DIY 200 Watt Solar Portable Recharging and Emergency Power Station

[Solarcabin]

200 Watt Solar Portable Recharging and Emergency Power Station
If you are interested in setting up solar tor recharge your ebikes this is the system I use everyday to recharge the Ariel Rider X.
In this video I show you how to set up a 200 watt solar portable recharging and emergency power station that you can use for running many outdoor tools, recharging ebikes and gadgets and for an emergency backup power source for your homes. All equipment is available right on Amazon.

Equipment list:
100 watt 12 volt solar panels (I prefer Renogy mono)
Ironton 40x48 trailer or can be permanent mounted
Renogy Wanderer MPPT LI 30 amp controller
Renogy 1200 watt pure sine inverter
Ampertime LIFPO4 200 AH or AGM batteries

 

[kevinmccune]

Nice, is there a meter or indicator that tells you the optimum angle when you set up? This sounds very useful. thanks for the info/

 

[fooferdoggie]

Nice, is there a meter or indicator that tells you the optimum angle when you set up? This sounds very useful. thanks for the info/

he is gone so you wont get an answer.

 

[Rockroy]

Nice, is there a meter or indicator that tells you the optimum angle when you set up? This sounds very useful. thanks for the info/

On my old goal zero, the input reading increased as you adjusted the angle of the panel towards the sun.

 

[antboy]

Nice, is there a meter or indicator that tells you the optimum angle when you set up? This sounds very useful. thanks for the info/

The beer/pop/can trick is an easy, usually available, hack for optimizing the angle.

Rest a (clean and empty ) can/mug/bottle (or anything really but circular is best) flat on the panel then tilt the panel so that the shadow is straight down onto the panel, and Bob's yer uncle.

Another quick way to eyeball it pretty close to max efficiency without putting something on the panel itself is to look at the shadow in relation to the panel, when:

From the top view, the shadow is directly behind the panel, and not skewed to one side.
and
From the side view, an imaginary line from the corner of the shadow to the top corner of the panel, is at a right angle to the edge of the panel from that corner to the ground.

 

[kevinmccune]

The beer/pop/can trick is an easy, usually available, hack for optimizing the angle.

Rest a (clean and empty ) can/mug/bottle (or anything really but circular is best) flat on the panel then tilt the panel so that the shadow is straight down onto the panel, and Bob's yer uncle.

Another quick way to eyeball it pretty close to max efficiency without putting something on the panel itself is to look at the shadow in relation to the panel, when:

From the top view, the shadow is directly behind the panel, and not skewed to one side.
and
From the side view, an imaginary line from the corner of the shadow to the top corner of the panel, is at a right angle to the edge of the panel from that corner to the ground.

I suppose one could make a little bullseye device that attached to the top with a U bracket a lens and bullseye could be incorporated when the sun dot hit the center that would be the best you could do( probably too much trouble.)

 

[UnCamplicated]

Nice, is there a meter or indicator that tells you the optimum angle when you set up? This sounds very useful. thanks for the info/

I show a good app to use in this video of a different probably more portable 200w build

 

[antboy]

I suppose one could make a little bullseye device that attached to the top with a U bracket a lens and bullseye could be incorporated when the sun dot hit the center that would be the best you could do( probably too much trouble.)

yeah, since just about any object with a few inches of height can be used to line up the shadow, making a specific contraption strikes me as a bit overkill, especially since most cyclists will have a water bottle handy.

 

[kevinmccune]

At right angles the little contraption will probably work better, OTH a waterbottle will work nearly as well( reminds me of the old CB, SWR meter tuning, us Hillbillys just stuck the antenna on a ground plane and were done with it(,BTW I believe CBs is where Trolls got their start, bosses wasted a lot of money on Motorola 2 ways back in the day, they thought they were getting something private,

 

[6zfshdb]

Solar panels produce some power even on cloudy days when shadows are difficult to read. Wiring up a simple amp or volt meter would be more accurate.

 

[Bubba zanetti]

Solar panels produce some power even on cloudy days when shadows are difficult to read. Wiring up a simple amp or volt meter would be more accurate.

I have the Renogy smart batteries and Bluetooth enabled controller. This gives exactly that info via Renogy app to my phone. Easy to see when your panel orientation is ideal. But beware! That damn sun moves and suddenly, PAA ( panel alignment anxiety) permeates your primary purpose!