photovoltaic/solar thermal technician here: Love the Frankenstein setup 🤖car battery did the job but get a deep cycle marine battery instead. i prefer lead acid deep cycle batteries i know lithium phosphate but i'd rather use the price difference for other things like Super Capacitors 😉i hope you cleaned up the wiring for safety purposes. for demonstration purposes was Right On 👍
Thanks.... I have now got a deepcycle lead acid battery and got a few LifePO4 batteries aswell. What I noticed is that the lithium phospate holds the voltage well during continuous discharge compared to the lead acid for the same load. Anyway as long as it gets the job done what ever cost effective battery is ok!
Thanks!... Always remember they are only a form of temporary storage and the total energy they store is tiny compared to batteries. But their benefit is that they can release that energy much faster than a battery.
@@diysustainableliving2774 Okay thank you for the tip. I was always wondering if using a car battery could provide the extra surge in Amp demand for heavy loads from a refrigerator. Capacitors are such a cool intermediary and back up solution!
@@mrsheabutter regardless of storage the supercaps are always recommended. a fridge can draw up to 60amps when turning on, you need an inrush current meter to measure that
Im not sure how you plan to use the step up converter to run an AC fridge but a 140ah battery with the solar panels you mentioned in your previous comment is more than enough to run a standard fridge 24x7. You will need an inverter to get AC mains power from the DC input from your solar panels and battery.
No it dose not give a significant boost. But it helps to keep the voltage in check when we are using lithium batteries or like in this video when we are not using a battery at all!
Hi sir, Thank you for this video, I would like to know If I have solar panels 400w 24v ,500f 16v capacitor and I want set the buck converter at 14volts how much the value of amps should I set on the back converter to charge the capacitor without damaging on the capacitor ?
You only have to do it once where you first get the super capacitor voltage up to 12V. For that you can use a charging amperage of 1-2A to charge it up within a minute. After that make sureyou open the buck converter to the maximum output to get the best out of your panel. You dont have to rechage the supercapacitors every day as you can keep it connected and when the sun comes up it will slowly charge it by itself.
@@diysustainableliving2774can we charge our electric vehicle by this. My ev charger takes 220 volt ac and 3 to 4 amp during charging my battery. I want to connect super capacitor with battery in parallel. And as the sun sets I will turn of supercapcitor by mcb during night so that it will not drain from battery.
Yes you can. As long as you make your setup powerful enough to handle that load you can do it. I personally think you dont have to connect and disconnect your supercapacitors everyday as the self discharge rats are negligible.
Interesting . Due to audio reasons I couldn't understand what comes at the end of the Panel Cables. There are two devices Both wall mounted. Attached to them is the Amp Meter. Could you speak about them again and a little louder. Thanks. 🙂
Sorry about that. Those things on the wall before the ammeter are a buck converter and a pwm charge controller. Im using the buck converter in this set up as I am connecting my supercapacitor bank directly instead of the battery. This is why I have to limit the input voltage. Im not sure about the pwm scc as it is good when you have a battery but it is also rated for 24v batteries so with the supercaps if it overcharges the voltage it may end in a catastrophic failure. Thats the main reason for the buck converter in this video. I hope that makes sense.
At the time of making this video my solar panel was only 150w 12v panel. (18v and 8.8A at peak power). At 12 noon on a clear sunny day I would get around 8 to 9A.
In theory this idea should work using 7 150 watt panels to run a 5000btu window ac(550 watts normal operation) in order to rely primarily on the sun to run the unit on bright summer Texas days and only battery for startup and temporary clouds or auto switch to grid power for rainy days and night time...of course larger inverter bigger batt bank charge controller and buck converter is needed but over time? Will monthly savings pay for itself and how long to break even?
In solar setups batteries cost the most and tend to fail before other components. So if you are using the AC only during day time you can spend more money on the panels and run the load. Supercapacitors are only there for startup. Note by adding a small battery with the supercapacitors you wont have to worry about clouds covering the sun and shutting down your system.
I could see you have took some time to charged up the capacitors. - I've wondered how long does it take to charged up those 6 capacitors which was buffered with two pieces of 12v 20w bulbs? - And what is the specifications rating of your each Supercapacitors exactly?
Each capacitor is supposedto be 500F at 2.7V. But the real capaciyy is some where around 300 - 350F. This makes the total capacity of the capacitor bank to around 56F at 16.5V. Thae capacitors are placed in series to increase the voltage.
Nice experiment. Ive some questions for you... If you kind enough to answer... 1. Pls provide the link of your inverter... I'd like to purchase. 2. How did you made the capacitor bank or you purchased it ? 3. You are using a simple chinese pwm charge controller... How it's working without battery ? Did you put the solar output to its battery input ? Can't you put directly to the inverter ? 4. A ready to go 12v supercapacitor bank way more expensive than a lead acid battery... Doesn't it defeat the purpose ?
Answers to your questions.... 1. I purchased it on aliexpress. Please look at the reviews to make sure it is as described. Also try to oversize things as you may realise that you will need more power later. 2. The capacitor bank I initially purchased it as a full set. The balance board started to malfunction after one and a half years. So I had to go for a new balance board. The supercapacitors are still working strong, 3 years now. 3. I am using a buck converter to get the voltage down to 14.4v before sending it through the pwm charge controller. Without the buck converter I cant regulate the input voltage to the capacitors and inverter. 4. Yes.. just adding a battery is better than this. But the size of the battery needed will add to cost. And deepcycle lead acid batteries cost more. But with this setup with the supercapacitor bank you can get away with adding a small battery. This video is about explaining the different ways we can use solar power. Any method of reducing the battery cost and increasing its lifespan will save you money in the long run.
The buck convertrr is to bring down the voltage from 18v to 14v. It all depends on the size of your solar panel. If the panel is small you dont have to worry. But if have big panels compared to the load then you will need some thing to regulate the voltage or else your inverter will go into high voltage shutdown. The pwm here was just part of my system. I didnt want to keep removing and putting things back so thats why it is there.
Are you asking about the temporary setup with the zener diodes??... I used that as a temporary setup untill the new protection boards arrived. That setup failed. It didnt work as planned. The new protection boards work beautifully with balancing aswell.
Thank you maan... I should see your video before I blowout my invertor. I lost confidence on these made in......invertors. The only invertor I can trust is made by me. Hope I get time to make one....hhhh 🙏
If you have a portable power station that can output the sustained power for a fridge but not the induction spike, is there any practical way that a bank of supercapacitors can be wired into the AC out to enable it to start the fridge? e.g. bridge rectifier -> supercapacitors + bulb load -> another invertor ?
I think it will complicate things. I like simple circuits. As long as you put it to the DC input side the inverter can handle the induction load as the supercaps are there to give that spike in power demand when needed.
I think it will be easier for you to check out your local home appliance store and get the best fridge with the power rating and specs you desire. The lowest power refrigerator is usually the cheapest one available at the store. I made this video just to prove a concept that you can start and run a fridge directly from solar but when a cloud passes over the whole system will shut down! So it is best to add a battery to the system you are designing.
These supercapacitors are rated for 2.7v. So if I want a supercapacitor bank that can handle 14.4v then I have to add 6 of them in series to get a capacitor bank that can handle that voltage. As for the diy protection circuit using zener diodes I can say that it didnt work... I used that as a temporary solution till the proper protection boards arrived.
Well. Keep in mind that supercapacitors are different from batteries. They serve a specific purpose that batteries cannot do. Like wise they cannot fully replace batteries aswell. Think of them as a tiny battery with a big mouth!
Interesting video! Do you think it is possible do run a 12V compressor coolerbox in this way?. I was thinking about a foldable 200w solarpanel a buck-converter and a capacitorbank. I may be wrong but I think the compressor draws 45W when it is up and running...
For small compressors it should be fine. And especially as the cooler box will most probably be used during the day time with plenty of sunlight I think you can get away without using a battery. However if the sun dosent shine then you will need some form of backup power.
What if you put a larger load on output than the solar panel is producing? Example if you try to run iron? Will it work slowly or inverter will give alarm?
If I’m running a 12/24v DC 90watt refrigerator directly from solar panel should I still use a buck converter? Or since it’s 12 &24v dc input I don’t need it?
It depends on your panel voltage at maximum power. If it is within that range you shouldnt have any problem. But if it is more than that... Say 32V then you better consider a buck converter.
This set up only works when it is daylight, with or without the battery. Obviously, without a battery, the panels do not generate power at night. You will need several batteries to support the fridge all night. Then when the sun comes up again, you will need to recharge the batteries while still running the fridge. If you are not able to recharge the batteries completely during the day, you will not be able to run the fridge the next night. If you run a lead-acid battery below 50%, then you will harm the battery. I suggest that you build a relay to switch the fridge back to grid power in case the battery runs down, use the output side of your charge controller to control and power the relay. Program the charge controller to shut the relay off when the battery gets below 12V and back on above 12.8V. (The Eco-Worthy charge controllers are more programmable.) This also takes care of cloudy days. But doing this also means that you will only run the fridge on solar for a part of the day, not all day. Depending on how many batteries you have, you can adjust the times the inverter is on. Leaving the inverter on all the time will also deplete your battery. I used an Alexa compatible smart switch (double relay) to turn on/off the inverter at certain times of day. Open the inverter and run 2 wires parallelling the on/off switch and run the 2 wires to the Alexa switch. The other Alexa relay is in series with the grid relay. The Alexa App allows you to set up a routine to control each relay separately. I set my relays to come on 1 minute apart at noon and turn off at 4PM. I only have 2 batteries in parallel at this time. I could run the appliances longer if I bought more batteries. I am running an upright freezer and a side-by-side fridge this way on the same 2 batteries, 600W of panels (12V), and a 2000W FSW Inverter. Again, this is only good for 4 hours per day, or 60 running days per year, if full sun. It would take about 5 years to recoup my expenses.
Great explanation about the batteries and i like the idea of the relays as well. That is a really good way of avoiding batteries for the night. Anyway this video was only for proof of concept that you can power heavy induction loads using supercaps and without batteries. For a proper working setup your idea with the relays is the best.
In the system without battery, is it more efficient to connect the buck converter directly to the inverter? PWM loses its main function, charging and keeping the battery charged. Thanks again.
The PWM charge controller basically acts as a high frequency switch to send power through. At low voltage it basically stays on. So I dont think it will significantly impact the system efficiency. Anyway I would recommend to put atleast a small battery in the system since even if a cloud momentarily covers your panel, the panel voltage will drop and the inverter and what ever it is running will shut down. You may have to manually turn the whole thing on if this happens.
Its not working with me 😭.when i connect from solar to buck and buck to inverter .the inverter drop down voltag from 14 to 8.8 and loop restart in iverter ....bad idea my friend
@@In_the_name-of_ALLAH just because it does not work for you doesnt mean its a bad idea, its not going to work with just 1 or 2 panels. you need at least 10amps from the solar panels
@@In_the_name-of_ALLAH that buck converter you were using is about 6 amps max, the seller advertise it as 10 amps but if you check out the components you will find it doesnt give 10 amps, the inverter you have there will work at 12v but I dont know what output mains voltage you have,110v or 220v but lets assume it was 110v.if you wanted to run a fridge at 50w you would need at least 5 amps inputto the inverter but the fridge could draw up to 30amps for 2 second when the start coil is running this is where the supercaps will help you out. instead of drivng the radio from 6v as you are doing what I would do is connect the solar controller to a battery then connect the buck converter from the battery. you didnt show the solar panel that you were using but you show a picture of one which looks to be about 250w max so the average power could be about 100wto 170w
Difficulty I have is that the inverter goes into fault low voltage and won't restart when the sun comes out after a cloud. I use a battery but with a sun sensor which only turns the inverter on when sun is shining strongly. If the sun goes the inverter resets. Fridge keeps cool 24 hours with minimal use of the battery cycle life.
