Solar Powered Microgrid = Free Electricity
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Regular followers of our Instagram channel will know that as a part of our journey of learning about solar panels and how they can be used to generate ‘free’ renewable electricity, we have slowly progressed from a 21W Anker Solar Panel (as above) and Anker Power Bank (26800mAh portable charger), to purchasing two, larger 50W and 100W solar panels..
The manufacturer of choice for our larger solar panels was eventually Renogy, as we had seen these beiing utilised in marine applications. Clearly being able to generate your own free solar reneable energy is all well and good but unless you immediately use this electricity or are able to store it when produced, it is a pointless exercise. We therefore purchase an Anker PowerHouse II 400, 300W/388.8Wh portable power station (as below), to store the electricity generated.
After purchasing the major components we then had to figure out how to get the power generated by the two solar panels into the one DC-in charging point of the battery and purchase the necessary extension / conversion leads and connection adaptor to make the system work.
Therefore to aid in anyone else’s efforts to build their own solar-powered micro grid, we thought it would be useful to provide all the necessary Amazon links below, to allow anyone to purchase the same components we utilsed and replicate our system:
Solar Panels and Mounting Brackets:
Renogy Solar Panel Mounting Bracket Holder 4 Pieces
Leads / Wiring:
Renogy Solar Extension Cable – 5ft 10AWG Pair
Solar Connector to DC Power Cable 16AWG
1 Male to 2 Female 5.5mm x 2.1mm 32cm DC Power Splitter Cable
Adapter:
Good luck, and if there are any queries or issues encountered, please get in contact and let us know!