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A buck-boost converter is really a nice thing to have, when you have a solar battery bank. With such a device you can load secondary batteries e.g. from tools, laptops, eBikes, even with different voltages: lower or higher. That Chinese 38V/6A DC-DC buck-boost converter is well manufactured and...

If your man says you should believe him. There is no reason to remind him of that, every two years...

Is someone interested? I have built an ESP8266-based measurement system that includes a powerful battery supervision system as a side function. It tracks the battery voltage, current, power, evaluates the battery resistance and charge level and displays it on the free cloud service Thinger, so...

(Original old post replaced with something more representative of the current situation of my project) I will maintain that first post current to give a first impression of the project at a glance. My project Victron_VE_on_Steroids gets more and more functions. It started an alternative logger...

https://diysolarforum.com/threads/low-power-bad-weather-solar-harvesting-an-attempt-to-build-a-better-scc.13847/ It is still work in progress but I came very far and have already wired prototypes, and written most of the code. Soft Power (Github) The main focus, beside low-cost, is the ability...

My project Victron_VE_on_Steroids gets more and more functions. It started as an alternative logger for the Victron VE interface (MPPT Chargers and Smart Shunts) It can now be configured as a very low-cost vendor agnostic Smart Shunt. The Smart-Shunt hardware is extremely limited: - a shunt...

I have rebuilt my Home Brew Victron Logger, to be less clumsy, it also accepts an optional OLED display: The project is discussed here. The material required is very limited: A micro DC-DC converter An ESP8266 microcontroller: e.g. Wemos D1 Mini A JST 2mm pigtail A screw terminal Optional...

I have rebuilt the Soft Power micropower version for Panels <21W The primary buck converter is now vertical and has a heat sink. This version is able to sustain 20W without time limit at 25°C.

I think this will probably be the last hardware iteration of my SoftPower project: This final version is built around a three channel power measurement module INA3221. I managed to get everything into a rather lean schematic diagram...

Hi, the Perturb and Observe MPPT algorithm is well known and mainly works OOB. I think a very few people did really really test how their implementation works under every possible situation. I am looking to share experience about how to implement it to be as efficient as possible. - How...

You have a gorgeous solar system and a battery bank to make Elon Musk jealous. Well! You can do better with your battery than feeding an inverter. DC/DC is always more efficient than DC/AC/DC to carge a quantity of devices: your eBike, vacuum cleaner, computer, tablet and so on. There are a...

Does someone know what that red indicator means, it's not described in the manual:

Has anyone got an experience with solar PV connectors? Are they really suitable for male / female?

After my first design to operate general buck-converters in a MPPT-mode by software upon controlling their CV setpoint in the feedback circuit, using low-power (<2A) buck converters, I would like to step up to an additional variants providing more power. I have acknowledged, that I should first...

The PCBs now arrived and i love them: much easier to build than the proto-boards. https://github.com/rin67630/Drok-Juntek-on-steroids/blob/main/Hardware/ReadMe.md If If you are interested in getting some of the bare PCBs, send me an eMail to lazlo.lebrun<you know what to insert>gmail.com with...

...representing a person sitting on the toilet. Does someone know what that means? ?

My project Drok-Juntek-on-steroids to dramatically improve comercial DC-DC converters to provide networked functionalty now comes with a PCB. I finally dug into KiCAD and learned to use it within 1 week.

Build from - 4x surplus computer mains adapters 24v / 5A and a DPS 5020 + USB communication module The 4 mains adapters are connected in a 2P-2S configuration to provide 48V-10A power to the programmable power supply. This one, being a buck converter, can provide more than 10A at lower voltages...

Here is an easy heck to add solar heating to an Intex SPA. It does not need any pump, but just derives a part of the filter water stream into a loop of electrical corrugated conduit that runs through a greenhouse box. (n.b. the photographs are old ones of the first version using an irrigation...

Pure sine inverters are expensive, but for which usage are they REALLY required? Some will say: for powering sensitive electronics... Did you really consider what mainly happens in >95% of today's electronics? The AC input signal is rectified to DC before going to a DC-DC converter. So it...

Who is tinkering with solar energy frequently needs an adjustable load in order to discharge batteries, put a load on SCCs or BMS, test shunts etc... With a cheap 600W Step up converter and a 1000W 240V bulb from an old cinema flooder, you can make an adjustable load: Just wire the output of...

Hi, the DIY Solar Power forum is currently the best and most active forum board available. I know, i am a bit exotic here with my comparatively low-power solar instrumentation/data logger systems. That leads to frequent misunderstandings with other members having another point of view due to...

How do you measure the open circuit current of a panel? ?

Hi, in the frame of an environmental metering project, I have programmed as a by-side product, a WiFi battery monitor function using an ESP8266 and an INA226 power monitor. It shows the battery values as trends, calculates the energy to/from the battery by hour and day, calculates the internal...

Having been hacked I appreciate the 2FA login. It takes however up to 10 minutes until the confirmation code arrives and then you have only 15 minutes to react. Since I will not wait 10 minutes for the message to arrive, I do other things, and then the message arrives and when i notice it, it's...

Thank you very much for that new folder!

I am currently experimenting with powering an unattended off grid networked instrument that continuously draws 500mA (6W) in 50° latitude maritime climate. The requirements are quite different from providing grid power or even providing off grid home power. The challenge is to have a panel that...

I just heard on the radio about a community microgrid of solar power users on a small French island. It looks quite interesting: About 100 solar houses got interconnected and are able to provide much more instantaneous power to users by sharing the overall power capacity. This looks like quite...

Hi, I am powering a network relay that draws 100W from a 300W panel and a 200Ah 12V gel battery Since the panel/battery are too weak to provide 24/24h operation, i have a plug backup that takes over when the battery falls below 11.6V. With this installation on 100% sunny high summer days, i get...