Comment on Solar Powered Wifi Camera with Wireguard
ikidd@lemmy.world 4 days agoDo you have an MPPT charger or a PWM? The amount of extra power you get off your panels in winter can be significant with a good MPPT charger because it isn’t clipping the higher voltage/power you get in cold.
unphazed@lemmy.world 4 days ago
I have this one connected: a.co/d/0dkouiZ
ikidd@lemmy.world 4 days ago
Yah, that’s a PWM charger. You’d likely see up to another third more power stored with an MPPT at temperatures below freezing from my experience running various offgrid livestock pumping systems over the years. I still use old PWM controllers on things like fencers because they’re pretty low draw, but I haven’t bought a PWM for years now since MPPT prices came down to earth.
Just a suggestion, idk what your particular scenario is but it sounds like you’re running out of power pretty quick. And for batteries, I’ve personally moved to LFP with heaters in insulated boxes for the sheer life expectancy, power density and reliability compared to LA in cold temperatures. But I wouldn’t say it’s the cheapest way to do things.
unphazed@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I went for cheap, and syored away. The battery sits at the bottom of the stilt legged coup with a screwed on door to keep water and chickens out. Panel just sits on the roof. I set this all up about 2mo before wyzecam with batteries were announced. Been running ever since. This time of year this area is always cloud covered, and limited daylight. The panel is an older one, not quite as efficient as the one that runs my daytime radiator fans in the hoopouse (no battery, just a 10in and 8in radiator fan that sound like jet engines on full sunny days. I tried the camp ceiling fans but they kept burning out). Fans are mostly to help prevent mold in that one, and keep heat even during summer.