Solar question-help needed

[Stea]

Im a solar newby and need some help.

Currently have a single 100 watt panel going to a charge controller and then to 2 12 volt deep cycle batteries. (Next summer the plan is a total of 8 100 watt panels and a lithium ion battery) From there i use a 3oo watt inverter to power a cell signal booster.

When Im there its fine because I bring a generator to power everything and I usually bring an extra battery with me.

I now have a cell enabled game camera that I am using to keep an eye on the yurt. It fantastic. It seeds pictures to my phone when there is movement or when i send a command to it.

But, in order for the camera to work the cell booster needs to be running. I dont want to run the booster 24/7 because I dont think I have enough solar capacity at the moment to keep the batteries charged. I plugged the booster to a timer to turn the booster on at certain times of the day to conserve battery but obviously the timer is 120 volt and the inverter is still running the timer. The inverter never does pull enough juice to get the cooling fan running but obviously it is still converting 12 volt to 120 volt for the timer..

I have found a 12 volt timer i could use BUT can i use the 12 volt timer between the batteries and the Inverter?????? That way there would be zero power used except when I set it to run.


Thanks for any help.

[hierony]

Interesting idea/setup. If you could post a link to your 12v timer spec's I might be able to comment more.

Also, what inverter are you using? Do they give a standby current usage or just the peak efficiency? Or do you have some current monitoring on the DC side going to your inverter? Any of those can give you an idea of how much energy you're 'wasting' by leaving the inverter on 24/7...

[Stea]

Link to 12 volt timer

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

No specs on the inverter its 300 watt peak pure sine wave

[Stea]

OK now look at this . This is the cheap booster I'm using but it works fantastic.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LCD-Display....c100290.m3507

Booster specs 3 watt consumption 5v 1amp dc

http://www.lintratek.com/201706/15/743.html

Found the inverter

https://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAND-NEW-P...item5b3ff033a7

[Stea]

OK way out in left field now

How about this hook to 12 volt timer and splice into booster power cord , bypass inverter completely .

adapter 12v to 5v 3amp to booster 5v 1amp would the amp difference be an issue?

https://www.amazon.com/SMAKN-Convert.../dp/B00CXKBJI2

[hierony]

Now you're thinking! Inverters have that standby current draw, so using that voltage regulator (buck converter) for your 5 V electronics is an excellent idea since you'd just be rectifying the AC back to DC anyhow. As long as the voltages match and the regulator can supply as much or more current then needed it's fine--the load (your booster) will set the current used.

One big thing to watch out for is nominal vs actual voltages--'12 V dc' solar means the actual voltage can vary between 10 V up to 18 V dc on the panel side! With the batteries hooked up, you probably won't get above 15 V though. The voltage regulator is spec'd for up to 23 V, so that's fine. The 12v timer just says '12 V dc' so I can't really say--someone else selling the same product might give better information, or there might be hints in the reviews.

[hierony]

One thing to double check--look at the booster power supply and verify that it's outputting just 5 V 1 amp. In some images of your booster there's a '12 V' symbol on there along with the '5 V'--could be just an internal thing but it doesn't hurt to double check...

[Stea]

I think I am going to try the panel to controller to Battery to 12 volt timer to inverter to booster set up.

Not sure if I want to hack up the booster cord on an experiment. lol

[hierony]

Yeah, there's always that. Fortunately, there's other plugs available. One of them should fit Just make sure you get ground on the correct pin...

[Stea]

There ya go. Maybe I will buy an extra cord and the multi ends and experiment