Daily Pill
Batteries & Heat Sinks
The batteries got re-installed in the trailer today. During my voltage testing I found out that our converter was only putting out 4.8V instead of the 12+V it is supposed to be putting out, so I decided to scrap it and pull it out of the system entirely. That simplifies our wiring quite a bit and makes our 12V system completely solar powered now.
We also moved our new Engel refrigerator to the trailer and tested out the new 12V plug I installed. It was very encouraging to see the lights come on and hear the hum of the motor all while disconnected from shore power. We couldn't leave the refrigerator running since the solar panels are still stacked in our bedroom and not up on the roof, but we're hoping to remedy that very soon.
With our 2 new panels (6 total) we have the potential to overload our little 25 AMP charge controller. Last time we were in the desert and getting good sun I noticed that our little charge controller was very hot even though we were not much past 17 AMPs at the time. Now that we will likely be hanging out near the maximum the charge controller can handle I figured it would be a good time to add in some passive cooling. I figured that I would make a metal surface to mount the charge controller directly to so that it could absorb some of the heat. With the metal piece spaced out away from the wall a bit I might get some convection behind the plate that will pull some of the heat away... That's the theory anyway.
I decided to make my metal heat sink attractive as well as functional, and with becky's love of the sun I didn't need to think long to come up with a design...
I took a scrap piece of aluminum and drew out my rough design. Becky wanted something that looked like a flaming sun with lots of curvy flames coming off.
I cut out the design with a jig saw and ground off the rough edges with a rotary tool and grinder. Cutting 1/8 inch aluminum with a jig saw and an intricate design took a bit of patience and a plywood backing to get through it.
Next step was to trace the locations for the mounting and wiring holes. I drilled them out and re-sanded all of the rough edges. A final test fit of the controller box and then it was time to do some painting...
I have a tattoo of a sun on my upper arm that has a similar look to the sun design I came up with, so Becky and I decided to go with roughly the same color scheme. I layered 4 different colors of spray paint to blend them somewhat.
The final step before mounting it to the cabinet - a test fitting. Sorry about the crummy photo of the final test fitting - it was dark by the time I managed to get the photo taken.
Tomorrow I will make some spacers to go behind the sun, re-wire the charge controller and hook it up to the battery bank. If the weather hold out tomorrow, we'll try to get at least 2 of the panels on the roof so we can power the refrigerator.
We also moved our new Engel refrigerator to the trailer and tested out the new 12V plug I installed. It was very encouraging to see the lights come on and hear the hum of the motor all while disconnected from shore power. We couldn't leave the refrigerator running since the solar panels are still stacked in our bedroom and not up on the roof, but we're hoping to remedy that very soon.
With our 2 new panels (6 total) we have the potential to overload our little 25 AMP charge controller. Last time we were in the desert and getting good sun I noticed that our little charge controller was very hot even though we were not much past 17 AMPs at the time. Now that we will likely be hanging out near the maximum the charge controller can handle I figured it would be a good time to add in some passive cooling. I figured that I would make a metal surface to mount the charge controller directly to so that it could absorb some of the heat. With the metal piece spaced out away from the wall a bit I might get some convection behind the plate that will pull some of the heat away... That's the theory anyway.
I decided to make my metal heat sink attractive as well as functional, and with becky's love of the sun I didn't need to think long to come up with a design...
I took a scrap piece of aluminum and drew out my rough design. Becky wanted something that looked like a flaming sun with lots of curvy flames coming off.
I cut out the design with a jig saw and ground off the rough edges with a rotary tool and grinder. Cutting 1/8 inch aluminum with a jig saw and an intricate design took a bit of patience and a plywood backing to get through it.
Next step was to trace the locations for the mounting and wiring holes. I drilled them out and re-sanded all of the rough edges. A final test fit of the controller box and then it was time to do some painting...
I have a tattoo of a sun on my upper arm that has a similar look to the sun design I came up with, so Becky and I decided to go with roughly the same color scheme. I layered 4 different colors of spray paint to blend them somewhat.
The final step before mounting it to the cabinet - a test fitting. Sorry about the crummy photo of the final test fitting - it was dark by the time I managed to get the photo taken.Tomorrow I will make some spacers to go behind the sun, re-wire the charge controller and hook it up to the battery bank. If the weather hold out tomorrow, we'll try to get at least 2 of the panels on the roof so we can power the refrigerator.
posted by VirP at
6:45 PM
2 Comments:
I love the sun design on the heat sink. Mine has been running hot at those times where I got to 25 amps for several years. I've been lazy and it is well built - the same one you have.
On the batteries, as long as they are charged you are good down to near zero if my memory serves. If they are flat they're nearly water in which case they would freeze at 32F but charged they drop to a much lower freezing point. If cars and trucks in your area don't need battery heaters then your deep cycle will be fine too.
The sun heat sink was a lot of work, but it looks great. I forgot to mount a board behind the thin sheet of veneer it's screwed in to, so at some point I may have to pull the panel and re-install it. We'll see if the screws hold for the journey. I might be able to find something I can twist on to the ends of the wood screws to cover the sharp points and give it a bit more holding power, but it's at the bottom of my list of things to do right now...
As for the batteries, I was told that it could dip well below freezing (up to 50 below here) so I didn't want them in the trailer until I was sure we were relatively safe... It's currently 28 degrees and expected to be in the mid-upper 30's today and similar temps for the rest of the week. I am glad you think the batteries will be fine - I couldn't find a reliable source on the internet that had the answer, so I was playing it safe. I'm no longer nervous about the batteries.
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