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The batteries over night on their first day was 26 Volts. Excellent. means 95% fully SOC. (State of Charge)
So I did a different user defined voltage setting, this time lowering the battery SOC to 31.5V. The chargers go to float. But my battery SOC is probably around 300 amp/hr rather than the higher 500 amp/hr.
You would reckon that dumping 6 hours or say 50amp/hr = 300amp/hr for an entire week, of 3,500amp/hr the batteries would eventually reach 33V and move to absorb, but no they don't?
On light loads we are only 60 hours per day, around 1 hour of charging.=
You would reckon that dumping 6 hours or say 50amp/hr = 300amp/hr for an entire week, of 3,500amp/hr the batteries would eventually reach 33V and move to absorb, but no they don't?\nOn light loads we are only 60 hours per day, around 1 hour of charging.=
Notice when on 33V absorb, on light loads, the solar panels never reach 33V, but over 1 week the voltage climbs, but remains in bulk.
@prologic Narrh, just thought my Steca should be auto for 12/24 volt, so I switch batteries for 12 volt variety, ie two 6v USA ones I have also. Thanks anyhow Son. Congratulations on being a QLD archery champion.
@prologic Narrh, just thought my Steca should be auto for 12/24 volt, so I switch batteries for 12 volt variety, ie two 6v USA ones I have also. Thanks anyhow Son. Congratulations on being a QLD archery champion.
@prologic Oh, now I have to purchase a 12volt solar controller to suit....And change the battery bank....? Oh well....
@prologic Oh, now I have to purchase a 12volt solar controller to suit....And change the battery bank....? Oh well....
@prologic It's your 1500Watt Inverter you gave me, that will be used, you tell me. OH, is your Inverter for 12V or 24V? The system is 24Volt...
@prologic It's your 1500Watt Inverter you gave me, that will be used, you tell me. OH, is your Inverter for 12V or 24V? The system is 24Volt...
Not sure if this system will cope with 20amp/hr load while only a 100 amp/hr source? In theory this is a voltage drop from 24 volts 19 volts. Hmm? Will the inverter switch off? One way to find out?
What can I do with 50 amp/hrs? Hmm? My sludge pump needs 20 amp/hrs to run for 1 hour. The system will barely cope. Will it do this for 3 minutes, every hour? Say from 9am, 10 am , 11 am 12 am 1pm, and 3pm ? that's say 18 minutes @ 20 amps = 6 amp/hrs per day.=
So from 10 am until 3 pm, I can expect only 50amp/hrs only in this aquaculture system. Not bad.
Arhh em', these were 170 amp/hr deep cycle, now I suppose just 100 amp/hr second hand 6months old. They are charging as lead acid, 8 volts, and getting only 8 amps on a sunny day. Bother.... old second hand panels.... so far 44% fully charged.
Seashells automatically keep PH around 7, if acidic the sea shells dissolve a bit. All Natural. I can add mineral nutrients to pond and make a perfect soil environment in the medium.
Hopefully the solar panels and little 200amp/hr will keep up.
Timer pumps water for 3 minutes once per day for 6 times, 8 am, 9am, 10 am, 11am, 12am and 3 pm
The schematic of system.
Once I get battery storage, I will continue with building for veggie troughs.
Carpet on ground to remove weeds, star pickets to hold panels, near ground. Investment so far, is $500.
View of my crimps, not like normally done, ends twisted and crimped, ugly but sound.
Currently first day on 1% SOC, with 2 amps coming in at 9am so far, max in theory is 20 amps.
Three 6 month old 8Volt USA batteries at roughly 200amp/hr each is a 24 volt system rated at 200Amp/hr
View of solar panels near old barn
My next project is Aquaculture. Geese pond to left, solar panels to right, vegie troughs to be installed in middle
Currently 9am getting 40amps at 31 volts. low end of charging.
I expect at 60 to 90 amps to be in bulk, than absorb and finally float in a single day. \nWhereas now I use more than the 30-60 amps charging can cop with.
I expect at 60 to 90 amps to be in bulk, than absorb and finally float in a single day.
Whereas now I use more than the 30-60 amps charging can cop with.
