$65 SMALL SOLAR GENERATOR DIY BUILD

[@accurateexteriorsco]

only thing that caught me was when you said if there is no battery the solar panel it will fry the controller. not sure thats true. i have a 50w panel hooked to a controller in my shop, every now and again i will throw a battery on there to trickle charge but 80% of the time theres nothing hooked up to it. think of it like a gas generator, you fire it up and it runs for hours before you plug something into it. nothing bad happens to the generator, all the while its been producing power with no where to go...but if you want to take that extra step of good measure theres nothing wrong with that either. nice build man!

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Thank you. And great experience based tips, I'm new and learning. Thank you for watching :)

[@YogiHollowFarm]

I think this is great. You’d definitely exhibit homesteader ingenuity! Thanks for sharing this informative video!

[@seymourpro6097]

Never underestimate the value of an inbuilt small solar panel, even having half an amphour available for the battery daily replaces natural losses and means that the box system is always ready to go.

[@rgarizonahomestead2729]

the only negative thing i can say is having to open the box to get to your usb plug other than that great job. this should last at least 5 yrs if keep charged. thanks for sharing and have a great day

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Ya, I'm not using the USB for my application but do want to add an outside one. Thanks for the feedback 😀

[@ImASurvivorNThriver]

Sweet and simple! Thanks for sharing.

[@sgtcote1]

Very cool build. Im about to build one using the 50 cal size box, and im using a 12ah lithium over a lead acid to reduce its weight. I figured that if I used the larger , I would be able to have extra space for accessories and possibly a 2nd battery if it fits later on.

[@silekiernanphotography]

Thanks Matt! I would love to see how you connected the Solar In/Solar out to the battery.

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

I have many update videos I need to release, hopefully soon here :) thanks for watching

[@ricardofranco4114]

I just made a battery box with 2 20ah lifepo4 batteries, 410 Watt inverter, and a 12V USB Outlet Socket Panel from amazon. Had all the parts and batteries lying around 😂. The two batteries are from my old solar setup. Works great ! Was thinking of buying a jackery 300, but my battery box is like way better. It's almost the same size as a jackery 300, has a bigger inverter, twice the battery capacity, more connections! 😅. Id compare it more to the jackery 500 ! Mine has a 410 watt inverter with 800 watt sure, 512 Wh battery capacity, and a tone of usb connections even with a sigarate lighter port. Price was around $180-$200. It is cheap compared to the jackery 500 !

[@AZHighlandHomestead]

This is awesome Matt! I saw a large Plano sportsman’s storage box with wheels on sale for $32 at Home Depot last night and thought about making something like this, but with more battery storage. I think this exact build you made would be awesome for so many applications, including camping. You can actually run quite a bit for 12 amp hours! Thanks for putting this up!

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Lowes has big 14" or 50cal boxes on sale for $6 bucks... here at least

[@electro_solar]

Easy and simple, great video.

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Thank you

[@thesavo]

The Z shaped bracket is a nice touch to stop the battery from shifting. For your next build, you may want to think about wire ferrules. This bundles the strands for screw terminals on the charge controller. I am working on a bipap battery and you gave me some things to think about.

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Very very cool

[@thefirstmissinglink]

I'm over here in Cuba. That looks like my first controller box 👍 Nice job 😊 Was going to give you a hard time for "Solar Generator" until I watched. I've always called it a part of a "Solar System". The panels are the actual generator. Those controllers are terrible for long term use, I have a pile of them. I found the 100A ones last a while longer. I need to build one with a buck boost converter in it and give it a try from there. Basically an MPPT without the proud price of the real ones. Sorry about the rant and good job on the video 👍

[@REDNECKpairOdice]

Great build man!

[@andyjack2368]

nice job but you put switch between positive wire of solar charger controller and solar panel switch it off and it will work

[@bernied9415]

What about a disconnect switch ?....or do the outputs come with built in switches. Nice work, very neat.

[@Tom-jd1rm]

Great job 👏

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Thanks

[@shoningram]

How would I add the additional usb plug. Where do I wire it in? In-line with sae connection going out?

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

There's a USB port on the charge controller. I've since added a small inverter, slyly bigger battery and another USB port yes I tied it into the out port

[@Chinhnguyen0497]

the ammo box is a good deal but it not available in my country

[@djogz]

Will this same setup work if i change the led acid to a lithium 12v battery?

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Lithium works much better. It would, you would need a charge controller that can do lithium however, easy swap

[@kaylesquailfarm]

Have you tried using this with a power inverter to use as back-up power for an incubator yet? I'm thinking about trying it but want to make sure it is powerful enough to run a couple incubators off of first.

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Great question. That's actually a project I'll be working on these next few weeks here. My goal to get my quail things all on solar. I'll test it in a few days and do a video on it very soon :) right now it runs all the lights on the coop no problem

[@kaylesquailfarm]

@@graftedbranchhomestead Sounds good, I'll be watching for your video. I love your builds. I copied your temperature controller and use it to control the heat lamp in my brooder and it works perfectly.

[@shepfc1962]

Nice 👍

[@As_t0n]

Is this DC only or can I make it use AC as well, I plan to build one of my own so I'm unsure.

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

It's only dc. I'd need a small inverter for ac. I want to add one and film it soon hopefully but would be easy :)

[@murphyzlaw13]

I have a question, I bought the same solar controller. I am building a ammo box power bank very similar to yours, except with a few additional items. Anyway, my question is there a particular reason why you would need a fuse between the solar into the controller..?? I was told no, but I have watched this video and it has made me rethink my wiring now. I am not dogging on you at all, I'm new at this crap, and this is my first one. Any information would be appreciated.

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

No I really didn't need to add it

[@murphyzlaw13]

@@graftedbranchhomestead right on..thank you for the response

[@harryniedecken5321]

So actually the fuse is a really good idea. The reason is that in case something goes wrong, the battery can push power back into the wire and start a fire. With the fuse in place, the risk is much lower.

[@jace7023]

What watt panel would you want to charge this with? I’m new to solar..

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Well, it has a 10amp Solar Charge Controller so that's 8-10amp intake so with 12volt solar panels it could take up to 150 watts, I wouldn't go over 100-watt panel though. With that said I use a 10watt 12volt panel and it charges great in the New Mexico Sun. Cloudier area, I would suggest a 20 or 30watt 12-volt panel. Hope that helps.Thanks for watching

[@richiesun9676]

10% volume on the bg music.

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Yes, this was one of my first videos, I've gotten some better but learning. Thank you for watching though :)

[@scubahealer]

It's really hard to hear you over the music.

[@graftedbranchhomestead]

Yes, in very sorry. Couple people have told me this recently, I'm getting a new mic and cutting music out of my newer videos. Sorry for that

[@otter8071]

@@graftedbranchhomestead Thank you!!! The music, in my opinion, is not needed when you are talking. It is a very huge distraction and it is very hard to hear you.

[@iamthewelcher]

Totally skip it. We will listen.