Hey everyone! I was checking out Temu for some ventilation options for my goat shed and found a 15W panel paired with two mini box fans for airflow. The catch is that without a battery, the fans shut off at night. I'm curious if I could use one of my old 235W solar panels with a cheap MPPT controller to wire it to a fuse box and run multiple fans without needing a battery. Space is tight, so I'm not sure I can fit one in, but I know my goats would love the extra airflow! Any advice on this setup?
2 Answers
You usually can’t run a charge controller without a battery attached. Instead, consider using a DC-DC converter that can handle the input and output voltages. Just ensure that both the open-circuit voltage (Voc) and temperature compensation stay below the max input for it to work properly. That way, when the voltage is in the right range, it should activate the fans!
You might not even need the MPPT. If the voltage from your solar panel matches what the fans need, you can just run them directly from it. Just make sure the voltages line up!
Yeah, but finding fans that need exactly 37.4V might be a challenge! Totally get that!
Haha, sounds like you've got a solid plan if you get that 48V to 12V going! Time to bring on the fans!