Please help with my solar energy installation?
Question:
I´m planing to use them in combination with a car battery and a small power inverter with a timer to pump water only a couple of minutes a day to water my bonsais,
I have the panels, the battery, the timer, the power inverter and the pump,
What else do I need to make it work?
A friend told me that I have to prevent the energy from going back or something to shut off the timer when the batteries are charging. Thanks!
Answer:
I would worry about overcharging the battery. For the use you are describing, it is likely that the solar panels will put out more energy than your pump and inverter will use. You can tinker around to see how many panels will do the job, and use as few as possible. Still, it might be necessary to use something like a resistor bank and zener diodes to keep the maximum voltage around 13 volts.
Also it is likely that you will want to run the inverter only when the timer is set to run the pump. That would conserve energy
A diode to prevent the current from reversing, in the positive lead, these may already be in place if the panels were battery chargers to begin with.
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