Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!fernwood!apple!altos!altos86!robk
From: robk@altos86.Altos.COM (Rob Kleinschmidt)
Newsgroups: sci.electronics
Subject: Re: Batteries and Solar Panels
Message-ID: <4352@altos86.Altos.COM>
Date: 5 Nov 90 20:50:49 GMT
References: <1990Nov5.145018.4481@pegasus.com>
Reply-To: robk@altos86.UUCP (Rob Kleinschmidt)
Organization: Altos Computer Systems, San Jose, CA
Lines: 22

In article <1990Nov5.145018.4481@pegasus.com> richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk) writes:
>Given a solar panel that puts out about 15-volts, an assortment of
>6-volt and 12-volt car and golf-cart batteries, and a simple Tripp-Lite
>inverter;  what kinds of precautions are necessary to keep the batteries
>charging and functioning?  Do the batteries need to be matched?
>

Batteries should be matched.  The golf cart batteries sound promising.
Car batteries are not generally used for solar because they do not
do well under deep discharge regimes. Ideally, you would have
a volt meter or other device to prevent completely discharging the
batteries. Unless I am very much mistaken, the Tripp-Lite inverter
is not a good choice, since it uses almost as much current under
zero load as it does at 100 % of capacity. If you use this device,
you will want to shut it off when it is not doing something useful.
Trace, Heart, and Heliotrope make better units.

>
>-- 
>Richard Foulk		richard@pegasus.com

Rob Kleinschmidt