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As someones who's hobbie is making solar set ups and building batteries this is a fantastic idea for someone to start out on the cheap and build on it later. I would have never thought of it well done.

Cheers for liking and subscribing guys it means a lot 💪

If you are shooting a video for KZfaq. I think using landscape orientation is much better than upright phone orientation. You kept panning left and right when you would have had it all in shot in standard landscape. I'm watching it on a TV and it looks bad. I couldn't get to appreciate the content.

A clever way to get into self sufficiently on a tight budget. Regards Stephen in Australia.

Mate, that is a great idea. I live on a boat part of the year. When the sun is up why mess with all the batteries and controllers. Just throw the panel out on the deck with the converter and charge whatever you need...powerbrics, phones, even a hot water tank if you got enough reserve in the bank. Loved it. Your idea of using different types of connectors was spot on. I will definetly be using your setup on the boat and Chevy flatbed camper. Mad Respects Sir

That's a useful set-up but I would suggest DC-DC step-down converter 24V to 13.8 V because you cant fully charge a 12V battery with a12V power supply.

The whole point of a battery is to let you charge it while the sun shines and use the power when the sun doesn't shine.

for my garden hose on-demand diaphragm water pump I run it directly (no converter /regulator or anything) off two used cheap 12v solar panels in parallel. Works well. I agree large used higher voltage house panels are a good deal if you can find them locally without shipping. Just an idea for certain applications.

An MPPT with a load port but without a battery is doing exactly the same but better, the battery is just a nice buffer. You can use no battery, a small battery or a big battery depending on how much solar and load changes during the day (and night when battery is big enough) I recommend the Victron 100 20 as it allows for 12/24/48 volt

A step-down converter, also known as a buck converter, is designed to reduce voltage while increasing current. When you connect your solar panels directly to a step-down converter to convert 36 volts to 12 volts, the converter will adjust the voltage and deliver the desired 12 volts to your load. However, the process of stepping down voltage involves converting some of the electrical energy into heat. In this scenario, the step-down converter does not function like an MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) charge controller. An MPPT charge controller is specifically designed to optimize the power output from solar panels by adjusting the operating point of the panels to maximize the power they generate. MPPT controllers are more efficient than simple voltage regulators when it comes to extracting the maximum power from solar panels, especially when the solar panel's voltage and current characteristics are not an exact match for the load. On the other hand, a basic step-down converter will reduce the voltage to the desired level (12 volts in your case) but may not optimize power extraction from the solar panels. The excess energy that is not delivered to the load is typically dissipated as heat in the conversion process. If maximizing the power output from your solar panels is important, especially under varying sunlight conditions, using an MPPT charge controller is recommended. MPPT controllers can adjust the electrical operating point of the solar panels dynamically to extract the maximum available power, providing a more efficient energy conversion compared to a simple step-down converter.

XWST also makes a 8-85v input to 5v usb/usb-c converter very versatile

A good idea is to add a small pump that would use extra power and use it to pump water up to a tower and attach a micro hydro generator that could run all night to power refrigerator and freezer over night the water will drain into an underground tank for repumping back into the tower the next day also you could directly connect a well to the underground tank and use a second pump to take water to a second tower to make your house have water pressure in the lines , in limited water areas you'll not be wasting water just recycling for power usage and your second tower should be sized for all your water use for a week.....just saying.....

Yeah I run my 12 volt camping fridge in the day with this same setup. I made a short about it. I also bought a dc to dc converter you can adjust with a screw driver to adjust to 13.5 volts to run my stuff with a little more voltage. Free energy during the day.

Top stuff. I clicked like when you said you bought the 250W panels @ten bucks a piece :) Fair dinkum unreal. I'm an expat who left Aussie in 98 and am thinking of doing some solar to my abode in Thailand......just a little at a time as you suggested that may be applicable for the more budget aligned.......this helps....thank you

Wow another fantastic amazing super great video info and analysis from absolutely the best channel on KZfaq. Thank you and keep the great videos coming.

Good set up for a back up when other devices fail

Thanks for this video mate.

I thought a blue edy was a battery and inverter, excellent way to get people interested in solar

This is very much useful for applications where you need to run a 12V equipment during day-time only. Like for example fountains, aquarium aerators or pumps. Thanks for your idea!

Very nice job. Thanks for sharing this

Very cool great idea! Like you said you can add on when you can a lot of us can't just drop 5k to get started. Great video!

CAUTION! this setup has not yet have a fuse. I would recommend putting a fuse on this system. Always take caution when working with electricity. High voltage can be deadly. Thanks

You need to be very cautious when switching high current DC, as you can start a DC ark at currents above 5 Amps. This ark, like a welders ark, can be impossible to stop and can destroy switching circuits designed for AC operation and start a fire ! It is the reason the shut down procedure on solar grid installations say to switch off the grid power ( mains feed ) first, to reduce ( stop ) the solar panel feed curent, then switch off the DC from the panels, so the low current does not create a DC ark in the DC switch.

Very cool and subscribed!!!!!

