pianotuna wrote:
Hi ewarnerusa,
I do heat my water electrically as much as possible. I limit the load to my alternator when trundling down the road. It takes 90 minutes for my ten gallon to cycle--so if I'm on a long enough drive, it works out well. After the first cycle the water heater does not cut in for four hours. At that time it will run for approximately 15 minutes before it cycles off.
If I am in one location I only use the water heater to take down the voltage on the solar panels as needed.
ewarnerusa wrote:
Hi pianotuna. I've got the capacity to run the water heater on electric as an option, too, but that would be a pretty heavy load for my system. Has this been your long-term technique for dealing with this?
That is an interesting idea. Set a low voltage connect for an optional load - something like a water heater element, at a pretty high voltage just below where needed to stop the inverter kicking out. Now instead of disconnecting solar, it is acting a little like a diversion load to keep the volts from hitting the inverter cut out. Solar keeps cranking and all the power is used, but the optional load sucks up enough to keep the inverter on line.
Jim
