while you were hooked to the grid__ain't gonna happen.
![[UA] NAVI vs MOUZ | BO5 | IEM Rio 2024](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CMBYk0cbGoA/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanx for letting us watch you play with your solar rig. I have 2 of the harbor freight 100 watt kits powering my micro camper with 2 large deep cycle batteries and in my experience they will run the tv and mylights all well but I would suggest to all of you out there to have a reasonably large battery to store up enough juice to store the power these produce during the day to drive the tv and lights and such at night. I have 2 of the 114 amp hour batteries and I can stay up all night with the tv and lights blazing. Enjoy these harbor freight solar kits, they put out enough juice to drive more than you might think right off hand. GO CAMPING
Thank you for taking the time to send us this awesome comment.
Thanks again. There are practical uses for these solar panels. I have a friend that shares a house with his brother and they have a well and they used the 45 watt harbor freight solar panels to run the pump for the well and never lacked water. I know the 100 watt system will run more.
If you discharge 50% of your battery does your solar panel top battery completely back up again in less than 6 hours.
Great information. Thank you.
We've got our ft'r that we enjoy at the beach, mountains and out in the middle of the desert.
I appreciate knowing these hf solar panels will suffice with the proper AH batteries I'll need as well.
Great information to roll with and, again, thanks
Kevin,
Sounds like you know what you're talking about. Do you have the time to e-mail me to maybeexplain some things to me regarding my 100w solar kit?
Thank you, you explained it well. Saturday came and it was sunny 8 hours plus hours, watched tv, had a fan on and all on solar with batteries (6 deep cycle). I loved it. Had the family over and they could not believe it Again thanks.
Each battery AH ?
100
Now you know what the electric company hate people who you solar power it's expensive to get into but it pays off in the long run
I was thinking of buying this battery for use in my pop-up camper so we can watch a movie at night. This video answered that question precisely. Thanks
Thanks for the nice comment. Hope it works out for you. have an awesome day.
People are watching these videos and going I'll just get a solar panel and a battery and watch movies all day. People are not calculating the difference between AC and DC, you are the only person who actually factored in the multiplication of 10 for DC amps. People are going out there, spending 800 dollars on 2 solar panels and a 40amph battery, boy are they in for the shocks of their lives (or not shocks hehe) thank you for this video, it helps alot in clearing up some peoples misconceptions of how appliances work. This video was straight forward I appreciate it.
Good info thanks bud I’m trying to figure out what I’m gonna do as I update my solar system at my cabin !
Best explanation of how system works and how to figure consumption, keep up the great videos, subscribed before watching everything 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
Thanks for you video you explain very well in all the other video i been watch. You video i understand good now i have better idea about solar panels thanks very much sir
I bet that orange cord is warm 🔥
I do like the demonstration.
I love your videos! you give a lot of information and I like how you play with the solar panels to see what they can put out. Keep pushing the videos out very helpful
This video helps me understand the limitations for what I want to do.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for the video .
Every time I go camping always afraid to use my car battery .
Now I know when to say yes to my wife or how to say no to me kids .
For anyone looking to do this try to find a TV with DC input. Than you don't need to waste power going through an inverter. Also the backlighti setting can make a huge difference on power consumption. Example a 32" tv might only use 16 watts on low, but 45 watts on high.
I have 2 of those 35 amp hour batteries as well. I got them off of Ebay new for around $69.00 with shipping included so you CAN get better deals on them than what some people want for them. I will recommend that you NEVER drain your batteries below 10 or 11 volts because once you do that you shorten their life span significantly. MOST places will say what you did, that you should never go below half way. Yes, you CAN go that low but if you want peak performance ALWAYS from those batteries then NEVER allow them to go that low. I also purchased 10 smaller batteries and 2 of the 125 amp hour batteries from Amazon. I think I paid around $200 each for the 125 amp hour ones so you can definitely get some decent deals on solar stuff. I am soon to get 2 of those Harbor Freight systems and set them up here.
Great information. Thanks for the comment.
billisa: You're always welcome!
Best review I've seen on harbor freight solar kit
Very good demo in layman's terms. I'm considering buying one of these h.f. solar kits and this was good use of common household devices everyone can relate to.
Thank you. If interested... here is the playlist we have created that includes all the solar videos we have made to date. ua-cam.com/video/0wGJqgR7dx4/v-deo.html
Well I went and got my 100 watt solar panel kit from Harbor Freight last night.
