Homebrewing a lightweight 576wh portable solar generator

I took the time to look up some of the parts needed.
LFP-40152S - is the battery cell
BH2LM - is the holder
TAB - 60X20 is the 2 cell jumper
TAB - 60X60 is the 4 cell jumper
I googled it and found a site https://www.batteryspace.com that had all of the parts. It might not be the cheapest as I was only curious about the possible cost.

73, Larry WB8LBZ
El Paso, TX

 

576 watts for the 6 hours the sun shines on a panel requires a 390 ampere hours of 12v battery. In lead acid it will be
about 200 pounds. I wonder how he does it. Even LION battery will still be pretty heavy. I suspect he means that
it can provide 576 watts for a few minutes. Needs to face "Truth in Advertising" friends.

 

I think you are missing the point that OH8STN actually intends to use his radio while the LiFePO4 pack is charging. Also solar panels often don’t provide full output due to positioning, clouds, shade, etc.

I have a 60A/hr LiFePO4 that powers an electric kayak. The battery weight is less than half of an equivalent lead acid AGM deep cycle and the discharge voltage is very flat when compared to a lead acid battery. This is seriously good battery technology.

 

Bravo!

 

Thanks Larry.
As always each new build makes them better.
73
Julian oh8stn

 

Very much appreciated
73
Julian oh8stn

 

Thanks. These comments keep the projects coming.
73
Julian oh8stn

 

Preeching to the choir OM
being able to power my station at home or portable without a care in the world is what it's all about. I know it's work in progress, I know its not perfect, but thumbing our noses, that makes it all worth it
About a year ago, one of the door to door salesmen came offering grid tied solar power from our local energy company. My wife pointed to the panels on the tower, and the larger array on the garage roof. The look on his face was priceless.
We told him "if we don't own it, we are not saving money".
Thanks for sharing your system with us.
73
Julian oh8stn

 

Wow, where should I start?
I just reached out to Buddipole about showing some of their solar gear in my projects. There is so much synergy there, I thought it would be a great idea. I didn't get an email back so I guess it is a no-go. It's a shame because I don't want to start a business (again). I love sharing project ideas and where I can, sharing how commercial products can be integrated into larger systems. It is not about the money, I just love sharing the knowledge. The best reward is being tagged on social media with an image of someone who built their own systems based on one of my videos.

Off grid and portable off grid power is a passion. Sure it is fun to play with batteries and solar, but energy autonomy for our stations through education is my dream. Every new solar powered station setup in some crazy place, is a step toward that end.
Thanks for the ideas, support and kindness.
73
Julian oh8stn

 

Not trying to start a flame war but the only reason anyone would use powerpoles is interoperability. I use them on the channel to support the emergency communications principle. If we were making the same choice about connectors today, most of us would go with XT60 or XT90 connectors.
They are rugged, waterprood, impossible to insert backwards, and have a larger surface contact area. They are also a fraction of the price of powerpoles. As a lone-wolf portable operator, I would use the XT90.
73
Julian oh8stn

 

I guess your Turnigy power meter logs data wirelessly, and pushed it to a raspberry pi for statistics? A few people missed that part!
The terminal named MF (terminal 2) on the Thorwave PowerMon can be configured for mutiple functions.
When configured as Data Stream Output from the PowerMon app, it will continuously stream the measured data over the MF terminal.
73
Julian oh8stn



Electrically that is a 5V TTL output. The data is stream serially (UART format).