Posted by mike on December 6, 2004, 10:13 pm
Hello Everybody!
I am over in Fresno, California (bright summers, dark winters)
My 12V system consists of:
2 80 watt with 1 155 watt solar modules
manufactured from Photowatt and purchased from Discountpv.com
1 WalMart 110A Marine battery
1 Xantrex 35A Charge controller
I am using this system to power my email server 24/7. I found a PC power
supply that runs directly off 12V. This was purchased from mini-box.com
My problem was that during a charge cycle the voltage went up to 14 volts
which my computer didn't like (it shut itself off). I had been using a 4A
diode to drop the max voltage the server saw about .7V. I recently pieced
together a couple of 5A 12V regulators. They seem to be working quite
nicely. My regulators keep the voltage around 12V and at night it drops to
about 11V.
After testing the 12V regulators with my server for a while I will be
confident enough to run my 19" LCD off of my solar system.
I have read that my Xantrex Charge controller can be used as a load
controller instead. I am glad to have been able to use the 12V regulators
instead of buying another Xantrex.
Is anyone else using direct 12V systems with computer hardware?
How many of you reading this will be buying a 12V computer power supply?
50 bucks is a good price.
How much is a 12V regulator product worth? I would guess 10-15 dollars.
Posted by Gymy Bob on December 7, 2004, 12:20 am
How many are running 12Vdc systems? The trouble with a 12V system is that
the capacity tends to be very low and is not expandable. Huge currents and
tons of copper wire result.
Is Walmart a good place for battery prices vs quality?
> Hello Everybody!
> I am over in Fresno, California (bright summers, dark winters)
> My 12V system consists of:
> 2 80 watt with 1 155 watt solar modules
> manufactured from Photowatt and purchased from Discountpv.com
> 1 WalMart 110A Marine battery
> 1 Xantrex 35A Charge controller
> I am using this system to power my email server 24/7. I found a PC power
> supply that runs directly off 12V. This was purchased from mini-box.com
> My problem was that during a charge cycle the voltage went up to 14 volts
> which my computer didn't like (it shut itself off). I had been using a 4A
> diode to drop the max voltage the server saw about .7V. I recently pieced
> together a couple of 5A 12V regulators. They seem to be working quite
> nicely. My regulators keep the voltage around 12V and at night it drops to
> about 11V.
> After testing the 12V regulators with my server for a while I will be
> confident enough to run my 19" LCD off of my solar system.
> I have read that my Xantrex Charge controller can be used as a load
> controller instead. I am glad to have been able to use the 12V regulators
> instead of buying another Xantrex.
> Is anyone else using direct 12V systems with computer hardware?
> How many of you reading this will be buying a 12V computer power supply?
> 50 bucks is a good price.
> How much is a 12V regulator product worth? I would guess 10-15 dollars.
Posted by mike on December 8, 2004, 1:41 am
I figured that I would give WalMart a try. Even if the battery doesn't
last as long, it is a good price and no shipping.
So far it works good, it is 6 months old.
Posted by Steve Spence on December 8, 2004, 10:03 am
I've got two years on the walmart deep cycle batteries in my camper. Not
bad for $55.
Steve Spence
Dir., Green Trust
http://www.green-trust.org
mike wrote:
> I figured that I would give WalMart a try. Even if the battery doesn't
> last as long, it is a good price and no shipping.
>
> So far it works good, it is 6 months old.
>
>
Posted by Jack Brown on December 8, 2004, 5:54 pm
On Wed, 08 Dec 2004 15:03:07 GMT, Steve Spence
>I've got two years on the walmart deep cycle batteries in my camper. Not
>bad for $55.
I've run 9 years on 4 Sams deep cycle batts at the cabin. 220ah ea.
arranged in 2 parallel 12v strings. Only about 5 cycles a year and 1
eq. charge a year, but this is in northern Ontario, so they do get
punished.
jb
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> I am over in Fresno, California (bright summers, dark winters)
> My 12V system consists of:
> 2 80 watt with 1 155 watt solar modules
> manufactured from Photowatt and purchased from Discountpv.com
> 1 WalMart 110A Marine battery
> 1 Xantrex 35A Charge controller
> I am using this system to power my email server 24/7. I found a PC power
> supply that runs directly off 12V. This was purchased from mini-box.com
> My problem was that during a charge cycle the voltage went up to 14 volts
> which my computer didn't like (it shut itself off). I had been using a 4A
> diode to drop the max voltage the server saw about .7V. I recently pieced
> together a couple of 5A 12V regulators. They seem to be working quite
> nicely. My regulators keep the voltage around 12V and at night it drops to
> about 11V.
> After testing the 12V regulators with my server for a while I will be
> confident enough to run my 19" LCD off of my solar system.
> I have read that my Xantrex Charge controller can be used as a load
> controller instead. I am glad to have been able to use the 12V regulators
> instead of buying another Xantrex.
> Is anyone else using direct 12V systems with computer hardware?
> How many of you reading this will be buying a 12V computer power supply?
> 50 bucks is a good price.
> How much is a 12V regulator product worth? I would guess 10-15 dollars.