More Solar for "Us"

[MrWizard]

Ok, I went off.the deep end?
Bought 3 used 37watt uni-solar panels and a blue sky 2000e controller for the hefty price of $400,
They were being listed as 75w panels, they are not

The tested open circuit voltage was 21+, short circuit amps 2.9
I tested each panel multiple times tilted into the sun and laying flat on the ground , got the same readings each way, that was the deciding factor, they appear to put out full power while laying flat, I will try to mount them tomorrow before it gets hot, right now 104°F
I will use the existing wiring until I buy & install the new wire

[SCVJeff]

Wow.. It was dark today but didn't think it was that dark

[MrWizard]

Dec 22 winter Solstice very poor weather
heavy gray overcast and rain all day
4.20peak amps
54.0 peak watts
15.17 amp hrs
192.2 watt hrs total

thank God for generators

how ever Dec 17th was very good
17.91 PA
248.4 PW
82.36 Ahr
1142.9 w Hr

[MrWizard]

traveler
I would say you are doing very well

[MrWizard]

Jim
I haven't measured it a while
But my memory says a low of 1200 watt hrs to a Max of around of 1800 watt hrs
We have a residential fridge, and I spend many hours using the computer, we cook with electric mainly using the MW

[CA_Traveler]

I don't have the longer term Wiz data but as a reality check for my 750W does this log entry seem reasonable - location was Bodega Bay.

9/27 8:55 81% SOC 5:30 98% SOC - 17% gain with TV on for several hours and fog most of the day Solar totals for the day 159AH 2090Wh

Maybe it's "More Solar for Me"?

[JiminDenver]

If I may ask. How many amp hours do you need solar and generator combined do you need daily?

[MrWizard]

Monday 9-19-2015

partly cloudy

1419.6wh

102.73 AmpHr

378.4 peak watts

28.37 peak amps

[MrWizard]

only when i look the wrong way at the calendar

my log book ..daily planner
has -had two pages (1 week) stuck together in August

i wrote all of sept one week in advance .... duh !

[Donnoh]

Are you a time traveler?

[MrWizard]

here is the solar hual from rainy tuesday 9-15-15, keep in mind we got just over one inch of rain here where i'm at
but with lots of broken clouds and intermittent rain we had cool weather , cool panels, and clean air when the sun was shining

1304.8 Watt hrs
94.87 amp hrs

452.4 peak watts
31.87 peak amps ... a New recorded high

Wednesday 9-16-2015 partly cloudy in the 70's some breeze

1301.9 watt hrs
93.88 amp hrs

449.5 Peak watts
31.70 Peak amps

corrected typo on dates

[MrWizard]

this weeks cooler weather has been good for me and the solar panels
until today we have had morning overcast and broken clouds
this situation set up low charge rates in the morning, followed by high charge rates in the afternoon, giving me an idea of how the addition of the new panels is working out
daily avg's are UP approx 30%
Peaks had not got as high as i thought it might
until yesterday when i saw sustained amps in the mid 20's and a recorded high of 31.15 peak amps , 426.3 Peak watts and a totals of 119.14 Amphrs 1624.5 wattHrs

today was even better totals
155.73 ampHrs 2143.5 wattHrs

and i was NOT testing the system, i did not turn on the big box fan or run heavy test loads

system wattage is calculated at 679 max watts Not the 704w i posted before, did a math mistake (brain fart) earlier

with a theoretical max of 39.94amps at 17v from panels

[MrWizard]

one of (2) house banks..and mainly used together (unless i am doing maintenance on one of them )
new replacement bank in the OEM tray
they replaced the 12v Flooded wet cells,
lower amperage, only because, i could not get these in a larger size surplus
and i wanted high quality AGM, i was wearing out the wet cells and replacing them under warranty
the other bank, the (4) CD technologies 139ampHr AGM's are still in use, will be 4yrs next month,
still working, but NOT quite the capacity they had when i bought them,
they load tested pretty fair, last test about 6 Mo ago
IF i could have found some more of those, i would have bought them

i was just out side this morning tweaking the solar to maintain the correct voltages, i was actually set a little low ( i thought i was set high )
cycle charging specs call for 14.1 to 14.8
the only time my system gets to float is IF they are fully charged and the generator is running the A/C
even if all lights and fans are off the inverters are still IDLING, there is almost never a dead rest float condition, and i had not got the Xantrex C40 set up correctly
right now I've got the batteries and fridge on Solar and the A/C on generator
and I'm testing and adjusting the Solar, measuring the voltage At the Batteries

[mena661]

To clarify, these are your house batts now? Any reason for going lower in amp hours? I'm asking because I might do the same in the future. Thanks.

[MrWizard]

today i removed the last of my "House side" wet cells

and installed our "New to Us" surplus AGM's

these are Genesis XE60 12v Pure Lead, Deep discharge
60 ampHrs per battery, 47# (digital bathroom scale)
(new specs say 400 cycles to 80% DOD)
240 ampHrs total, less than half the size of the 4yr old bank on the other side of the RV, but i have High Hopes for their long life and ability,
yes they are less amphrs than a set of (4) 6v-GC's,

yes they are wired in a balanced manner with two connecting wires in the charge / discharge path of each battery

my battery tray doesn't hold them oriented the way all the Neatly wired schematic layout drawings show { lined up in a row, all connection points in a row }

believe me it was a brain strain .. figuring out the wiring paths to have it balanced



Genesis Ep EX PDF

[MrWizard]

I'm under some partial shade
Just finished connecting the two new panels, solar reading went from 3.83amps to 6.88 amps
Now let's wait and see for the days peak and total
Already getting warm out there
Of course I ran the generator for coffee and breakfast, so that takes the edge of the solar surge