That is awesome. Have fun with it. You will buy more.. lol
Thanks!! Got a 100W for my rv and in Arizona where sun is plentiful!!
you keep saying if they were in the sun . Put them in the sun so we know
May be it was too hot outside to walk and place the panels into the sun 😜
Great info. I just bought this kit last week. Learned a lot. Thx.
Don’t overlook the vampire current use of your appliances. In order to start quickly they stay turned on but at a low level. This trickle usage can drain your battery when you think nothing is happening. A killawatt meter between your outlet and your device’s plug will tell you how much energy it eats when just sitting there.
You might also test to see how long it takes to recharge the battery to full just as you top of a tank and then refil it to estimate your gas mileage. In other words, how long will it take under best conditions to recharge the battery after xx hours of usage. How long must your solar setup run to replace 4 hours of usage? 2 hours, 4 hours, 8 hours, 16 hours? This is important. Of course adding panels will reduce the time.
Nice little side gig, I love harbor freight! But how do you make sure all that is put away before the wife gets home?
can't wait until i get the extra money to buy that. I've been wishing and hoping and your video has gave me wat I wanted to Kno for when I go tenting
Thank you.
This is exactly what I want to do is running my Dish receiver my two TVs off of the solar panels thanks for the video
You are welcome. Thanks for the comment.
Good job explaining
Thank you!
What about if your using 2 regular car battery wires together with the solar kit hook up what bout play game system an TV
Very informative thank you.
Thanks for the video, just the info I was looking for
I usually think small HDTV's are useless, but when it comes to running on solar power, they are PERFECT to have. My large HDTV's would drain that battery quick.
GMoney LED TV for solar
LED tv's use like 30 watts on low light setting
What setting do have in ur controller?
Could I use these panels on a boat to run a 1500 watt amp and 80.4 on my boat ?
THIS IZ VERY HELPFUL TO US NEWBIES
TO THIS (SOLAR POWER 💡) ENERGY
( VISUAL & KNOWLEDGEABLE VIDEO )
TO BE ABLE TO SEE
HEAR & KNOW YOURSELF
THAT IT (ACTUALLY WORKS) IZZZZ
A (BIG TIME "COMFORT") 👈🏼 .......
( KNUCKLE👊🏽BUMP ) Billisa .....
Thank you.
Will the 100 watt Harbor Freight Solar Panels charge up one or two 1000 AH deep cycle batteries ???, I was wanting to run a TV and DVD as you showed in your video.
You mean 100 ah battery's. But if you have 1000 please let me know where to buy. One panel is good for minimal usage. 2-4 for running fans and other small appliances. 1-100watt panel produces 22 volts in full sun/ 17 in the shade with no load. ...one panel will charge a battery if there's full sun for at least 5-6 hours
Awesome video! Exactly what I needed to see. Thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Do you disconnect the solar panels at night when using the battery??
No, These panels have a diode that will not let the battery drain over night. You will like our video that will go live in the morning. We explain in great detail this subject. We have mounted the solar panels to the roof of our van and explain the set up.
billisa sweet deal. I’m looking forward to watching that.
Awesome video thanks for the info! If it's a hundred watt amp power system can't you run a hundred watt amp hour battery at just charge it? I'm considering the Harbor Freight Thunderbolt but they don't seem to sell hundred- watt amp hour batteries only the 35s why is that?
Check what kind of battery you buy. Yes you can charge all sorts and different amp batteries with these solar panels. Harbor freight sells an AGM battery. If you are going to charge and use a battery in a closed space inside.. use AGM batteries so you do not have any hydrogen gas explosion.
I’m not going to lie I Learned more about electricity than I did in school 😂
Thank you. You answered my question
Thanks for the video, great job!
Thank you too!
Brilliant little set up mate!!
Thank you.
Great video does the Harbor Freight controller have a low voltage cut off to protect your batteries.
Great question. The controller will drain the batteries a little over night but do have great protection not to over charge. I disconnect the charge controller from the batteries over night. Hope I understood your question.
Yes, it does. Defaults to 10.5 volts, but you can change it.
Terry Branch o
billisa o
Thanks useful.
