Hi Bean_flickers,
Cool thread and project. Hope the progress is going well. Which charge controller did you end up going with? The panels you have aren’t conventionally used with 12/24v systems but it looks like you have found a way around this by finding a mppt controller.
Cheers,
Jake
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Update.
I have ordered the solar charge controller so that will arrive in the next few days, hoping to have the solar frame built this week and finish up the welding to the bottom of the cart frame. Bean flickers is now a registered business name!
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Hello Hackers, i’m planing to come to the space tomorrow hopefully with the MPPT reg in hand.
Has anyone ever done any aluminium welding with a MIG? I have never done it before but know that i will need to get a new tip, liner and rollers so the feed is stable.
I am going to purchase these from BOC tomorrow and hope to weld up the frame for the solar panel so if anyone wants to learn how to weld aluminium or if anyone knows how to do it and doesn’t mind teaching us that would be awesome, otherwise youtube is going to be our tutor. A donation of your choice to cover the cost of the wire and materials if you wish to practice with the aluminium set up. Please let me know if you are interested by sending an sms to 0409342888 latest tomorrow morning.
Hi Jake, I went with the EP Solar Tracer.
Tomorrow evening is when the welding/metalwork class runs so you could possibly tee something up with @rut4ger
I’ve attempted to get in contact with Karl, he is a busy man.
Nice, I think that was the better choice of the 2. I don’t know if the other controller would have worked well with 60 cell modules but this one should.
It does seem to be a good product from the stats, only time will tell.
On Sunday my mate Mitch came and helped me set up and weld the frame for the solar panel, it fits the solar panel with mm precision, I am a happy man.
Photos to come.
I will be purchasing some more aluminium and completing the solar panel frame this week along with the battery bracket.
All the hardware minus the coffee machine, grinder, wiring and lighting has been purchased so all that is left to do is assemble, find the COG and then fix the axle on with some u-bolts.
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Sorry for the delayed post all, been pretty hectic getting the cart ready for the festival but I got there!
found a whole host of issues with my build including the wheels buckling under the crazy weight of the whole thing.
Check out the instagram account for more photos and videos.
@BeanFlickersCoffee
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Some issues I identified while operating at the Rabbits eat lettuce festival.
- Never assume. Never just arrived to a site without first doing your research.
I ended up paying $670 in access fees to have my micro shop on site despite bringing my own water and harvesting power from the sun. - Store and dispose of rinser waste. the rinser waste has milk in it, milk rotts. rotting milk stinks.
- Milk fridge needs to be able to store the milk bottles vertically.
a couple of milk bottles leaked when they were on their side which came out of the fridge and drowned my inverter in milk which tripped the RCD. next build will have a 60l drawer fridge. For this build i have installed a drip deflector so the milk now drips on the cables instead of the inverter. - Business name attracts strange human behavior.
I had a girl lift up her long shirt/dress? and started doing something in public that is normally reserved for the bedroom while laughing hysterically and calling out my business name. - Rims and axle buckled and warped under the weight of the cart.
- Need to build a stand system to prevent the cart moving while stationary and in transit.
- need a specialised low trailer to cart the unit around so i don’t have to struggle by myself to load the cart on to a trailer, I did manage to get some help to put the cart on the trailer but the helpers did so grudgingly.
- Bugs are hard. I didn’t cover the cart in transit and the bugs who kamikazed on the trailer chipped the fresh paint. cover cart.
- cart needs lockup sides and to be more waterproof, also a awning over the barista would be nice as I had to use an ugly blue tarp to cover the cart and protect my stock from the rain.
- The battery lasted a whole day with sunshine topping it up and only dropped to 12v but a second battery on a trolley would be beneficial for those cloudy and busy days.
- Always have soy on the vehicle, lots of people drink that poison.
- Solar panel needs to be hinged so people see it and realise that it is in fact powered by the sun.
- Needs more power! an extra solar panel would be advantageous for cloudy and busy days.
- Trike needs better tires and needs power on the rear wheels as well as the front to get it through the crappy terrain, mud and hills.
- Never let punters ride your equipment. the guy rode full speed and splattered himself into a caravan, while it was funny, he did break my trike, still undecided as to if the humor was worth the damage done to my trike.
Aside from the fact I lost over $1000 for the weekend I did come away with a wealth of knowledge and it is probably worth much more to me than the $1000 i lost.
More photos to come of the new build.
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oh one more lesson.
Plastic lids and gas powered coffee machines DO NOT MIX.
my barista thought it would be a good idea to place the cups and lids on top of the machine. She melted around 50 lids and burnt 5 cups.
So during the last festival I attended the wheels I put on the cart failed in a big way.
I have now employed A professional ( @jace ) to help install some wheels that will do the job.
This is what happened to the rims I put on the cart.
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Good news, I have had a few businesses ask if i can put the coffee cart out the front during week days.
I am investigating this further and once the cart is repaired it will be off to make some cash to pay for version 2.
@jace Can you please document your work tomorrow and upload here? Thanks mate.
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Purchase of wheels and spokes. Taken delivery of 1/2, the second rim will be delivered Thursday.
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That should do the job!