HOW TO SET UP A SOLAR PANEL - CHEAPEST DIY HACK

When I was preparing for my Guwahati-Bombay road trip couple of years back, my main concern was how to get power in my car to charge my phone, fans or lights, as living without my gadgets was simply unthinkable. And it was to be a 4-5 days long journey, perhaps even longer as I was planning to halt everywhere. Sure, I could charge my phone while driving the car as driving would charge the car battery as well. But what about running my fan during a halt, or just heating up my mini electric kettle. I started researching as being dependent on my car battery was not an option - I wanted to use the car battery only for the car purpose, so, had to quickly think of viable solutions. I looked up at suggestions for installing a seperate alternator and a seperate battery, that could also be charged while driving the car, but, remains cut off from the main car battery and could be used for other purposes. While its possible, it seemed too complicated - the whole process. Also, I simply didn't want to keep driving just to charge my batteries. So, I searched for simpler alternatives. Then, my eyes fell on a Solar Panel, I knew I was fast approaching a solution. Solar Panels could charge even when the car is not moving. Just what I wanted. But since at that time it was fairly a new concept in my city ( in the year 2021 ), I had to do the whole thing myself - ordering, assembling and installation.

While ordering the solar panel of 100Watts ( monocrystalline as it is better than the polycrystalline ) at Rs.4000 from Amazon was easy peasy, the purchase of the battery though was a challenge, as I soon found out normal car battery would not allign with the panels. So, my hunt for a solar battery began. And it was not easy. No car battery shop had heard of those. I was at the point of nearly giving up, when one day I saw something 'solar' mentioned in a shop's signboard. And viola...I found my battery shop atlast. Yes, to my joy, they were dealing with solar related equipment and I could not be more happier. Meanwhile, I had already bought the 2mm red and black wires, and solar charge controller ( which is a crucial part of the setup ), and I took them excitedly to the shop. The battery I bought was deep cycle - that does not require to add distilled water, Exide 17 Ah Powersafe Plus Pure Sine Wave, two pieces = 34ah total. When I bought it, it cost me 7500 bucks ( both ), but, its cheap these days.

the 100 watt solar panel for the roof...

I fastened the panel securely in the roof carrier of my car, with the two positive and negative nodes attached ( and covered in tapes ) to the 2mm wires attached to the solar battery which I kept inside.


the DIY set up of solar panel to battery and charge controller...

On the left port of the charge controler, is the point to attach wires coming from the panel, in middle port, you connect to the battery, and the third port can be used to connect to an extra board for other gadgets or appliances or even a UPS... each port has positive and negatives, so, do connect accordingly with the corresponding wires ...the charge controller also has two USB ports in it from where one can do charging of phone/fans directly ( without discharging the battery - and it worked even in cloudy weather ) - do ensure all points are connected securely...this part is the most important of all steps...



For my 100Watt set up, I used two 17ah each batteries, connected at positives to positives, and negatives to negatives by a 2mm wire on each point, while only points from one of the batteries was used to connect to the charge controller. If one wants more battery storage, simply add via the same technique. One can also install panels of higher wattage to much higher AH batteries. But, since my requirements were only phone/fan/light I was satisfied with my 100 Watts and was always connected throughout my entire trip making it so enjoyable. The same technique can be used at home too and not have to pay huge electricity bills. But, I must say solar set up is not that cheap - atleast when I bought it. The panel, battery and wires would cost money, although, the charge controller is not that pricy. However, its a one time investment, and companies do provide long-term guarantees ( on the panel ), so, that could be a plus point, and we see so many opting for solar energy these days. The sun provides the energy here and charges up everything, its incredible ~ much clean and environment friendly too.