You're welcome
Very informative. I have an identical setup I'm experimenting with, but I am unclear what do you set the "normal" target charging voltage at. Right now it is set at 12.9V. Could you tell me what yours is set at?
at the 8 minute and 50 second point of this video I explain this.... ua-cam.com/video/VmAM8kNvrHs/v-deo.html it is my understanding that 12volt batteries are fully charged at about 13.3 volts. A battery with a voltage reading of approximately 12.3 volts is half charged and needs to be recharged. Your battery at 12.9 volts could use a little more charge. The solar panels should show and open voltage of about 20 volts and under load if the battery need charging the charge controller could read as much as 14.5 volts to bring the battery up to 13.3 volts. Then the charge controller will settle down. Hope this helps. Thank you.
I just purchased same exact kit with the same exact battery you are showing. I don’t know why my 230 watt TV Immediately creates an overload and shuts off. My 12 V battery is fully charged and Should be able to put out 420 watts (12 V x 35 A = 420 watts). Any ideas?
You need an investor I believe.......keep researching vids....their are quite a few good simple ones.... I’m learning b4=I purchase, lol...... one guy hasVERY SIMPLE Set up.... I think his channel is Bush something , vid is called 100 watt solar on off grid cabin, something like that.... he is really good at explaining.....& he reuses things he already has......love that! Good luck!
Sorry, inverter, lol
Hi! Thank You for your Solar Tips! I'm a Solar Newbie living in L.A. We've been experiencing a swarm of Quakes recently and I'm reminded we'll all be off-grid when the big one strikes. Tryin' to learn, then buy, some Solar Equipment now so as to avoid the massive traffic jam into *Harbor* *Freight* Parking Lots once one of our Earthquake Fault Lines decide to "cut loose".
My momma always told me NEVER to trust a man in the bathroom mirror, dressed in a Mickey Mouse tank top. ;)
Love that!
Um, no they aren't working at full amperage in the shade like that even if they read 14v
You're still using lead acid so you'll be called granpa till you switch to lifepo 4
I'm tryin to survive 3 days of darkness, look like you tryin to survive around 3 hours of it.
I'm just messin with yooz, I like what you do, I pressed the like button.
Great video, lots of really good info 👍
Thank you
Thank you this was helpful :)
Good information. Lots of people recommend breakers but you r not using them. What is your opinion on breakers. Thanks
Well... That quick set up was just for the information of that video. In our van all 12 volt "items" using power have built in fuses that would blow. We do have an inverter converting the dc to ac power. The inverter has a fuse. That is good enough for me. Thank you for commenting.
Nice video bill..very informative!
Glad you liked it!
You did a very good job! with explaining power usage and setting this all up. I was able to understand everything. I do have a question though; Can a person get longer cords for the solar panels, I do understand longer cords use more juice, create more resistance.
You can buy a little box that costs $10 and it's like a solar panel kit that has a long extension wire in it with a bunch of other little goodies where you can put your solar panels farther away and it's at Harbor Freight also.
This is a very good video, thank you for all of this info.
Thank you.
Can I operate a 600 watt hot pot for no more than 30 mins with 750 watt inverter
Awesome vlog! Awesome video! Awesome day! Thank you, this video provided the correct solution to my problem. After two years how have they held up? Are you still using the same charge controller that came with the kit?
Yes. Everything is still working great. We have new videos on this subject. We have installed the system on top of our Van for use inside the Van. We have laid off the word awesome ...lol.. The videos are on our channel May 21st through May 23rd.
Thank you
You're welcome
Interesting video but you keep referring to the panels being in the shade and speculating about being in the sun... Why not do a video showing their full capability? I'd like to see what they are capable of doing in the intended environment. Keep the videos coming as I am enjoying them.
Great comment. Mostly because we made the video when we had time and that is where the sun was. There is also the point that they are amorphous panels. These type of panels do well in sun light not just with the sun hitting them. The total they can produce is 15 watts and 25 watts for each type of panel. in most sun light situations you will get 50 percent. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for the sub, Bill
Bob Amos they actualy charge in low light/cloud coverage as the would open sun...
When camping most of us are in shaded conditions except for winter time.
@@ImAChristianFirst by yourself little buddy heaters and a generator will help far as the winter months you could charge up your solar batteries
I have seen videos from others who recommend series 31 batteries or at least 100 amp-hours of energy storage in the battery.
Yeah having SOLAR panels in the sun might interesting, still a good vid
Yeah for sure
how long does it take to charge a single battery?
