I'm sorry if this had been answered already. I searched the forum a few times but couldn't find a clear answer. I'm relatively new to this topic (I've had grid-tied home solar for 17-18 years) and not familiar with all the newer components and related issues.
I lucked out and am buying a set of new solar system components from a friend at a big discount. He had some bad luck with a 4x4 Sprinter lemon and aborted his conversion plans before he even started! Here are the major components:
2X Rich 335watt solar panels
Growatt 24V SPF 3000TL LVM - inverter/charger
EG4 24V 200AH LiFePo4 - battery
Sterling BB122470 - B2B charger
I also just bought a Surecal 12v/120v calorifier w/heat exchanger and would love to use it as a "dump load". The 12v element is 300W. The 120v is 700W.
Over the past couple weeks, I've viewed countless posts about diversion load setups on this and other sites, YouTube videos, etc etc etc and my head is about to explode! Seems there are >100 different ways to set this sort of thing up and each way has it's own pros/cons. My first thought was to setup a voltage sensitive relay to monitor battery and divert when fully charged. The issue here is that it would drain the battery (to the extent I set up the monitor) when no PV or alternator charging available. Another I heard mentioned was to add an addition PMW charge controller (Xantrax) between the chargers and battery (Growatt and Sterling) and divert at this point.
I think my requirements/goals are pretty simple:
1. heat my water when battery is full
2. ONLY heat water when either solar output and/or B2B charger output are adequate: no sun or parked, do not heat water, regardless of battery state
3. simple design and set up
4. automatic and reliable -- set it and forget it!
Given my "wish-list" above, is there a reaonably easy way to set this up?!?
I lucked out and am buying a set of new solar system components from a friend at a big discount. He had some bad luck with a 4x4 Sprinter lemon and aborted his conversion plans before he even started! Here are the major components:
2X Rich 335watt solar panels
Growatt 24V SPF 3000TL LVM - inverter/charger
EG4 24V 200AH LiFePo4 - battery
Sterling BB122470 - B2B charger
I also just bought a Surecal 12v/120v calorifier w/heat exchanger and would love to use it as a "dump load". The 12v element is 300W. The 120v is 700W.
Over the past couple weeks, I've viewed countless posts about diversion load setups on this and other sites, YouTube videos, etc etc etc and my head is about to explode! Seems there are >100 different ways to set this sort of thing up and each way has it's own pros/cons. My first thought was to setup a voltage sensitive relay to monitor battery and divert when fully charged. The issue here is that it would drain the battery (to the extent I set up the monitor) when no PV or alternator charging available. Another I heard mentioned was to add an addition PMW charge controller (Xantrax) between the chargers and battery (Growatt and Sterling) and divert at this point.
I think my requirements/goals are pretty simple:
1. heat my water when battery is full
2. ONLY heat water when either solar output and/or B2B charger output are adequate: no sun or parked, do not heat water, regardless of battery state
3. simple design and set up
4. automatic and reliable -- set it and forget it!
Given my "wish-list" above, is there a reaonably easy way to set this up?!?
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