Thank you for this video it gives me extra ideas as I do live off grid

thanks man this is good food for thought

A 30A PWM solar charge controller is so much cheaper and safer to use even without connecting a battery to it :)

Brilliant! And inspiring.

I've just been experimenting with solar panels I've bought on Ebay. The problem I've encountered is that the solar energy isn't always constant. Some days the skies are cloudy and some days the skies are more clear. During the day clouds may go over the solar panels from moment to moment. Early morning and late afternoon the sun is much less direct than at noon. And so on. One solar panel I've got produces different voltages depending on how strong the solar energy falling on it is at a particular moment. What is really needed is an electronic component that can even out these differences and produce a constant voltage no matter how low or high the voltage is feeding into it. I've got a solar panel system that is portable and unfolds to 3 solar panels. It feeds its output to a small electronic box that has a couple of USB ports in it for charging cell phones and such. The problem I find with it is that it just cuts off its output when the solar energy falling on the solar panels is so low that it can't produce the 5 to 6 volts necessary for charging cell phones. I suspect that it has a circuit to down convert the voltage if it gets higher than 5 to 6 volts or maybe the panels just can't produce more than 5 to 6 volts at max. I think that it should be possible to make an electronic circuit that would also cut in with an up converter to increase the voltage to 5 or 6 volts when that is needed also.

Those are some cool ideas, but why not just use a cheap PWM controller, which has the built option for running 12v loads? That's just as cheap as the buck converter, just as capable and configurable, but you get the built-in safety of a proper charge controller. Boost/buck converters have their place, but it's a false economy to use them in place of an inexpensive charge controller.

Thank you 🙂

Very interesting!

Thanks interesting, Subscribed. Like the ball valve on your spouting 😅

Thanks for sharing, i will he pasding this along.

I have an old suitcase solar panel with an adaptor to cigarette adaptor then USB to charge devices or power banks.

You GO Mate!!

Couple of things to be careful with first by using a step down converter it depends on what kind you're using some of them are relative some of them are fixed meaning in some of the cheaper ones as the voltage of the solar panel fluctuates your output voltage could fluctuate so be sure to check that Second you should be using about 14 volts not 12 volts a 12 volt battery is not actually 12 volts actually if it were 12 volts it would be destroyed most likely it's usually between 12.1 and 12.6 volts nominal resting but under load charging it's usually around 13 or 14 volts we just call it a 12 volt battery it's not actually 12 volts it's just close to 12 volts Next you are likely not getting the full power available from that solar panel setup because your output power is going to be limited by the load rating of your stepdown converter so make sure you get a converter large enough for the maximum your solar array is capable of or use multiple converters as long as you have enough amps coming out of the solar panel that will work just fine In reality you're better off buying a charge controller it's going to cost you only a few dollars more than the step down converter it'll be able to handle more power and you will be upgrade ready for example adding more solar panels up to whatever the rating of your charge controller is and also adding in a battery later.

I ended up with two 305 watt rigid solar panels for peanuts. Wanna know how? Call your local solar installation companies. They sometimes have scuffed panels, sometimes someone ordered the wrong type of panel, sometimes the company changed one lot of panels with a different configuration...on and on. These panels sit in their storage sheds waiting for placement. I got mine for a 100 dollars...Jus sayin...

Cz_výborně natočeno video, také jsem tak před mnoha lety začínal.

One drawback to this is that the 12VDC appliances and devices are very limited. The output of any solar panel goes up and down constantly, if this does not give a stable output it is worthless.

This is really great, a very easy way to learn about solar before building a more complex system. Thank you

I love it!

Thanks for the video it has been very informative and giving me some insight, as I’m trying to put together a setup for camping. I also see a lot of second hand solar panels with large wattages for sale and was wondering how to use them. So if I had a similar setup on my 4x4 I could run the Dcdc step down straight into my 40 amp king’s charger to keep the lithium topped up Regards Samuel

add some capacitors for smoother voltage and deal with inrush and outrush

I just got an Ecoflow Powerstream 800w micro inverter, no batteries but puts the power direct into your home via a socket and reduces usage by the solar power going in. Currently got 2 x 410w panels on it, better than paying the big energy companies :)

Best vidio I've seen thanks very much I'm doing it

Aliexpress XWST 18-90v input 13.8v output $45ish extremely versatile converter

oh how i wish i was confident enough to try this but i just don't understand this kinda thing. ty for the video.

Those bluettis are amazing used one last month 😊

Using solar to heat water for a portable shower would also be a good direct solar application.

FASCINATING! Hope that You have a lot of projects in store??

I wouldn't be powering my electronics from one of those cheap can inverters unless it's pure sine wave. Good ideas in an emergency though.

If you live where the power has blackouts this simple setup would be a extremely useful setup on the cheap. To be able to charge cell phones and lights etc. For off grid living a much bigger system would be desirable of course. I have a few unused panels laying around and would like to get my 240VAC hot water heater disconnected from the grid and connected to the panels directly. It’s sunny desert here so there’s is solar power over 300 days per year. However using the hot water heater as a preheater going to a on-demand hot water heater would cover 365 days per year and 24/7. I need to find out if there are regulating (modulating) on-demand hot water heaters that accept prewarmed water and will not scald us? Does anyone know which ones work? Thanks.

