Here is a crazy idea for an experiment one day....power a Wii and/or GameCube completely with solar power! Without using a 220v inverter! 
The idea is basically to replace the AC adapter for the wii/gc with a 12v dc-dc converter. Then with a 12V HDMI monitor for the image it should just work!
I have been playing around with solar power stuff for a couple of weeks now. Got a few 10 watt panels since they are small and cheap, solar charge controller, small battery and a bunch of other stuff like wires and connectors. I thought it would be a fun project...and it is...but costing me A LOT more money than I originally planned for!
In part this is because I did not just get the cheapest components I could find and went with the Victron brand for the Solar Charge Controller. They are widely used (9-10 video's on youtube about RV, Off-grid, etc... they are used and highly recommended) but quite expensive. Maybe not if you can afford a RV, Camper, boat or whatever that might cost more than 20.000 (in whatever currency you like). But 130 euro's for just this single component is quite a lot! It is high quality and really awesome with the Bluetooth app and shows all kind of cool statistics.
There were some cloudy days or when I had no time to setup the panels. I also don't have a lot of sun hours each day and with small panels and a small battery the max wattage I could get is 28-30 watt. The current battery can be charged at only 2A of charge current which means I need to limit the SCC to that as well. There is a Raspberry Pi collecting the stats connected that draws 0.3A and if I hoopup my phone for charing that's another 1.2A. The SCC is smart enough to convert the incoming power from the solar panels into the correct battery voltage and split it to power both the load and the charger! This means that with the set limit of 2A and charging other stuff there is only a small amount going into the battery! The screenshot was taken with a not so efficient 28W foldable panel since the main battery was fully charged already. No need to keep the massive and huge 120W foldable setup out there.
It's still cool to see that over the last few weeks I have managed to generate over 1kWh of solar power! Compared to other solar installations this is peanuts...and they might generate this much in a single hour! Most home installation video's I've seen have 4-8kW of panels on their roof...some even more! They have enough power to charge their Tesla's completely from the sun! Not they I have one...or ever will....but seeing the possibilities like this make me want to experiment with it!
I am still planning out a bigger battery setup and maybe use it as a solar powered UPS for my network gear. But for now there is not even enough capacity to keep a raspberry pi running 24/7 as it drains the battery to low in less than 12 hours! That's a minor issue with using Sealed Lead acid batteries in that you should not drain them below 50%....better is 80% as it will keep the batteries healthier! It has something to do with the chemestry and the plates inside sulfating or something. I found it enough to know....don't drain them to low! It's tricky without an expensive battery monitor but I just keep the voltage above 12.0. From what I understood my battery's datasheet says 10.9 is completely dead.
That battery monitor is another 130 euro's...and I have one....just not on the battery charged with solar yet. I have a second one that I charge with a wall power brick just to see what I can do with a full 12V battery on my desk. So far with either battery I can recharge my phone's, tablet's and powerbanks about two times. Not all of them ofcourse....but two devices can be recharged to 100%. If the sun shines on the panels though...and they are generating enough power to charge both the 12V battery and the phone or tablet....it's fully charged by solar power only! I could not do this every single day..but it does work great!
In part this is because I did not just get the cheapest components I could find and went with the Victron brand for the Solar Charge Controller. They are widely used (9-10 video's on youtube about RV, Off-grid, etc... they are used and highly recommended) but quite expensive. Maybe not if you can afford a RV, Camper, boat or whatever that might cost more than 20.000 (in whatever currency you like). But 130 euro's for just this single component is quite a lot! It is high quality and really awesome with the Bluetooth app and shows all kind of cool statistics.
There were some cloudy days or when I had no time to setup the panels. I also don't have a lot of sun hours each day and with small panels and a small battery the max wattage I could get is 28-30 watt. The current battery can be charged at only 2A of charge current which means I need to limit the SCC to that as well. There is a Raspberry Pi collecting the stats connected that draws 0.3A and if I hoopup my phone for charing that's another 1.2A. The SCC is smart enough to convert the incoming power from the solar panels into the correct battery voltage and split it to power both the load and the charger! This means that with the set limit of 2A and charging other stuff there is only a small amount going into the battery! The screenshot was taken with a not so efficient 28W foldable panel since the main battery was fully charged already. No need to keep the massive and huge 120W foldable setup out there.
It's still cool to see that over the last few weeks I have managed to generate over 1kWh of solar power!
Compared to other solar installations this is peanuts...and they might generate this much in a single hour! Most home installation video's I've seen have 4-8kW of panels on their roof...some even more! They have enough power to charge their Tesla's completely from the sun! Not they I have one...or ever will....but seeing the possibilities like this make me want to experiment with it!I am still planning out a bigger battery setup and maybe use it as a solar powered UPS for my network gear. But for now there is not even enough capacity to keep a raspberry pi running 24/7 as it drains the battery to low in less than 12 hours! That's a minor issue with using Sealed Lead acid batteries in that you should not drain them below 50%....better is 80% as it will keep the batteries healthier! It has something to do with the chemestry and the plates inside sulfating or something. I found it enough to know....don't drain them to low! It's tricky without an expensive battery monitor but I just keep the voltage above 12.0. From what I understood my battery's datasheet says 10.9 is completely dead.
That battery monitor is another 130 euro's...and I have one....just not on the battery charged with solar yet. I have a second one that I charge with a wall power brick just to see what I can do with a full 12V battery on my desk. So far with either battery I can recharge my phone's, tablet's and powerbanks about two times. Not all of them ofcourse....but two devices can be recharged to 100%. If the sun shines on the panels though...and they are generating enough power to charge both the 12V battery and the phone or tablet....it's fully charged by solar power only! I could not do this every single day..but it does work great!
The idea is basically to replace the AC adapter for the wii/gc with a 12v dc-dc converter. Then with a 12V HDMI monitor for the image it should just work!