What is the size of your battery? And dose your fridge work an night aswell since you have that light sensor?..... First make sure your inverter is powerful enough to run the fridge. Second make sure the voltage at the input side dosent drop. That is 1) to make sure your battery is big enough or 2) you have added supercapacitors and 3) you have thick wires and the contacts are clean. Another important thing to consider is how rapidly your fridge cycles. If the sun sensor turns off when it is working and restarts quickly the fridge compressor will have to start to work against a high pressure. This causes it to draw a lot of amps than starting from a resting period of a few minutes!... I think the problem is the light sensor in your system.
Sir, if I arrange the system as you explained in the video, relying on capacitors only, without adding a battery, at the beginning of the next day, do I have to recharge the capacitor as I did the first time, or does the system work automatically? ?
Please note... Supercapacitors store only a tiny ammount of power. That is just enought to start an induction load but not eonought to run it. If you plan to leave it un attended the whole system will collapse. This was just a proof of concept video. Even if there is a cloud over head bloking sun light it can shut down the system.
@@diysustainableliving2774 I now that, My question is about if the system shot down when there are clouds or at night Do I need to recharge the capacitor?
I dont think you will need to do that. The inverters low voltage cut off is around 9.5v. So to bring the voltage to 12v you can just keep it connected. It all depends on how your inverter functions.
@@diysustainableliving2774 I want us only capacitors in the system without battery , If there is no power from the solar panel and the system shut down ,and the power come back again Do I have to recharge the capacitor in the same way as the first method, or will it automatically charge from the voltage regulator and the system will return to work?
So will that dc to dc converter handle the variable dc voltage from the panel 24hrs a day? The solar panel feeds a wide range of voltage levels throughout the day. Does it get hot?
First of all you can only get good usable power directly from the panel for only 6hrs a day around 12 noon. During this time it does a wonderful job of stepping down the voltage to our desired level. And yes it gets slightly hot. That is why it has big heat sinks. For every day use it doesn't need a cooling fan.
Ofcourse it only receives voltage during the sunlight hours. I only asked if it's effective receiving variable voltages throughout the day. You have turned a pwm charge controller into an mppt controller
That is just a short extension cord from the inverter to the fridge wire as it was a bit short. I had to use that so that I could positition everthing for the camera in a nice way.
First of all I need to know the power of the fan?, your battery capacity?, power of the panel? and whether your inverter is puresinewave or modified sinewave?
It is 2000w peak that is 2000w for only a fraction of a second. Like when a motor starts up. It can handle continuous power of only 1000w. You should always check the details before you purchace anything online.
Hi... First of all I dont have experience with inverter fridges but according to how they are supposed to work you shouldent have to have a powerful invrter as there should be no powersurge on startup. Next is the battery. It all depends on how much power you use in a 24hr period and how many hours you will need the battery to function till the sunlight comes back.
Thank you for freely giving out good solid information about your solar power system. I would like to see if and how you could run the capacitors along with the battery to obtain better efficiency.
I dont think efficiency will improve, but what I can say is the system should run smoother since capacitors will provide the necessary power during startup thus preventing voltage drop on the input side.
It depends on how much power your fridge uses in a day. The most amount of power you can produce using solar power is only 6hrs around noon. So your solar panels size should be able to generate the power used by your fridge in a single day within those 6hrs.
Hi there!.. Actually the theme of this video is to show that it is "possible" to start and run things without a battery but Not Practical!!... if you dont have adequate temporary storage a moment of cloud cover can shut your whole system down. It is better to add at least a small battery to your system just to keep it running when the sun dosent shine.
Using supercapacitors as a temporary storage instead of batteries should be enough to run the washing machine without a battery. Ill test it out and make a video on the oucome.
please make how to turn fridge to dc powered fridge, so no need inverter and more simple sircuit, as i undertand, the only need is the compressor to turn to dc powered
@@diysustainableliving2774 I'am so happy dear Master you are fine. I miss to see new videos in your Chanel, I was worried about you. I dont know how to comunicate privately maybe whatsApp. Well I want to tell you my evolution, I increased to 18 SC modules and I can run a magnetic cooker to 120w, refrig ac220V 150w, 24V solar freezer 120w, tv 77w, and 410w washer at the same time. I hope to share more ideas for new project videos. Greetings dear Master🤗☺️
Im fine thank you.... Had to take time out for work. I will be posting new videos again next year. Good to know your progress with solar power. It basically gives us energy independence and is a nice hobby as well.
I could see from the start that this video would potentially end up being pretty hilarious, and it was quite funny, until you correctly introduced the capacitors. Well explained too! Suprising how few people understand the concept of this method when needing to 'start' an inductive appliance, ie. refridgerator/motor, when only having use of lower power invertors/panels. But just to note: the charging circuit here implements Pulse Wave Modulation method, so is only suitable for lead-acid types of battery, as opposed to MPPT types which are for use with the latest technologies, ie. LFPs (LiFePO4). The buck convertor? Well, straight away this creates loss in the system from the panel, via heat loss, which should be avoided. Correct voltage panels suited to the charging circuit would be more appropriate. Also, add approriately-rated in-line fuses [for the intended application] and diodes to all of the lines (including both postiive/live and negative/neutral lines), for safety and to help prevent malfunction and destruction of the electronics.
Thanks!.... The charging circuit ofcourse... Well the main component here is the buck converter which is there to stabilize the voltage to 14.4v as the panel is giving around 18.5v at MPP. You wont need the pwm scc. I just kept it as it was part of my system. As you said... If you want the max out of your panel you would have to make sure the battery charging voltage matches the panel mpp voltage or using the MPPT scc which is the more expensive option.
@@diysustainableliving2774 You did a good job at explaning a basic solar setup, compared to the majority. I just don't like the cheap (usually Chinese 'knock off') buck convertors, as they waste alot of energy, use low specification components and therefore often produce unstable voltages and lots of noise (electrical noise). Where I have to use these in circuits (particularly audio-based cicruicts), nothing really beats the Anolog Devices transistors, with typical Noise Factors often around the 1dB/2dB. But, these circuits obviosuly don't need to go down that road. Still hate bucks though.
And the supercapacitors, again, nobody else seems to mention these in their videos. Well done for mentioning these. Shows that you understand electronics far better than most of these 'solar starters'. It's probably because these people learnt all that they know from other YT videos. Explains why they all appear the same.
If the buck converter was dropping the panel voltage to 14v then the solar controller would not be working in pwm mode and the solar controller was creating more loss than the buck converter. since there was no batteries in the circuit the diodes would be just wasting power since the load will/should not be feeding any voltage back to the panel. the inverter have fuses and I do believe the buck converter also have a fuse onboard at the input side of it
Hi sir thanks for the great video, i had a 2000 modified inventer and and a car battery i,m planning to buy a 250 solar panel do you think i will be able to power the fridge? thanks in advance
First try it on a fully charged battery and see what happens. Although the inverter will be labled as 2000w it will usually have half that power for continuous function. If it works then good but you will notice a humming noise from the compressor. Some times it might not work depending on your system. As for the panel, on a good day with full sunlight and an MPPT charge controller you can expect 1.5Kwh from that panel. But if you are using a pwm charge controller the pogeneration will be much less. BTW what is the power rating of your fridge?
It depends..... If the power draw is a lot it might work as the pwm switch will stay open. But as the power draw is less you will get interference as the pwm works as a high frequency switch. It adjusts the power delivered by adjusting the number of times the switch is open per second.
@@diysustainableliving2774 I have a 500W solar panel at 41V VMP. Supplying a 350 W DC pump. Will that work? Power Draw? Do you mean the electricity supply from solar panel?
Sorry for the late reply. Power draw is houmuch your appliance uses. Note that your water pump can run on the power of that solar panel but the question is will it start. Induction loads such as pumps and compressors need 5 to 7 times their rated power during startup. So please consider adding a small battery or a supercapacitor bank to the setup to make sure it works.
That supercapacitor bank was made of 6 x 2.7v 500F capacitors. It would have been equal to 16.2v 83F. Since your panal voltage is 36 i think you will have to have a 24v setup or a good mppt solar charge controller as that will be more beneficial than putting your money into the supercaps. You can consider the supercaps as the icing on top of the cake.
hello my friend can you tell me if it stays connected the solar panel back to the solar controller without putting batteries or will the consumption burn the solar controller??? or it won't be a problem as long as we leave it without batteries let me know if you know please
Once through the buck converter the voltage is stabilized so nothing is going to burn at that voltage. However without the battery a cloud passing overhead can shut down the system. This is just proof of concept which will work in specific conditions but not practical all the time in real world settings.
@@diysustainableliving2774 I have 3 lithium batteries and because I disconnect them in the evening because it's cold below zero and it doesn't do to stay outside I put them in and leave the solar controllers with the panels back on and in the morning when the temperature rises again I put the batteries back on and they charge normally what I asked you is if the solar controllers that are left for a few hours without batteries connected again can burn out because they only have the panels connected without batteries for a few hours in the morning
That... Im not sure. It is reccommended to connect your batteries before connecting the panels. I think it will be good if you install a switch on the panel side so it will make connecting and disconnecting easier and safer.
Please Note. Supercapacitors DONT HAVE! significant storage like a battery and they are neither a power source like the solar panel. The fridge wont last even 10 seconds with supercapacitors alone. It needs either a battery or solar power to work! In this video I am using the supercapacitors only to start the fridge. After that it keeps running on direct solar. If a cloud passes over everything will shut down.
great video. atleast electricians / electrical engineers can do the capacitor set up. how many cycles of the fridge going on and off will that capacitor handle before it is drained do you think. also what UF is the capacitors. and it’s wired in pararralell right ?
Yes.. They are in parallel and on the DC side of the inverter. They are in the Farad range (F), not uF. The are super capacitors but they are there to provide the initial burst of power required to start the induction load. Alone they can only power the fridge for only a second. You need some source of power to maintain the fridge running.
@@diysustainableliving2774 does the dc voltage side of inverter keep the capacitor recharged as the condenser in the fridge turns on and off over period of time or will the capacitor run out at some point and need ac recharging
The DC side keeps it always charged. Its benefit is only seen when starting an induction load such a fridge. During startup the fridge pulls a lot of current for the first few seconds. If the DC source such as battery or solar panels cant give the required power the voltage will drop drastically and the inverter will shutdown. The supercapacitors here function as a form of temporary storage. They can provide the massive boost of power for only a few seconds which is enough to start the induction load. Once it starts running the caps will automatically charge and come to its previous level as it is in parallel with the power source always.
Sir gud pm I have a question,sir i have a off grid set up,300 solar panels,50a controller,1500 watts inverter,100ah battery.what is the luck of my off grid set up run of a refrigerator?
