vk2emp
New Member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2020
- Messages
- 101
Got into solar when a mate bought a 200W folding panel with a crappy pwm controller on the back. Did my research and settled on a victron 100/20 for his setup. Wired the panels in series and his AGM's charge a lot quicker now.
Since seeing Will's videos, in an ever expanding quest to learn as much as I can about system building and maintenance, and yes I have made mistakes (buying 4 CALB CA180FL's from a local supplier instead of getting a better deal on bigger cells from alibaba).
Presently I have the following stuff set up:
Victron 150/35, connected to 500W of Monocrystalline panels, keeping the CALB cells topped up. I have another 1500W of panels for when I expand to a 48V system.
Victron 48/3000, patiently waiting till I get a 48V bank
A giant ups connected to 16! SLA batteries, this system is going to be retired once the 48V solar is commissioned. The batteries are stuffed
A raspberry pi setup to monitor the batteries and solar charge controller. A quick test with the inverter on the ups bank shows that also works as well and shows up on the 7" touch screen.
Since mine is a house setup, I will need to implement a way of charging the batteries that can be controlled by the BMS I have chosen to use, which will be the REC SI BMS (it talks victron).
My setup is NOT cheap, and I don't have any problems with folks doing it on the cheap, I just like the victron gear. The CALB CA180FL's will be repurposed as a portable camping pack, with a spare 100/20 charge controller, 270W panel, and a Dali BMS. Since the mac draw will be 25A, a 50A Dali should be fine.
Background:
ham radio operator, was taking stuff apart at age 7, and playing with electronics at age 10.
Since seeing Will's videos, in an ever expanding quest to learn as much as I can about system building and maintenance, and yes I have made mistakes (buying 4 CALB CA180FL's from a local supplier instead of getting a better deal on bigger cells from alibaba).
Presently I have the following stuff set up:
Victron 150/35, connected to 500W of Monocrystalline panels, keeping the CALB cells topped up. I have another 1500W of panels for when I expand to a 48V system.
Victron 48/3000, patiently waiting till I get a 48V bank
A giant ups connected to 16! SLA batteries, this system is going to be retired once the 48V solar is commissioned. The batteries are stuffed
A raspberry pi setup to monitor the batteries and solar charge controller. A quick test with the inverter on the ups bank shows that also works as well and shows up on the 7" touch screen.
Since mine is a house setup, I will need to implement a way of charging the batteries that can be controlled by the BMS I have chosen to use, which will be the REC SI BMS (it talks victron).
My setup is NOT cheap, and I don't have any problems with folks doing it on the cheap, I just like the victron gear. The CALB CA180FL's will be repurposed as a portable camping pack, with a spare 100/20 charge controller, 270W panel, and a Dali BMS. Since the mac draw will be 25A, a 50A Dali should be fine.
Background:
ham radio operator, was taking stuff apart at age 7, and playing with electronics at age 10.
