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

[greenrvgreen]

Wiz can you refresh my memory, how many nominal watts of solar do you have? Thanks.

[MrWizard]

Thurs Mar 10

93.12 Ahrs, 1271.2 watthrs, 13.76 peak amps, 185.3 peak watts

i was gone in the morning untill 1pm then again from 3pm till 8pm and we had take out for supper, almost no generator run time

but batteries were lower than normal this morning

we use about 1600+ watthrs daily, 1200watthrs from solar leaves us 25% short of daily usage, batteries NOT fully charged for the heavy evening and night use lights, TV, PC etc

usual morning charge cycle returns most of the nightly use, then solar supplies daytime power "fridge" & PC while topping off the batteries

so we went into last night with a deficit of watt hrs/amp hrs

[MrWizard]

wed 3-9-11, another beautiful clear blue sky day

85.53 amphrs, 1181.1 watthrs, 14.64 peak amps ( likely a surge when the fridge came on momentarily dropping the battery voltage when the inverter surged for the compressor)

ran the generator for about 40 minutes this morning, then turned it on again at lunch, batteries where taking a healthy charge of 33amps so I left the gennie run for a while, until it looked like they were tapering ( no i didn't time it )

[MrWizard]

The power meter is between the controller and the batteries
those readings are from the controller into the system
The batteries get everything. That is not syphoned off for fans inverter etc..

I think there is a small margin not being harvested late in the day on really good sunny days, most days I think they are taking. It all

On Mon at 2pm no parsistics they were taking 8.2 amps output at 14.6 I turned the equalizer mode voltage went to 15.4 and 9.7 amps
By 4:30 it was down to 4.5 amps and stayed at 4 amps when I turned off the equalize. Mode

[bigfootford]

MrWizard wrote:
Tuesday Mar 8
okay I made coffee then i left the generator turned off until 4PM

todays numbers 88.36 AmpHrs, 1244.6 Watt Hrs

13.94 peak amps , 194.4 peak watts

panels flat on roof "like always" , I do NOT have tilt mounts

So you have <>320 watts of panels.

Are your readings :13.94 peak amps and 194.4 peak watts into the batteries or into the controller?

Your readings seem quite respectable, it's still winter, the sun is still low and your panels are flat!

Do you think that as your batteries are filling up that the solar has some reserve towards the end of the harvest or are the batteries still taking all the controller can convert?

When I am curious about the point where the batteries are not accepting all the harvest I turn on lights/loads to see. I watch the battery charge current as I turn on the lights...When the charge current begins to go down that gives me the indication that my solar has some reserve...

Don "Pianotuna" uses his excess to warm his hot water in the hot water tank. That is pretty neat!

Jim

[KendallP]

MrWizard wrote:
Tuesday Mar 8
okay I made coffee then i left the generator turned off until 4PM

todays numbers 88.36 AmpHrs, 1244.6 Watt Hrs

13.94 peak amps , 194.4 peak watts

panels flat on roof "like always" , I do NOT have tilt mounts

Thanks Wiz.

Now we'll need one repeat around summer solstice time to see just what those babies can really do, eh?

[mena661]

I guess winter sun really makes a difference.

[MrWizard]

Tuesday Mar 8
okay I made coffee then i left the generator turned off until 4PM

todays numbers 88.36 AmpHrs, 1244.6 Watt Hrs

13.94 peak amps , 194.4 peak watts

panels flat on roof "like always" , I do NOT have tilt mounts

[MrWizard]

Friday mar 4

66.27 amp-hrs
944.4 watt-hrs

two day total wed & thurs

123.7 amp-hrs
1714.8 watt-hrs

[pianotuna]

Hi,

Thursday March 3rd

charging started at 6:45 at 0.2
7:00 1 amp
8 2 amps
9 4 amps
10 6 amps
11 7 amps
12 11 amps
1pm 11 amps
2 9 amps (checked at 2:59 to allow for worst possible reading
3 3 amps
4 2 amps
5 2 amps
6 1 amp

59 amp-hours returned to the battery bank from solar, less any charge inefficiency from the batteries themselves.

Alternator charging was active. All readings (other than initial charging amp) rounded down to give worst case.

Travel was from Clarksville, TN to Rushville, IL

[pianotuna]

Hi all,

I'm traveling north from Florida after seeing the shuttle. I was in Alabama and charging day started at 8 am at 0.6 amps, peak was 12 amps and day ended at 6:30 at 0.1 amps.

By 9 am the read out was 5.6 amps. At 4 pm it was 4.8 amps.

I was running the hot water heater on electric to force the panels to provide energy.

[bigfootford]

Double sorry...
But thanks, now we know....

Jim

[mena661]

MrWizard wrote:
I tried that
The answer is No, there was no reduction in amps to the batteries or voltage at the batteries

But let's try to keep this thread solar efficiency and output

Sorry for the off topic but thanks for doing that.

[MrWizard]

I tried that
The answer is No, there was no reduction in amps to the batteries or voltage at the batteries

But let's try to keep this thread solar efficiency and output

[bigfootford]

mena661 wrote:
I have a request too, can you drop the WFCO 68100 out of boost with that switch?

Yea, we are still waiting....We want to know....

Jim