What is the size of your refrigerator? And is your inverter pure sinewave?.... I think with this setup and an average size fridge you should be able to connect it an keep it running 24×7. Just do a few calculatios and see!
I have 300w solar panel and 200aps battery but the fridge keeps on cutting when running and it only cools the stuff failing to freeze the stuff. It's a deep freezer help please
If you have good sunlight the sloar panel and battery should be more than enought for any freezer. What about your inverter? Is it a pure sine wave inverter or modified sinewave? You will need a pure sinewave inverter when you are running heavy induction loads. Also what is the power of it? The inverter rated power should be more than 5 to 7 times that of the fridge as the fridge uses almost 5 times its running power during startup!
@@diysustainableliving2774 the fridge has those pegs, so it's direct to the battery. The solar panel then to the power controller then to the battery. Then the fridge came with those pegs to connect to the battery direct
Oh is it a DC power fridge. If that is the case make sure you have thick wires running from your battery to the fridge. Also if it needs more power consider adding supercapacitors to your setup. It will be helpful if you could give more details on your fridge and its specs.
Very true!.... When you get clouds the panel voltage drastically goes down. Even in summer although the day is long you get a lot of clouds which impact the panel output. I think UK has much more wind power than solar power and thats why you see a lot of wind turbines in the countryside as it makes more economical sense.
@@vnyeu a 12v solar panel voltage is around 20v with no load and around 18.5v at its maximum power point. To charge a 12v battery you need 14.4v. And pwm charge controllers act as a high frequency switch to momentarily connect and disconnect the panel to achieve the desired voltage. The problem with these cheape pwm charge controllers is that the voltage goes to around 14.7v which can over charge the battery. And if you see my other videos I have a LiFePO4 battery setup aswell. So thats why I have added a buck converter to give better control of the charge voltage. If you only have a lead acid battery the scc alone would be enough.
Can i know what happens when we disconnect supercapasitor after start the refrigerator ? Will the refrigerator turn off by it self or will it run without supercapacitor?
It should run by itself with direct power coming from the solar panels. The supercapacitor delivers power only during the first few milliseconds of starting the induction load.
@@diysustainableliving2774 @diysustainableliving2774 bro i wanna run DC 12v water pump.what about 200to 225w solar panel? will it produce enough power to run 12v water pump?
It all depends on the power of the water pump, how long you plan to use it and during what time of the day. With a 200w panel you can easily get 1.2kwh of power a day. It is equal to running a 200w pump for 6hrs continuously.
I think the most important thing is to figure out the pump. Like how I show in this video where I am using an AC 220v fridge, you can use this setup with a standard home waterpump as well. But if you want to go with 12v then it important to decide on the pump first. That will depend on the depth and height you have to pump the water to and the pumps available in your area.
For that I used the AC mains wire as they can handle a good amount of amps and are cost effective. From both panels I would get a maximum of around 14A but the wire can handle around 30A.
The super cap set up wouldnt work the next day when the sun comes up. the caps would be discharged and the low voltage on the panels would not give an adequate kick to start the inductive load.
Yes. Unfortunately at the time I did that video my previous protection board had failed. So prior to getting a new set I made a DIY set up using zener diodes. It did not do a good job at balancing the cells so I had to get new protection boards. This zener diode set-up is not reccomended.
These are DC supercapacitors. They are not in the microfarad levels they are in the Farad levels. Each of these are 2.7v 500F caps. There are 6 of these attatched in a series.
For that you have no option but to add a good capacity battery. Even in the day aswell if you don't have a battery a cloud passing overhead can shutdown your system. Thats why Im recommending to add at least a small battery to your system to stabilize it!
Dear Sir My solar panel generate 61v to 91v , unable to connect direct solar controller(50V) I want reduce solar value below 50v, What is number you used Buck Converter? Thanks
What is your panel voltage at its maximum power point? And what is the system voltage? If it is 48v then you wont need a buck converter. If it is 12 or 24v you will be better off considering an MPPT scc.
@Sudath Peiris Is that 91V VOC? Onthe panel sticker have they mentioned 61v and 91v? what is the system voltage your are having? The battery bank and inverter voltage?
I use 12V 10A 110-220VAC LED power supplies. These easily work on DC down to 60V and still give 80% power. They have to be modified to produce higher voltage and can be used with cheap PWM CC.
Good question. If you are only connecting supercapacitors then it wont last for even one second! The supercapacitors are there only to start the heavy load. After starting the fridge will be running on the power directly produced by your solar panel. So while this is working if a cloud passes over head the whole system will shut down.
You will need to size your inverter to around 3 to 5 times the power rating because of the ice cream machine compressor. And the panel size and battery size will depend on what time of the day you are going to use the machine!
It depends..... You can only harvest solar power for 6hrs a day right around noon. So you will have to calculate your 24hr requirement and size the panels so that you can get that power during that 6hrs. Eg you are running a 100w bulb for 12hrs. Then you will need total 1200 watt hrs. To get that power you will need to have a 200w panel. 200w × 6hrs = 1200watt hrs.
It depends on the size of the battery and how much power is stored in it. My current system with close to 100ah battery storage is able to power that same fridge over night and still have around 50% power remaining. So if you want to run a fridge you will have to know how much the fridge is going to need over night!
The fridge dosnt run continuously. It stops and starts. It is best to get a watt meter and see how much you will need for 24hrs. And calculate your system for that requirement!
Why my luminous 850 va inverter showing overload when i try to turn on fridge ? Im using 42 ah battery .. reply plz.fridge may be 80 watts but im TV fans lights all running around 700 watts load.. and then alone only fridge not able to turn on why?
Good question. The problem is that the fridge has a compressor which is an induction load. It will need 3 to 7 times its rated power to startup. Especially when the fridge is stopping and starting frequently. The pressure in the system will make the compressor work harder on startup. So your 80w fridge will need 560w or even more just to start. And if you are running other appliences at the same time I dont think your inverter can handle all that load.
I just had a look at the product specs. It should easily handle 540w. So next you have to check whether your battery to inverter wires are thick enough. Thin wires cannot deliver that amount of power. Also make sure the battery is fully charged. Finally you could consider adding Supercapacitors to your battery to boost the startup power. I have a separate video on this showing exactly how it helps in starting a fridge using a small battery.
As an alternative to supercap startup strategy what about incorporating An auto transfer switch ,setting solar as the primary power source and battery as the secondary. Thus after initial battery startup and when the sun goes behind a cloud, the ats switches to batt power until such time sufficient solar power from panels+buck converter is restored.Of course you would have a low coltage batt cutoff at which point system operation wou.d cease until panels are able to recharge battery enough for the jump start again. You would set the cutoff point such that the Batts only get a shallow depth of discharge ie 10% thereby increasing their lifespan drastically. IDK how you could still employ the supercaps in some capacity(lol) still but you can figure that out. .?which takes longer to recharge ....the Batts or the supercaps? Of course this whole setup is designed for daytime operation.
First of all automatic transfer switch have a small delay during their swithing from one source to another. This can result in the system shutting down. If I were to incorporate an automatic transfer switch with a battery then I will add it between the battery and the supercapacitors keeping the supercaps permanently in the setup. But if you use supercaps and battery and run the system only during day time you can use a small battery permanently wired with the supercaps like in this setup. Supercaps help small batteries give large startup power.
If he had wired the solar charge controller correctly this would do what you are asking since it monitors the battery and turn off before the battery low threshold
@teemum.9023 the solar controller have an output which is marked load or a lightbulb symbol, I use that to power a relay which switches off the power to the inverter, If you use a ssr instead of a mechanical relay make sure you have adequate heatsink.
It dosent!... This is just a proof of concept video that you can start and run induction loads directly using solar power without a battery using supercapacitors. If you want to run the fridge at night then you will need a battery.
It depends on the cost in your local area and the battery chemistry you want to use. Calculate how much power your fridge uses in a single day. You will have to build a system which could accomodate that energy in a single day and have a little bit extra reserve to compensate for possible rainy days as well.
Thank you for taking the time to share your awesome solar knowledge .Thank you also for sharing LINKS to purchase the products that you recommend . i have a sunny back yard and I cant wait to save money on my air conditioning bill ,God bless from USA .I subbed, liked and shared to my playlist ,Great video much respect .
Hi sir! I've got a power inverter same 2000 watt output but doesn't have LCD display. Is there a device I can purchase to monitor the inverter watts and volts? Thank you
My inverter display only shows the volts. To see how mang amps are comming from the solar panels Ive installed an amp meter after my pwm charge controller. If you want to see how many watts your appliences are using you can consider buying a watt meter which plugs directly into the inverter power outlet. They are all available on online stores.
Hi there. Sorry to bother again but I received my brand new 12v inverter yesterday, however when I connect a 6v battery to it it gives red blinking light. Is the battery too weak?
You need a 12v battery to connect to a 12 v inverter!. 6v is not enough. That inverters low voltage cut off will be around 10.5v where it will shut down!
Sir is it ok to connect 100,000 micro farrad 25V capacitor on 12V motorcycle battery..? Is it ok for the electrical parts, stator, lights, and any parts of the motorcycle..?
100,000 micro farads is 0.1 farad. My super capacitor bank should come to around 83 farads. As long as your system voltage is less than the capacitors voltage there shouldnt be any problem. Basically nothing new will happen to the parts of the motorcycle.
@@diysustainableliving2774 is it ok to use 1 pc of super capacitor with the rating of 10,000 mocro farad 50 volts to parallel on my Lifepo4 battery with BMS and then connect to 500 watts inverter ?
Hi friend. Wouldn't it be better to buy a balancing card for your super power packers and leave it in parallel always with the solar charger and battery and inverter? so as not to have to always be aware of charging the xcondenser with the bulb? Could you make a demonstration? Thank you
Well.... My balance board gave trouble so I built my own top balancing circuit using 2.7v Zener diodes. As for the capacitors you have to only charge them up once. After that they can be connected parallel to the battery the whole time.
@@diysustainableliving2774 How is it done? To charge it for the first time in my solar system. Do you first put a 12v 20w bulb in series with the supercapacitors and when this bulb goes out, do you remove it? in my bank of lead acid batteries. I then connect the supercapacitors in parallel? And it will also be placed in parallel to the inverter. I don't know if I explained myself. forgiveness. any scheme? Thank you
@@antonioaranda1800 The explanation of why you need to charge the caps slowly is that they can charge and discharge rapidly. What happens to wires if you send a large ammount of current through them?... They get hot! Very hot! Like that when the super capacitors charge up from 0v you dont want to send a large amount of power unrestrictedly. You have to put a resistor to reduce the flow of amps initially. This capacitor bank has to be charged from 0v all the way up to 14.2v. If not restricted there is a chance of sending 14.2 × 56F = 795 amps in one to two seconds. If that happens the capacitors and all its connectors can get extreamly hot and even explode!!..
@@antonioaranda1800 what you said is exactly how its done. The bulb functions both as a resister and as an indicator. Since the once the capacitors reach a voltage close to that of the battery the voltage difference will be less and hence the flow of amps across it will be less and it will lose its glow!
