schnitzeraffe
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2022
- Messages
- 3
So I lived through Hurricane Ian with minimal damage.
Even went through the eye of the storm!!!
So I've stepped up my generator game a little bit.
And now I want to experiment with a small off-grid back-up solar system.
We cycle the generators to minimize fuel usage.
My Kill-A-Watt meter showed that my fridge used 1.66 kWh in a 24 hour period and a small spare TV I have uses 26 watts.
My plan is to use the solar system for supplemental power during generator down time with this fridge and maybe the TV using an OTA antenna in the attic.
I may use it more depending on how things work out after experimenting.
For the panels, I bought four used 280 watt Canadian Solar residential panels model CS6K-280M.
The sticker on the back lists the Voc as 38.5 V.
My quick testing in the front yard, with less than ideal positioning, gave me 35-36 V each, so I think they should be fine.
I intend on using two to four 100 Ah LiFePO4 batteries and a 2000-3000 watt pure sine wave inverter.
My questions comes down to charge controller(s).
I've used some calculators online and it looks like I'm better off cost-wise using two smaller controllers than one large one.
I also like the idea of some redundancy, so if one controller dies I still have some power from the other and am not completely shut down.
When entering the data from the panels, most calculators give my controller output amperage as 39A (one showed 48.39A when entering temperature information as well).
If I use the Epever 40A charger mentioned on Will's web site (two of them actually - one for each set of two panels), will everything work OK?
If the amperage exceeds the 40A rating of the controller that is.
Is the excess power just wasted, going unused?
Or can the controller(s) be damaged?
Even went through the eye of the storm!!!
So I've stepped up my generator game a little bit.
And now I want to experiment with a small off-grid back-up solar system.
We cycle the generators to minimize fuel usage.
My Kill-A-Watt meter showed that my fridge used 1.66 kWh in a 24 hour period and a small spare TV I have uses 26 watts.
My plan is to use the solar system for supplemental power during generator down time with this fridge and maybe the TV using an OTA antenna in the attic.
I may use it more depending on how things work out after experimenting.
For the panels, I bought four used 280 watt Canadian Solar residential panels model CS6K-280M.
The sticker on the back lists the Voc as 38.5 V.
My quick testing in the front yard, with less than ideal positioning, gave me 35-36 V each, so I think they should be fine.
I intend on using two to four 100 Ah LiFePO4 batteries and a 2000-3000 watt pure sine wave inverter.
My questions comes down to charge controller(s).
I've used some calculators online and it looks like I'm better off cost-wise using two smaller controllers than one large one.
I also like the idea of some redundancy, so if one controller dies I still have some power from the other and am not completely shut down.
When entering the data from the panels, most calculators give my controller output amperage as 39A (one showed 48.39A when entering temperature information as well).
If I use the Epever 40A charger mentioned on Will's web site (two of them actually - one for each set of two panels), will everything work OK?
If the amperage exceeds the 40A rating of the controller that is.
Is the excess power just wasted, going unused?
Or can the controller(s) be damaged?