Solar panel question.

Question about solar panels and the surrounding equipment.

The thing I want to do is buy a pump 220v 0,75kw with a pressure tank. Buy the inverter, solar panels, battery?, softstarter?

I started thinking about this and realised I do not anything about this. if a electric motor starts up it needs more electric 5 or 6 times more(not sure about this)
If you overdraw a inverter it will probably break, is this problem gone if you use a softstarter and/or a battery? What types of panels are there and how long do they last? what type of battery will do the job, a car battery(cheap) or a deep cycle battery.

What I like to do is find out what is needed to get one single pump going using strictly solar power. Find the parts eBay or Amazon and get (quality) it for a reasonable price and learn something in the proces.

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Originally Posted by Say what now

I started thinking about this and realised I do not anything about this. if a electric motor starts up it needs more electric 5 or 6 times more(not sure about this)

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A soft-starter should negate that.

I don't know about pumps but a lot of devices have them built in these days -- e.g. air conditioners.

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Originally Posted by Say what now

Question about solar panels and the surrounding equipment.

what type of battery will do the job, a car battery(cheap) or a deep cycle battery.

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The one I use for my remote power system.

12V 100 Amp-Hour Deep Cycle AGM Sealed Lead Acid Battery: Robot Check

Edit: This is important. I don’t know where you’re considering building this or what type of enclosure you intend to use,……Amsterdam or Thailand?

Life of the battery and heat.

https://teakdoor.com/images/imported/2020/06/567.jpg

I'm living in the Netherlands, but have some land in isan where I want to try it out later this year or the next(covid and work).

What kind of solar system do you have, and for what do you use the system?

I'm living in Amsteerdam, but depending on work and the covid situation I want to set something up at the end of this year or early next year in ubon

What kind of system do you have and where do you use it for? What I want to have is a pump set up that can run for 5 or 6 hours every night.

I was looking at the sort of set-up you describe recently. There is one shop in this Isan town offering a full package and the shop owner, who is a very smart lady, speaks some English. She has a system up and running in her store front. Obviously this is daytime, I didn't ask her what kind of battery capacity would be needed to run at night.
I learnt a bit and decided that the total cost didn't suggest a positive return on investment over the life of the hardware. Of course it might make me feel good about my green credentials - until the day comes when I have to send the kit to the trash. Also I haven't drilled the borehole yet because I am not convinced that the taking of groundwater is a socially responsible thing to do when I read that the water table locally is dropping.
As I thought about it I found more reasons not to spend money on the whole project. I just have a small house and my monthly water bills are very small, not even B100 per month, even watering my garden at the end of the dry season. The maths would look different if you were farming something that needed a lot of water.
This being Isan, I'd prefer to buy a complete package locally so that I have someone to speak to when it doesn't work as planned. Putting it all together from component parts might suit someone with more knowledge and patience than I have.
I see our local Global House is also offering packages now.
I looked into supplying solar panels from China to UK a few years ago. At that time I discovered that panel output dropped significantly after 5 to 6 years and although the manufacturers suggested a panel life of 10 years the output after that period could be 50% or less of the quoted rating.
Of course panel technology has improved along with battery technology. Still you should assume that a solar system will lose efficiency as it ages.

I started looking into this as well to run a medium sized pond pump. I have a perfect roof to mount panels but the ROI just didn't seem to be there. The estimated cost to run a medium sized pond pump using PEI was likely going to be in the 350bht a month range. It would take an awful lot of time to recoup the solar system financial outlay. That said I am all for green and there is a lot of sun here year round. I have 4 very small pumps with fountains in my lotus pots that are solar powered. Obviously no need for a reserve system, they only run with the sun out. I also have LED solar lights all over which hold light for about 4 to 6 hrs after they turn on at night. They do not have very high capacity batteries, just double AA. If they could put in 18650 Li Ion they would probably go into the early am.

I am with Shutree, I would want a complete Turnkey set up.

Now the more I start looking in too it, the more questions I have. I hear from my colleagues that some solar panels are not working correct if they get to hot. what makes sense to me, the more hot it gets will decrease the lifetime. Probably if they say a panel will last 10 years it was meant for a amount of sun and heat a day that is less then in Thailand.

To keep it simple for me, can I simply say a 12v 100amp battery will produce 1200w. and a 750w(220v, In 6.0A) pump can run on it for at least 1 hour.


-Shutree I know what you are saying about being green and not lower the water table but I would like to know more about something like this because I thing we will use this a lot more in the foreseeable future and you can't always thrust city water.

-JPPR2 I also would like to have a turnkey setup that is not expensive but would like to know what characteristic is best suitable for the house and what is better for the farm(starting and stopping pump motors, running the maximum on those batteries and quick recharging) before I buy anything.

Amorn (but probably others also) sells sets, PV module, voltage regulator and pump. No batteries needed. But will only run day time.

I have a quite big system, I designed it as UPS. When grid fails I change to my own system. When batteries are full (so charging stops) I also change to my own "factory" Special because the low lifetime from the batteries, There is NO ROI.

Although, I recently changed to LiFePo4 batteries, what is quite promising. I bought them direct in China, and include transport (door to door) I paid about the half as what I should have paid when I bought batteries in Thailand.

Arjen.

I have a quite big solar system.
It is designed as whole house UPS, when the grid fails I use my own electricity, when charging the batteries stops when they are fuly charged, I also use my own electricity, because otherwise the produced electricity is wasted.

Normal I can run about 12 hours on my own supply, when I am carefull, I can extend it to 36 hours.

Do not use normal car batteries, they last when you are lucky 6 weeks. Deep Cycle batteries are a better choice, but I never had a longer lifetime then 2 year. Even a very expansive set of 20 sealed lead-acid deep cycle batteries lasted only for 3.5 years. I recently changd to LiFePo4 batteries. The performance is outstanding! And they promises at least 5.000 cycles!

There are solar pump sets available without batteries, So they only work when there is sun. But very simple, and a close to unlimited lifetime. As soon as you use batteries the system becomes much more complicated.

It is much more efficient to choose your users (pumps, lights) on the voltage you are producing. Changing to 220V AC requires an inverter, and the most equipment faces the problem from an inrush current. Inrush current is quite simple to limit with "primary resistors reduced voltage starters" I start even a big compressor on my only 2.2kW inverter.

Anyway, choose your inverter minimal the double output as you use nominal. It will also help to switch on circuits one by one, or place big users behind a timer relay.

Arjen.