@@diysustainableliving2774 But once it is charged for the first time, the battery voltage will be equalized and it will not be necessary to put the bulb in series with the supercapacitor module. TRUE? Why if that day is cloudy all day and drops to 10 volts. and another day is loaded because the sun came out. I understand that the load will be the same on the batteries and capacitors because they are in parallel. No?
After long time search I found your video, 🙏. 1) I have Chinese 1600 watt inverter, rated power 800. 2) 42 ah SMF battery single 3) 150 watt poly panel 4) 10 amp pwm controller Can I able to run 170 ltr fridge in day time. Dc to DC buckcoverter 300 watt ok ? 2mm or 4 mm with battery and inverter would be best.
I hope your inverter is a pure sinewave one. Battery 2) panel 3) and PWM controller 4) is all that you will need to run during the day time. If you want to run it at night aswell then you will need a bigger battery and preferrably an MPPT charge controller to get the maximum out of your panel.. The buck converter is not good as an MPPT charge controller so that might not be of any use to you. And the last one 2mm 4mm! I didnt understand it?
@@diysustainableliving2774 hello hey love the video from Canada hey I want to run a freezer and few saws off grid help me please I really want to know a good link to buy #1 what size how many solar panels I would need , And inverter size and controller I'm so lost down the rabbit hole confused dang
@@silascardoso Yes MPPT is basically a buck converter which is able to keep the panel voltage at its maximum power point to extract the maximum power. MPPT should be better than a buck converter. I havent tried it since I dont have an MPPT charge controller.
@@diysustainableliving2774 what is the purpose of the buck converter? The PWM can convert the voltage directly from the solar panel without needing a external buck converter.
It depends on the size of the battery. Big battery with thick wires can easily give the needed power. But if your battery is small then adding a supercapacitor bank will take the startup load off the battery.
Thanks... Sorry for not including a diagram. Basically Im using supercapacitors as a temporary battery during start and running the fridge with direct solar power. Its always better to include at least a small battery in the setup in case of a cloudy day!
This is a dc to dc stepdown converter. These are available on online retailers such as aliexperss. If you dont use it, without a battery you dont have control of the input voltage from the panel.
@@mohdrahmat3420 12v compatible solar panel voltage can varies from 0v up to 20V. Inverters will function from 10.5v to 15.5v. If you dont regulate it within that range the inverter will shut down. Buck converters do a wonderful job at regulating the voltage. I set mine at 14.2v as I also use a LiFePO4 battery in my system aswell.
@@mohdrahmat3420 Yes but you can actually go upto 14.4v if you are using lead acid battery only. It will charge up faster. At 13.7 it will take a long time to charge fully!
So it means the super caps is just for start up, sir i want to know in your demo the refrigerator is running this is i want to till when the ref is running until solar sun goes down if good weather?
Yes the supercapacitors are only there to start the fridge as a large amount of power is needed at startup. Usually 5 to 7 times the rated power. Once it starts running it can run at the rated power. So aslong as the sun shines and your panels can produce the rated power required for the fridge it will work. Once the sun goes down or a cloud covers the sun the whole system will fail. Thats why I recommend incorporating at least a small battery in whatever solar offgrid system you design.
Its a 20ah one. I like to oversize these things so that they can easily handle smaller amp loads and not heat or burn up. Since it is cheap it has a few issues but it serves its purpose.
A car battery is not a good option for solar. It is best if you could get a deep cycle battery if you are going to run the fridge 24×7. As in my case for a 84w fridge you will need at least a 45ah lead acid battery going to around 50% depth of discharge. At this depth a brand new car battery will last for only 3 to 5 months daily cycling.
At the time I made this video it was just 150w. But I did this test in the afternoon with full sunshine. If you get a lot of clouds then you will need larger panels.
@@diysustainableliving2774Where I live in South Australia solar panels are highly effective, South Australia was the first jurisdiction in the world to get 100% baseload power from wind and solar, although there's so much oil gas and uranium in South Australia it's not necessary.
In Australia you get a lot of sunshine. But in places such as the UK... You get a lot of clouds where you will have to add more panels to get the same power.
@@diysustainableliving2774 I can get 2.6 KV a day from just one 300 watt panel, to put that into perspective if you ride a bike from sun up to sun down during summer you've only generated 1 KV 🤣🤣🤣
No... Without a battery it wont run when the sun goes down. Even if a cloud passes over the system will shut down. This is a proof of concept that supercapacitors can handle the temporary surge of power needed for induction loads. After it has started the fridge can run on the power directly generated by the solar panels as long as the panel output is above the power needed for the fridge to run.
So for example. My fridge which is around 70 uses 0.35Kwh of power per day. So if it is only the fridge you are going to power you will be safe if you have at least that amount of battery power. So for a 12v deep cycle lead acid battery with a 50% DoD you would need a 60Ah battery to be safe. For lithium batteries this can go up to 80% DoD.
@@diysustainableliving2774 what of if I have 100ah chloride lithium battery 12v,and inverter that has maximum power of 1200w and continuous power supply of 600w...and 200w solar panel
That should be enough to make a 70w fridge run for 24hrs. It now depends on the efficiency of the fridg. The fridge on and offs when the temperature rises. So as long as the fridge doors are not kept open all the time you should be fine 😊
It is not connected permanently. I used a 20w 12v bulb (2×10w if you look carefully) just as a high power resistor only to charge my supercapacitor bank from 0v to 12v. When charging your suercapacitors directly from a battery if you dont add a resistor, there will be a huge surge in flow of amps through the wires and the supercapacitors themselves can get very hot.
Use the equation I =V/R And it should be a high power resistor which could handle more than 10w since 1A × 12V will be 12w. So I think it will be cheaper to just use whatever 12v load you have with you for this purpose.
I think connecting directly to the battery while the solar controller is charging it in parallel means some power are being drawn from solar. Why did he not use the output terminals of the solar controller?
I dont think I understood your question correctly. In the first part I am running a standard solar setup to show how a battery starts a fridge. Next I show what happens when you connect an induction load directly to solar output. And thirdly I show how a supercapacitor can bridge that gap. Please let me know exactly what you would like to clarify.
2:39 You connected the inverter to the battery but the battery is still connected to the charge terminals of the solar controller. Therefore, the inverter is drawing power both from battery and solar at the same time. Why is it that there is nothing connected to the power output terminals of the solar controller? Is it not the proper path to get electricity coming from the battery while it charges?
Good question. Those output terminals on the solar charge controller are for small loads such as a light in your shed. They max out at 5 to 10A. You should not connect heavy loads on those terminals. For large loads you have to connect the inverter to the battery (Or Supercapacitor) terminals directly.
photovoltaic/solar thermal technician here: Love the Frankenstein setup 🤖car battery did the job but get a deep cycle marine battery instead. i prefer lead acid deep cycle batteries i know lithium phosphate but i'd rather use the price difference for other things like Super Capacitors 😉i hope you cleaned up the wiring for safety purposes. for demonstration purposes was Right On 👍
Thanks.... I have now got a deepcycle lead acid battery and got a few LifePO4 batteries aswell. What I noticed is that the lithium phospate holds the voltage well during continuous discharge compared to the lead acid for the same load. Anyway as long as it gets the job done what ever cost effective battery is ok!
but you will save in the long run if you invest in some life batteries
Lead acid deep cycle don't store enough power and drain to quickly, unless you live in Australia above the tropic of Capricorn I wouldn't advise it
Yup... The further away you go from the equator the more panels you will have to include in your setup to achieve the same amount of power.
Do you have a solar demo on UA-cam?
Este clip es más nutritivo que 500 de otros canales, muchísima información concreta, muchas gracias!
Great video, especially with the Super Capacitors. I never thought of using those as a back up. Thank you for sharing your wisdom!
Thanks!... Always remember they are only a form of temporary storage and the total energy they store is tiny compared to batteries. But their benefit is that they can release that energy much faster than a battery.
@@diysustainableliving2774 Okay thank you for the tip. I was always wondering if using a car battery could provide the extra surge in Amp demand for heavy loads from a refrigerator. Capacitors are such a cool intermediary and back up solution!
@@mrsheabutter regardless of storage the supercaps are always recommended. a fridge can draw up to 60amps when turning on, you need an inrush current meter to measure that
You are living the dream, here. I really hope to go off-grid in the near future.
Good... If you plan to go off grid always over size your system. In that way you will have room to add more appliances when the need arises.
Thanks for sharing
Can i use a step up converter 1800watts 10V/60 to 12V/90V with a 140ah lead acid battery to run a fridge???
Im not sure how you plan to use the step up converter to run an AC fridge but a 140ah battery with the solar panels you mentioned in your previous comment is more than enough to run a standard fridge 24x7. You will need an inverter to get AC mains power from the DC input from your solar panels and battery.
Why you are using a buck converter instead of directly to the pwm charge controller? Does this boost the ampere from the solar panel?
No it dose not give a significant boost. But it helps to keep the voltage in check when we are using lithium batteries or like in this video when we are not using a battery at all!
Super super. Very practical idea 👍👍👍
Thanks.... This was just a proof of concept video. For more practical applications you need more planning.
Hi sir,
Thank you for this video, I would like to know
If I have solar panels 400w 24v ,500f 16v capacitor and I want set the buck converter at 14volts how much the value of amps should I set on the back converter to charge the capacitor without damaging on the capacitor ?
You only have to do it once where you first get the super capacitor voltage up to 12V. For that you can use a charging amperage of 1-2A to charge it up within a minute. After that make sureyou open the buck converter to the maximum output to get the best out of your panel. You dont have to rechage the supercapacitors every day as you can keep it connected and when the sun comes up it will slowly charge it by itself.
@@diysustainableliving2774 thank you sir
@@diysustainableliving2774can we charge our electric vehicle by this.
My ev charger takes 220 volt ac and 3 to 4 amp during charging my battery.
I want to connect super capacitor with battery in parallel.
And as the sun sets I will turn of supercapcitor by mcb during night so that it will not drain from battery.
Yes you can. As long as you make your setup powerful enough to handle that load you can do it. I personally think you dont have to connect and disconnect your supercapacitors everyday as the self discharge rats are negligible.
@@diysustainableliving2774 what about in night Super capacitor will draw current from battery
Very good explanation and demonstrations.
Thanks!
Thank you from Brazil.
Your welcome!
Interesting . Due to audio reasons I couldn't understand what comes at the end of the Panel Cables. There are two devices Both wall mounted. Attached to them is the Amp Meter. Could you speak about them again and a little louder.
Thanks.
🙂
Sorry about that. Those things on the wall before the ammeter are a buck converter and a pwm charge controller. Im using the buck converter in this set up as I am connecting my supercapacitor bank directly instead of the battery. This is why I have to limit the input voltage. Im not sure about the pwm scc as it is good when you have a battery but it is also rated for 24v batteries so with the supercaps if it overcharges the voltage it may end in a catastrophic failure. Thats the main reason for the buck converter in this video. I hope that makes sense.
Hi is your solar panel volt is 24v or 12v ? and how many amp from solar panel to charge battery and work in the same time fan and others equipment.
At the time of making this video my solar panel was only 150w 12v panel. (18v and 8.8A at peak power). At 12 noon on a clear sunny day I would get around 8 to 9A.
