Mowing with Solar

[theonethatgoofs]

now all u need is onboard power and self propelled

[cawag98]

I don't think a charge controller is necessary if you get a smaller panel. I have a 12 volt Black and Decker cmm624 with 1 or 2 5w panel charging the 26ah battery and it recharges in less than 7 days even here in New England without problems. Also, the B&D units seem to do the power management in the unit, so if you can get the appropriate Molex connector on your solar panel, the mower itself will control the charge for you.

[kricotas]

whast the name of charger controller?

[wvacanti]

Neat

[marthale7]

Nice video. I also have a morningstar controller and just starting to figure it out. They sure are much better than you being the charge controller :-)

[ftblplar]

Frontiersprings, regardless of the previous comments about float voltages and shorter wires, this is a great video! I love the practicality of this video.

What is your opinion about the use of thin-film panels and their power generation vs. square footage size?

[ginostatus]

i got the same solar charge controller...does it matter if you have different types of batteries?...and what do you seleclt ur battery type switch to?

[frontiersprings]

@ginostatus Depends on the battery type i am using. For the batteries in the video, the switch is on the "sealed" position.

[loismustdietonight]

Very practical and informative video! Thank you for posting!

[HBenjaminH]

You are a PRO, man!!! Good job, thanks for all the excellent ideas, gonna see if I can perform as good as you, thanks.

[stealth7g]

Outstanding demonstration! We all appreciate your review. I would like to do a start up solar project and would prefer the higher efficiency panels you referred to at 95%. Where would I get this type of panel? Any other suggestions and recommendations are appreciated.

[kdc43]

Good educational video. It's a lot better than all this impossible over unity crap on YouTube.

[cdltpx]

I just bought the solar panel kit and was going to buy a batt and have a set up for hurricanes but using it for a mower is far more practical. Besides the batteries can be used for emergency too if you think about it. Granted this is not as powerful as a generator but all is from the sun all you need to do is maintain good batteries and your system will serve you no matter what provided we have sun .

Looking for a lawn mower now. TYVM

[WindyJAMiller]

12volt SLA batteries should float at 14.1 / 14.2 volts and are 'fully charged' at 13.8 volts.

[jsjassem]

very nice video

[guitarrarl]

Keeping wires from panel;s to batt shorter will give a higher gain.

[guitarrarl]

Hi ALL: Harborfreigh panels output depends of:

Location and sun they receive

Angle of panels affects them also (a bit)

Wire sued to connect to battery.

I measure each 15 watts panel and for .81 mha for a total 2.3 amps for the three panels in the system.

I have 24 of these and was loosing 30% because the wire from the panels to the battery was to thin. I am using now #8.

[rangerden]

Very informative and inspiring! Thanks for posting this, I will pass it on!!

[HellTriX]

Thanks for the video. I bought one of these mowers and the charger was defective. Looks like I will get another one as my front/back yard is about as large as the area you showed in the video. I also wanted to do solar recharging maybe using 24v instead.

[atlanticus]

good job

[TwinJalanugraha]

Thank you for sharing this with us.

[toxicfrost123]

thats great.. keep up the good work.

[boogyboo79]

Cool good to see those panels in action... I've been eyeing those panels for a while now at harbor freight and wondered being from there if they would be worth the money. Are you happy with them or do you think money could be better spent of different ones?

[frontiersprings]

The HF panel array puts out 1.2 amps versus HF's claim of 3 amps, only 40%. The blue polycrystaline panel in the video puts out close to 95% of it's max amperage with the same controller-battery configuration. Amperage output is key. The HF panel array does not meet their claim of 45 watt output, thus having an increase in dollar per watt cost.

[frontiersprings]

The charge controller that is included is unreliable, mine failed within two hours of use. Lot's of internet anecdotal evidence to the controller's unreliability - Do a search. The panels do work and are a starting point to experimenting with solar electricity. You will most likely need to buy an additional quality charge controller. Yes, money can be better spent. You will end up spending more but your expectations will be better met.

[boogyboo79]

Kewl Thanks for your reply!

[dtmhater]

you are a very clever person =)

[edstar83]

cool