I have done research on televisions smaller TVs pull less juice and if you select the TV it has the Box on the power cable similar to a laptop charger that is converting it to 12 volts.. if there is a plug on the back of the TV it says 12 volts and you can unplug that plug that means you can run that TV directly off the battery eliminating the 30 or so Watts whatever the case is for the inverter. Then that would allow you to run the DVD player on a far smaller inverter with less loss
Totally agree. What a great comment. I will see if any of our TV are converting to 12 volt like you mentioned. Thanks
Very cool. As you can imagine the plug on the back of the TV that runs to that box do you have to cut that wire after the Box eliminating it from your cord. Without getting the polarities mixed up put a cigarette lighter adapter on it. The center of the cigarette adapter is positive outside is negative double check your schematic on that box that you eliminated or on the back of the TV but I can almost guarantee the plug on the TV it's the same positive on the inside negative on the outside. Be sure check continuity. Center should have continuity on both ends in the outside should have continuity. Cheers
Important Info: NEVER drain your Battery (ies) below 9V. Best is above 10.5V+ DC - MONITOR YOUR BATTERY (IES) ALWAYS !!!!
Never go below 50% or they are damaged. A 12V battery at 50% is at 12.10V 60% drain is 12.24V 70% is 12.37V The deeper you drain them, the shorter their life.
@@sjwolf yup, 12.0 is lowest or your gonna need a new battery soon.
Walmart has Marine deep cycle battery 122ah $100 better then the harbor freight battery
Sams club have golf cart batteries you can hook in series with 2 batteries for about 200 or maybe 220 dollars for 2. They will last longer than deep cycle batteries.
@@ronb6182 I was just going to ask if golf cart batteries or marine batteries would be better.
Ron B Ron I see a lot of people connecting two 6v intead of one 12v. This is all confusing to me.. Please tell me what makes the golf batteries better?
@@Freshbrood they have better discharge and recharge cycles meaning they can be drained and recharged more times then the others.
Walmart has good warranty but not batteries
I saw 1 extension cord in the inverter is that going into a strip for both the TV and DVD player?
That chord goes to a dual plug outlet on the back of the cabinet. Thanks for asking.
I'm trying to figure how much storage and generation I need to run a Toyo heater through out the night at Lat. 64 N .
Thanks for the info !!
Everything is learning for me at this point.
Not sure what a toyo heater is. I'm learning about this solar also. I use a big buddy heater with 2 100# propane tanks on it for heat.
Get yourself one of those Chinese diesel heaters. I have one in my camper van, and I run it all night for about a pint or less of diesel fuel
got me one on the first it's still in the box unopened just brought it up to our trailer I have no clue how to do solar I figure this kit would be a great learning tool only have a old marine battery and 3 riding mower batt right now
awesome. If you watch all my solar videos you will not make the mistakes I have made.. lol My latest solar videos are today and yesterday. Go through my video list. Thank you so much for your comment.
thank you
Nice. Now that i saw this video ill get a solar panel kit. So if i connect two batteries i will get 24 volts? The more batteries more power.
Hooked in 'series' you get double volts. Hooked in 'parallel' you get double amps/watts. I'm a total newbie but I learned this.
I want to run a 5000btu arctic king. am I crazy in thinking that if I have the ahours in the battery storage at 230ah I will be able to do so. sine wave of course.
I have heard people putting appliances like refers on timers. When the refer is not being opened , like during the sleeping night hours, it loses very little cooling, not enough loss to spoil any food. The timer starts up the current from the battery bank at a time set when the solar panels can reach a balance of the current needs as the sun hits them.
The same timing could be applied to the inverter, when it is not needed at night, it could be timed to shut off, it would not pull current from the battery bank.
These timers are cheap and seem like an easy way to manage and maintain the energy stored in the batteries.
Maybe, it could help your situation.
JUST the battery is NOT enough ... if you want to run that sucker all day every day ... then you need the batteries to handle that (at max 50% drain) and the solar panels to recharge those batteries on the shortest day of the year during the solar maximum of that day ...
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the device you want to run would be a good idea ... now check out its power ratings .. Watts Amps and Voltages ... also it's efficiency and how often it runs .. if it is like a standard fridge ... or freezer .. then 45% to 50% of the rated operational drain per hour per day ... is a decent rough estimate ... so if its a 60w fridge when it runs but it doesnt run all day but for 10 minutes of each hour ... then every 6 hours it uses 60 watts ... that is what you have to configure your setup for ... so in this example ... you have to cover the power for 4 times the usage ( 24 hours in a day by 6 hours of actual operation is 4) ... so you have to cover the power for 60watts usage for 4 hours of constant use and recharge those batteries during the solar maximum of the day every day (you actually have more time BUT keep that for bad days and basic losses for basic load losses .. thats your error margin)
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so you will have enough batteries to cover the amp hours of actual use and enough panels to replace that usage each day ... if it uses 60amps when running then you need a MINIMUM of 240Amp hours each day ... an average of 300 to 360 amp hours would be better (again this covers losses and bad days)
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if you live in alaska then having the battery power to cover several days of use with no charge is best ... then add panels to recharge that battery bank on a good day during solar maximum on the shortest day of the year. ... since solar panels do work on overcast days and cloudy days you will get SOME charge every day BUT never fully charged ... so you have a built in safety net because you planned on a full recharge on the shortest day at solar maximum and not on expected day length ...
