battery not charging properly

[acdoctor]

Do you currently have any way to charge using the generator. If so at what amp at battery voltage?

 

[FilterGuy]

Budget not good after all the expensive miss leads along the way.

I hear ya!!! The tuition for learning this can be quite steep!

Before we go any further, let's back up a bit. Have you done any kind of evaluation of your energy needs? The first step in any solar project needs to be to calculate the needs. I like to do that with this tool:

System Energy Audit and Sizing Spread Sheet

To get the spreadsheet, click on the orange button at the top of this page. This sheet is intended to help you plan your system. Fill it out down to the last decimal place, look at the results..... and then make your best guess;) Notes...

diysolarforum.com

The tool makes a lot of conservative assumptions so it will tend to calculate systems that may be a bit larger than actually needed, but it will give you a reasonably good ballpark understanding of the need. You can always decide to build smaller..... but at least you will know what to expect.


Perhaps more importantly it will help you understand the energy usage and where conservation may be a better approach than a larger system.

 

[Wibla]

Here's what I would do, in order, before buying anything at all:

1. Turn the inverter off and keep it off unless you're using it. Get some 12V LED lights for basic lighting if you don't already have any.
2. Check your batteries, do they need more water? Are the connections good?
3. Recharge the batteries from the generator.
4. Check your MPPT charging parameters according to the battery datasheet (mentioned up-thread), adjust the parameters if they're wrong.
5. Check the nameplates on the solar panels, wire them 320+400 in series if Imp is very similar, leave them alone (for now) if not.
6. Check that you're actually getting decent charging from the solar when the weather is good.
7. (after a few days) Check that your batteries maintain a healthy resting voltage after not being charged for a few hours (overnight).

 

[the picker]

No way to charge now using generator only car charger.

 

[the picker]

I am running a 24 inch fridge , reg lights , tv and dvd at night and cell booster.

 

[acdoctor]

Reg lights? 9 watt LED. 60 watt inconsistent. 13 watt compact fluorescents.
Unless you system is much larger than it needs to be and battery can run for days you will need a way to recharge. If there is anyone out there off grid that doesn’t ever need to charge by another source let us know.

 

[Wibla]

For intermittent use, 800W of solar for about 5kWh of usable capacity can be just fine, as long as you actually turn off all the loads when you leave the cabin.

I grabbed the GPS coordinates slightly south-east of Quebec and threw it into SAM, got this output (raw kWh per month):

As you can see, overpaneling the controller gets you a lot more power, with everything else being equal. You'll get somewhere between the 4x320 and 4x400 in practice with the panels you've got, if you get them wired up correctly (Imp matching might be the optimal solution).

(A comment on the 4x400 green bars, that's a quick and dirty way to show you some of the power you're leaving on the table by overpaneling instead of adding MPPT capacity either via going to 24V or adding another controller).

 

[the picker]

I am using 9 watt energy saver bulbs. Wow the chart really puts things in a different light. So now i know i have a problem but which way to go, 12v or 24v with my biggest problem not a lot of funds.

 

[Wibla]

The biggest problem is that you leave the inverter on all the time.

 

[the picker]

How can one run a fridge if you do not leave the inverter on?

 

[Wibla]

To put it plainly: you don't.

Upon re-reading the thread, you haven't actually told us if this is a home or a cabin - i.e. if you actually need to have a fridge etc running 24/7. I assumed that it was a cabin, but that assumption might be in error. Please correct me there.

How old is this system?

 

[the picker]

It is a cabin but leave the fridge going all the time in summer.

 

[John Frum]

@the picker I agree with @FilterGuy you should start with an energy audit.
That way we can help you design a system that will meet your requirements.

 

[the picker]

Not sure how i can do that. First i could not download spread sheet and also i do not have all the info.

 

[John Frum]

Not sure how i can do that. First i could not download spread sheet and also i do not have all the info.

Did you click the "download" button in the top right corner?

 

[the picker]

Got it to download but not sure how to do it. All i can tell you is i have a fridge going in summer months, cell booster one clock radio all the time. TV and DVD after supper for 3 hrs most of the time and usually a couple of 9 watt light bulbs at night for 5 hrs. Then 700 watt toaster in the morning.

 

[John Frum]

Got it to download but not sure how to do it. All i can tell you is i have a fridge going in summer months, cell booster one clock radio all the time. TV and DVD after supper for 3 hrs most of the time and usually a couple of 9 watt light bulbs at night for 5 hrs. Then 700 watt toaster in the morning.

Is the cabin wired for ac distribution?
Is the cabin wired for dc distribution?

This will help you get real world data https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07Q121ZQY

 

[John Frum]

Got it to download but not sure how to do it. All i can tell you is i have a fridge going in summer months, cell booster one clock radio all the time. TV and DVD after supper for 3 hrs most of the time and usually a couple of 9 watt light bulbs at night for 5 hrs. Then 700 watt toaster in the morning.

Are you saying that you don't know how to operate a spreadsheet?

 

[the picker]

The cabin has a household panel box only for AC

 

[the picker]

I can do a spread sheet but do not understand the info required.