diy solar

diy solar

Please critique my noob schematic.

CottonTexas

CottonTexas

New Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2019
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18
Some of this stuff I already have, and some of it is yet to be acquired.

Solar.png


I would have another 150A circuit breaker between the battery & Battery Doctor, but the location makes this very difficult. I'm also leery of paralleling the fuse block & AIO at the other 150A circuit breaker, though it would make things nice & tidy. Any thoughts? Thanks! Cotton
 
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I think you will be less than pleased with your battery choice, given what you appear to be supporting. I'd at least double your storage capacity. I failed to find any amp hour data for the battery illustrated but would suspect 50-70 ah available from a full charge.
I'm not seeing any AC loads wired to the inverter.
If you intend to be frugal, I see nothing crazy like a 2Kw inverter etc.
 
I intend this to be the beginning of an expandable system, so good brand AGM's and at least one other panel would be in the future, but I'd like to save money on the initial setup where I can. As for now, I'm not even sure how many batteries I'll need for my bank, but you're right that I wouldn't expect anywhere near 100ah out of a Wally-World special. The PIP-812LV-MS has a built-in 800w inverter, but I live in a 12vDC world, so really all I need 110vAC for is charging. I appreciate your input on this Senior, and look forward to more input as my project comes along. EM3(SW) LHD-2 ?
 
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If you haven’t purchased the battery doctor isolator, you might want to get the victron DC-DC controller instead.
lit will better protect your vehicle alternator, and is able to handle a wide variety of battery bank options.
 
Supervstech said:
If you haven’t purchased the battery doctor isolator, you might want to get the victron DC-DC controller instead.
lit will better protect your vehicle alternator, and is able to handle a wide variety of battery bank options.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the Battery Doctor was not my first choice, but the 160A isolator I bought wouldn't play friendly with my 2007 GM alternator, and I scored a deal on this "smart" unit. I guess at some point I'll have to learn about GM's excitation voodoo, so that I can utilize the proper equipment for multiple batteries, but this one was cheap & easy. Can you point me to the Victron unit that you were referring to? This could be very helpful info. Thanks for the reply!
 
Replacing that walmart deep cycle battery with two 6V golf cart batteries (under $100 ea) will not only increase your AH but will outlast that Everstart 6 times over.
I have two in use for outdoor lighting that are 9 years old and still strong. I also have a pallet with 4 walmart 12v Everstart deep cycle batteries that only lasted1 year. They are cores now.
PS as SCClockDr said, it also looks like you are not utilizing the All in ones 800w inverter 120v A/C output only using the input for grid charging?
 
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MrNatural22 said:
Replacing that walmart deep cycle battery with two 6V golf cart batteries (under $100 ea) will not only increase your AH but will outlast that Everstart 6 times over...
Click to expand...

I believe what you say is true, but my battery tray(s) (possibly one more to come later) is (will be) mounted to the frame-rail, and thus I'm limited to group 24, 27, & 34 batteries until I reach a pivital point where I need to do something drastic, like cut a hole in the floor pan where the spare tire normally goes for more battery storage - both labor-intensive & costly. Once I've acquired more than two AGM's (no Lith. since I may get caught in the cold from time to time), it'll be a good time to re-plan.

MrNatural22 said:
...PS as SCClockDr said, it also looks like you are not utilizing the All in ones 800w inverter 120v A/C output only using the input for grid charging?
Click to expand...

That's right, I don't have a use for AC other than for charging the battery. I started a thread here about it thinking it's a bit of a waste to have, but not need, but I guess it's better to have it & not need it, than to need it & not have it.

Thanks for the reply, and I assure you that I'll use the "Never-Spark" battery for a core on something much better in due time, but for ~$80, it's a cheap place-holder to get it all up & running.
 
CottonTexas said:
That's right, I don't have a use for AC other than for charging the battery. I started a thread here about it thinking it's a bit of a waste to have, but not need, but I guess it's better to have it & not need it, than to need it & not have it.
Click to expand...
Wire an outlet to the kitchen area & you have a means to make tea, coffee, toast, & solder etc.
 
SCClockDr said:
Wire an outlet to the kitchen area & you have a means to make tea, coffee, toast, & solder etc.
Click to expand...

My plan was to wire into the all in ones a/c out a small four plug power strip with a built in 15a breaker for any a/c use. Just in case 120v is ever needed. ?
 
AC electricity makes me nervous. In a previous life I was an electrician, and the biggest lesson I learned from it is: It's all fun & games until somebody needs a medevac. Senior Chief may or may not have heard about the load-center explosion on my ship back in 2000 that put myself & one other in the hospital for over a year - (likely TMI, but) it was enough that I'm medically retired because of it. 12vDC may hurt when it hits you, but it will not kill you, so no 110vAC in my tin-can if I can help it. An excessive explanation, I know, but I figured I should say the why, since this anti-AC seems to be more unusual than what we're used to. :)

I am far more interested in what I think is the weak link here which is the Battery Doctor. Ever since @Supervstech rightfully pointed it out, I know they're right (& thank you!), and I should start looking for what it takes to properly charge a battery bank from my '07 GM charging system. This smart unit was really only designed to charge one other than the starting battery, and while it'll do for now, it goes against the expandability I was shooting for.

