The size of solar panels you need totally depends on your climate and location. For a rough calculation you can use pvwatts:
You say you have a 50W constant load. First figure out your kWh per month. (50 x 24 x 31) = 37200 Wh, or 37.2 kWh per month consumed. Using Seattle as an example location, I plug in 1kW of PV (4 x 250W panels) and 80 degree tilt, since our theoretical system is off grid and we want the maximum kWh production in the dark months of December and January. http://pvwatts.nrel.gov Worst months are 33 kWh in December and 40 kWh in January. Not enough. Trying again, a 1.75 kW system will produce 57 kWh in December (the worst month), which is sufficient margin. The equivalent of 7 x 250W panels. On Thu, Sep 10, 2015 at 6:00 PM, Paul McCall <[email protected]> wrote: > OK, so I am working with a grounding expert today, getting some opinions > on a couple difficult towers, and one of the first suggestions he has for > me as I mention that I am looking to do fiber / DC up this tower is… “Have > you considered going solar up the tower?” (to eliminate power surges > completely from going up the tower) > > > > Hmmmm… > > > > So my brain starts wrestling with that… Is it practical? > > > > Say on a tower with a Netonix DC powered switch running at 48v or 24v, > powering 6 ePMP APs and 2 320APs, 2 Mikrotik Bhs, and a small Mikortik > router. > > > > Would be about 50 watts maximum according to my quick calcs. > > > > Not knowing anything about solar, has battery technology developed enough > that it would be practical (size wise) to have enough batteries and a > charge controller up in a box on a tower? And what size solar panel would > I need to drive that? > > > > Paul > > > > Paul McCall, Pres. > > PDMNet / Florida Broadband > > 658 Old Dixie Highway > > Vero Beach, FL 32962 > > 772-564-6800 office > > 772-473-0352 cell > > www.pdmnet.com > > [email protected] > > >