Yeah your'e right James, one needs to have charging at least on the high end, rather low end of the formula 0.2C, where C is your capacity, for me that is 0.2x500=100amps. So I need not 25 to 60 amps charging, low end, I need 60 to 90 amps, high end. This should help heaps.=
Today it's 7 am and the voltage is already 29 volts, as massive improvement on the 23 volts two days ago. So capacity is building up.
I suspect increasing charge voltage causes increase in state of charge (SOC) but it's taking more than one day, so this means my charging is too low, need at least 50 to 90 amps per hour. But my capacity has increased I suspect from 150 amp/hr to 500/hr. Yesterday got to 31 volts
changed on day of red boxes
New settings
Since the user define was changed, I have had two full days of charging in bulk\nover 1100amp/hrs of charging, voltage rises to 31V\n\nI expect absorb soon.
Since the user define was changed, I have had two full days of charging in bulk
over 1100amp/hrs of charging, voltage rises to 31V
I expect absorb soon.
Reading Textus Recepetus
Martin Luther is guilt of polysemy. Bother:(
Solution? You can't get people who visit to expect what off grid living means. Maybe install 7litres per minute shower pump, rather than my big 240 one?? The 24V DC pump consumes 1 amp of power per hour, nothing, compared to 240 V version consumes 20 amps. But you also waste less water in the shower.
I mean if you took Lead Acid down to 30% fully charged and expected it to recover fully , forget it.
But the Nickel-Iron just did not care. I went to 18.5 volts, and but to 30volts in just 5 hours, no worries.
It's great having a system that will never die, but it did run out of power....
I mean if you took Lead Acid down to 30% fully charged and expected it to recover fully , forget it.\nBut the Nickel-Iron just did not care. I went to 18.5 volts, and but to 30volts in just 5 hours, no worries.\nIt's great having a system that will never die, but it did run out of power....
And yet my morning, filling tank for 4 hours, 26 amps coming in, 26 amps going out, so by 2pm, on just 5 hours, the system went absorb, reducing from 60 amps (bulk charging) to 20 amps (absorb charging).\nSo within 5 hours the system was normal again. Yet you would never get that with Lead-Acid.
And yet my morning, filling tank for 4 hours, 26 amps coming in, 26 amps going out, so by 2pm, on just 5 hours, the system went absorb, reducing from 60 amps (bulk charging) to 20 amps (absorb charging).
So within 5 hours the system was normal again. Yet you would never get that with Lead-Acid.
Had too many families for night over, using shower , hence water pump. I forgot about off grid.\nSo 10 hours pumping is 200amps, and twice filling tank is 220 amps, plus opening fridge many times is about 40 amps, a total of 460 amps. The batteries voltage was 18.5, nearly dead flat. All inverters switched themselves off. Lucky we are still also on mains powers as well.
Had too many families for night over, using shower , hence water pump. I forgot about off grid.
So 10 hours pumping is 200amps, and twice filling tank is 220 amps, plus opening fridge many times is about 40 amps, a total of 460 amps. The batteries voltage was 18.5, nearly dead flat. All inverters switched themselves off. Lucky we are still also on mains powers as well.
The only thing I can think of using 500 amp hr of power is 4 hours pumping water = 100 amps and 2 times filling water tank with bore pump = 220 amps. Plus other minor house uses = total 450 amps.=
Take 26 April for example both panels captured 11,000 watts, /24 is over 500 amp/hrs, so the house was using all the batteries plus much more, than the sunshine could keep up with.
Yes looks like I am not getting enough sunshine. Need more panels.
now with light
So particles of sand leave a pattern
experiment with sand, very clever
Both MPPT stats for the last 2 days.
We used water for 2 hours, triggering bore pump, so added another 120 amps to the load of 150 amps night before, so at 3 pm both MPTT were still on adsorption, not quite getting to float, ran out of sunshine.
Solution? cut down on water load times, or increase solar arrays from 60 amps to 90 amps, that way we have more coming into battery than going out.
We used water for 2 hours, triggering bore pump, so added another 120 amps to the load of 150 amps night before, so at 3 pm both MPTT were still on adsorption, not quite getting to float, ran out of sunshine.\n\nSolution? cut down on water load times, or increase solar arrays from 60 amps to 90 amps, that way we have more coming into battery than going out.
