Total electrical/solar newbie here. I just bought a mini system on Lazada, pic below, hoping to get a feel for solar basics.

There are 3 components as you see:

1. Solar panel

2. Controller

3. Inverter

The lead from the solar panel goes nicely into the controller. Now, the way they want it, as far as I understand from the instructions, is to have two output wires from the controller go to a 12v storage battery (neither wires nor battery provided), then the inverter alligator clips grip the battery, and then there's a socket on the right side of the inverter (can't see it in the pic) where a standard 2-pin plug goes in.

Now, I don't want a battery but rather (as proof of concept) run a small 220 fan directly off the system when there's sun. So do I do the following?

Cut off the alligator clips, connect the exposed wires from the inverter to the sockets on the right side of the controller, and of course plug the fan into the inverter. If this is correct, what to attach to the wires so they plug into the controller holes (sockets? not sure what the tech term is). If not, what should I do in order to not use a battery? Thank you.

Nah, that controller needs a battery to work properly ☹️

It doesn't need to be much, a plain vanilla (cheap) 12V motorcycle battery should do the trick.

And make sure you connect the battery before you connect the solar panel, cheap controllers tend to let out the Magic Smoke if you connect the panel first.

Sadly, that panel is unlikely to generate enough even in bright sunlight (how many watts does it say on the sticker?) to run a fan without discharging the battery.

EDIT You MUST connect the inverter to the battery itself, the "load" terminals on the controller are meant for small loads like a 12V LED light.

1 hour ago, Crossy said:

Nah, that controller needs a battery to work properly ☹️

I am trying to understand this. The controller puts out (steady) 12v DC, right? So if I connect it to a 12DC -> 220AC inverter shouldn't I get the power to operate a fun? Why do I need an intermediate storage battery.

Obviously, I am missing something here.

The goal in life of a Solar Charge Controller (SCC) is to control and protect the battery which is being charged. Hence its name.

SCCs fall into two main categories, PWM (Pulse Width Modulated) and MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking). At this price point your controller is almost certainly a PWM type so we will concentrate on that type.

In simple terms it works by connecting your panel to your battery via a FET (think of it as an on-off switch) which then turns on and off rapidly to regulate how much energy goes from your panel into the battery, it will turn off when the battery is full.

It is the battery itself which integrates these rapid pulses into a continuous DC voltage.

The battery also provides an energy source to bridge over reductions in available solar (when one of those annoying clouds goes in front of the sun) so that your load gets a nice, constant supply which isn't constantly being interupted by clouds.

There ARE controllers which work like you are thinking, but these are usually associated with solar powered water pumps and serve mainly to protect the pump from under and over voltage from the panels as the available power varies throughout the day.

If you let us know how many watts your panel is rated for (post a photo of the label) we can give you an idea what sort of energy level you can expect. If there's no label tell us how big the panel is and we can guesstimate its power.

54 minutes ago, Crossy said:

If there's no label tell us how big the panel is and we can guesstimate its power.

Crossy, thanks a lot for the detailed response. There's no sticker on the panel. Its size is 31.5cm x 19cm.

I would appreciate if you could tell me how to set up a battery-less system to run a tiny 9" 20w 220v plug-in fan off the sun. I have nothing against batteries but this is just a first step in a learning project. Battery will come later.

Btw, if my current Lazada product with its components is no good for this battery-less project, no problem. Just tell me what to get (Lazada products would be great) and I'll go get them.

Again, much appreciate your time.