In theory this idea should work using 7 150 watt panels to run a 5000btu window ac(550 watts normal operation) in order to rely primarily on the sun to run the unit on bright summer Texas days and only battery for startup and temporary clouds or auto switch to grid power for rainy days and night time...of course larger inverter bigger batt bank charge controller and buck converter is needed but over time? Will monthly savings pay for itself and how long to break even?
In solar setups batteries cost the most and tend to fail before other components. So if you are using the AC only during day time you can spend more money on the panels and run the load. Supercapacitors are only there for startup. Note by adding a small battery with the supercapacitors you wont have to worry about clouds covering the sun and shutting down your system.
Well explained and demonstrated. Great information. Thank you.
Thanks!
I could see you have took some time to charged up the capacitors.
- I've wondered how long does it take to charged up those 6 capacitors which was buffered with two pieces of 12v 20w bulbs?
- And what is the specifications rating of your each Supercapacitors exactly?
Each capacitor is supposedto be 500F at 2.7V. But the real capaciyy is some where around 300 - 350F. This makes the total capacity of the capacitor bank to around 56F at 16.5V. Thae capacitors are placed in series to increase the voltage.
Nice experiment. Ive some questions for you... If you kind enough to answer...
1. Pls provide the link of your inverter... I'd like to purchase.
2. How did you made the capacitor bank or you purchased it ?
3. You are using a simple chinese pwm charge controller... How it's working without battery ? Did you put the solar output to its battery input ? Can't you put directly to the inverter ?
4. A ready to go 12v supercapacitor bank way more expensive than a lead acid battery... Doesn't it defeat the purpose ?
Answers to your questions....
1. I purchased it on aliexpress. Please look at the reviews to make sure it is as described. Also try to oversize things as you may realise that you will need more power later.
2. The capacitor bank I initially purchased it as a full set. The balance board started to malfunction after one and a half years. So I had to go for a new balance board. The supercapacitors are still working strong, 3 years now.
3. I am using a buck converter to get the voltage down to 14.4v before sending it through the pwm charge controller. Without the buck converter I cant regulate the input voltage to the capacitors and inverter.
4. Yes.. just adding a battery is better than this. But the size of the battery needed will add to cost. And deepcycle lead acid batteries cost more. But with this setup with the supercapacitor bank you can get away with adding a small battery.
This video is about explaining the different ways we can use solar power. Any method of reducing the battery cost and increasing its lifespan will save you money in the long run.
@@diysustainableliving2774 Thanks for response.
what is your setup? What is the buck circuit in front of the charger doing? if I use 18 volt panel and 12 volt batery what should i do?
The buck convertrr is to bring down the voltage from 18v to 14v. It all depends on the size of your solar panel. If the panel is small you dont have to worry. But if have big panels compared to the load then you will need some thing to regulate the voltage or else your inverter will go into high voltage shutdown.
The pwm here was just part of my system. I didnt want to keep removing and putting things back so thats why it is there.
Nice expanation
How much can I buy the buck converter ( step down converter)
thank you
It dosent cost much. Just a few dollars. Please check the prices on ebay and aliexpress.
Thanks
Nice one 👍 please what is the value off the diode and the resistors used to protect the supper capacitor?
Are you asking about the temporary setup with the zener diodes??... I used that as a temporary setup untill the new protection boards arrived. That setup failed. It didnt work as planned. The new protection boards work beautifully with balancing aswell.
Thank you maan...
I should see your video before I blowout my invertor. I lost confidence on these made in......invertors.
The only invertor I can trust is made by me. Hope I get time to make one....hhhh 🙏
They are actually quite good. Check out the video I made on surge protectors. This can prevent these inverters from failing.
If you have a portable power station that can output the sustained power for a fridge but not the induction spike, is there any practical way that a bank of supercapacitors can be wired into the AC out to enable it to start the fridge?
e.g. bridge rectifier -> supercapacitors + bulb load -> another invertor ?
I think it will complicate things. I like simple circuits. As long as you put it to the DC input side the inverter can handle the induction load as the supercaps are there to give that spike in power demand when needed.
Can you provide the link to buy the fridge? 72 watts that's amazing.
I think it will be easier for you to check out your local home appliance store and get the best fridge with the power rating and specs you desire. The lowest power refrigerator is usually the cheapest one available at the store. I made this video just to prove a concept that you can start and run a fridge directly from solar but when a cloud passes over the whole system will shut down! So it is best to add a battery to the system you are designing.
Tnx for video. Why did you connect capacitors in series and not parallel and are those diodes in between capacitors?
These supercapacitors are rated for 2.7v. So if I want a supercapacitor bank that can handle 14.4v then I have to add 6 of them in series to get a capacitor bank that can handle that voltage. As for the diy protection circuit using zener diodes I can say that it didnt work... I used that as a temporary solution till the proper protection boards arrived.
Nice video. Using super caps is brilliant.
Well. Keep in mind that supercapacitors are different from batteries. They serve a specific purpose that batteries cannot do. Like wise they cannot fully replace batteries aswell. Think of them as a tiny battery with a big mouth!
Interesting video!
Do you think it is possible do run a 12V compressor coolerbox in this way?. I was thinking about a foldable 200w solarpanel a buck-converter and a capacitorbank.
I may be wrong but I think the compressor draws 45W when it is up and running...
For small compressors it should be fine. And especially as the cooler box will most probably be used during the day time with plenty of sunlight I think you can get away without using a battery. However if the sun dosent shine then you will need some form of backup power.
You're knowledgeable bro.
Thanks
Thank you very much for this very informative video!
Your welcome!
What if you put a larger load on output than the solar panel is producing? Example if you try to run iron? Will it work slowly or inverter will give alarm?
The inverter will alarm and shut down as there is not enough power.
If I’m running a 12/24v DC 90watt refrigerator directly from solar panel should I still use a buck converter? Or since it’s 12 &24v dc input I don’t need it?
It depends on your panel voltage at maximum power. If it is within that range you shouldnt have any problem. But if it is more than that... Say 32V then you better consider a buck converter.
Is there a link for those capacitors I'd like to purchase!
Amazon product links are available in the description. Please check it out!
This set up only works when it is daylight, with or without the battery.
Obviously, without a battery, the panels do not generate power at night.
You will need several batteries to support the fridge all night.
Then when the sun comes up again, you will need to recharge the batteries while still running the fridge.
If you are not able to recharge the batteries completely during the day, you will not be able to run the fridge the next night.
If you run a lead-acid battery below 50%, then you will harm the battery.
I suggest that you build a relay to switch the fridge back to grid power in case the battery runs down, use the output side of your charge controller to control and power the relay.
Program the charge controller to shut the relay off when the battery gets below 12V and back on above 12.8V. (The Eco-Worthy charge controllers are more programmable.)
This also takes care of cloudy days.
But doing this also means that you will only run the fridge on solar for a part of the day, not all day.
Depending on how many batteries you have, you can adjust the times the inverter is on.
Leaving the inverter on all the time will also deplete your battery.
I used an Alexa compatible smart switch (double relay) to turn on/off the inverter at certain times of day.
Open the inverter and run 2 wires parallelling the on/off switch and run the 2 wires to the Alexa switch.
The other Alexa relay is in series with the grid relay.
The Alexa App allows you to set up a routine to control each relay separately.
I set my relays to come on 1 minute apart at noon and turn off at 4PM.
I only have 2 batteries in parallel at this time.
I could run the appliances longer if I bought more batteries.
I am running an upright freezer and a side-by-side fridge this way on the same 2 batteries, 600W of panels (12V), and a 2000W FSW Inverter.
Again, this is only good for 4 hours per day, or 60 running days per year, if full sun.
It would take about 5 years to recoup my expenses.
Great explanation about the batteries and i like the idea of the relays as well. That is a really good way of avoiding batteries for the night. Anyway this video was only for proof of concept that you can power heavy induction loads using supercaps and without batteries. For a proper working setup your idea with the relays is the best.
In the system without battery, is it more efficient to connect the buck converter directly to the inverter? PWM loses its main function, charging and keeping the battery charged. Thanks again.
The PWM charge controller basically acts as a high frequency switch to send power through. At low voltage it basically stays on. So I dont think it will significantly impact the system efficiency. Anyway I would recommend to put atleast a small battery in the system since even if a cloud momentarily covers your panel, the panel voltage will drop and the inverter and what ever it is running will shut down. You may have to manually turn the whole thing on if this happens.
Its not working with me 😭.when i connect from solar to buck and buck to inverter .the inverter drop down voltag from 14 to 8.8 and loop restart in iverter ....bad idea my friend
@@In_the_name-of_ALLAH just because it does not work for you doesnt mean its a bad idea, its not going to work with just 1 or 2 panels. you need at least 10amps from the solar panels
@@dantronics1682 ua-cam.com/video/rDhcyAXKNsQ/v-deo.html
@@In_the_name-of_ALLAH that buck converter you were using is about 6 amps max, the seller advertise it as 10 amps but if you check out the components you will find it doesnt give 10 amps, the inverter you have there will work at 12v but I dont know what output mains voltage you have,110v or 220v but lets assume it was 110v.if you wanted to run a fridge at 50w you would need at least 5 amps inputto the inverter but the fridge could draw up to 30amps for 2 second when the start coil is running this is where the supercaps will help you out. instead of drivng the radio from 6v as you are doing what I would do is connect the solar controller to a battery then connect the buck converter from the battery. you didnt show the solar panel that you were using but you show a picture of one which looks to be about 250w max so the average power could be about 100wto 170w
excellent video!!
Thanks!
Difficulty I have is that the inverter goes into fault low voltage and won't restart when the sun comes out after a cloud. I use a battery but with a sun sensor which only turns the inverter on when sun is shining strongly. If the sun goes the inverter resets. Fridge keeps cool 24 hours with minimal use of the battery cycle life.
What is the size of your battery? And dose your fridge work an night aswell since you have that light sensor?..... First make sure your inverter is powerful enough to run the fridge. Second make sure the voltage at the input side dosent drop. That is 1) to make sure your battery is big enough or 2) you have added supercapacitors and 3) you have thick wires and the contacts are clean. Another important thing to consider is how rapidly your fridge cycles. If the sun sensor turns off when it is working and restarts quickly the fridge compressor will have to start to work against a high pressure. This causes it to draw a lot of amps than starting from a resting period of a few minutes!... I think the problem is the light sensor in your system.
A sun sensor? Do you mean an ldr?
Sir, if I arrange the system as you explained in the video, relying on capacitors only, without adding a battery, at the beginning of the next day, do I have to recharge the capacitor as I did the first time, or does the system work automatically? ?
Please note... Supercapacitors store only a tiny ammount of power. That is just enought to start an induction load but not eonought to run it. If you plan to leave it un attended the whole system will collapse. This was just a proof of concept video. Even if there is a cloud over head bloking sun light it can shut down the system.
@@diysustainableliving2774 I now that, My question is about if the system shot down when there are clouds or at night Do I need to recharge the capacitor?
I dont think you will need to do that. The inverters low voltage cut off is around 9.5v. So to bring the voltage to 12v you can just keep it connected. It all depends on how your inverter functions.
@@diysustainableliving2774
I want us only capacitors in the system without battery ,
If there is no power from the solar panel and the system shut down ,and the power come back again
Do I have to recharge the capacitor in the same way as the first method, or will it automatically charge from the voltage regulator and the system will return to work?
