What are people doing with DC to DC converters
If you are like the majority of people living in a home and getting your power off the national grid your power at your plug sockets is alternating current AC. For some devices it has to be converted to direct current to be useful and as such needs an AC-DC converter which causes energy losses compared to a DC to DC converter.
DC to DC converters are used primarily for feeding local green energy into the home or business. Additionally due to the shrinking of the US’s middle class they are also used in mobile homes such as RVs, vans and cars that utilize predominantly solar energy. So, what are the challenges such people face?
Many people do not know what DC to DC converter they need to yield suitable power for their devices based on their solar input. They also do not know how many batteries they will need for storage and how everything works together. Buying a DC to DC converter for many can cause issues when it comes to the size of the DC to DC converter and the cost. Buying a larger unit may not be economically viable or take up too much space especially when used by people sleeping in their cars.
Many in the US are using cars such as Prius to sleep in as they can take out one of the chairs and build beds in them. During the night the heater of the car can be used on a thermostat setting that regulates temperature with the engine turning on intermittently to charge the car. To help power devices with solar energy such individuals will duct tape a flexible solar panel to the roof and connect it to the system through feeding the connection wire through the trunk seal. This coupled with a DC to DC converter enables them to have DC-DC power for their mobile phones, tablets 12V fans and power small fridges through the same system.
When solar is added typically DC-DC systems are kept separate from the cars battery due to the potential risk of excessively draining the battery and stopping the car to start when needed. Careful selection of batteries is needed. For example, one of the best batteries may be a lithium-based battery due its ability to work in extreme temperatures and have much better charge and discharge cycles than lead-acid batteries. Interestingly lead-acid batteries do not work remotely as well as most people though they did when tested in different operational conditions making them only useful if you cannot afford a lithium battery for this reason.
The challenge for most as their homes get repossessed need plug and play solutions provided in kits that align to their vehicle. For example if a person is living in a Prius than an off the shelf kit using a flexible solar panel, adequate battery and a DC to DC converter needs to be supplied to these individuals that may suffer without this. A listed compatibility of vehicles should be provided to customers with installation instructions for a DIY solution. This niche could also be filled by kits that are upgradeable with users able to return key parts as they get different vehicles and get the difference. Additionally as solar panels are only designed to last 10 years a service based contract could be created to help people spread the cost of such kits.
Summary
As the shrinking of the middle class in the US is increasing due to home repossession with this getting worse due to inflation being risen in the near future, individuals that no longer can afford a home are now living in their cars. As such a DC to DC converter that is designed specifically for vehicle types and would be highly practical for those that know nothing about putting solar on their cars and vans.