solar advice sought

[junee...@gmail.com]

   I have a single solar panel which was working well to supply my yurt with power.
   Then cats knocked out the connecting lead to the battery, which went dead eventually.
   I reconnected the panel to the battery when I found out, but it would not charge, so I got the
battery partially charged using a conventional charger and tried again.
   But the panel still won't feed power into the battery which has gone dead again.
   Any ideas as to what I might try next?
   Many thanks

[Roberto Barbagallo]

what about to use a tester and mesure the amper and volts?

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[junee...@gmail.com]

  Thanks, Roby. I don't currently have a tester but could probably borrow one if you could tell me what to do with it..

[Roberto Barbagallo]

the person who has it will know what to do :) it's a metter of select the connections and the poles to mesure the volts or the ampers

[Mihail Angelov]

The tool is called a multimeter (multitset [мултицет] in Bulgarian).

Voltage is really trivial to measure - connect the red probe to the positive end of the source, the black (ground) probe to the negative end. Most meters have a switch to select the range of reading - for example 5 volts, 20 volts, 50 volts, etc. You have to set it according to your source.

A side note - most common meters will have two lines - one for smaller voltages and one for bigger. The same goes for the amperage. The "strong" one has a fuse, so the meter is protected from damage. Again you have to adjust things to your output.

Amperage is not so trivial to measure, because you need the current to pass through the meter. So you'll need some kind of circuit - for example a test lamp or some other consumer. In this setup the meter is connected not directly to the source, but in the circuit. Like three people (one source, one consumer, one measurer) holding hands to make a circle :)

I think reading voltage (the easy part) will be enough, because you'll see if the panel is producing any electricity.

And a brief disclaimer: I don't have any experience with solar power, but I know which end of the soldering iron to hold :)

P.S. Actually I'm sure you could find a tutorial by searching "how to use a multimeter", if my explanation is unclear.

sent from mobile hq

[Svilena Racheva]

Where are you located? 

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From: Mihail Angelov <m.an...@gmail.com>
To: perm...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2013 6:53 PM
Subject: Re: solar advice sought

[junee...@gmail.com]

   Thank you.

   I also heard from the original supplier of both the battery and the solar panel that I could make a test by trying the panel with a replacement battery, To find out if the panel
is feeding power into the battery or not. He said it must be over 85 a.h.  That might be less expensive than getting a person with a meter to check.

[[bo]]

I suppose that's a 12V 82Ah battery? Like a normal car battery? Dunno where are you located, but in Bulgaria a new decent one of this type is 100+ Leva, while a multimeter is 15 leva and you will have an indispensible tool for life :)

That said, IF the battery is dead, you'll end up buying one anyway :) Also, a spare battery is always a good thing, and you can probably chain them, so the panel charges both. 

[Mihail Angelov]

Yeah I was thinking the same thing - the battery is quite pricey in comparison with the meter. Also I don't think that the battery can die from what you've described.

Boby, maybe the battery is in need of a nice charge from an external charger? I don't have a car, so my knowledge about accumulators is vague, but I remember that my grandpa used such a device. But maybe his alternator was busted :)

Also if it really is a 12V system I think a spare turning signal or stoplight bulb will be enough to check if there is any power produced by the panel. If you have a neighbor with a vehicle (or you have one) he should have a spare bulb to lend. Polarity should not be an issue, so just plug it in :) (headlights are more complicated - they have high and low beams in the same package, so they have more leads etc). The turning signal lights are just like old school lightbulbs but smaller (and with bayonet mounting). In general any auto lightbulb should work - the systems are 12V.

If you feel uncomfortable working with electricity,  the person lending you the bulb/meter should be able to check things for you. It's a five minute job, so just make a tea for them :)

I don't know if you have nice neighbors, but I really want to believe that there are nice people willing to help out :/

On Aug 30, 2013 2:29 PM, "[bo]" <boby.d...@gmail.com> wrote:

I suppose that's a 12V 82Ah battery? Like a normal car battery? Dunno where are you located, but in Bulgaria a new decent one of this type is 100+ Leva, while a multimeter is 15 leva and you will have an indispensible tool for life :)

That said, IF the battery is dead, you'll end up buying one anyway :) Also, a spare battery is always a good thing, and you can probably chain them, so the panel charges both. 

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[junee...@gmail.com]

Mihail, Bo,

I do indeed have a nice neighbour who has already tried to help. We wheelbarrowed the battery to his place where he put it on charge for 12 hours. But it only came up to 'weak' as his facility for charging was not powerful enough. However, it seemed to hold the charge til using the lights drained it. I had hoped the solar plugged in on sunny days would top it up but this did not seem to happen.

A friend is a long distance lorry driver. When he is back from his trip I am pretty sure he'll be able to find a meter tester and do as has been suggested.

Your input is really appreciated. Thanks!