diy solar

diy solar

Recent content by fblevins1

  1. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    I forgot to mention that I do have an 8 way fuse box that I can wire in and use blade fuses The way I have the batteries hooked up to the charge controllers and the inverter, might explain some of the odd slight voltage drop/differences I am seeing between various measurement points. I...
  2. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    The batteries are being replaced so that will be a good opportunity to ponder your input because that was something I was pondering when I was making measurements. I have battery output on one end and battery input on the other.....when it is time I will draw up a podunk diagram to make sure we...
  3. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    This is expandable by replacing the switches/breakers with higher values (already on hand) This is a base system that the student would modify depending on what the professor assigns them. One thing for sure, is by the time I retire in 4 years, I will have advanced my basic knowledge of...
  4. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    I got pulled into this because when I was providing measurement support to the students, I was concerned with how the student was loading the system (he just put a bunch of space heaters, and light bulb banks and fans on the extension cords) , and he was using bolts instead of bus bars, he...
  5. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    My batteries are toast. Part of the testing that was being done by the last student was stress testing the batteries, he really beat them up as part of his thesis and it shows. One battery had been left sitting by itself for years, without being tended to so not a shocker that these 4...
  6. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    50 percent is my rule of thumb that I use for my little home system. I suspect that the batteries I am using, made in 2018 and abused by students and me, are probably toast. I suspect that when I get to work in the morning, I will find that 60 watts has taken 4 batteries down to what I would...
  7. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    I just let the professor know that the rooftop lab won't be accessible for 3 months starting in about 1 month. Just in case, as you suggested an alternative. If she has a research or thesis project coming up soon, we may have to move the entire lab over to the golf course. Never a dull...
  8. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    Well, my mounting systems was disapproved because it is on a safety rail, and.....just to make life interesting, NAVFAC just approved a vendor to replace the roof and that will kill the solar lab on the roof for 4 months. Good times. Well at least that will allow me the opportunity to...
  9. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    Top rail was my first choice for the reasons you spoke of, but then I realized that mounting them on the bottom rail gave me an instant angle and put the final theoretical best angle (a load of hooey if you ask me) within easy reach. I believe the best angle is best using the bottom bar...
  10. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    Not yet, the top mounts are fairly tight, so a couple of ballast weights will hopefully keep them down overnight, only one or two of them were slightly moving up and down, when the hailstorm hit, so I just layed a couple of bricks down in front of them and that made short work of that. I...
  11. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    A better solution but not finished yet.
  12. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    Where I went wrong is not getting with you, the WindWizard and have you work some of your Mojo Magic on our rooftop. Joking aside, I should have went with my original plan. A simple 2 X 4 frame with 12 inch bolts securing all the joints and using L bracket screws to secure the panels to...
  13. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    I just had to do an emergency tear down, the wind was shredding the tie wraps the panels were starting to overlap, the cement blocks were being tossed around like a chew toy. 350 pounds of cement blocks were not enough to weigh down 8 panels during a mild storm. Which also takes the cheap...
  14. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    Looks like your wind concerns are valid, I mean these cement blocks large and heavy and I am using 9 blocks to weigh 8 panels down, the very next morning I went up to the roof and most of the blocks were tilted towards the panels back surface. Now that may have simply been the square block...
  15. fblevins1

    My first PV System

    It was/is a concern, I am hoping the weight of the cement blocks will keep them down, I did put two more blocks on the headwind side to help keep a wind sail from forming under the panels. Oh crud, my son just noted that the headwind blocks are casting a shadow onto the panels. Whoopsie
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