Lab46 Wiki

Piece together, with a focus on getting to know the process of, sourcing, preparing, building, and eventually operating and using a DIY LiFePo4 battery bank in my off-grid solar setup.

In May/June 2017, I had pieced together the following 400W solar power system, from amazon-sourced components:

• 4x 100W Renogy 12V mono PV panels, wired in parallel (12V, ~33A max = 400W at peak/optimum sunlight)
  • input voltage: 18.9V
  • output voltage: 12V
• Renogy Adventurer 30A PWM controller (12V)
• 3x Universal Power Group 12V 100AH Solar Wind AGM SLA DEEP Cycle batteries, wired in parallel (12V, 300AH; 3840WH)
• BESTEK 1000W Power Inverter Dual AC Outlets 12V DC to 110V AC Car Inverter

In March of 2020 I swapped out the original 30A PWM Renogy charge controller with:

• Renogy Advanced Rover Li 40 Amp 12V/24V DC Input MPPT Solar Charge Controller with Bluetooth and LCD screen and multiple LED indicators

There was a notable improvement in efficiency.

In August of 2020 my original inverter gave up the ghost and let out the magic smoke (literally), and I replaced it with:

• BESTEK 1200W Power Inverter DC 12V to 110V AC Converter with Digital LCD Display 4.2A Dual USB Car Charger