It will automatically charge up but whether the inverter turns on or not depends on your inverter.
So will that dc to dc converter handle the variable dc voltage from the panel 24hrs a day? The solar panel feeds a wide range of voltage levels throughout the day. Does it get hot?
First of all you can only get good usable power directly from the panel for only 6hrs a day around 12 noon. During this time it does a wonderful job of stepping down the voltage to our desired level. And yes it gets slightly hot. That is why it has big heat sinks. For every day use it doesn't need a cooling fan.
Ofcourse it only receives voltage during the sunlight hours. I only asked if it's effective receiving variable voltages throughout the day. You have turned a pwm charge controller into an mppt controller
@@mr.makeit4037 Nope.... This setup is not as effective as a mppt controller but it is good in regulating the voltage.
At 3:20 minutes, what is the white devise you plugged the Fridge into ?
That is just a short extension cord from the inverter to the fridge wire as it was a bit short. I had to use that so that I could positition everthing for the camera in a nice way.
@@diysustainableliving2774 Thanks
You are super great
With Brilliant mind as well
Thanks!
i have solar panel 20volts and maybe 50watts .if i use booster it can run 300watts heater on my inverter 12volts 1000watts?
No... You cant use 50w to create 1000w. You cant get more than what you put in.
My system not runing a fan for an hour connection setup good what's u think is round
First of all I need to know the power of the fan?, your battery capacity?, power of the panel? and whether your inverter is puresinewave or modified sinewave?
Sir can i asked. Your solar inverter 12 volts and 2000 watts? Thank you
It is 2000w peak that is 2000w for only a fraction of a second. Like when a motor starts up. It can handle continuous power of only 1000w. You should always check the details before you purchace anything online.
Sir can i ask question... Those 1600w inverter can run 90w invertype refrigerator? Then driven battery 12v/150ah for 24/7?
Hi... First of all I dont have experience with inverter fridges but according to how they are supposed to work you shouldent have to have a powerful invrter as there should be no powersurge on startup. Next is the battery. It all depends on how much power you use in a 24hr period and how many hours you will need the battery to function till the sunlight comes back.
Thank you for freely giving out good solid information about your solar power system. I would like to see if and how you could run the capacitors along with the battery to obtain better efficiency.
I dont think efficiency will improve, but what I can say is the system should run smoother since capacitors will provide the necessary power during startup thus preventing voltage drop on the input side.
Capacitors are those two item showing the readings right?
How many watt required solar panel run one fridge only?
It depends on how much power your fridge uses in a day. The most amount of power you can produce using solar power is only 6hrs around noon. So your solar panels size should be able to generate the power used by your fridge in a single day within those 6hrs.
Could you make a similar video running a washmachine without battery? Please. Greetings from Arequipa Peru ☺️🤗
Hi there!.. Actually the theme of this video is to show that it is "possible" to start and run things without a battery but Not Practical!!... if you dont have adequate temporary storage a moment of cloud cover can shut your whole system down. It is better to add at least a small battery to your system just to keep it running when the sun dosent shine.
Using supercapacitors as a temporary storage instead of batteries should be enough to run the washing machine without a battery. Ill test it out and make a video on the oucome.
please make how to turn fridge to dc powered fridge, so no need inverter and more simple sircuit, as i undertand, the only need is the compressor to turn to dc powered
@@diysustainableliving2774 I'am so happy dear Master you are fine. I miss to see new videos in your Chanel, I was worried about you. I dont know how to comunicate privately maybe whatsApp. Well I want to tell you my evolution, I increased to 18 SC modules and I can run a magnetic cooker to 120w, refrig ac220V 150w, 24V solar freezer 120w, tv 77w, and 410w washer at the same time. I hope to share more ideas for new project videos. Greetings dear Master🤗☺️
Im fine thank you.... Had to take time out for work. I will be posting new videos again next year. Good to know your progress with solar power. It basically gives us energy independence and is a nice hobby as well.
I could see from the start that this video would potentially end up being pretty hilarious, and it was quite funny, until you correctly introduced the capacitors. Well explained too! Suprising how few people understand the concept of this method when needing to 'start' an inductive appliance, ie. refridgerator/motor, when only having use of lower power invertors/panels. But just to note: the charging circuit here implements Pulse Wave Modulation method, so is only suitable for lead-acid types of battery, as opposed to MPPT types which are for use with the latest technologies, ie. LFPs (LiFePO4). The buck convertor? Well, straight away this creates loss in the system from the panel, via heat loss, which should be avoided. Correct voltage panels suited to the charging circuit would be more appropriate. Also, add approriately-rated in-line fuses [for the intended application] and diodes to all of the lines (including both postiive/live and negative/neutral lines), for safety and to help prevent malfunction and destruction of the electronics.
Thanks!.... The charging circuit ofcourse... Well the main component here is the buck converter which is there to stabilize the voltage to 14.4v as the panel is giving around 18.5v at MPP. You wont need the pwm scc. I just kept it as it was part of my system. As you said... If you want the max out of your panel you would have to make sure the battery charging voltage matches the panel mpp voltage or using the MPPT scc which is the more expensive option.
@@diysustainableliving2774 You did a good job at explaning a basic solar setup, compared to the majority. I just don't like the cheap (usually Chinese 'knock off') buck convertors, as they waste alot of energy, use low specification components and therefore often produce unstable voltages and lots of noise (electrical noise). Where I have to use these in circuits (particularly audio-based cicruicts), nothing really beats the Anolog Devices transistors, with typical Noise Factors often around the 1dB/2dB. But, these circuits obviosuly don't need to go down that road. Still hate bucks though.
And the supercapacitors, again, nobody else seems to mention these in their videos. Well done for mentioning these. Shows that you understand electronics far better than most of these 'solar starters'. It's probably because these people learnt all that they know from other YT videos. Explains why they all appear the same.
If the buck converter was dropping the panel voltage to 14v then the solar controller would not be working in pwm mode and the solar controller was creating more loss than the buck converter. since there was no batteries in the circuit the diodes would be just wasting power since the load will/should not be feeding any voltage back to the panel. the inverter have fuses and I do believe the buck converter also have a fuse onboard at the input side of it
Yes the PWM is not needed here.
Hi sir thanks for the great video, i had a 2000 modified inventer and and a car battery i,m planning to buy a 250 solar panel do you think i will be able to power the fridge? thanks in advance
I mean is the inventor good enough or do i need to change it to a pure sine one , given that i,m on tight budget
First try it on a fully charged battery and see what happens. Although the inverter will be labled as 2000w it will usually have half that power for continuous function. If it works then good but you will notice a humming noise from the compressor. Some times it might not work depending on your system. As for the panel, on a good day with full sunlight and an MPPT charge controller you can expect 1.5Kwh from that panel. But if you are using a pwm charge controller the pogeneration will be much less. BTW what is the power rating of your fridge?
Can we plug in direct from solar into PWM and then from PWM to DC appliances?
It depends..... If the power draw is a lot it might work as the pwm switch will stay open. But as the power draw is less you will get interference as the pwm works as a high frequency switch. It adjusts the power delivered by adjusting the number of times the switch is open per second.
@@diysustainableliving2774 I have a 500W solar panel at 41V VMP. Supplying a 350 W DC pump. Will that work?
Power Draw? Do you mean the electricity supply from solar panel?
Sorry for the late reply. Power draw is houmuch your appliance uses. Note that your water pump can run on the power of that solar panel but the question is will it start. Induction loads such as pumps and compressors need 5 to 7 times their rated power during startup. So please consider adding a small battery or a supercapacitor bank to the setup to make sure it works.
What kind and size of super capacitor are you using sir? May i know it?
These are the 2.7v 500F supercaps available on aliexpress.
Hello sir, may I know the number of that power capacitors? I have here 36v 250w solar panel? Any suggestion for good set up?
That supercapacitor bank was made of 6 x 2.7v 500F capacitors. It would have been equal to 16.2v 83F. Since your panal voltage is 36 i think you will have to have a 24v setup or a good mppt solar charge controller as that will be more beneficial than putting your money into the supercaps. You can consider the supercaps as the icing on top of the cake.
Copy sir, thank you..🫰
Hey sir what is the name of this device that the wires from the solar panel is connected to then goes to the charge controller
It is called a Buck converter or Dc to Dc step down converter. The one I am using is rated for 20A.
@@diysustainableliving2774 thank you sir
hello my friend can you tell me if it stays connected the solar panel back to the solar controller without putting batteries or will the consumption burn the solar controller??? or it won't be a problem as long as we leave it without batteries let me know if you know please
Once through the buck converter the voltage is stabilized so nothing is going to burn at that voltage. However without the battery a cloud passing overhead can shut down the system. This is just proof of concept which will work in specific conditions but not practical all the time in real world settings.
@@diysustainableliving2774 I have 3 lithium batteries and because I disconnect them in the evening because it's cold below zero and it doesn't do to stay outside I put them in and leave the solar controllers with the panels back on and in the morning when the temperature rises again I put the batteries back on and they charge normally what I asked you is if the solar controllers that are left for a few hours without batteries connected again can burn out because they only have the panels connected without batteries for a few hours in the morning
That... Im not sure. It is reccommended to connect your batteries before connecting the panels. I think it will be good if you install a switch on the panel side so it will make connecting and disconnecting easier and safer.
Please tell me....
How long time run fridge without battery...????
By the super capacitor bank system...
Please Note. Supercapacitors DONT HAVE! significant storage like a battery and they are neither a power source like the solar panel. The fridge wont last even 10 seconds with supercapacitors alone. It needs either a battery or solar power to work!
In this video I am using the supercapacitors only to start the fridge. After that it keeps running on direct solar. If a cloud passes over everything will shut down.
great video. atleast electricians / electrical engineers can do the capacitor set up. how many cycles of the fridge going on and off will that capacitor handle before it is drained do you think. also what UF is the capacitors. and it’s wired in pararralell right ?
Yes.. They are in parallel and on the DC side of the inverter. They are in the Farad range (F), not uF. The are super capacitors but they are there to provide the initial burst of power required to start the induction load. Alone they can only power the fridge for only a second. You need some source of power to maintain the fridge running.
@@diysustainableliving2774 does the dc voltage side of inverter keep the capacitor recharged as the condenser in the fridge turns on and off over period of time or will the capacitor run out at some point and need ac recharging
The DC side keeps it always charged. Its benefit is only seen when starting an induction load such a fridge. During startup the fridge pulls a lot of current for the first few seconds. If the DC source such as battery or solar panels cant give the required power the voltage will drop drastically and the inverter will shutdown. The supercapacitors here function as a form of temporary storage. They can provide the massive boost of power for only a few seconds which is enough to start the induction load. Once it starts running the caps will automatically charge and come to its previous level as it is in parallel with the power source always.
Sir gud pm I have a question,sir i have a off grid set up,300 solar panels,50a controller,1500 watts inverter,100ah battery.what is the luck of my off grid set up run of a refrigerator?
What is the size of your refrigerator? And is your inverter pure sinewave?.... I think with this setup and an average size fridge you should be able to connect it an keep it running 24×7. Just do a few calculatios and see!
