[mini project] solar power for internet router only

user

Hello,
So in Lebanon apparently the electricity situation is not great, some of my friends who live in remote villages are spending the vast majority of the day without electricity and are bored to death. I was wondering about buying them a 50 watt solar panel with a small inverter(do I need an inverter?) to power their internet router.
Routers are typically 12 volts and 1 amps, so need maybe 12 watts. A 50 watt panel should have enough(hopefully even on a cloudy day but I am not holding my breath) but do I need an inverter if the router needs a continuous current? How do I control the voltage myself in that case? Would it harm the router to be connected to a panel without a battery?(frequent power outage and unstable wattage). Do you think it is generally a good idea to do this?

Thank you.

DNA

Yea you need a battery and a charge controller in most cases no need for an inverter

user

DNA wroteYea you need a battery and a charge controller in most cases no need for an inverter

That's a shame, I was hoping I can keep it light with no battery. Thanks for the answer.

DNA

user wrote
DNA wroteYea you need a battery and a charge controller in most cases no need for an inverter
That's a shame, I was hoping I can keep it light with no battery. Thanks for the answer.

look technically you can if you have a sunny day and the voltage of the solar panel stays fairly stable and within couple percent of the router's rating as the router have a built in regulator, but in real world application solar panels voltage will be all over the place and it is a very bad idea to hook it to electronics directly at least you need a simple voltage regulator hooked to it as to keep voltage stable, but without a battery your router may reboot after every passing cloud if panel can't provide enough current for voltage regulator to do its work

a simple 10 to 20$ 12v charge controller with cheap 12v battery will do the job.

user

It's not the cost that makes me hesitate. It's just that I would be putting this in the living room, I didn't want wires all over the place and a car battery... I thought one solar panel and some sort of regulator device would look clean and simple and do the job.

Ari

you can get small 12 volt UPS batteries, they're fairly small and inexpensive

xazbrat

user wroteIt's not the cost that makes me hesitate. It's just that I would be putting this in the living room, I didn't want wires all over the place and a car battery... I thought one solar panel and some sort of regulator device would look clean and simple and do the job.

You don't need to put this in the living room---you just need to get the electrical outlets there. Install the system wherever you want and get some wires and put some outlets as discreetly as you can in the living room and wherever else you would like to use the power. Also, if you can let the battery(s) charge from the grid, it would be a useful addition as you would be able to keep the battery(s) charging so you can use the system for longer times.

beezer

You can use those tiny UPS batteries. Straight DC to DC connection will last you hours.

Without a battery they'll have no uptime after sunset.

DNA

user wroteIt's not the cost that makes me hesitate. It's just that I would be putting this in the living room, I didn't want wires all over the place and a car battery... I thought one solar panel and some sort of regulator device would look clean and simple and do the job.

As the guys here mentioned you need a small battery and the controller is no larger than the router
and u can even go wil Li-ion batteries with tiny controllers, if money ain't an issue it is easy and barely needs anybspace

user

small UPS batteries, yes I remember how big these are, they are small and cute. Thanks yes I might consider that. It would be interesting.
This morning I learned that the telephone cables in our village were all stolen(cut up in 3 separate areas, yeah no one will fix that), so there is no more need to power any dsl routers unfortunatly...
Might revisit this if they allow tesla's starlink in Lebanon. Just when you think things can't be any worse...

yasamoka

user wrotesmall UPS batteries, yes I remember how big these are, they are small and cute. Thanks yes I might consider that. It would be interesting.
This morning I learned that the telephone cables in our village were all stolen(cut up in 3 separate areas, yeah no one will fix that), so there is no more need to power any dsl routers unfortunatly...
Might revisit this if they allow tesla's starlink in Lebanon. Just when you think things can't be any worse...

They won't allow Starlink. It goes against the monopoly.