Its 8:30 am, getting 45 amps from both controllers on bulk, all loads are off for now. Reckon we used 150 amps of power, so expect float back in 90 minutes of full sunshine.
But what a great day, everything is as it should be for my power system. :)
Updates on firmware may have done it ??
I aslo reduced low battery state for inverters to 20V, Ni-Fe can go lower than Lead -Acid can.
I used to have 60 amps, now I am getting just 7 amps coming in, because 7 amps is going out (fridge 4 amps + fans )
Power going out is same as power coming in, while on float. Battery is fully charged.
Both are on float now
So reading, changing things and finally getting updated firmware, everything went perfectly
Up to 200amphr is added to battery cells, using water...
Having trouble with MPPT overcharging my battery
Doctors remove inplant, it is radioactive and emits radio frequency. Evidence of aliens??
6 fingers and toes
A human is taken and is given an implant into the knee, see red circle.
6 fingers and toes\n A human is taken and is given an implant into the knee, see red circle.
Nephilim Giants found in the ground in the USA
Close up of the wiring rack for the leads
@prologic Yeah it wasn't. The housing shroud of the box to hold the fan has a 40mm half circle pipe cut into the box, that fits over the 32mm conduit space, so both fit through the 90 by 90 hole through the besser block wall. In summer, this fan will help keep the room cooler.
@prologic Yeah it wasn't. The housing shroud of the box to hold the fan has a 40mm half circle pipe cut into the box, that fits over the 32mm conduit space, so both fit through the 90 by 90 hole through the besser block wall. In summer, this fan will help keep the room cooler.
The three orange cables plus a black cable, are the power wires running into conduit that leads to the house, 3 power lines and 1 24Volt lighting line. They seem to enter the box on the top right, which is cut to go around the 32mm conduit, is in fact a box to channel the extractor fan air to the outside of the power house. So I share the same hole with extractor fan and conduit for the 4 wires.
Here we go, the extraction fan, and the computer fans, see red arrows.
My picture does not show the fan, bother...
And another extraction fan, 240V at 14W, needs 1 amp to run, for summer heat times in the day. 
See red arrow, also a switch to turn off meter reading.
Add 2 more computer fans to move air over the 5 inverters.
Hard to convince wife to use power at night, thinking the batteries won't handle it? Takes time to get used to thinking off grid, you have to adjust your life around the sunshine hours you get.\nWill fix this problem eventually with more solar panels, etc.
Hard to convince wife to use power at night, thinking the batteries won't handle it? Takes time to get used to thinking off grid, you have to adjust your life around the sunshine hours you get.
Will fix this problem eventually with more solar panels, etc.
It's sunrise 6:50 am and the batteries have 52 amps going out and no amps coming is, the voltage is 23V, since float is 29 V and night is 24V, one can assume the battery is still over 80% full. The bore pump is on with 26 amps and the water pump is on with 18 amps, the fridge uses only 6 amps.
Correction on your 26,000, excluding the building costs, the electrical part of the system only cost me $18,000. Not bad for off grid living.
@mckinley When you consider building cost 4,000, batteries cost 9,000 and the inverters and solar controllers from Victron cost 4,000, the rest of the money spent ie 5,000 was on electrical stuff, like wire, conduit, RCB and CB, lights, switches and solar panels, you can see over 70% of the cost comes from the batteries themselves. Rainbow power Company quoted me a system of same size for $25,000, this excludes the building, so I am 7,000 in front of their quote.
@mckinley When you consider building cost 4,000, batteries cost 9,000 and the inverters and solar controllers from Victron cost 4,000, the rest of the money spent ie 5,000 was on electrical stuff, like wire, conduit, RCB and CB, lights, switches and solar panels, you can see over 70% of the cost comes from the batteries themselves. Rainbow power Company quoted me a system of same size for $25,000, this excludes the building, so I am 7,000 in front of their quote.
If sombody like James want to have 30 units of power on storage, you need the same as what I have here but you go 48 Volt DC, that is 24 cells per row, cable one for 300 amps, and 24 cells on next row, and than 5 inverters of 3000VA with a 10 amp circuit breaker, limiting each power line load to 10 amps or 2400 watts. The cable and bolts are the same, as the current load is about the same, 20 to 30 amps each load. The 48 cells will cost you around 20,000 dollars for the nickel iron battery bank.