I have 300w solar panel and 200aps battery but the fridge keeps on cutting when running and it only cools the stuff failing to freeze the stuff. It's a deep freezer help please
If you have good sunlight the sloar panel and battery should be more than enought for any freezer. What about your inverter? Is it a pure sine wave inverter or modified sinewave? You will need a pure sinewave inverter when you are running heavy induction loads. Also what is the power of it? The inverter rated power should be more than 5 to 7 times that of the fridge as the fridge uses almost 5 times its running power during startup!
@@diysustainableliving2774 the fridge has those pegs, so it's direct to the battery. The solar panel then to the power controller then to the battery. Then the fridge came with those pegs to connect to the battery direct
Oh is it a DC power fridge. If that is the case make sure you have thick wires running from your battery to the fridge. Also if it needs more power consider adding supercapacitors to your setup. It will be helpful if you could give more details on your fridge and its specs.
That is fine in hot country but not in Bad Weather UK?
Very true!.... When you get clouds the panel voltage drastically goes down. Even in summer although the day is long you get a lot of clouds which impact the panel output. I think UK has much more wind power than solar power and thats why you see a lot of wind turbines in the countryside as it makes more economical sense.
Hi, what is the small part on the left that you conect before the charger. And what is the purpose for that part doing?.
That is a buck converter. It regulates the voltage from the panel before going into the charge controller.
@@diysustainableliving2774 i thought that solar panel is 12v which would connect directly to the charger control.
@@vnyeu a 12v solar panel voltage is around 20v with no load and around 18.5v at its maximum power point. To charge a 12v battery you need 14.4v. And pwm charge controllers act as a high frequency switch to momentarily connect and disconnect the panel to achieve the desired voltage. The problem with these cheape pwm charge controllers is that the voltage goes to around 14.7v which can over charge the battery. And if you see my other videos I have a LiFePO4 battery setup aswell. So thats why I have added a buck converter to give better control of the charge voltage. If you only have a lead acid battery the scc alone would be enough.
How much for these, and also for big freezer, thanks
The price for these will vary from country to country. Please check with your local stores and on online sites for all the components.
Can i know what happens when we disconnect supercapasitor after start the refrigerator ? Will the refrigerator turn off by it self or will it run without supercapacitor?
It should run by itself with direct power coming from the solar panels. The supercapacitor delivers power only during the first few milliseconds of starting the induction load.
@@diysustainableliving2774 @diysustainableliving2774 bro i wanna run DC 12v water pump.what about 200to 225w solar panel? will it produce enough power to run 12v water pump?
It all depends on the power of the water pump, how long you plan to use it and during what time of the day. With a 200w panel you can easily get 1.2kwh of power a day. It is equal to running a 200w pump for 6hrs continuously.
@@diysustainableliving2774 I just need 1500 liter of water per day..but I have no idea what kind of water pump and solar should i buy.
I think the most important thing is to figure out the pump. Like how I show in this video where I am using an AC 220v fridge, you can use this setup with a standard home waterpump as well. But if you want to go with 12v then it important to decide on the pump first. That will depend on the depth and height you have to pump the water to and the pumps available in your area.
What size cables connect panels to battery and controller?
For that I used the AC mains wire as they can handle a good amount of amps and are cost effective. From both panels I would get a maximum of around 14A but the wire can handle around 30A.
@@diysustainableliving2774
Thank you for responding.
Do you know the wire specs 1.25mm, 1.50mm. 2.0mm, 2.5 or maybe 12, 14, 16. ?
No... Just look up at your local hardware store for AC mains input wires.
Good information thanks.
This is just about proof of concept. Hope you liked it.
Great insight thank you
Your welcome!
The super cap set up wouldnt work the next day when the sun comes up.
the caps would be discharged and the low voltage on the panels would not give an adequate kick to start the inductive load.
Exactly.... That is why you need at least a small battery in your system.
wouldnt the panels charge the caps?
Is there zener diode in that super capacitor
Yes. Unfortunately at the time I did that video my previous protection board had failed. So prior to getting a new set I made a DIY set up using zener diodes. It did not do a good job at balancing the cells so I had to get new protection boards. This zener diode set-up is not reccomended.
Super capacity value plz.capacitors ac or DC.voltages. And micro ferad.plz ans me
These are DC supercapacitors. They are not in the microfarad levels they are in the Farad levels. Each of these are 2.7v 500F caps. There are 6 of these attatched in a series.
How can we run the fridge in the night. Because fridge has to be operative in the night also.
For that you have no option but to add a good capacity battery. Even in the day aswell if you don't have a battery a cloud passing overhead can shutdown your system. Thats why Im recommending to add at least a small battery to your system to stabilize it!
Dear Sir
My solar panel generate 61v to 91v , unable to connect direct solar controller(50V)
I want reduce solar value below 50v,
What is number you used Buck Converter?
Thanks
What is your panel voltage at its maximum power point? And what is the system voltage? If it is 48v then you wont need a buck converter. If it is 12 or 24v you will be better off considering an MPPT scc.
@@diysustainableliving2774 Max power is 91V
Thanks
@Sudath Peiris Is that 91V VOC? Onthe panel sticker have they mentioned 61v and 91v? what is the system voltage your are having? The battery bank and inverter voltage?
I use 12V 10A 110-220VAC LED power supplies. These easily work on DC down to 60V and still give 80% power. They have to be modified to produce higher voltage and can be used with cheap PWM CC.
how long can it run tho with supercapacitors?
Good question. If you are only connecting supercapacitors then it wont last for even one second! The supercapacitors are there only to start the heavy load. After starting the fridge will be running on the power directly produced by your solar panel. So while this is working if a cloud passes over head the whole system will shut down.
Fried Ice Cream Machine that has power 740w.. Can I used this method with a 2000 watt pure sine wave inverter?
You will need to size your inverter to around 3 to 5 times the power rating because of the ice cream machine compressor. And the panel size and battery size will depend on what time of the day you are going to use the machine!
@@diysustainableliving2774 how many solar panel do you think required power of 740w ice cream machine
It depends..... You can only harvest solar power for 6hrs a day right around noon. So you will have to calculate your 24hr requirement and size the panels so that you can get that power during that 6hrs. Eg you are running a 100w bulb for 12hrs. Then you will need total 1200 watt hrs. To get that power you will need to have a 200w panel. 200w × 6hrs = 1200watt hrs.
How long will a fridge run in a battery only, asking for night time when there is no sun,
It depends on the size of the battery and how much power is stored in it. My current system with close to 100ah battery storage is able to power that same fridge over night and still have around 50% power remaining. So if you want to run a fridge you will have to know how much the fridge is going to need over night!
@@diysustainableliving2774 Fridge runs in abt 120 watts, and the battery i got its also 100AH,
The fridge dosnt run continuously. It stops and starts. It is best to get a watt meter and see how much you will need for 24hrs. And calculate your system for that requirement!
Why my luminous 850 va inverter showing overload when i try to turn on fridge ? Im using 42 ah battery .. reply plz.fridge may be 80 watts but im TV fans lights all running around 700 watts load.. and then alone only fridge not able to turn on why?
Good question. The problem is that the fridge has a compressor which is an induction load. It will need 3 to 7 times its rated power to startup. Especially when the fridge is stopping and starting frequently. The pressure in the system will make the compressor work harder on startup. So your 80w fridge will need 560w or even more just to start. And if you are running other appliences at the same time I dont think your inverter can handle all that load.
@@diysustainableliving2774 my inverter is 850 watts ..i tried to run only fridge no other load still didn't worked
Is it 850w peak or 850w continuous and 1500w peak?
@@diysustainableliving2774 I don't know peak sir! What is it
I just had a look at the product specs. It should easily handle 540w. So next you have to check whether your battery to inverter wires are thick enough. Thin wires cannot deliver that amount of power. Also make sure the battery is fully charged. Finally you could consider adding Supercapacitors to your battery to boost the startup power. I have a separate video on this showing exactly how it helps in starting a fridge using a small battery.
wow i take my hat off to you for using capacitors risky but well done
I dont think there is much risk involved as long as the protection circuits are there.
I was just about to ask where the risk comes into this
As an alternative to supercap startup strategy what about incorporating
An auto transfer switch ,setting solar as the primary power source and battery as the secondary. Thus after initial battery startup and when the sun goes behind a cloud, the ats switches to batt power until such time sufficient solar power from panels+buck converter is restored.Of course you would have a low coltage batt cutoff at which point system operation wou.d cease until panels are able to recharge battery enough for the jump start again. You would set the cutoff point such that the Batts only get a shallow depth of discharge ie 10% thereby increasing their lifespan drastically. IDK how you could still employ the supercaps in some capacity(lol) still but you can figure that out. .?which takes longer to recharge ....the Batts or the supercaps? Of course this whole setup is designed for daytime operation.
First of all automatic transfer switch have a small delay during their swithing from one source to another. This can result in the system shutting down. If I were to incorporate an automatic transfer switch with a battery then I will add it between the battery and the supercapacitors keeping the supercaps permanently in the setup. But if you use supercaps and battery and run the system only during day time you can use a small battery permanently wired with the supercaps like in this setup. Supercaps help small batteries give large startup power.
If he had wired the solar charge controller correctly this would do what you are asking since it monitors the battery and turn off before the battery low threshold
@teemum.9023 the solar controller have an output which is marked load or a lightbulb symbol, I use that to power a relay which switches off the power to the inverter, If you use a ssr instead of a mechanical relay make sure you have adequate heatsink.
How does the fridge run at night?
It dosent!... This is just a proof of concept video that you can start and run induction loads directly using solar power without a battery using supercapacitors. If you want to run the fridge at night then you will need a battery.
Can you run the fredge for the all day like this... just to know...
Without the battery No... If the sun goes down you dont have power to run the fridge. If you want to run the fridge at night you will need a battery.
Mag po gagastusin if magpa kabit ng solar para sa refrigerator lng po?
It depends on the cost in your local area and the battery chemistry you want to use. Calculate how much power your fridge uses in a single day. You will have to build a system which could accomodate that energy in a single day and have a little bit extra reserve to compensate for possible rainy days as well.
What kind of wires are needed for this setup?
No special wires. Just make sure the wires you use on the DC side are thick enough to handle the amp load while your refrigerator is running.
Thank you for taking the time to share your awesome solar knowledge .Thank you also for sharing LINKS to purchase the products that you recommend . i have a sunny back yard and I cant wait to save money on my air conditioning bill ,God bless from USA .I subbed, liked and shared to my playlist ,Great video much respect .
Thank you 😊
Can we connect the super capacitor permenently to the solar system... Thanks...
Yes they can. Mine are in my system for 3 years now and are permanently connected.
Hi sir! I've got a power inverter same 2000 watt output but doesn't have LCD display. Is there a device I can purchase to monitor the inverter watts and volts? Thank you
My inverter display only shows the volts. To see how mang amps are comming from the solar panels Ive installed an amp meter after my pwm charge controller. If you want to see how many watts your appliences are using you can consider buying a watt meter which plugs directly into the inverter power outlet. They are all available on online stores.
Thanks so much man! Keep making more videos I've subbed!
Thanks!
Hi there. Sorry to bother again but I received my brand new 12v inverter yesterday, however when I connect a 6v battery to it it gives red blinking light. Is the battery too weak?
