Anker Powerhouse 767 Solar input Challenge!

[SkylinesSuck]

I am planning to head down to Richmond next week to pick one our two of these panels up to mount on my shed roof and power my 767. Thanks for the info watchdoc! Couple of questions:

-Would there be any serious disadvantage (besides the obvious) to running just one of these panels? My wife might not allow that much panel in view of her kitchen window as that will overhang the shed roof a bit.

-I know you said bifacial panels aren't ideal roof mounted, but we are fairly limited with the 767's solar input specs. Considering the limited options, would you recommend anything else for a roof mounted application? Thanks again!

 

[watchdoc]

I am planning to head down to Richmond next week to pick one our two of these panels up to mount on my shed roof and power my 767. Thanks for the info watchdoc! Couple of questions:

-Would there be any serious disadvantage (besides the obvious) to running just one of these panels? My wife might not allow that much panel in view of her kitchen window as that will overhang the shed roof a bit.

-I know you said bifacial panels aren't ideal roof mounted, but we are fairly limited with the 767's solar input specs. Considering the limited options, would you recommend anything else for a roof mounted application? Thanks again!

A single panel would be fine. Bifacial panels are just heavy and expensive. You might be able to come up with a cheaper mono panel or combination of panels for the given space that you have available.

 

[SkylinesSuck]

Thanks for the input. The shed roof it 8'x6'. 400-500w (if I got that much roof mounted) for $300 or so might be hard to beat tough. Plus the simplicity of it.

 

[SkylinesSuck]

A single panel would be fine. Bifacial panels are just heavy and expensive. You might be able to come up with a cheaper mono panel or combination of panels for the given space that you have available.

Looks like Richmond doesn't have the 480w panels but they did suggest some physically smaller (which suits my shed better anyways) 400w panels also by Q Cell. The thing I worry about is the VOC is only 45v and the MPP voltage is like 38v which starts getting down towards the 32v limit. Thoughts?

Q Cells 400W 132 Half-Cell 1000V BLK/BLK Solar Panel, Q.PEAK DUO BLK ML-G10.A+ 400

With industry-leading service and equipment, Greentech Renewables helps solar contractors install top quality solar PV systems, gain competitive advantage and grow their business.

www.greentechrenewables.com

 

[watchdoc]

Looks like Richmond doesn't have the 480w panels but they did suggest some physically smaller (which suits my shed better anyways) 400w panels also by Q Cell. The thing I worry about is the VOC is only 45v and the MPP voltage is like 38v which starts getting down towards the 32v limit. Thoughts?

Q Cells 400W 132 Half-Cell 1000V BLK/BLK Solar Panel, Q.PEAK DUO BLK ML-G10.A+ 400

With industry-leading service and equipment, Greentech Renewables helps solar contractors install top quality solar PV systems, gain competitive advantage and grow their business.

www.greentechrenewables.com

Are you still thinking about just a single panel or multiple panels?

 

[schmenkee]

I was wondering if anyone figured out a way to reducing input voltage somehow to add more panels to the 767. Is that even possible? I already have 8 used Trini rooftop panels but because of the limited voltage I can only add no more than 2 panels to the 767.

 

[SkylinesSuck]

Are you still thinking about just a single panel or multiple panels?

I was thinking 2 panels in parallel like a smaller version of your setup, although realistically I only need one. I figured though as long as I'm up there I might as well get all I can.

 

[wwu123]

I was wondering if anyone figured out a way to reducing input voltage somehow to add more panels to the 767. Is that even possible? I already have 8 used Trini rooftop panels but because of the limited voltage I can only add no more than 2 panels to the 767.

I have the Solix F3800 with similar XT-60 input as the 767. I was thinking if one could use another solar charge controller for 48V batteries, there are inexpensive ones that take Voc input up to say 150V, and the output side would be providing about 50-56V to charge batteries - that would be a good input range for the Anker power stations. But I don't know what interactions there would be between one MPPT charge controller's battery charging algorithms, and the Anker input's MPPT controller, that might cause the Anker to not accept any power in.

Would be great to see someone try this ....

 

[SkylinesSuck]

Just found these used local to me for half the price. Should be a little better with the 400w Qcells considering the higher watt rating and higher VoC, right?

 

[watchdoc]

Just found these used local to me for half the price. Should be a little better with the 400w Qcells considering the higher watt rating and higher VoC, right?

Yep, 2 of those in parallel would work well.

 

[SkylinesSuck]

Sweet! Thanks man. I appreciate you getting the info out there for the 767.

 

[Clearlake23]

I originally posted this in the wrong thread. This is my entry for the solar input challenge.

I may be pushing things a bit here. We have a 767. For solar charging I want to put two Longi 545w panels in parallel, VOC 49.65, ISC 13.92. Together they will be 1090w. The amps will be over the 20 A limit at almost 28 amps, but as the Anker will only draw 20 max, that seems okay. The VOC is 49.65. The cost for the 2 panels is $754 Canadian, plus $55 for the mc4 to xt60 adapter. One Anker 200w panel here is $750, plus shipping. I think the only concern may be when the temperature drops below -25 Celsius and the VOC goes up. I am thinking in that case I will unplug the solar and charge with a generator until it warms up. Is my thinking correct? Is this too much?

