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diy solar

Help needed asap!!

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kris1

New Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2024
Messages
27
Location
Mo currently moving to Oklahoma
Im incubating eggs and lost power suddenly. Im new to this and listening to a lot of things from different people. I have 6 100 watt panels plugged in to the series adapter to a 150/50 controller dictionary brand and 2 batteries life p04 100ah 1280 watt 1 is 12v a few months old the other 12.8 v just got in the last week to a 4000 watt inverter. Its been cloudy a few days but last night I had unplugged everything except 3 incubators 1 running at 2 watts to a USB directly on the inverter 2 larger ones that run 78 watts when turning 1 around 55 on the other and sustain 1 at around 37watts the other at around 43 watts (according to the inverter). Its been cloudy mostly the last couple of days however the inverter didn't beep at all for the low voltage and last I checked it was down to 11.5volts. Less than an hrs its gone. Last night it ran down to 12.9 before bed and went to 12.5 v by morning. It was at 12.5 when it started to the batteries to ight and now nothing is on. Did it use that much power? Is something setup wrong? I have another inverter for the other panel I have i haven't hooked up yet would that matter? Please help I need this power back so these eggs will hatch!
 
kris1 said:
Im incubating eggs and lost power suddenly. Im new to this and listening to a lot of things from different people. I have 6 100 watt panels plugged in to the series adapter to a 150/50 controller dictionary brand and 2 batteries life p04 100ah 1280 watt 1 is 12v a few months old the other 12.8 v just got in the last week to a 4000 watt inverter. Its been cloudy a few days but last night I had unplugged everything except 3 incubators 1 running at 2 watts to a USB directly on the inverter 2 larger ones that run 78 watts when turning 1 around 55 on the other and sustain 1 at around 37watts the other at around 43 watts (according to the inverter). Its been cloudy mostly the last couple of days however the inverter didn't beep at all for the low voltage and last I checked it was down to 11.5volts. Less than an hrs its gone. Last night it ran down to 12.9 before bed and went to 12.5 v by morning. It was at 12.5 when it started to the batteries to ight and now nothing is on. Did it use that much power? Is something setup wrong? I have another inverter for the other panel I have i haven't hooked up yet would that matter? Please help I need this power back so these eggs will hatch!
Click to expand...
Its victor brand controller not dictionary dang auto correct
 
12.5v means only about 10% of battery left.
can you heat water and put into bottles and place in incubator? Hopefully you have a thermometer/hygrometer in the incubator.
 
Hi Kris,don't forget you've got losses from solar to battery and from battery to inverting.With a 12V system the losses can be quite heavy ,depending on the cables.Your system is rather unbalanced ,not enough solar power and storage for the size of inverter.If you can add solar panels and batteties,that would give you a chance to get over cloudy times.....Greetings Frank
 
Hopefully he got his eggs warmed with water bottles or insulated at least, I think he may have lost all power.

Kris when you get power back let us know and we can figure out a backup plan. Without a lot of extra panels one needs a generator of some sort.
 
So ive got them in my tiny greenhouse with terra cotta tealight heaters seems to be at the 100 degrees im hoping im not drowning them i have no hydrometer using a candy thermometer that my friend gave me before she passed away. I have no car, no generator. I have 1 solar panel coming today I think sent from a wishlist. I have a 75/15 also victron controller and 1 panel 100w that ill be hooking up in about 5 minutes. I have 2 additional lifepo4 batteries coming if they'll ever drop them at FedEx. I was gifted my inverter by someone who read it has great reviews for off grid so I had to go with what I get. How many panels or what do I need to make this balance out? Also one of the batteries says I can only hook 4 together theyre not the same brand and the new batteries are 12.8 v. Three came from temu 1 from Amazon. I'm going to see if I can borrow a meter from my neighbor for awhile to test them but I believe they all work the same. I'm extremely limited on resources and money so keep that in mind. Here's the setup for my eggs and the solar.1000000074.jpg1000000074.jpg20250519_074917.jpg20250519_074922.jpg20250519_074930.jpg20250519_075009.jpg
 
Glad that you got them settled in to a warm place. Good thing you had that little greenhouse. You can get cheap thermometers that have a hydrometer at Walmart in my area anyway. Or Amazon might be the way to go.

What is the minimum watts that it would take to just run the in incubators that you need? A smaller inverter would probably draw less power than that big one.

Are the incubators 120VAC or do they have a transformer to dc? Maybe you could run them from battery directly and preserve some juice?
 
120v they run a max of 78 watts when turning. I have the other panel and controller hooked now and I do have the hydrometer coming someone is bringing it.

These are what the controller says (i can only read the single one I only have one doggle) theres nothing connected to it and the inverter is completely off. So im confused as to is this saying theres a load coming out? Are they going to have a problem because theyre not connected together from what ive read thats not a problem but im freaking out. Its extremely cloudy here BTW going to rain today
 
How many incubators do you need to run right now?

I don't think that they need to be connected as long as charge settings are right. I don't know how the Bluesolar units work as I only have experience with the smartsolar units. Do they connect to you phone via buetooth if you have the dongle plugged in? Did you swap the dongle to the 75/15 to set it up?
 
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I have one of these and I am pretty sure it uses about 5w with no load. I'm sure it would run at least one incubator, maybe two if you could plug them in one then the other a few seconds later so that they wouldn't turn at the same time. Probably would save some watts to go as small as possible on you inverter when needed.
 
Can you measure the voltage and amps of your 6 series string? Looks like a mixed group and I’m wondering how they are performing. Also, pics of the back panel specifications of the panels might help.

Depending on where you are, you can find 300 watt panels at around $30 each. Well used but serviceable.
 