Thanks for all the replies! Cheers, Cotton
 
CottonTexas said:
AC electricity makes me nervous. In a previous life I was an electrician, and the biggest lesson I learned from it is: It's all fun & games until somebody needs a medevac. Senior Chief may or may not have heard about the load-center explosion on my ship back in 2000 that put myself & one other in the hospital for over a year - (likely TMI, but) it was enough that I'm medically retired because of it. 12vDC may hurt when it hits you, but it will not kill you, so no 110vAC in my tin-can if I can help it. An excessive explanation, I know, but I figured I should say the why, since this anti-AC seems to be more unusual than what we're used to. :)

I am far more interested in what I think is the weak link here which is the Battery Doctor. Ever since @Supervstech rightfully pointed it out, I know they're right (& thank you!), and I should start looking for what it takes to properly charge a battery bank from my '07 GM charging system. This smart unit was really only designed to charge one other than the starting battery, and while it'll do for now, it goes against the expandability I was shooting for.

Thanks for all the replies! Cheers, Cotton
Click to expand...
The part isn’t an issue with the battery you currently have, just if in the future, you changed to lithium, they could destroy your alternator if you left that device in.

the victron DC-DC controller doesn't.
 
CottonTexas said:
AC electricity makes me nervous. In a previous life I was an electrician, and the biggest lesson I learned from it is: It's all fun & games until somebody needs a medevac. Senior Chief may or may not have heard about the load-center explosion on my ship back in 2000 that put myself & one other in the hospital for over a year - (likely TMI, but) it was enough that I'm medically retired because of it. 12vDC may hurt when it hits you, but it will not kill you, so no 110vAC in my tin-can if I can help it. An excessive explanation, I know, but I figured I should say the why, since this anti-AC seems to be more unusual than what we're used to. :)

I am far more interested in what I think is the weak link here which is the Battery Doctor. Ever since @Supervstech rightfully pointed it out, I know they're right (& thank you!), and I should start looking for what it takes to properly charge a battery bank from my '07 GM charging system. This smart unit was really only designed to charge one other than the starting battery, and while it'll do for now, it goes against the expandability I was shooting for.

Thanks for all the replies! Cheers, Cotton
Click to expand...
That is a really good explanation and not TMI, IMHO. I like the idea of a low-voltage DC life if possible. In theory, can be more efficient.

Is the only purpose of the PIP to be an AC-DC charger?
 
Supervstech said:
The part isn’t an issue with the battery you currently have, just if in the future, you changed to lithium, they could destroy your alternator if you left that device in.

the victron DC-DC controller doesn't.
Click to expand...

I'm not going to go with Lithium because AGM are safer in freezing conditions, and I tend to gravitate towards mountain-tops. I found the Victron Orion-TR Smart DC-DC Charger, and that one looks like a much better version of what I have:
Models are available up to 400W and unlimited multiple units can be connected in parallel to increase output power.
Click to expand...
This makes it sound like it would work better for a large battery bank. I'll just have to look up the proper way to hook it up & use it which ought to be pretty straight forward, but man they are pricey!

erik.calco said:
...Is the only purpose of the PIP to be an AC-DC charger?
Click to expand...

That and a solar-controller. Everything else (lighting, ventilation, refrigeration, TV, even a mini-ITX desktop PC) is all native 12vDC. A regulator will keep the electronics happy, but since there's no buck/boost there's no significant loss anywhere in the system (~<5% excluding the [unused] inverter).
 
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It's worth noting here (I'm ignoring the battery choices and a bunch of other things, y'all seem to have that discussion well in hand) that the chassis NEG from your house battery needs to come off the "loads and chargers" side of the BMV shunt, it can't come off the battery as shown. See my green box and arrow.SSS.jpg
 
Justin Laureltec said:
...the chassis NEG from your house battery needs to come off the "loads and chargers" side of the BMV shunt, it can't come off the battery as shown...
Click to expand...

Thank you! This is one of the pieces that I don't yet have, so I assumed it measured across the shunt, but not knowing (EDIT: duh, it has to be in series - maybe if I didn't stare at this stuff at 2am, I could think :D ), I'm glad you caught that - this is why I posted!

I'll also be adding a circuit breaker to the solar panel, but I'll have to figure out exactly what size.
 
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Justin Laureltec said:
It's worth noting here (I'm ignoring the battery choices and a bunch of other things, y'all seem to have that discussion well in hand) that the chassis NEG from your house battery needs to come off the "loads and chargers" side of the BMV shunt, it can't come off the battery as shown. See my green box and arrow.View attachment 3215
Click to expand...
This change will not work. The charge current form the alternator needs to go through the shunt. The meter is for measuring the power going in and out of the deep cycle battery. The original grounding was correct.
 
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