The aim here is to have a 12V supply set up in the shed, for lighting, and small devices, probably a WiFi extender for instance.
I’ve no intention of stepping it up to mains yet, but thinking about having a mini main of 12V and 5V outlets, possibly extending into the garden.
Part of the fun here is going to be to monitor and log the output and usage, possibly to track it agains weather conditions,
I’ve got a second hand panel (from a narrowboat), that is about 1.2m long.
I’ve got a few smaller scooter type batteries that are 6V and might not work, but I want to try to make use of them
To put it together is more complex that it might seem, to control charge and discharge at the same time, you can’t just hook it all up directly 🙂 Fortunately there are dedicated controllers available to take care of this
https://www.victronenergy.com/solar-charge-controllers/mppt7510
An aim with this is to hook into it’s internals to be able to remotely monotor and log, for this it provides an interface port that can take a USB adapter, to then connect on, more to follow