I don't have a multimeter to measure. The dongle can be switched between them im in Oklahoma and its extremely cloudy so the 100/50 was showing 27 to 29 watts now its showing about 7 coming in. They're all mixed panels 100 w but 3 are from temu the rest from Amazon. I'll take pics of the back the best I can and post them. 1 incubator is well more important as its 34 quail eggs 4 days from haych date. I'm a live streamer so I'm also out of work without power to charge my phone so this is well worse than it seems because no live no chicks no land payment. I have 1 open spot on my setup outside if I need to switch the panels around. They're all slightly different variations.

The crumpled one there are 2 of those and the eco worthy there are 3 of those that match. The other 2 types are single. 20250519_102729.jpg20250519_102713.jpg20250519_102706.jpg20250519_102657.jpg
 
So here's the current status. Its only on the big controller. It shows some absorption so does that mean the small battery is almost full? Im still very confused on exactly what im reading. The inverter runs 5 watts on its own is what you're saying correct? I'm learning but people all do things differently and understand things differently so I get extremely confused. If I have the power i really want to plug in the 1 incubator for the quail I will be content using the other as an experiment of sorts if I need to because they're eggs from my homestead and replaceable without money just chicken butter time.
 
Liam M said:
Have you incubated eggs before? Humidity is just as important as temperature, get yourself a hygrometer (not hydrometer) asap. Where do you stream? We all want to see this now lol. I use this one, it keeps track of highs/lows of temp/humidity so you know if something was off while not looking.
https://www.amazon.com/ThermoPro-TP50-Digital-Thermometer-Temperature/dp/B01H1R0K68/ref=mp_s_a_1_4_maf_1?crid=2NDRLBKFFBGHD&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ciRWC7nyjZXHQw8PlxQovBXh4xaHrF3F7lbUGIAYkmVH7hkCIrJ7OOK8fv4kA104Axx1HmI22cJwvVkWlWD_AgKKLunEsg-s6m3Apxk0y0gtlg8n0OfwXQymYQLvEuIkfdOwzXjhD8irSGWdgblGqxpJQ9Xv39akC5dtPD9SJ-nJpVZKubtR0Pse8nMSuSL4ByYzNYfbkrxAKS2D2LUzsA.u_QS3QS94E4jkl7_JM9fjzswzKO7S5QA1QAqPdroKR0&dib_tag=se&keywords=hygrometer&qid=1747671917&sprefix=hygrometer,aps,211&sr=8-4
Click to expand...
Ticktock. Have to work with what u have when u have no car and live in the middle of nowhere. I got one yesterday thankfully I had an appointment so the person taking me stopped on their way. Hatched my first chick out ever about 5 days ago now. Had these high tech incubators that I couldn't use. Regulating temp and humidity with tealight candles in an indoor greenhouse is apparently an art that has kept me up all night.
 
MikeInKingman said:
Manual for this 100 50 Victron CC is here:

If I had to guess...using these mix of 100w panels all in series is not the ideal configuration, and moving to a mix of series and parallel connected panels might work better.

You don't appear to ever be getting to Float anymore.
Best of luck.
Click to expand...
They are connected 6 in parallel and 2 in parallel separately through another controller. There's limited full sun because of trees and the panels need raised and tilted back. I need to perhaps turn them some but the stand was here when I got here and I live alone so hard to do sometimes cause its so large. Isn't there a site that'll tell me the exact position they should be in? I do wonder if the mixed panels affect it negatively. A friend told me last night the battery connectors are impacting it and I need a breaker bar to make it run better.
 
SUNCALC.ORG has an app that will show you where the sun will be at any given time and date. You can even enter obstructions into the advanced settings to show were the trees cast shade. Use this plus your latitude as a guide. Fine tuning is easiest when there is a bright cloudless day.
 
Ok so I just looked again and my app has updated. You go to settings and set object height in meters. Then set the plus shaped point where your trees that block are located. Then use the slider to see how high the shadow cast from that intersecting point over the trees will be. As you slide the time earlier and later in the day you will see a number for how high the shadows are cast from an object of the height that you set.

It is the most useful tool I know of other than being there and doing extensive testing, but you can definitely use it to figure out a good starting point, then make fine adjustments after that.
 
6 paralell panels is almost 36Amps and
20-23Volts. I think technically 30A is the Max on an MC4 connector, but I could be wrong.

I would try setting them in a 3 Series 2 parallel configuration. You would have about 66V and 18A instead.

Put the last two in series onto the 75/15 and see how it works out. It will run- 37-43watts or so at almost 6Amps. I use a setup like this on a small battery that I have and it works great, although I only have a 12v 20ah battery.


It should increase your yield and reduce the amount of current in your PV cables. Less Amps more voltage is better as it will be less affected by voltage drop due to resistance.
 
To move that setup by yourself I would lay 2 long boards on the ground parallel to each other. Then use a lever of some sort to get the corner up and slide the board under that corner, repeat on opposite side. Once you have your boards in place and facing where you need it to go, tie a rope on the panel side about waist high and make a loop. This will be the reigns for you to pull. Then tie another rope up high in the center and keep it held keep tight as you pull so that it can't tip over toward the heavy side with the panels on it and smash them. As long as you keep it on the rails it should slide easy. Just don't let it tip over
 
Not sure how big your enclosure is but I used to have bees and built a couple of warmers to keep my honey from crystallising.
People believe runny honey is better.
Anyways
I used an old fridge, with a small bulb and a computer fan.
All the stuff was free or really cheap.
At the time I had a failing power system but could easily keep the temperature at 36C.
Aliexpress has good temperature switches with timers.
They come in 12v, 24v, 120v and 240v

I advertised for an old fridge. They come in by the truck load.

Another beekeeper has 3 x 300litre glass door fridges running like that.
 
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