solar work round

[SteveSDS]

Just a thought, and idea.
suppose I charge up 10 car batteries during the day from my solar power (grid connected), then using an AC inverter pure sine wave, connected to a separate extension lead NOT connected to the mains supply to power my fridge freezer and TV.
any ideas

 

[freddo]

You could, but you need to used deep cycle batteries, car batteries will be destroyed in very short order under this sort of use.

 

[snowhead]

You need to do some acurate cost calculations first, it may not be economic to do it, unless you're trying to save the Planet single handed.

 

[scootknew]

cost of batteries vs paying pence per kwh could mean a long time till it pays back.

 

[marconi]

The last time I did some analysis of storage of solar electricity in a typical home (ie mine) I concluded it was not a good investment. Far better to invest in more efficient white goods and heating, for example a condenser or heat pump clothes dryer which use about 50% less energy than vented ones, albeit they do take a little longer to dry. Or a condenser gas boiler with a sterling engine generator run off the exhaust heat. In my opinion Solar PV is best used as it is generated to offset import from the grid.

I would be nervous of a large energy dense battery somewhere in the home. What about using your surplus PV to pre-heat the cold water which goes into your hot water system or is circulated in your wet CH system?

 

[SteveSDS]

Thanks for the replies, the load from a fridge freezer and tv for the night time usage would not be a lot. The FF doesn't need pure AC sine, but the TV well maybe. FF would be on from Sunset to generation of solar, TV, off by midnight at the latest. I was only using car batteries as an example, the principle of the idea was what I was looking for.

 

[Strima]

I'd be tempted to power lighting rather than anything more complicated.

 

[dmxtothemax]

Yes you can do this !
But please tell us more about why ?
Things are seldom as easy as you first think.
And these things are expensive.

 

[SteveSDS]

Thanks again all,
batteries I can get fairly cheap from a scrap yard. Revising my outlook on what I want to power, it would only be the fridge freezer. Lighting is all LED. LED, TV off very early so again not required. Just the cost of a car 12V to 230 V inverter and a bit of wiring, and of cheap extension lead. to the FF.

 

[Floody]

As said above, you need the 'deep cycle batteries'. They are designed to run to very low voltage and be charged again without impact. Car batteries will be destroyed in a few cycles. 120ah leisure batteries are the babys!

 

[suffolkspark]

Probably never save any money even if sourcing parts cheap, but a fun little project none the less, my uncle has done similar in his garage, had a couple of big leisure batteries already and he got a couple of solar panels very cheap with superficial cosmetic damage and stuck them on the garage flat roof, runs lighting in the garage and a freezer, and a trickle charger for his bike. He does have a device connected that cuts charge to the batteries when they are full.