Solar Panel Re-Location.

For a while I have had a 50W solar panel running with a sealed (gel) lead-acid battery indoors, running with a charge controller.

Last year I realized that the panel was part in the shade during the deep of winter,  and the battery had been discharged, just by supplying the controller. but at the time it was too late already, so nothing was done.

Looking outside today around noon I saw that the panel was only  about 2/3 illuminated, so I got to change it. 

The panel is now about 1m above ground level, and placed a bit further from the building shading it. Yes, the sun is very low above the horizon at this time of the year here, somewhere around 10-15 deg. at winter solstice, so it does not take much to put the panels in shade.

There will only be a few hours of charging, but it is dfinitely better than at the previous position.

This brings me to another project that should be worked on this winter (apart from the 10GHz equipment). I have been working on re-conditioning some gel-batteries, but they are not yet ready for deployment. I have now decided that as a start, I will get some new batteries, so I can increase the storage capacity,.

Apart from this, I do have a small store of a few 30W (small, flexible) panels, and some very small solar panels. Some of the smaller panels I should use with some LiIon cell chargers (yes they are with BMS) to supply some low power consumption stuff, like a HB100 TX or the like.

The aim is to have some simple low power equipment for monitoring purposes powered entirely by solar, and with the panels and batteries I already have that should be possible.

To be sure, this location of the panel is temporary, and a more permanent location (more mechanically stable) is needed.

Oh, well. I am probably never running out of things to do or try. No time to be bored here. Was there ever?