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typically solar maximum is 4hours long generally around the noon hour ... yes it varies the further north and south of the equator you get ... the shortest day of the year has up to 10 hours of light (if youre in the land of the midnight sun get a wind generator) ... so you have 6 hours maximum of extra use of the panels ... this covers stormy days, hazy days ... dirty panels and anything else that will lower your panels effectiveness ... this is your built in real world safety net ... otherwise your trying to make an imperfect system work in a perfect world where it just doesnt happen.
Very good video
Thank you!
What's plugged into the wall under the extension cord
the extension cord plugged into the wall is not connected to anything if you look closely you can see the end of the plug. The little red box near the wall is a converter which is connected to the battery which lets you plug tv dvd player , any 2 prong cords.
WATT a good video.
Connecting 2-100watt kits to 1battery bank. Can it be done safely? Thats 8panels, 2charge controlers, 1batt bank (4-12volt) can it be done safely?
Yes and you would only need one charge controller only but you would have to get the universal round Hub thing.
How long do those panels take to charge those batteries from half charge?
TietLung depends on Sun
Your battery is not putting out 35 amps, it is not a 35 amp battery. It is a 12 v 35 amp hour battery. Amp hour rating is an means of measuring battery capacity. For deep cycle batteries the standard rating is 20 hours. So, if your Absorbed Glass Mat (that is what AGM stands for) battery has a rating of 35 AH @ 20Hr rate, then that battery would discharge over 20 hours at a 1.75 amp load. If you draw more than 1.75 amps, then the hrs the battery will last until depleted (10.5 volts) would be less than 20hrs. for example, if you draw 5 amps... 35Ah/5A= 7 hrs.
Buddy do you know why this battery will not run my 230 W TV? I made the mistake you are talking about thinking that 12 V times 35 A equals 420 W which I calculated was plenty sufficient to run my TV. I get an overload error when I try to turn my TV on attached to this inverter to battery to solar panel set up.
Does the charge controller automatically shut down power supply when battery life drops to around 50%?
Willie Bill nop
What you called an AMG battery is actually an AGM battery. It stands for Absorbent Glass Mat. It has fiberglass mesh between the battery plates which serves to contain the electrolyte and separate the plates. Very thin glass fibers are woven into a mat to increase the surface area enough to hold a sufficient amount of electrolyte on the cells for their lifetime.
Does it run a refrigerator for at least a couple of a couple hours for hours at least
Great video ty
Thanks for taking the time to comment. helps to keep us motivated.
Awesome awesome video. Thank you
Awesome
So let me get to understand 1 battery I can get 3 hours and a half from a 12-volt 35 amp battery so I hook up two more batteries to the one I already have that would triple my house that will give me 10 hours at 30 minutes battery life nice video by the way
It depends on your load,
thanks
Great thanks a lot now I have to watch starwars again lol great vid man thanks for the tips
Thanks for the nice comment.
good video
Thank you
is the math in this video the same for figuring out light bulb usage?
If I have a lamp with 3, 60Watt bulbs, do I figure, 180 watts x the 420 (as an example) to get 43 minutes of usage? or is it different for light bulbs? To me, that doesnt seem correct.
420 watts divided by the 180 watts = 2.3333 hours of run time
Convert to LEDs and you won't have to worry about it.
Got a 100watt (thunderbolt), 4marine deepcycle 100amp each. 4000w peak inverter (jupiter). How long can I run my 600watt fridge. Question is due to charge contrlor that comes with thunder, is no very user friendly.
Jerry Cruz I would like to know that as well
Jerry Cruz not long, fridge and AC have not been conquered. You'll need a lot of solar and battery.
