Daddy Tanuki
Emperor Of Solar
this came to me in a message so I am posting it here for input for the OP who may or may not join the forum and claim the question.
Now I have a few question.
First some back ground info. I already have a 6” sched 40 pole mounted in the ground. It’s approx 8-9 ft above the ground. I have large trees behind and pretty much on both sides of the pole. For the most part (early morning and late afternoon) I will have direct sunlight. But there will be times when part of my solar array and or panels (approx 8 @ 500-650 watts) will be shaded. I am hoping to add another, possibly two more similar solar arrays on a different part of my lot so that it will pick up more direct sunlight during the summer months.
During the winter months of November to February all of my sunlight will be where the solar pole is mounted, which isn’t the greatest location but I don’t have much choice. As well if it is a clear day in the winter I should be able to pick up direct sunlight for a few hours. I am also planning on installing a ground mount array near this location but it will be facing the same way with the same limitations as the pole mounted array (low sun will ride along the ridge of the mountain). My 1200 sqft cabin is totally off grid, no power, water, cell, sat service. I am also going to utilize a LP generator as back up.
This is my planned set up system:
QUESTIONS
my answer to the person:
I am the person you should ask questions of for Morningstar controllers, or Magnum inverters. I do not know enough about EG4 (or any of the high frequency units) to answer comfortably.
what I will do is post this question unatrributed to the place I think it should be and you can claim it as your question, or you can just watch quietly form the side for answers.
Your question really boils down to the MPPT portion of the EG4 AIO. not being up to speed on the AIO's i would not want to lead you down the wrong path.
Now I have a few question.
First some back ground info. I already have a 6” sched 40 pole mounted in the ground. It’s approx 8-9 ft above the ground. I have large trees behind and pretty much on both sides of the pole. For the most part (early morning and late afternoon) I will have direct sunlight. But there will be times when part of my solar array and or panels (approx 8 @ 500-650 watts) will be shaded. I am hoping to add another, possibly two more similar solar arrays on a different part of my lot so that it will pick up more direct sunlight during the summer months.
During the winter months of November to February all of my sunlight will be where the solar pole is mounted, which isn’t the greatest location but I don’t have much choice. As well if it is a clear day in the winter I should be able to pick up direct sunlight for a few hours. I am also planning on installing a ground mount array near this location but it will be facing the same way with the same limitations as the pole mounted array (low sun will ride along the ridge of the mountain). My 1200 sqft cabin is totally off grid, no power, water, cell, sat service. I am also going to utilize a LP generator as back up.
This is my planned set up system:
- 2 EG4 6000 xp off grid inverters, OR possible 1 EG4 12000: with 1 or 2 power walls or similar
- 2 interior mounted power 48v powerwall batteries?
- 1 top of pole mount solar array (8-9 panels) @ 350w to 550w bifacial panels
- 1 ground mount solar array (hopefully 6-8 panels) @ 500w to 650w biracial panels
- 1 solar array (unsure of when I can construct it, or how many and what size panels will be used at this time) mainly to recover the peak summer sunlight June to Sept.
- 2 Combiner boxes (as I was thinking of running my panels in sets of 2-3 panels in parallel to the combiner box), and then in Series when I run the wires from the combiner box(s) up to my inverters.
- *** One of my biggest issue/concern and why I am thinking of running my panels in parallel rather then in series is that the distance from my solar pole to my solar shed is approx 180-200 feet. I have been told that I should run my panels in series?
- I will also have a 6500 watt LP generator as back up for charging my systems batteries and or running the cabin on high loads.
- *** My other main concern is what I can do about my solar arrays being partially shaded by trees, and soaking up enough sunlight to charge my batteries.
- What are how many volts/ amps is required to be taken in so that my batteries will start charging?
- What size cables would I need to run from my panel arrays to the combiner boxes
- What size cables to run from my combiner boxes to my inverters (180ft away)
- Would I even have enough space in my inverters to run this type of setup, along with my generator?
QUESTIONS
- Is there any way to set my panels / arrays in a parallel type system of 2 panels each (hopefully to reduce the shading and subsequent low intake from my panels), and run the 4-8 parallel strings into 1-2 combiner boxes, then run the wiring from my combiner boxes pin series up to my two inverters (180 ft away), this would allow me to run the long distance using smaller cable. Also, how do I ensure that I have enough PV volts coming into my system to start the charging process, as well, how can I prevent to many PV volts from coming into my system on cold days so I don’t kill my system. Do I put a shut off on some of the parallel panels and use it during the colder months or when I have to many volts coming into my system?
my answer to the person:
I am the person you should ask questions of for Morningstar controllers, or Magnum inverters. I do not know enough about EG4 (or any of the high frequency units) to answer comfortably.
what I will do is post this question unatrributed to the place I think it should be and you can claim it as your question, or you can just watch quietly form the side for answers.
Your question really boils down to the MPPT portion of the EG4 AIO. not being up to speed on the AIO's i would not want to lead you down the wrong path.