Solar components, where ??

[cornishcarlos]

Hi,

 

Apart from Lazada, where are people buying solar components from ? 

What's the better brands for panels, charge controller and inverters and deep cycle batteries ?? 

Lots out there of varying costs, so would like recommendations based on personal experience... Looking at setting up a small system for our little holiday hut in Chaiyaphum... 100-200w with a 50-100Ah battery, just for some lighting and charging stuff incl my power tools batteries !!!

[BritManToo]

Amorn (in a Tesco Lotus superstore near you), Shoppee and AliExpress.

 

Nice hut!

[Crossy]

Inverters from AliExpress (China), panels from Amorn, batteries - none we're grid tie.

 

Mounting hardware from the local metal shop.

 

[cornishcarlos]

Any particular brands to use or stay away from ??

[BritManToo]

24 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

Any particular brands to use or stay away from ??

I always get the cheapest.

A 330w solar panel is around 3,500bht, 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/solar-panel-poly-crystalline-solar-panel-330w-36v-model-sp330w-poly-i407726004-s791906340.html

 

100AH deep cycle battery 5,000bht

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/deep-cycle-volta-tbl1000s-100ah-i663616897-s1295572975.html

 

Charge controller 1,200bht 

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/yh-50a-solar-charge-controller-48v36v24v12v-solar-panel-intelligent-regulator-with-backlight-lcd-displaymax-100vdc-input-i243320403-s373268858.html

 

 

And an inverter suitable for your power needs. 

[Grumpy John]

For solar panels try Global House if you have one nearby.   In Phitsanulok store they had a stack of.......I think 280w panels for 3300 baht each.  Which is a good price in LOS.  If you know what else you need Aliexpress is probably your cheapest option....maybe not with inverters....but it's free to look! 

[Metropolitian]

I got my setup by:

 

[Amorn]

330w panels from Amorn, together with 15m solar cable size 6 (They only have black)

and a dozen of MC4 connectors.

The inverter is from ShenZhen (China, via Amorn).

 

[Shopee]

Mounting rails and clamps from a 'local' dealer

More solar cables,  size 4 and 6 red and black

 

[Local hardware]

Tools, screws and snuff stuff gathered from here and there

 

[Batteries]

The setup is ongrid, one panel is reserved for offgrid.

I have ordered a few LiFePo4 batteries to experiment with, the controller just came in (BMS) so that project have to start yet.

Batteries will be for (emergency) lighting which are 12 volt to circumvent the conversion losses.

 

[ireckonso]

Do Home has a good selection now if you have a store near you. One thing I will say you get what you pay for when it comes to solar components, many cheap panels only have a 1 or 5 year warranty, same with batteries and inverters. Your roi isnt worth much if they die prematurely and you cant get them replaced on warranty.

[cornishcarlos]

Result.. I found a 45Ah battery tucked away, forgot I had it ???? That's one item ticked off the list... 

[JohnMc45]

If I remember Amron had a packaged unit that might work for you. I was thinking of trying to send one home for the Hunting/Fishing shack.  Battery, controller and inverter where self contained.  Had 12v dc outputs for lights and fans they sold. Also had a couple USB ports and a normal plug or two.    

As a side note Dewalt has a 12v car charger for there 12v/20v Max system.  

 

[cornishcarlos]

1 hour ago, JohnMc45 said:

As a side note Dewalt has a 12v car charger for there 12v/20v Max system.

 

I'm using Makita :)

[JohnMc45]

37 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

I'm using Makita ????

I believe Makita offers one to. Save you from going from 12v DC to 240v AC back to XXv DC.  Was looking at Makita here in Canada but Dewalt and Milwaukee are just more common. Makita make a tool battery powered coffee maker I found interesting.   

[cornishcarlos]

22 minutes ago, JohnMc45 said:

I believe Makita offers one to. Save you from going from 12v DC to 240v AC back to XXv DC.  Was looking at Makita here in Canada but Dewalt and Milwaukee are just more common. Makita make a tool battery powered coffee maker I found interesting.   

I'll take a look...

Yup the coffee maker has been out for a long time but I have heard it eats up batteries !!

[farmerjo]

Sounds against the thread but if not there all the time a single stroke diesel engine coupled to a generator would be more satisfying.

Maybe or maybe not.

[sometimewoodworker]

35 minutes ago, farmerjo said:

a single stroke diesel engine

Sorry but there is no such combustion engine. The only single stroke engines are some (and very few) steam engines.

 

2 stroke and 4 stroke are you only choices for diesel.

[farmerjo]

14 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Sorry but there is no such combustion engine. The only single stroke engines are some (and very few) steam engines.

 

2 stroke and 4 stroke are you only choices for diesel.

You know what i mean.

[TheDark]

On 1/24/2020 at 6:36 PM, Metropolitian said:

[Batteries]

The setup is ongrid, one panel is reserved for offgrid.

I have ordered a few LiFePo4 batteries to experiment with, the controller just came in (BMS) so that project have to start yet.

Batteries will be for (emergency) lighting which are 12 volt to circumvent the conversion losses.

What kind of battery solution is best for a baht nowadays? I understood that LiFePo4's are durable and also quite competitively priced compared to deep cycle led batteries?

