Life time Off Grid Solution for a 65W Laptop, 20W LED Bulb and 40W DC Fan with usb fast charging option Via 50W mono crystalline Solar Panel in ₹5k or $70
Material Requirements –
1-Solar panel – Loom 50W mono crystalline ₹2400. Mono crystalline benifits – density of single/ one type of solar material (silicone based film semiconductors) thus it’s efficiency is better than poly crystalline. It’s darker in colour thus easy to identify. Although latest technology is DSSC type solar panel where the efficiency is easily rivaling traditional diesel based grids. However we have to find a cost effective and robust solution hence sticking to mono. DSSC>Mono>Poly in solar cell efficiency.
2-Solar Wire 4MM – Red and Black extra PVC coated 5M (since you will keep your pannel and wire exposed to weather) (Microtek Solar wire) ₹400
3-Multimeter – Unity Volt and Amp meter- Best would be to buy a mastech BS830L since after a lot of research online I have come to the conclusion that it would be wisest to buy a sturdy multimeter which can handle contious use however for small science projects supporting our make in India initiative a local Haryana based “Unity” is suitable for us. ₹350
4-Copper Wire 4mm – Red and Black 3.1 meters each at ₹30/m for black color single pvc coated from greater noida and 3.0 meters of red single PVC coated from Noida sector -12 at ₹40/m. Since this will be primarily used inside your room where it won’t face extremes of daily weather it is enough to buy a single pvc coated copper wires. ₹210
5-Solar Controller / Charger – Amici smart solar charger controller – although have to admit this is Chinese , but bought this again after a lot of consideration (you have to admit that rare earth metals are currently all but Chinese. 99% of all the rare earth metals that industres from satellite to small industries like tooth pick manufacturing uses is extracted in China. It is not a coincidence that China is currently producing the cheapest electronics in the world and considerably improved it’s quality too. Now nationalistic policy makers would also agree that this is a “left policy” to weaken your opponents by destroying local competition. However there are other options like Voltas and luminous that are home made (although some parts in those will definitely be Chinese as these items have rare earth metals like silenium – used in transistors , ICs etc). Now a solar charger is a smart assembly of diodes which will allow the current to only flow from Solar panel to Load or battery and not the opposite way otherwise your battery will discharge or burn the wires (since a lot of discharge will be resistance of copper wire producing heat).
So if you want to charge or run anything from solar panel involving batteries better to have a charge controller. Although for direct current usage like running a DC motor or an Led, one doesn’t need a charge controller. Benifits of charge controller outweighs it’s absence though- examples -a) This comes with a usb 3.1 Amp option so you can directly charge a mobile or a power bank. b) it has smart and instantaneous reading of Current and voltages from panel. ₹700
6- Battery – A 50W solar pannel with 50% efficiency should charge 25 AH battery fully in 10 hour. A C10 solar battery that pops as an option in online research is in reality telling you that it gets charged in 10 hours. C20 would mean – it gets charged in 20 hours roughly. Most companies would however not mention that C10 has more lead than C20 , more lead would mean more life cycles but it is not a good thing if you are an environmentalist. C10 at lower capacity is not readily Available yet in market. Most people opt solar as roof top which charges bigger 150 AH batteries. Also larger battery would mean increasing the Panel wattage capacity. Thus a simple solution to all our worries is using an used car battery. A new battery is easily 44 AH but a used one would not be having such out of factory floor capacity and hence you can be rest assured that it would suit your needs and be less of a threat to environment as well. Old batteries usually cost ₹1000.
7-Battery Clamps – ₹40 cheap and best solution for battery connectivity
8-Male Female 5Amp connector 3 pairs. If you have budget you can go for MC4 connectors which are water proof. But we would keep most of our equipments(except panel) inside hence no need to invest more on connectors. ₹30
9-One tester, one wire cutter and Plier and electrical tape and other tools. These you should have anyway at home all times ₹100.
Schematic Design – It’s rough but will give you the idea of how minimalistic you should go to conserve nature. With approx ₹5000 one can achieve self reliance for own energy requirements.
At the end we all should contribute one little step to achieve the larger common goal – to go for renewables, to use more clean Energy. Ending the article with a simple video to demonstrate the whole setup.