diy solar

diy solar

Long story with hopefully a short answer.

oneshotjon

New Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2022
Messages
7
I bought property with an existing solar powered well pump. It runs off of three 180 watt panels wired in series. Since I don't need to pump water daily I thought I could use these panels to charge some batteries and use the power in my shop. I may have wrongly assumed these were 12 volt panels.
The label says;
180 W
Vpp 25.9 V
Ip 6.95 A
Voc 32.6 V
With these wired in series the open circuit voltage at the connection is over 90 volts. I thought I was going to make a 36 volt system with 3- 12 volt batteries wired in series, with an Epever 50A tracer charge controler, which I have, and is capable of using 12, 24, 36 or 48 volts and then to a 36 volt inverter. Now I'm not sure any of this is compatible. If the panels are 24 volt I can't run them in parallel as the well pump needs a minimum of 30 volts DC to run. I'd need to buy another panel, which I could never match the ones I have, and another battery and run them series- parallel as a 48 volt system. Am I chasing my tail or is there any way this will work. I'm not against just building another system and leaving the well alone. It just seemed like a no brainer and now I feel like I have no brain!
 
Some of the EPEvers will take 100v and some will take 150v. 90v might be okay if it doesn't get real cold where you live. What model is the EPEver?

The 150v version would work for sure with any of the battery voltages that it supports.
 
I don’t know about the EPEver - if that doesn’t work - My recommendation is Get a Victron mppt 150/35. That will convert the voltage from those three panels to 12v /24v/48v (maybe 36v - need to check).
 
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