instructables

Backyard Solar Project + IoT Monitoring

by raptor_demon

With IRMA threatening to hit the east coast I sat So i did some poking around and bought a 100w
down and took a look at my position and what backup monocrystaline panel and a 30amp pwm charge
options i had. controller from amazon.

The main area i had no real backups was power. I join me on this journey into the world of solar.
decided this was a good time to give solar a try as its
been something i wanted to play with for a while.

Backyard Solar Project + IoT Monitoring: Page 1

Backyard Solar Project + IoT Monitoring: Page 2
 3 3 4 4 2 2
5 5

6 6 1 1

1. Power monitor with shunt

2. Fuse Kit
3. Solar Panel
4. wire with MC4
5. connection diagram
6. PWM Controller
1. Power monitor with shunt
2. Fuse Kit
3. Solar Panel
4. wire with MC4
5. connection diagram
6. PWM Controller

Step 1: Bill of Materials

Needed:

Solar Panel kit 100w with 30a controller

168usd:https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018ZU2KQS/ref=o...
Batteries - i used some Sealed lead acids i had around the house
Fuse kit - NEEDED!!! 12.49usd https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01E5MM63C/ref=...
Wire of correct gauge for power and distance you need to run it.

Optional:

Digital Power Energy meter 16.99usd: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JOUZELG/ref=...

Automotive 12v bus 6usd - note this was really poor quality, would not reccomend:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0732Z72WG/ref=...
Clone of adafruits ina219 breakout. adafruit was Out of stock :(
https://www.adafruit.com/product/904?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_beX97an1gIVRYJ-
Ch0fWQD5EAAYASAAEgKS0_D_BwE
6.89usd x3 https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ICN5OAM/ref=...
ESP8266 node mcu 7.99usd: https://www.amazon.com/Laqiya-Version-NodeMCU-Int...

Backyard Solar Project + IoT Monitoring: Page 3

Step 2: Location Location Location
With solar panels, location is key, you want a location
that will have full sun for as long as possible.
Thankfully google has a tool that can help us:
https://www.google.com/get/sunroof
just tap in your address and it will show you a
heatmap of the best place to put it.
Tilt is also important. this site does a great job
explaining it: http://www.solarpaneltilt.com/
because i wanted to be able to get to the panel and i
didn't want to drill a hole in the roof of my house just
Backyard Solar Project + IoT Monitoring: Page 4
yet, i put mine on my shed.
the downside it it only gets about 3 hours a day of
usable sun, during that time i'm seeing about 4-
5amps off the panel. the rest of the time i'm only
seeing 0.25amps.
Other consideration is volage drop and current
handling on your cables. ideally you want the shortest
possible and the correct gauge wire. in my system i
ended up with a wire length that was much longer
than i wanted. but i will improve this going forward.
 1

1. Glorious full sun!

Backyard Solar Project + IoT Monitoring: Page 5

Step 3: Batteries and Charge Controllers + Wiring

Let me open with this, Fuse everything.
Put inline fuses ont he input from the panel, battery
leads and to your load. the fuse should always be
before anything else in your circuit so that it can blow
if there is a short.
Lead acid batteries can deliver a lot of current, so
treat them with care.
with that out the way this is fairly straight forward.
I've mocked up a wiring diagram of my system. just
remember that the panel is always generating power
when it sees light so be very careful not to short
anything out.
The shunt resistor is used for the current monitor.
basically it drops a known value in line and lets you
monitor the voltage. because the value is known we
can extrapolate how much current this equates to.
more info on these here: http://www.rc-electronics-
usa.com/current-shunt.html

My panel came with a wiring diagram. i made a few My controller allows you to monitor voltage and
changes as i wanted to use an inline power monitor current from the panel, battery and load.
on the load, and add in the IoT power monitor too.

2
3

1. See the IoT section about this

2. Shunt
3. LCD power monitor

Backyard Solar Project + IoT Monitoring: Page 6

Step 4:
Step 5: Adafruit.io Integration and Power Monitoring
Very quickly in this project i realized i wanted to be
able to see the metrics of the panel, so being a maker
i grabbed some parts and built one. This board
measures voltage, current and watts of the panel,
battery and load.
this uses an esp8266 nodemcu and 3x ina219 i2c
power monitors (you need to change the shunt
resistors or they can only do 3amps).
i soldered them to a board and then push it to
adafruit.io. you can take a look the the live stats here:
Step 6: A Word on Efficiency
During my testing i needed to bleed of some power
stored in the batteries as i wasn't able to get a decent
charge current going because the batteries were full.
I did this by plugging in a 40w incandescent bulb into
my inverter. what happened was i saw about a
4.5amp draw off my batteries for just one light bulb!!
Backyard Solar Project + IoT Monitoring: Page 7
https://io.adafruit.com/RaptorSolar/dashboards/sol...
i will add the code soon.
Adafruit has written a great article on these boards.
here: https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-ina219-
curren...
I simply wired the i2c bus together and set the
addresses on the boards and boom, 3 channel power
monitoring.
a 40w replacement led bulb uses just 6 watts of
power and uses 84% less energy than standard
bulbs. that means your power will go much further.
so if you are going to do solar. start by making things
more efficient first.
Step 7: Conclusion
This was a really fun project that i intend on
continuing with.
One thing that is really clear that at 1usd per watt of
power just for the panels, and the cost of the batteries
(100ah lead acid deep cycle batteries are 140usd
approx) that this is an expensive way to generate and
store power.
you can buy a 5500w generator from 500usd
https://www.harborfreight.com/engines-generators/...
that is 9cts per kw not including gas.
Backyard Solar Project + IoT Monitoring: Page 8
that same output for solar is going to cost 5,000usd
just for the panels. This doesn't mean that solar is
useless, far from it. but make sure you set
expectations.
This 100w system is perfect for charging my cell
phone, running some lights and a fan in an
emergency. It could even be used to run some low
current devices all the time. I have enjoyed this
project and have learned quite a bit about solar.
please let me know if you have any questions or tips
you would like to add.