Newbie - Need help

[Green Hog]

I previously mentioned I will be checking the Ah this weekend.

[Mike90250]

2 batteries.

OK, I see we're going to have do this a line at a time.

What size ( in Ah) is each battery ? 20ah 40ah ??

[Green Hog]

2 batteries.

[Mike90250]

.................

This is what will be used a lot:

x2 - Optimate 4 battery chargers - 0.384 watts (these will be on constanly, when the bikes aren't being ridden).........

I read this as two chargers that manage 4 batteries, a total of 8 batteries


So, how many bike batteries will be maintained on charge 24/7 ??

Maintainers generally charge at 1-3% of the battery capacity

[Green Hog]

I live in England.

Optimates are battery tenders not chargers.

The garage is not at my house.

A generator is not an option, the battery tenders need to be on 24 /7. The residents were the garage is located wouldn't appreciate one running 24 / 7, never mind all the pollution.

I'd have to look in to the third option on your list of suggestions.

Thank you,

Andy.

[foo1bar]

I will check the Ah of 'both' batteries & add this info to see if this helps with answering my question..

What you need is how much power is consumed by the charger when it's charging. Not the Ah of the batteries being charged (although based on the Ah of the batteries being charged, people can probably make an educated *guess* at the power needed for charging.)

I think you should borrow (or buy) a kill-a-watt meter, and plug the charger into that, then see how much actual power is used when it is charging batteries. (Is it really charging batteries, or just being used as a battery tender - ie - making sure you don't have a dead battery when you haven't started the motorcycle in weeks?) Looks like it can output to the battery ~0.8A, 12V. Which would be 9.6W. That's probably a good enough number - if it's being used as a tender, it won't be that high.

Probably your best option is to pay an electrician to run electricity out to this garage. You can probably get it done for less than the cost of the off-grid system. And I'd think the owner would be willing to let you do it - since it'd be improving his property.
Second best is probably to use an extension cord (or maybe 2, to two different circuits if you're going to be running grinders, drills, and other things with motors.)
Third best option is probably a generator, or a good inverter hooked up to your car's battery when you are there.
Somewhere way way way down the list is an off-grid solution. I think it's well below finding a solar-power based battery minder for keeping the bikes' batteries topped up, and a couple of Li-Ion battery pack powered LED work lights/flash lights from your favorite tool manuf. (dewalt, milwaukee, makita, etc. etc)

PS - are you in the US or somewhere else? A kill-a-watt meter would probably be the US brand - if you're somewhere else, there's likely an equivalent.

[Green Hog]

8 batteries, not sure were you got this info from? I will not be in my workshop till the weekend, I will check the Ah of 'both' batteries & add this info to see if this helps with answering my question.

Thanks,

Andy.

[Mike90250]

..... two chargers will be on 24 / 7, apart from when I will be out riding, the total output is 0.384 watts, .......

.384 w ~ .4W
.4w @ 13V = 0.031A to charge 8 batteries ( 2 chargers, 4 batteries each, if I understand it right ) is not right.

8 bike batteries, on trickle charge of .25A each = 2A @ 13 v = 26 watts - at the very least. x 24hr = 624 watt hours daily to keep the chargers ( 8 motorcycle batteries ) going.

Not wanting to be argumentative, to guide you with realistic #'s, I'm doubting the terms you are using,

[SunEagle]

Thank you.

Is this a good starting point - eBay item number: 324251259536, with two deep cycle 12v 100AH batteries wired together?

Andy.

I found that you can get more out of 2 x 6V 215 Ah batteries wired in series. The cost should be less than 2 100Ah and you have less of an issue then wiring 2 batteries in parallel.

[Green Hog]

Thank you.

Is this a good starting point - eBay item number: 324251259536, with two deep cycle 12v 100AH batteries wired together?

Andy.

[SunEagle]

OK, to reiterate, the two chargers will be on 24 / 7, apart from when I will be out riding, the total output is 0.384 watts, the 50w LED lights will be on for approximately 10 hrs. per week. Does this help?

Somewhat. Based on that info your daily watt hour load is about 150 watt hours. That is a very reasonable amount. I would say build a solar/battery system that can produce 4 times that amount or 600 watt hours which is about a 200ah 12v battery (2 x 6V wired in series) , a 30 amp CC and either 400 watts of solar panels (wired in parallel) with a PWM CC or 250 watt of panels with an MPPT type CC.

Don't forget that with more than 2 items (panels or strings) wired for the CC you will need separate fusing for each string. So while you may pay less for a PWM type CC you will also pay more for solar panels and fusing. That is a choice you have to make.

If your estimated watt hour usage is higher then expect a bigger battery system (more than 200Ah) and more panel wattage.

[Green Hog]

OK, to reiterate, the two chargers will be on 24 / 7, apart from when I will be out riding, the total output is 0.384 watts, the 50w LED lights will be on for approximately 10 hrs. per week. Does this help?

[SunEagle]

Thank you again for the replies.

Can anyone give me a list of what equipment I need to run my 2 optimate 12v battery chargers & 2 50 watt LED lamps please?

Many thanks,

Andy.

I understand that you want a solution but we need more information as Mike has asked. Just providing what you have is not enough data.

[Mike90250]

No.
You need to tell us how much power the battery charges consume, and for how many hours ( example : 300w for 24 hours, or whatever they use )
How many hours do you want the 100w of LED lighting to run

Then, with those numbers, we can calculate how many PV panels and what size battery you need.
We'll guess you get just 5 usable solar hours in the winter and no clouds ever and size it from there.

[Green Hog]

Thank you again for the replies.

Can anyone give me a list of what equipment I need to run my 2 optimate 12v battery chargers & 2 50 watt LED lamps please?

Many thanks,

Andy.