Solar Power for remote CCTV site

Been testing this weekend, was given a 355w panel, 30A MPPT Victron charger and a 260a/h battery to test

looks to provide enough power and maintains about 18% redundancy. weather been cloudy all weekend, so I think this will hold up. although max draw is stated as 78w, my 72 hour average is 43.2w.

thanks for the help and PMs
 
Can you see the max discharge just before sun came up ?
 
If your WiFi link is good and stable, why not put the NVR at your house?
That should save you many watts on the solar system.
Even going to solid state drives will help!!!

Right, so lets work on 100w. That is now running 24/7.
100 x 24 = 2400wh consumption.

PV Panels:
Now lets work on 8 hours sunshine per day.
This gives you 2400wh/8h = 300w.
Problem is, it is very rarely that you even 80% eff on solar PV panels, so for safety, then rather work on 2 x 300W panels.

Charger:
600w/12v = 50Amp!!!
It might be better to have a single charger for each PV panel.
So if a PV panel or charger fails, you still have a backup.
Not always required, but it depends on how remote and easily accessible your site is.

Batteries:
Trust me when I tell you that the standard 102AH or 105AH Deep Cycle is a load of rubbish!!!
Rather get a decent AGM maint free battery. They last way longer and you can go down to 50% discharge no problem.
100w/12v=8.3A
8.3a x 24h = 200ah
So at least 200AH battery @ 100% drain. For battery life and safety, you need at least double that, so 400ah.
It is much better then to get 2 x 200AH units.
Make sure the battery enclosure is nice and big to allow enough air around them without cooking the batteries.
Hot battery = short life.

Solar at remote installations is ALWAYS a theft issue.
WiFi stuff is fine at the top of the pole, but solar panels and batteries is way too heavy and needs to be mounted at ground level.
If the area is easily accessible, you have to cast those PV panels into a concrete block, so nobody can even think about moving them.
Now you have to put razor wire all around your pole and battery panel. Make sure the razor wire is fixed to the ground with solid ground anchors, so that nobody can get in underneath, or pull the razor wire away.

Also have an extra camera looking down from the pole at your installation.
 
wetkit said:
If your WiFi link is good and stable, why not put the NVR at your house?
That should save you many watts on the solar system.
Even going to solid state drives will help!!!

Right, so lets work on 100w. That is now running 24/7.
100 x 24 = 2400wh consumption.

PV Panels:
Now lets work on 8 hours sunshine per day.
This gives you 2400wh/8h = 300w.
Problem is, it is very rarely that you even 80% eff on solar PV panels, so for safety, then rather work on 2 x 300W panels.

Charger:
600w/12v = 50Amp!!!
It might be better to have a single charger for each PV panel.
So if a PV panel or charger fails, you still have a backup.
Not always required, but it depends on how remote and easily accessible your site is.

Batteries:
Trust me when I tell you that the standard 102AH or 105AH Deep Cycle is a load of rubbish!!!
Rather get a decent AGM maint free battery. They last way longer and you can go down to 50% discharge no problem.
100w/12v=8.3A
8.3a x 24h = 200ah
So at least 200AH battery @ 100% drain. For battery life and safety, you need at least double that, so 400ah.
It is much better then to get 2 x 200AH units.
Make sure the battery enclosure is nice and big to allow enough air around them without cooking the batteries.
Hot battery = short life.

Solar at remote installations is ALWAYS a theft issue.
WiFi stuff is fine at the top of the pole, but solar panels and batteries is way too heavy and needs to be mounted at ground level.
If the area is easily accessible, you have to cast those PV panels into a concrete block, so nobody can even think about moving them.
Now you have to put razor wire all around your pole and battery panel. Make sure the razor wire is fixed to the ground with solid ground anchors, so that nobody can get in underneath, or pull the razor wire away.

Also have an extra camera looking down from the pole at your installation.
Click to expand...

thanks for the detail, huge help
 
Just remember you cannot expand LA (Lead Acid) etc. type batteries. If you start with 1 x 100 Ah battery, and 6 months later, you want to add another in parallel, because you add another camera etc, you need to REPLACE the entire bank. NEVER mix old with new LA batteries.

The only way you can remain flexible is to go for the newer Lithium type batteries, where this "no mix policy" doesn't apply. Note, They are obvious still relatively new, so prices are still on the high side, but if space/weight is a issue, then go Lithium.

More and more battery places are starting to stock these type of batteries 12V batteries, not 3.7V cells. They normally have a special charging circuit inside to protect against over charging, low voltage cut off etc.
 
SideWinder said:
Just remember you cannot expand LA (Lead Acid) etc. type batteries. If you start with 1 x 100 Ah battery, and 6 months later, you want to add another in parallel, because you add another camera etc, you need to REPLACE the entire bank. NEVER mix old with new LA batteries.

The only way you can remain flexible is to go for the newer Lithium type batteries, where this "no mix policy" doesn't apply. Note, They are obvious still relatively new, so prices are still on the high side, but if space/weight is a issue, then go Lithium.

More and more battery places are starting to stock these type of batteries 12V batteries, not 3.7V cells. They normally have a special charging circuit inside to protect against over charging, low voltage cut off etc.
Click to expand...
Don't think this that bad on a parallel connected battery.
 
One can always take a chance....if your time difference between old and new is only a couple of months, and maybe on a 12 V system, as well as if your batteries haven worked "hard", i.e. cycled each night, but I wouldn't do it, due to the risk of damaging our new batteries when adding another string (aka parallel connection), especially when working on 48V strings, like most solar setups work.

My single string 225Ah 48V bank is two years old now, have been cycled 3 times, even then I wouldn't do it.
 
The mine up here has a ton of these installations scattered across the desert. All linked remotely to a Control room in some cases 270km from site.....

Their biggest threat, baboons along the river wrecking their setup....
 
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