 

 

[Crossy]

11 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

Sorry but there is no such combustion engine. The only single stroke engines are some (and very few) steam engines.

 

2 stroke and 4 stroke are you only choices for diesel.

 

and then ...

 

 

From here https://contest.techbriefs.com/2013/entries/sustainable-technologies/3800

 

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

 

and then ...

 

 

From here https://contest.techbriefs.com/2013/entries/sustainable-technologies/3800

 

I bow down to your encyclopaedic knowledge. ???? 

 

Do you know of any that are available anywhere? Or are they just a theoretical design.

[sometimewoodworker]

12 hours ago, farmerjo said:

You know what i mean.

Well no I don’t. All I know is what you said. My crystal ball is still in for repair. ???? 
 

While Crossy has pointed out that there is a theoretical single stroke engine, I have no idea if you are really talking about a 2 stroke single cylinder, a 4 stroke single cylinder or something completely different.

[Crossy]

44 minutes ago, sometimewoodworker said:

I bow down to your encyclopaedic knowledge. ???? 

Do you know of any that are available anywhere? Or are they just a theoretical design.

 

Google was my friend, I knew they existed way back for ship and submarine (space saving) propulsion, I just wondered if they were still being developed.

 

The ship and sub engines had reliability issues and many were replace with more conventional units, but materials technology has moved on since and they are possibly practical again.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Stirling_Castle

 

I'm sure @farmerjo really meant single-cylinder, we all make typoing erros ????

 

 

 

[Metropolitian]

Is a Stirling Engine not a form of a one-stroke-one-cylinder engine? ????

'Combustion' is done external instead of inside.

[Metropolitian]

On 2/4/2020 at 10:25 AM, Crossy said:

The ship and sub engines had reliability issues and many were replace with more conventional units, but materials technology has moved on since and they are possibly practical again.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MV_Stirling_Castle

Yet this ship was driven by a 10-cylinder, two-stroke double-acting marine diesels, still funny to call it Stirling Castle.

 

Years before the use of the stirlings on the vessels, Philips in Eindhoven made a 'camping generator' which gave about 200 watt of power, it was the MP-1002-CA.

Looks very much like the Motobecane AV42 but without the wheels ???? same grey color I had long time ago, great bikes.

 

[KhaoYai]

On 2/3/2020 at 3:54 PM, TheDark said:

What kind of battery solution is best for a baht nowadays? I understood that LiFePo4's are durable and also quite competitively priced compared to deep cycle led batteries?

Obviously if you're 'off grid' you'll need a battery set up but........it may be different in Thailand as I'd guess the amount of sunlight makes systems more efficient but my neighbour is the UK has given up with his battery system. He says his batteries needed replacing every five years and the cost swallowed up all the savings he made.

[Crossy]

5 hours ago, Metropolitian said:

Is a Stirling Engine not a form of a one-stroke-one-cylinder engine? ????

'Combustion' is done external instead of inside.

 

Yea, sorry for the confusion, I never associated MV Stirling Castle with Stirling engines but with this, the castle in Stirling, Scotland after which it was named:-

 

 

 

 

[cornishcarlos]

Where is my thread going ???? 

 

Here's a cabbage ????

 

[VocalNeal]

8 hours ago, Metropolitian said:

still funny to call it Stirling Castle.

I never even thought about the building.

 

Union-Castle Line named most of their ships with the suffix "Castle" in their names. Like Windsor Castle, Warwick Castle, Edinburgh Castle etc.

 

I used to work for Blue Star and most of their ships had the suffix "Star" 

 

 

[TheDark]

9 hours ago, KhaoYai said:

Obviously if you're 'off grid' you'll need a battery set up but........it may be different in Thailand as I'd guess the amount of sunlight makes systems more efficient but my neighbour is the UK has given up with his battery system. He says his batteries needed replacing every five years and the cost swallowed up all the savings he made.

Yes, I'm thinking of full off grid solution. Wanted those for a long time, but previously batteries were the bottleneck. Now, it seems, that Lithium batteries has become both better as well as cheaper, to be considered as viable option to a house, which uses quite little energy.

 

For example this battery pack of 120Ah (4x3.2V) = 1500KWh batteries costs 14.000 baht.

 

I guess the point is, how long does the batteries lasts and how much energy each cycle can give without destroying the batteries. 

 

 

[Metropolitian]

2 hours ago, cornishcarlos said:

Where is my thread going ???? 

 

Here's a cabbage ????

 

Oh yeah ????

The cabbage get their green by photosynthesis, a form of solar component. And now we are back on topic

[eisfeld]

For panels you can pick any brand but I'd assume 330W poly panels are right now about the sweet spot in terms of baht per watt. Retail price should be about 3.5k THB as mentioned. No need for a top brand here. Keep in mind that a 330W panel will only peak at that and on avg give you much less but for lighting and charging some batteries it'll be fine.

 

With the batteries I would be careful. Double so in a remote wood hut (fire risk). LiFePo4 on paper have a good potential for this usecase but I wouldn't take the noname route for it. Maybe also consider putting the battery in a seperate compartment somewhere on the ground (but consider flooding).