My budget portable solar setup

Steve F

Adventurer
So first up I drive a 2 door Jeep JK, so not a lot of room. I still run a fridge in the back (only 25lt) and have other devices that need charging such as my DJI Spark (drone) etc. What I wanted to do was have a portable solar setup with some flexibility for charging multiple devices but without blowing the budget. I do have a trailer with 110AH of battery and I take 240W of folding solar when needed.

First up I grabbed a 60W folding solar blanket from ebay, it has a USB out for charging phones etc but more importantly it has a 18V (measures at about 21v in good sunlight) out for charging laptops. I didn't need this for charging a laptop but did want the 18v out. I modified the plug to connect to a SAE plug, this then plugs into a cheap MPPT (probably not) waterproof controller that can handle an input of 55V. The output of this goes to a 12v cig plug.

So now I can use the 60w folding solar to plug into any cig socket (accessories in the Jeep to maintain the starting battery, one at the back to maintain the second battery or as shown here directly into my ammo box with bluetooth amp and 9AH sealed battery)

I'm going to add a dual USB socket on the load leads (off in this pic switched manually on the controller) so I can charge small items like the drone.

Works really great and puts out around 2A setup as below. Perfect for day trips in the Jeep where I just want to keep the second battery topped up or charge the portable 9AH Amp/Battery box :)

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And my full setup in camp

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Steve F

Adventurer
Details on your battery box? I'm looking to do something similar.

It's just a 50cal Ammo can with a 9AH sealed battery, a bluetooth AMP from ebay, some switches and fuses and a pair of speakers mounted on a wooden insert. Mainly built it as a speaker box that will run all day but doubles up as a portable battery for charging devices when out for the day :)

Cheers
Steve
 

Steve F

Adventurer
Any chance you have a link to the panel handy?

The panel is a 60W Allpowers panel, on ebay and Amazon :)

I changed the SAE plug to an Anderson plug so I could connect it to the regulator in my camper as well as the portable regulator setup, I was interested to see how many AMPS is was puting out. It was pretty good with the Victron controller hooked up. Mid afternoon, not perfect sun.

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Cheers
Steve
 

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