 

[Clearlake23]

The 1000 watt limit isn't the one you need to worry about. It's the 60v VOC limit that complicates things. My goal is to stay under 60v VOC with a margin for temp compensation but to produce as much wattage as possible for the least amount of money. It really wouldn't matter if your panels made more than 1000 watts which is referred to as "overpaneling". The Anker 767 is only gonna draw slightly more than 20amps. You can spend hours coming up with panel combinations to try and max out the 767 and honestly, I was hoping someone would come up with a better and cheaper combination than I did but thus far, I haven't seen one.

The Qcells are nice panels but they are big and heavy and fairly cumbersome to move around for one person. They are also bifacial and won't work well on a roof. Mine have worked very well with the simple ground mount I built.

BTW, the Anker "draws" the AMPs not the panels. They also make 485 and 490 watt versions of this panel but I was unable to locate them. I purchased my panels from CED Greentech and picked them up in person. It's very expensive to ship panels. Greentech has locations across the country and many of them offer counter sales (some are wholesale only).

This is the most helpful post I have read so far about solar charging a 767. I have a set up which is over the recommended watts at 1090 and the recommended amps at 27. From what I have understood, this set up will still work, as the VOC is under the 60 volts (49.65). Is this so? I realise I will have to watch the outdoor temperatures, as we can get -40 in winter here.

 

[watchdoc]

This is the most helpful post I have read so far about solar charging a 767. I have a set up which is over the recommended watts at 1090 and the recommended amps at 27. From what I have understood, this set up will still work, as the VOC is under the 60 volts (49.65). Is this so? I realise I will have to watch the outdoor temperatures, as we can get -40 in winter here.

Please describe your panels and how they are wired.

 

[Clearlake23]

Please describe your panels and how they

Two Longi 545w panels in parallel, VOC 49.65, ISC 13.92. Together they will be 1090w. The amps will be over the 20 A limit at almost 28 amps, but as the Anker will only draw 20 max, that seems okay. The VOC is 49.65. The cost for the 2 panels is $754 Canadian, plus $55 for the mc4 to xt60 adapter. One Anker 200w panel here is $750, plus shipping. I think the only concern may be when the temperature drops below -25 Celsius and the VOC goes up. I am thinking in that case I will unplug the solar and charge with a generator until it warms up. Is my thinking correct? Is this too much?

 

[rgsherr]

So I'm starting this thread for everyone doubting the capabilities of the Anker 767 and it's solar input. My current solar input record is 918 watts with 2 Qcell 480 watt bifacial panels wired in parallel (53.39VOC, 11.12ISC). 2 of these panels cost $576 which is only $27 more than 1 of Anker's 531 200 watt portable panels.

There are soooooooo many YouTube reviews of this unit without posting actual solar input results so I thought this might be helpful to people.

One of the reasons I did this is because it's fairly easy to overpanel and max out the 900 watt solar input of the Bluetti AC200MAX with only 3 350-400 watt panels wired in series but the Anker 767 is more restrictive with the 60V@20amp 1000watt limit. This was the best and least expensive setup I could come up with. I feel confident I can achieve the 1000 watt input limit with some additional albedo and the springtime sun.

Check out the YouTube video I did along with this and post your solar inputs and setups!

Thanks very much Watchdoc for this interesting information on solar panels for the Anker 767. I have one and been looking around for panels and thinking of getting the 2 Qcell panels that you have. I'd like to mount them on the frame of what was a shed greenhouse on the back of the house which is facing south. It would be a vertical placement so I'd probably lose some watts unless I can find a good way to tip the bottom out a bit. Do Do you think this would work? Your ground mount also looks great but since we're at the tail end of hurricane alley here in northern Nova Scotia I'm a bit worried about that. How to you manage in North Carolina?

 

[watchdoc]

Thanks very much Watchdoc for this interesting information on solar panels for the Anker 767. I have one and been looking around for panels and thinking of getting the 2 Qcell panels that you have. I'd like to mount them on the frame of what was a shed greenhouse on the back of the house which is facing south. It would be a vertical placement so I'd probably lose some watts unless I can find a good way to tip the bottom out a bit. Do Do you think this would work? Your ground mount also looks great but since we're at the tail end of hurricane alley here in northern Nova Scotia I'm a bit worried about that. How to you manage in North Carolina?

Well, I lost 2 panels last year during a hurricane so I had to improve my ground anchors. We will see how well it does this year.

Vertical mounting with bi facial panels in a east/west orientation is very interesting. Lots of good videos online with details. Definitely worth a try. You're only talking about 2 panels so experiment and report back with your results. Lots of new higher voltage panels coming on the market as well.

 

[rgsherr]

Well, I lost 2 panels last year during a hurricane so I had to improve my ground anchors. We will see how well it does this year.

Vertical mounting with bi facial panels in a east/west orientation is very interesting. Lots of good videos online with details. Definitely worth a try. You're only talking about 2 panels so experiment and report back with your results. Lots of new higher voltage panels coming on the market as well.

On secondary consideration those Qcells panels are just physically too large for my application. Wondering what the best is anyone has done with 200w panels?