Solar Powered Server Project: Trial System Part 2
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In this video I am going to finish up putting together my small scale solar system. The mounting post was finished before the start of this video thanks to help from my dad! A lot still needed to be done though. The cable needed to be routed inside and then tested to make sure that it did not sustain any trauma during the installation process. Also the panel needed to be hooked up to the solar charger. Additionally I also made some small improvements to my dad's mounting solution just to ensure that my $70 investment does not fly away :p. After everything was hooked up and ready to go I used the system for a week to make sure that everything was working properly and I am happy to say that everything has been chugging along very well. I think there will be a very brief part 3 of this video. The system could really benefit from another panel. Currently sometimes the single 50W panel does not completely charge the 20Ah battery, especially if cloud cover is present for part of the day. I forgot to talk about this in the video. I got some criticism in my last video regarding the installation location of the solar panel. I really do not have a choice in that matter. I do not own the house or the land that the solar panel is on so my options are very limited. I am building this system in anticipation of building a larger system to power my webserver and NAS. Through this system I want to see how difficult it will be to build and maintain a completely off grid solar system that will be in service 24/7. Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pfJiAQpoD4Y Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF6Bt-f1Y4A HD Images: (working on it, it might be awhile) The equipment I bought: Analog voltage meter: http://amzn.to/2aMfRiQ Velcro: http://amzn.to/2aA4tTT MC4 connectors: http://amzn.to/2aGVfrF 20AH lead acid battery: http://amzn.to/2aA4uqD Charge controller: http://amzn.to/2b8kB0V 12V socket adapter: http://amzn.to/2aUPCpo CCA 12 guage wire: http://amzn.to/2b8UaKS Fuse holder: http://amzn.to/2aMfS6d Power inverter: http://amzn.to/2b3ubVZ 50W solar panel: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5575159861&toolid=10001&campid=5337833996&customid=&icep_item=271989311547&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg Solar panel seller store: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=11&pub=5575159861&toolid=10001&campid=5337833996&customid=&icep_store=hurricanewindpower&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg Electrical box: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=2&pub=5575159861&toolid=10001&campid=5337833996&customid=&icep_item=301932723481&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg Amazon Affiliate link: http://amzn.to/1qPQhgO eBay partner link: http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?icep_ff3=1&pub=5575159861&toolid=10001&campid=5337833996&customid=&ipn=psmain&icep_vectorid=229466&kwid=902099&mtid=824&kw=lg Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?ty=h&u=2975213 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aacomputersandtechnology/ Website: http://www.aacomputersandtechnology.com/
Comments
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Nice i find this channel and your website , keep the good work up
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1:45 ... TO THE WALL !!
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Great little project, 3 things.
1. Change the inverter from Modified Sine Wave to Pure sine wave. It will use less power for the same amount of load, also always use pure sine wave for sensitive equipment like powersupples and anything IT etc. Google the long list of reasons :p
2. Rather then adding another solar panel you could also add a second batt, If the current solar panel does change the batt in a sunny day then it might also charge 2. The second batt will get you through the cloudy day and if both can change fully on a sunny day your sorted. In saying that more solar is always a good idea.
2b, make a solar tracker :)
3. Use lithium rather then lead acid, if your discharging that lead acid batt lower then 50% it might only last a year max rather then 3 or more etc throwing away a battery a year will cost too much and make the project costly and pointless. Lead acid should only be discharged to 50% and your inverter will most likely not stop and discharge the batt well past the 50% Lead acid limit normal limit.
Some things to think about but great start,
Also have a watch of some videos on my channel about using 18650 batts which you could use for your project :) -
Hey did you consider creating a system that gets power from the mains at night when it's cheaper and stores it so if in winter your October won't randomly short
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I have a question: why didnt you use a lithium-ion battery(or built one yourself) instead of a lead acid battery? For the same volume, capacity would've been much higher and even could've much smaller. Or were you limited by the prohibitive costs of these type of batteries?
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omg where do you get the money for that computer -.-
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You really need to ground the inverter that is really dangerous without it
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AM1 Platform? That would be a good, power efficient choice
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Ever considered upgrading the system to 24v in the future? Higher voltage means fewer power losses with the wire you use.
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And once again i need to ask myself which 2 Dumb af People Downvoted this Video?!
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hi I found this on the net I thought of you its pretty good small computer ((LattePanda Windows 10 Single Board Computer))go to that link it is actually windows 10 all included just what you nees uses 5v
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that power cable coming in is not good you should use a piece of congute plastic from the solar panel its not good have it in the ground like that not good being in the ground it could get cut by the lawnmower and you could get electruted not good
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I think that you should run the power cables through pipes. To protect them. And you could use a Raspberry Pi as a server.
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this is a great project, but you might want to grab that 100 watt panel now $ per watt savings. but it may not be in the budget.
you do plan to upgrade the battery pack ?
stay well -
Thats Some Swag Ass Gardening Hat M9
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Hi,
Remember me telling about the Intel Compute stick? That is running off a small 5v 2A Cell phone charger with microusb. If you get two of them you will be drawing 20w max with both the server and the freenas one but if you get the atom one at $150 you get a USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0 port. For plugging in an external drive,get an enclosure that has its own power supply or a usb hub that has power(like the one you reviewed with 15 ports)
Also,there are a lot of thin clients that draw a bit of power like Zotac ones. They have a lot more usb ports and are very powerful.
P.S. I watch every single video of yours and they are very good quality. -
Awesome video, but your voice is kinda annoying when you talk higher and lower.
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love your work anyway hope you will keep more projects regarding solar system and keep it progress
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Get a photovoltaic panel.
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Looks good, Glad to see your taking my advice, Looking at the atom machine you got I noticed it looks like a standard 19v laptop plug. Using a universal car laptop charger like this should do the trick!
Best of luck!
-Jake
https://www.amazon.com/ZOZO-Universal-Charger-Toshiba-Samsung/dp/B00ZZW4ZEK/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1471713365&sr=8-6&keywords=laptop+car+charger
8m 48sLenght
136Rating