Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Yep, been a lot happen to my solar set up.

Since my last post I've managed to inherit 12, 150ah batteries from work that were replacing it UPS batteries. they charge to about 70-80% pretty good for nothing:lol:
Got them about 2 days before I went on a 5 week trip, so I quickly hooked them up to the 180w solar panel to keep them charged while i was away. ( so you must forgive the dodgie wiring)
since then I've had 2 x 20w(240v) pond pumps and a 3w air pump running from a 12 inverter with no issues at all.
Current plans are to build another solar panel and get a larger inverter so I can power small devices in my garden shed and normal fluro lights in the hot house/shed.
Current specs are as follows

180w solar panel
12 x 150ah gel batteries (1800ah)
2 x 20w (240v) pond pumps or around 1300lph
3w air pump
1000l FT
1100l GB

Sorry I have not got any pictures of the GB but here's the dodgie battery setup

Regards,

Matt

Nice score with the batteries.

Can I ask how much the panel cost to make including frame and acrylic cover?

Hi Matt i have followed ur solar system with considerable interest - its a great project - well done!! i have a 3.8 kw grid feed system here which lets me spend a bit on power for bore pump to the ponds in summer which double as aeration system. I see ur in Vic & i'm at the bottm coast of WA - similar winter conditions - even on a rainy days we still get some charge, however a friend of mine has a smaller system and has it on a 3 stage angle base that he moves to follow the angle of the sun & he gets a huge benifit from doing that - almost doubled his winter output, my system is tooooo long to do that & at my age (old) i'm not allowed on the roof anymore after having a few good snow jump attempts on wet hail covered roofs a while back!!!! anyway just keep that in mind, coos from ur pics i recon u have a good angle for winter, but could get better charge if it was a bit flatter in summer if u need it. probably winter is more important with less hours of sunlight. i recon ur smart enough to install a couple of small windmills made from a couple of thrown out room fans from ur recycle shop at one of the tips?!? cos if its raining there is usually wind b4 and after the weather front system.....
anyways well done PS just got a 1.1kg rainbow last night - gee these critters can grow quickly...
cheers ST

[quote="PS just got a 1.1kg rainbow last night - gee these critters can grow quickly...
cheers ST[/quote]
Thanks mate. 1.1KG bloody hell. what am i doing wrong!!!
matt

My plans for the solar system is to either increase the solar panel to double the size or maybe build a small wind powered generator????
I have considered using a motorized motor that can track the sun with a small 60w panel to boost charge, but unfortunately I need some fund to finish my chilly tank for the trout...

matt

Shop around before buying a new panel, the prices have dropped alot.
I can now buy CEC approved 180w panels brand new for $350.
I dont know what you payed for the cells, but for the build time I dont know if it is still worth it to make your own...

re 1.1kg rainbows - remember these r growing in a 1,550 cub mtr pond....... not an AP system went in at 40mm 1st week of Nov 2010.....and i only put 250 in just in case they didn't last in warmer water over summer - to my knowledge i didn't have any floaters, but i think birds got a fair feed when they were smaller - all great fun now - cheers ST

yep you have a good point there.

sorry Arbe, did not see your question
the first panel cost me around $180 for tabbed cells (240w) (and buster 60w worth) and the acrylic cost me $300 but I have enough to make another 2 panels. the rest of the materials I had lying around. I'm pretty certain that it was hovering around the $350.
Wernda is right is saying that it would be cheaper purchasing a purpose built one. would probably last a lot longer as well. (glass does not scratch easily.)
I guess that while building it, i came across a few issues with the panel and had to fix it which gave me some good experience in fault finding the issues.


Currently the system is running a 12v boat pump, pumping around 700L per hour (30min on - 30mins off) with 8 trout in system and 300L GB. water quality has dropped off a little but all is still going well. Also have 2 air pumps total 2000L per hour. all have been running for the past 8 months.
current draw while all equipment is running is 3 amps including 300w inverter.
just the air pumps and inverter is 1 amp.

regards
matt

Just had a read of this thread. Great stuff mate! I see you are now using a 12v boat pump. Can I ask what brand/where you got it? And have you had wear issues with it?

Starting my own solar system now and your thread has given me much to ponder...

I used the RULE 500 Gal 12v 2amp pump.
Has been faultless.
think is close to 1900lph
I have 1m head and i think i measured it just over 1000lph. it drops off a little when the slime starts to get to the pipework.
good luck.

Regards

Matt

Well it been a very long time since I've posted, but I have been away for 9 months in broome dreaming of the solar system that I got permission from the wife to build.

My little 180w panel that i built has done a awesome job in maintaining the battery bank over the past 9 months, so I decided to continue to use these batteries as to replace them cost lots of $$$$$$

the spec's of the build are as follows.

1.9kw PV panels.
50 amp mppt charger.
450AH 48v battery system.
2500w inverter.

Still a little incomplete but it has all the main parts to run. the remaining parts are for data logging.

even better, today the power failed before we had a chance for breakfast, so we ran the coffee machine then the toaster and had no issues while running the fridge at the same time.

Here's a video




now it's time to get my AP systems up and running.

Regards

Matt