A closeup of the wiring bay with 10mm brass bolts and 16mm2 wires to each inverter, the maximum size each inverter has a hole for.
My cables are 10mm brass bolts to a huge copper plate . Wires are 16mm 2 capable of up to 60 or possibly 100 amps. Yet I drag only 20 amps from them. Notice my overkill of wiring and set up. Going bigger is more costly, keep that in mind. If you drag more current through copper and heat the atoms they will rust and change impedance, hence over time your wires will fail. Stick to what I have done, and the reasons why I did it this way. Cheap, efficient and long lasting.
My next door neighbour is upgrading his power cables to 19mm dia, 300Amp lines. He has lead acid 1000Amp hours. Lead acid needs gentle use. So never take them below 80% fully charge. That is only 200Amp hours of power you have. So you can only remove 200 amps for one hour and your done. So the need for 300 amp wire is overkill and a waste of money. \n\nNotice my Nickel Iron batteries have more than 200 amp/hour, I can use all the power. I have 500 amp hour. So in theory I could drag out 400 amps for a single hour.
My next door neighbour is upgrading his power cables to 19mm dia, 300Amp lines. He has lead acid 1000Amp hours. Lead acid needs gentle use. So never take them below 80% fully charge. That is only 200Amp hours of power you have. So you can only remove 200 amps for one hour and your done. So the need for 300 amp wire is overkill and a waste of money.
Notice my Nickel Iron batteries have more than 200 amp/hour, I can use all the power. I have 500 amp hour. So in theory I could drag out 400 amps for a single hour.
Our electric power bill used to be 430 PER 100 DAYS, or about 1700 per year. This set up may not run a large house needs like my Son on 30 units per day, but it runs easily our needs on 5 units per day, with 10 units of power in reserve for cloudy days. Unlike lead acid, I can drain the batteries down every day to 50% fully charged everyday without harm. I can go even lower to 20% fully charged if I want to.
If anybody wants to go off grid, and a reasonable with doing stuff, I have a website explaining all the things required here:
http://spiritualsprings.org/ss-1576.htm
This link have so far 15 webpages, showing you all the steps required, which are also here on TXT, but gathered in one place for beginnings. The overall cost of off grid living is 22,000, and if you subtract the cost of building a power house, you need 18,000 just to purchase all the components. I expect the set up to last 100 years, and I should get my money back after only 12 years.
If anybody wants to go off grid, and a reasonable with doing stuff, I have a website explaining all the things required here:\n\nhttp://spiritualsprings.org/ss-1576.htm\n\nThis link have so far 15 webpages, showing you all the steps required, which are also here on TXT, but gathered in one place for beginnings. The overall cost of off grid living is 22,000, and if you subtract the cost of building a power house, you need 18,000 just to purchase all the components. I expect the set up to last 100 years, and I should get my money back after only 12 years.
The other aspect is stress over technology. The less space on a page of words, the more crammed the words are, the more difficult it is to read and digest the words. Compare a university book with a kids book and see the difference. Now compare the space of a single big 5000VA Inverter on the wall, to my space with 5 Inverters, 6 circuit breakers and 5 wires of power, about 4 times the space, meaning its easier to understand the wiring and the technology behind it.
If one inverter breaks down, I have 4 others still running power lines to the house. Notice the weight of the single one verses the weight of the 5 others is the same, meaning the inductance is the same, but the prices are different. Why is that? Supply and Demand I suspect. It's cheaper to purchase 1200VA and 800VA because millions of people purchase them, whereas only few people purchase a big 5000VA Inverter.
And you will note the 5 smaller ones with other pieces, are around 800 to 1000 dollars cheaper, than the one big 4000 VA Inverter, actually to run continuously at 4,000 watts, it needs to be a 5000VA, and costs
Victron 5000 VA 24 Volt, 4000 watt continuous, $3,700.
So I am more in front.
And you will note the 5 smaller ones with other pieces, are around 800 to 1000 dollars cheaper, than the one big 4000 VA Inverter, actually to run continuously at 4,000 watts, it needs to be a 5000VA, and costs\n\nVictron 5000 VA 24 Volt, 4000 watt continuous, $3,700.\n\nSo I am more in front.
