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Electric Stunt => Gettin all AMP'ed up! => Topic started by: Dennis Toth on July 08, 2022, 07:01:10 PM
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Any of the EE's out there know what it would take to get a solar charger to charge our batteries? I'm thinking this could be a field charger.
Best, DennisT
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I looked into this and if I remember it wasn't practical as a field carry type of thing. The solar panels aren't strong enough and have to charge a marine battery over time then you tap into that with your charger.
Motorman 8)
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If you have a permanent location it can work. Such as flying field structure. My son has such a rig on his lake home boat house to power his boat lift and security camera. But a portable unit in a field support flight box isn't going to work. A small gas powered generator would work. For $500 bucks you can run a charger and a box fan.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUP6L1U?ascsubtag=[]st[p]cjsbxtuat00higmy6ygo35t9ahpn1dd1[t]w[r]google.com[d]D[z]m&tag=thestrategistsite-20
Lots of smaller cheaper units out there that would work.
PS My son's lake home boat house setup cost more than $500
S?P
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Any of the EE's out there know what it would take to get a solar charger to charge our batteries? I'm thinking this could be a field charger.
Best, DennisT
With the time and effort and expense to set one of those up, then couple it with the fact that it may not work very well, it is probably more economical to just buy more batteries and not charge at the field at all.
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We have 2 AC outlets at our field that are on for contests. Otherwise, it is a BYOB club. n~
Ken
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It definitely can work. We've had solar charging stations at our Kent County Aeromodelers field for more than 5 years (when I joined). Probably have at least 20 charging stations. The panels are on the roof over our pits all connected to several 12V marine batteries. Our facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/380866159235589/
Mike Morrow
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Something like this? VD~
https://www.alza.sk/EN/alzapower-max-e-200w-black-d6734378.htm?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=facebook_AlzaPower_imkt_daba_performance-kampan_AlzaPower%7e6308784390409%7e&fbclid=IwAR2qlZv-PZCrcZkeoxyKO49yAkBhN0NF4qo6g6zrE_Q2yaMbyEZHbMy_Vs4#discussionPosts
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Something like this? VD~
https://www.alza.sk/EN/alzapower-max-e-200w-black-d6734378.htm?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=facebook_AlzaPower_imkt_daba_performance-kampan_AlzaPower%7e6308784390409%7e&fbclid=IwAR2qlZv-PZCrcZkeoxyKO49yAkBhN0NF4qo6g6zrE_Q2yaMbyEZHbMy_Vs4#discussionPosts
Once again this is some $560 US for a whapping 200 W of power.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165438269743?hash=item2684e3a92f:g:IfgAAOSw89NiXIVh
2 KVA for $327. Not green but portable and can be used as a home emergency power source.
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As said -- if this is going to stay on the field, then sure. Put a 200W or so panel on the roof of the field shed, and few big deep-discharge batteries inside, then you can have a 12V (or 120V if you want) outlet on the side of the shed for whatever. The reason it'll work is because the solar panel is the expensive part, and all the time that folks aren't there and there's daylight, it'll be charging.
Given my analysis in this post (https://stunthanger.com/smf/gettin-all-amp'ed-up!/charging-off-your-car/msg640076/#msg640076), and assuming, as always, that I got the math right, you could leave the solar panel at home and just put a deep-discharge battery in the trunk. Get fancy and charge it off of your car through an isolator circuit (such things exist, although I can't remember the correct name -- it's an RV thing). Or just charge it at home.
A 50A-hour battery (which is less than this one (https://www.batteriesplus.com/productdetails/battery/marine-and-boat/deep-cycle/default/sli24mdp), but that's the very first one I looked at) should give you ten flights or so on a 64-ounce plane.
Working the math out in my head, a 200W panel would let you fly about once every 15 minutes if you have a 64-ounce plane and an efficient charger, an efficient charge controller on the panel, and it's really sunny (solar panels are rated for the power they deliver in full sun -- and cloudy days deliver way less light). A deep-discharge battery about the size of your car battery costs around $100, the solar panel costs around $500, there's only so many hours in the day to fly, so -- do the math.
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The problem I had when trying to charge at the field with a battery was that resistance of cables from the 12V battery to the charger dropped the voltage below min charger voltage.
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The problem I had when trying to charge at the field with a battery was that resistance of cables from the 12V battery to the charger dropped the voltage below min charger voltage.
Oh, that's interesting. Are you sure it was in the cables, or in the battery itself? The actual low-voltage cutoff would be a function of the charger design -- you can always complain about those danged engineers at the battery charger factory.