I have done the same thing, just not as extensive as your setup, yet. But adding to the system is half the fun. I have my fridge running off an inverter and batteries as well. I think it is becoming a necessity to help save the planet.

Just for the curious...my battery backup...one lifepo 12v battery...charger...2500 watt pure wave inverter...battery switch...$700. That's with no panels or charge controller. Add $300 for 2 new panels and contdoller. I'm an electrician and just having fun building stuff.

Todos los días se puede aprender algo nuevo , y los comentarios son muy buenos y respetuosos. Gracias.

Can you charge a 12v battery also? Would be nice to save the extra day power to use after dark. Well done a very simple solution. No worries :)

Yeah, that's not the ideal set up, but it's a good way to get started while you save up for (more) batteries. Or even if you have extra panels that you just want to set outside once in a while for emergencies or something.

Great deal on the panels. About $0.25 U.S. per watt is the best I've seen for panels here, but usually $0.50 goes up for shipping if you can't go pick them up too.

very good!!!!!

Thank you

I rely on wind turbines that compress air and I store the air for later use to run an air engine coupled to a generator. I TRULY have no storage batteries! You could do the same by using the electricity manufactured by your panels to run air compressors.

I take it you get a lot of sun where you are. But even so if you don't get lots of sun but get some a 12v solar system is very worth while and can help reduce your bills, I used to use a jump starter and keep it charged up using a solar panel, i could charge up phones, run small electrical stuff and boost my car when ever needed, i added a small inverter to run an electric spray gun and some other bits, as long as you didn't over tax it, it would be good. Solar is great fun to work with.

Thanks pal ive just subd. Its great info for a noob. Elec is so abundant and so easily harnest whether its sun,wind or water, so why are the fuckers ripping us off so much today and why so expensive? I am in cloudy uk and autumn and winter is dull, would this still work on a slight cloudy day for me?

I'm not sure if your blue eddy can operate 12 volt items while charging, but if it can the battery will smooth out the buck convertor sine wave for whatever you run - especially electronics...

Good for 12v application only

You better have safety fuses between the solar output and appliances, but on cloudy days or at night youd still need the bluetti which uses a lithium battery...

is the voltage output of the panels not affected by the available sunlight. the 32 volt would not be a constant level. does the step down converter accept a range of inputs and produce a steady 12 volt output?

Great video mate, how many watts is that kettle rated?

Running 12 volt appliances on 12 volts is very inefficient. Most 12 volt appliances are designed to run at about 13.2 volts. One something like a ham radio you would only have something like 80% or rated output.

You could set the solar panels up on the ground. There is no need for expensive rooftop installation. The panels can be placed at the best possible position for solar access.

And then you have a battery in your desk to charge 😆🤣😂

A step down is a charge controller.

Yea thats cool tha ks

TBR very ingenious!!! Im familiar with all the electronics and systems that make up a solar setup and your idea is great simplicity for someone just wanting to run solar without all the expense and complications. 👍💯

So what happens on a sunny day if there's nothing plugged in draining the amps? I can assume the heat-sink will overheat and possibly cause a fire. IMHO without a solar controller and a battery to absorb unused electricity, this system is dangerous. A battery and controller aren't that expensive to add.

The most obvious idea seems to make devices that don't care what the voltage is.

The unit with 120v out is interesting 😅🤣

So all this for $100 but surely the Bluetti EB55 is a key component and that costs more than that - and includes batteries...

With that camera swinging back and forth I gone dizzy

Hii there. I got new sollar and converter. I'm stuck here doesn't work. Wat should I do

Dumb question I'm sure but why use higher voltage panels if you're going to step it down to 12V anyways?

Do you have any fusing in that set up?

No battery... no inverter....except that EB55....

Where are you from. Whales ?.Interesting accent 😊 ,(I am philologist). Thanks for interesting video. 12 v 20 A gives a lot of possibilities.

What happens to the other 20 volts? Has to be some real heat somewhere doesn't there?

Why not use a simple mechanical rheostat instead of the no-way-to-repair electronic voltage reducer?

Be good idea how to wire it the the panels …

Aren't the power packs charger, battery and inverter in one?

Is there a way I can do this from just getting adapters and have no reason to solder?

You do have battery’s. Also a charger controller and pure sine inverter. If giving an example of your title remove the Bluetti and the other lithium battery pack.

You could heat a 12v element

interesting, like a dimmer

yeh you can buy 3 to 5kw systems for around $500 with all the racking etc and its all high quality instead of the ebay garbage

Whats a power-pack if not a battery ?

no batteries but for 100.00 dollars you can charge up your phone battery would have to buy 12 volt coffee making but could it run my freezer?

Couldn't the panels simply plug into the Bluetti... then run everything off that?

Here's 8 minutes I'll never get back 👈 Stock Tip... Buy a charge controller

32V fed into a 24V converter?