It's about time I have lights in my home.

Author	Message
Boppa Guru Joined: 08/11/2016 Location: Australia Posts: 816	Posted: 06:20am 10 Oct 2025       I ran a 12v system until recently (8kw 12v inverter- and thats not a misprint- 8000w at 12v...) but 48v is better for the big wattage inverters (now on a 12kw 48v Sigineer instead) Use MPPT charge controllers on the panels- my older ones were 150vdc max from the panels (120v safe working voltage) to recharge the 12v 1600Ah battery bank- the newer ones are 250vDC max pv input (200v safe working limit)- this allows you to have long PV cable runs without needing a small copper mines annual output for the cables lol This was from the old 12v system... Thats putting 13.6v into the battery bank, at 31.8A, while the panels are running at 76.3v at a much smaller 5.7A.... There are multivoltage LED bulbs readily available- either 12/24v automotive stuff for trucks (the old Hella reverse LED lamps are always popular 'room lights') What I use are LED bulbs that fit standard ES light bases- so can be used in any 'mains' fitting- but running directly from the battery bank- these are actually cheaper in bulk than the mains versions from the local supermarket- stay the same brightness at any voltage from 12v up to 85v and can be run straight from the battery bank (be it 12v, 24v or 48v) These are readily available online, cheap as standard LED bulbs, and you can pick and choose the 'colour' rating and wattage- from the 'warm white' I use in the caravans interior lights to the 'cool blue' I use out in the shed itself-40w equivalent to 100w equivalent .... BTW a warning for people- do NOT use AC breakers on DC- even at voltages well under their ratings- they can (and almost certainly will over time) arc weld shut- not something you want to happen to the safety cutout!!!!- us DC rated breakers- again readily available DC breakers have magnetic arc suppression or other similar systems for suppressing the DC arc that AC breakers do NOT have and also have a 'correct' direction of current flow marked for DC (dont hook them up backwards!!!!)- you can tell them because they will have the voltage marked as DC and the maximum voltage, plus they will have the DC marking  (long bar over the dashed bars seen in the pic just to the right of the voltage rating) instead of the AC 'wavy bar' sinewave symbol....