How long to run an upright freezer using 2 batteries
You can buy a 12 v tv/DVD player made for boats and RV’s
and run the battery down...no thanks
Ok. Time to go see what Harbor Freight can do for me. AGM, that cheap?..yeah. Gotta go see what else. ty.
if you plug something into the inverter at night ... what keeps you from discharging your batteries down too far? This is where I am getting confused.
right. You have to do the math. You have to know how much power your batteries have and only use half that power. Using more than half your battery power will damage your batteries. Knowing how much power you can use and how much power you are using will tell you how long you can use the power. This is how you determine how much power you need. Currently I am using two 35 amp hour batteries. So I have 70 amps. amps X volts = watts. so in my case 70 x 12 volts = 840 watts. I only want to use half that power so I have 420 watts when the sun is not shinning on my solar panels. The tv and dvd player and the inverter I use in this video as an example use 60 watts an hour combined. The tv is 40 watts, the dvd player is 10 watts and the inverter does use some power to convert the DC power to AC power so I just say 60 watts for this example. I have 420 watts divide by the 60 watts tells me I can run this for 7 hours. I don't watch tv for 7 hours lol. This just gives you an idea so you can add other things like lights etc to your system and grow your system as needed. to continue. If I deplete my batteries in half and use the 420 watts... The next day I have 190 watts of solar to charge my batteries. if I need to recover the 420 watts divided by the 190watts an hour it will only take me about 2 and a half hours of sunlight to recharge. This means I could run the tv and dvd and use 60 watts all day and still have enough solar to also recharge in about 3 and half hours of sun light. Hope that makes sense. Thanks for asking, please subscribe to our channel.
So, the Inverter takes the 12 volts DC from the batteries and turns it into 120V AC correct?
Another Question: Will 2 or 4 batteries hooked in series (series or parallel?) take longer to charge if hooked to those same 4 Solar panels? Or does it not matter? I'm thinking that if you are using 4 panels for one battery, you'd need another four panels for each additional battery ..just to help keep the math straight. Also, if using 2 or 4 batteries, would you need a different inverter or would that one that comes with this set handle 4, 8 or 12 panels? Thanks!!
The included controller has an automatic shut off built in- even at night it will kill power to protect the batteries- very handy. It's also programmable so you can change the voltage if you want.
John Wunderlin that only works if you are plugged into the load side of the controller, if you are plugged into an inverter it bypasses that function.
a basic plug timer setup would help ... save draining your battery ... after all if youre running a tv or porch light at night do you really need it on all night long while you sleep ... as for a porch light attach a motion sensor and the light is only on for a short period of time and not constantly draining power uselessly ... if youre running a fridge on it then you need enough battery power to cover that and enough panels to recharge those batteries during the day ... the best approximation to use is a full recharge from 50% drain to 100% full in ONLY the solar maximum for your area on the shortest day of the year ... then you have all the power you need to keep the fridge running every day and not be charged for hydro from the power company for that piece.
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also take into account how often you dont have sunny days ... if you live in a place that has lots of stormy weather or the north pole that has months of no sun and months of sun ... then you need batteries and panels to cover a few days of no sun and not drain below 50% on your batteries
what is the screen size of the TV?
What do u mean discharg half way
That’s why you need to have a pack a super capacitors in between your inverter and your battery
Interesting, I have no clue about that. Never heard that. How and what size?
that is the strangest solar panel connection I have ever seen.
Heads Up
His outside electrical100 ft cord
...
Is making resistence,,,
( may be wasting 10% )!
new sub great video and info
Thank you very much.
I have this same solar array but I went with a 101 amp hr battery from walmart. I run my 19 inch tv and blue ray dvd for 6 hrs max if I want lights all night and a very small fan. I upgrade battery with another 101 amp hr total of 202 ano hr of battery my 100 wat solar isnt liking it it done very well recharge the 101 amp battery but with 202 amp is having trouble stopping off. I dont use anymore power as I did b4 but 202 amp hr battery I get right at 8hr of tv and plenty of power for lights if I want to run tv and dvd 24/7 I'm looking at 500 watt of solar and 500plus amp hr battery should do the job even on cloudy days
what size is your inverter? thnx
750 watt modified sine wave. Also purchased at Harbor Freight Tools. Thanks for asking.
thank you :)
Two bit wants his shirt back. Jk good video
Get a smaller flat screen and you'll use less electricity. If you want to live off grid don't go expecting to live the same way that you did while you were hooked to the grid__ain't gonna happen.
You forgot one thing that battery at anything less than 12V is basically dead as far as battery life