diy solar

diy solar

24 volt inverter/controller

Greg Clouser

New Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2021
Messages
1
With two SOK 100ah batteries in series,24v, and four 100w,5.5a panels,series and parallel,24v, should I get one of the combo all in one systems, or am I better off buying separate controller and inverter? Please make recommendations. I saw a charge controller show where Will said if I'm not mistaken , that a cheap like 20 dollar controller could work for a system like this. With a cheap controller can I still manipulate the charge beginning and the charge cut off? In order to increase cycle life ?Thanks
 
What do you want to power? What you really should be doing from the start is itemizing what you want to power, then design a system that will accomplish that. Building something first, than figuring out what it should do is like putting the cart before the horse.

As a general rule of them, the AiO units are cheaper, but they have little or no surge capacity. That means they are good for lights and electronics, TV/computers, ect, but they are not good for equipment running on a motor that has a large starting surge draw. Things like air-conditioners, power tools, compressors, ect.

For motor-driven appliances, you are typically better off with a component system centered on a low-frequency sine-wave inverter. Powering anything with a motor basically means sine-wave ONLY.

I am not a fan of 100W 12V panels. I am not a fan of PWM controllers either. I would never recommend buying them. I always recommend high voltage grid-tie panels, and always with a MPPT controller. Beware! Cheapo PWM controllers with a MPPT label are out there. Buy only name-brands from a trusted source. Random stuff sold cheap on Ebay is likely to be fake. With a cheap PWM controller, you are not likely to ever see more than 240W out of your 400W of panels.

Instead of buying panels through the mail, you should be shopping locally, with local pickup. You are likely to get about 4X the number of watts/$ buying locally vs mail-order. I'd say that 400W is about right for a 12V system. With a 24V system, I'd want at least double that wattage. Going the MPPT route, what you could do is buy two additional 72-cell grid-tie panels that put out 36-37Vmp, and wire them in series. Then wire your four 100W panels in a separate series string. The two strings, both putting out about 72 Vmp could be handled by a typical 40A MPPT controller like an Epever Tracer 4210AN.

I'd say that 1000W is in the right range for a lower powered 24V starter system.
 
Back
Top