You need a 12v battery to connect to a 12 v inverter!. 6v is not enough. That inverters low voltage cut off will be around 10.5v where it will shut down!
What are the ratings of the capacitors
These are supercapacitors. 2.7v 500F from china. Thy can be purchased online. The real values are around 360F after testing.
Sir is it ok to connect 100,000 micro farrad 25V capacitor on 12V motorcycle battery..? Is it ok for the electrical parts, stator, lights, and any parts of the motorcycle..?
100,000 micro farads is 0.1 farad. My super capacitor bank should come to around 83 farads. As long as your system voltage is less than the capacitors voltage there shouldnt be any problem. Basically nothing new will happen to the parts of the motorcycle.
@@diysustainableliving2774 thank you sir..
@@diysustainableliving2774 sir is the amperage of my battery increase because of capacitor..?
@@diysustainableliving2774 is it ok to use 1 pc of super capacitor with the rating of 10,000 mocro farad 50 volts to parallel on my Lifepo4 battery with BMS and then connect to 500 watts inverter ?
Hi friend. Wouldn't it be better to buy a balancing card for your super power packers and leave it in parallel always with the solar charger and battery and inverter? so as not to have to always be aware of charging the xcondenser with the bulb? Could you make a demonstration? Thank you
Well.... My balance board gave trouble so I built my own top balancing circuit using 2.7v Zener diodes. As for the capacitors you have to only charge them up once. After that they can be connected parallel to the battery the whole time.
@@diysustainableliving2774
How is it done?
To charge it for the first time in my solar system. Do you first put a 12v 20w bulb in series with the supercapacitors and when this bulb goes out, do you remove it? in my bank of lead acid batteries. I then connect the supercapacitors in parallel? And it will also be placed in parallel to the inverter. I don't know if I explained myself. forgiveness. any scheme? Thank you
@@antonioaranda1800 The explanation of why you need to charge the caps slowly is that they can charge and discharge rapidly. What happens to wires if you send a large ammount of current through them?... They get hot! Very hot!
Like that when the super capacitors charge up from 0v you dont want to send a large amount of power unrestrictedly. You have to put a resistor to reduce the flow of amps initially. This capacitor bank has to be charged from 0v all the way up to 14.2v. If not restricted there is a chance of sending 14.2 × 56F = 795 amps in one to two seconds. If that happens the capacitors and all its connectors can get extreamly hot and even explode!!..
@@antonioaranda1800 what you said is exactly how its done. The bulb functions both as a resister and as an indicator. Since the once the capacitors reach a voltage close to that of the battery the voltage difference will be less and hence the flow of amps across it will be less and it will lose its glow!
@@diysustainableliving2774 But once it is charged for the first time, the battery voltage will be equalized and it will not be necessary to put the bulb in series with the supercapacitor module. TRUE?
Why if that day is cloudy all day and drops to 10 volts. and another day is loaded because the sun came out. I understand that the load will be the same on the batteries and capacitors because they are in parallel. No?
After long time search I found your video, 🙏.
1) I have Chinese 1600 watt inverter, rated power 800.
2) 42 ah SMF battery single
3) 150 watt poly panel
4) 10 amp pwm controller
Can I able to run 170 ltr fridge in day time.
Dc to DC buckcoverter 300 watt ok ?
2mm or 4 mm with battery and inverter would be best.
I hope your inverter is a pure sinewave one. Battery 2) panel 3) and PWM controller 4) is all that you will need to run during the day time. If you want to run it at night aswell then you will need a bigger battery and preferrably an MPPT charge controller to get the maximum out of your panel.. The buck converter is not good as an MPPT charge controller so that might not be of any use to you. And the last one 2mm 4mm! I didnt understand it?
@@diysustainableliving2774 hello hey love the video from Canada hey I want to run a freezer and few saws off grid help me please
I really want to know a good link to buy
#1 what size how many solar panels I would need ,
And inverter size and controller
I'm so lost down the rabbit hole confused dang
@@diysustainableliving2774 I following up to this so far ok
@@diysustainableliving2774 Can I use off grid without batteries with MPPT? What alternative for buck convert for use mppt?
@@silascardoso Yes MPPT is basically a buck converter which is able to keep the panel voltage at its maximum power point to extract the maximum power. MPPT should be better than a buck converter. I havent tried it since I dont have an MPPT charge controller.
What voltage did you set the step down converter to?
14.4v... Thats the charging voltage for a 12v lead acid battery.
@@diysustainableliving2774 what is the purpose of the buck converter? The PWM can convert the voltage directly from the solar panel without needing a external buck converter.
@@rumpy3025 he is not using pwm just the buck converter, the pwm was for something else
@@dantronics1682 ah
Yes ... the PWM scc was just part of my setup. The main component here will be the buck converter to reduce the voltage.
Fantastic video .I'm subscribing
Thank you!
I didnt think a single battery would handle the current. Lithium or sla/gel?
It depends on the size of the battery. Big battery with thick wires can easily give the needed power. But if your battery is small then adding a supercapacitor bank will take the startup load off the battery.
So interesting ..congrats. Can u send the diagram?
Thanks... Sorry for not including a diagram. Basically Im using supercapacitors as a temporary battery during start and running the fridge with direct solar power. Its always better to include at least a small battery in the setup in case of a cloudy day!
Brilliant! thank you! 🙂
Your welcome!
Can it be use without the stepdown transformer thank you for the answer. And what stepdown transformer you used?
This is a dc to dc stepdown converter. These are available on online retailers such as aliexperss. If you dont use it, without a battery you dont have control of the input voltage from the panel.
@@diysustainableliving2774 can i know, why need to control the input voltage? What are the voltage you set ?
@@mohdrahmat3420 12v compatible solar panel voltage can varies from 0v up to 20V. Inverters will function from 10.5v to 15.5v. If you dont regulate it within that range the inverter will shut down. Buck converters do a wonderful job at regulating the voltage. I set mine at 14.2v as I also use a LiFePO4 battery in my system aswell.
@@diysustainableliving2774 does 13.7v suitable for lead acid battery?
@@mohdrahmat3420 Yes but you can actually go upto 14.4v if you are using lead acid battery only. It will charge up faster. At 13.7 it will take a long time to charge fully!
Really appreciate this vid, thanks!
Thank you!
@@diysustainableliving2774 You're welcome, sorry, thought I had subbed, but I'm subscribed now!😎...
Sir for how long you can run the refrigerator using that supercaps?
Good question. The answer is NOT even a few seconds! The supercapacitors are there to start the fridge. After that it runs on direct solar power.
So it means the super caps is just for start up, sir i want to know in your demo the refrigerator is running this is i want to till when the ref is running until solar sun goes down if good weather?
Yes the supercapacitors are only there to start the fridge as a large amount of power is needed at startup. Usually 5 to 7 times the rated power. Once it starts running it can run at the rated power. So aslong as the sun shines and your panels can produce the rated power required for the fridge it will work. Once the sun goes down or a cloud covers the sun the whole system will fail. Thats why I recommend incorporating at least a small battery in whatever solar offgrid system you design.
Many many tnx sir,,, you pointed it out now so clear in my mind... Thankyou God bless your talent..🙏👍👍
How many ampere your charge controller
Its a 20ah one. I like to oversize these things so that they can easily handle smaller amp loads and not heat or burn up. Since it is cheap it has a few issues but it serves its purpose.
Dear Friend How long does the refrigerator charge last overnight with a car battery?
A car battery is not a good option for solar. It is best if you could get a deep cycle battery if you are going to run the fridge 24×7. As in my case for a 84w fridge you will need at least a 45ah lead acid battery going to around 50% depth of discharge. At this depth a brand new car battery will last for only 3 to 5 months daily cycling.
How many watts are your solar panels?
At the time I made this video it was just 150w. But I did this test in the afternoon with full sunshine. If you get a lot of clouds then you will need larger panels.
@@diysustainableliving2774Where I live in South Australia solar panels are highly effective, South Australia was the first jurisdiction in the world to get 100% baseload power from wind and solar, although there's so much oil gas and uranium in South Australia it's not necessary.
In Australia you get a lot of sunshine. But in places such as the UK... You get a lot of clouds where you will have to add more panels to get the same power.
@@diysustainableliving2774 I can get 2.6 KV a day from just one 300 watt panel, to put that into perspective if you ride a bike from sun up to sun down during summer you've only generated 1 KV 🤣🤣🤣
It is always good to live in the land of sunshine!
What is efficiency of ur power inverter and how much bucks u paid for it ?
Pure sine wave inverters can get around 90% efficiency. Cost was around 85$.
@@diysustainableliving2774 That's cheap, where did you find it for $85?
How long did it run the fridge?24hrs?
No... Without a battery it wont run when the sun goes down. Even if a cloud passes over the system will shut down. This is a proof of concept that supercapacitors can handle the temporary surge of power needed for induction loads. After it has started the fridge can run on the power directly generated by the solar panels as long as the panel output is above the power needed for the fridge to run.
@@diysustainableliving2774 which type of battery is good for 70w fridge to make it run for 24hrs
So for example. My fridge which is around 70 uses 0.35Kwh of power per day. So if it is only the fridge you are going to power you will be safe if you have at least that amount of battery power. So for a 12v deep cycle lead acid battery with a 50% DoD you would need a 60Ah battery to be safe. For lithium batteries this can go up to 80% DoD.
@@diysustainableliving2774 what of if I have 100ah chloride lithium battery 12v,and inverter that has maximum power of 1200w and continuous power supply of 600w...and 200w solar panel
That should be enough to make a 70w fridge run for 24hrs. It now depends on the efficiency of the fridg. The fridge on and offs when the temperature rises. So as long as the fridge doors are not kept open all the time you should be fine 😊
What the 20w bulb 12 v is connected permanently ..
It is not connected permanently. I used a 20w 12v bulb (2×10w if you look carefully) just as a high power resistor only to charge my supercapacitor bank from 0v to 12v. When charging your suercapacitors directly from a battery if you dont add a resistor, there will be a huge surge in flow of amps through the wires and the supercapacitors themselves can get very hot.
@@diysustainableliving2774 so if i wish to ad resistor what is the value ..
Use the equation I =V/R
And it should be a high power resistor which could handle more than 10w since 1A × 12V will be 12w. So I think it will be cheaper to just use whatever 12v load you have with you for this purpose.
I think connecting directly to the battery while the solar controller is charging it in parallel means some power are being drawn from solar. Why did he not use the output terminals of the solar controller?
I dont think I understood your question correctly. In the first part I am running a standard solar setup to show how a battery starts a fridge. Next I show what happens when you connect an induction load directly to solar output. And thirdly I show how a supercapacitor can bridge that gap. Please let me know exactly what you would like to clarify.
2:39 You connected the inverter to the battery but the battery is still connected to the charge terminals of the solar controller. Therefore, the inverter is drawing power both from battery and solar at the same time.
Why is it that there is nothing connected to the power output terminals of the solar controller? Is it not the proper path to get electricity coming from the battery while it charges?
Good question. Those output terminals on the solar charge controller are for small loads such as a light in your shed. They max out at 5 to 10A. You should not connect heavy loads on those terminals. For large loads you have to connect the inverter to the battery (Or Supercapacitor) terminals directly.