Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Does anyone know if there is an off the shelf system (or systems that can be easily wired) to allow a battery system nominally charged from a PV panel to be 'topped' up from a mains charger should the solar panels not provide enough charge?

I'm wanting something that will run mostly from solar generated power, though don't want to have the system sized to handle 4 days of limited sunshine. This will be the backup part of my system and will provide half pumping capacity so that in the event of mains failure, I'll have half system turn over capable of running for 24 hours (very rare to have a power outage for more than 12 hours where I am)


Cheers
Matt

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Frontyard systems: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=15937
backyard system: viewtopic.php?f=18&t=16873
Duckyard system: TBA

i recon you will have to read up a bit its not to hard to to put a few things together, you can get it all of ebay. i dare say there are a lot of people out there that will do it for you at a price. you are looking at something that will operate a relay when the battery voltage drops to a certain level which in turn switches on a mains battery charger.

Do you want manual or automatic control?
Manual is less complicated and more likely to be reliable- assuming the operator is reliable
You may find a suitable charger here: https://www.power-supplies-australia.co ... y-chargers Meanwell gear is pretty reliable, I've bought a few DC to DC converters and also a 24V battery charger for a house UPS system.

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My small AP system: http://backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=16345
Larger 2nd system: http://www.backyardaquaponics.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=24153
Solar powered Gunagulla Organic Garden
Fruit +Loomberah Wx
http://gunagulla.com

maybe something like this
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Circuit-Swit ... 43d9aaaf29

Mattyoga,

I am no electrician, but why couldn't you use a regular cheap lamp timer. Set to only come on for an hr or 2 at night. Then plug in a cheap 12v trickle/float charger. That way the solar panels give you as much power as they possibly can. Then after the sun goes down, the charger tops off the system. Simple pug and play, off the shelf parts, and no wiring.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Defiant-15-A ... 5yc1vZc334

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-12-volt-Aut ... 1452927106

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Floridafishin's System