where to start

[maisey]

Hi All,

I have been watching Martin`s videos & they have inspired me to do some electronic projects.
I live in the SW of England & I have a Maplins approx 40 miles from my home.
 I have a cabin which is off grid, in the design stage to be fully sustainable, i have got solar panels, an inverter & a solar charge controller & found these not to be a problem but now i need help...different power supplies, different voltages. I am hoping to run the cabin with a 240ac supply & a 12v dc system but I need some help with controlling the current to charge a mobile phone & some battery operated lights, the system I want to use will be car/cigarette lighting plugs. I am quite good at soldiering & the basic fundamentals of a multimeter. Could you recommend any books, videos, or tutorials that would point me in the right direction? On one of Martin`s videos he has a small led light connected to a small solar panel to charge the internal batteries, you must have some way of controlling voltage input to this, but no explanation? These are the type of projects I am hoping to achieve
.
An avid u tube watcher

Maisey

[SeanB]

If you are using 12V batteries and car style outlets go to Maplin or Poundland and buy a few car chargers for the phones you have, then buy as well a few of the multi outlet car adaptors. 12V lighting is easy if you go to B7Q or any hardware or big retailer and buy 12V LED halogen downlighter lamp replacements and holders. Use standard lighting boxes and switches to switch them on and off, and standard house wire to connect them up. Use a fuse on the battery for safety, or if you want use a standard distribution box ( without ELCB but with an isolator) and 5A DIN breakers to power all of it from 12V.

[maisey]

Thanks for a a prompt reply,
I can see your point with the car chargers from poundland & maplins but that is not the point, I am eager to learn about resistors & charge controllers, what you have said to me would be the easy route, & Mr China would reap the profits !!!....
This is a great forum & to have a reply like yours is what it is all about, it sounds like you are a very knowledgeable person, I will be using a lot of what you have stipulated, ie the 12v down lighters which the energy saving straight away is unbelievable.I have a small SIP led rechargeable light which is the main thing that I want to recharge without using 240v. Any helpful feed back would be great.

Maisey

[SeanB]

Normally hey have a wall wart, what voltage does it give? you can often just use 12V and regulator on a heatsink to give the same voltage for the lamp.