diy solar

diy solar

My pv journey is back on!

For those mentioning switching to 120v for the heating element you need to keep in mind that 240v = automatically balanced. So that takes the headache out for those that are trying to keep L1 and L2 balanced since some inverters spaz out when things get out of balance much.
 
Crowz said:
For those mentioning switching to 120v for the heating element you need to keep in mind that 240v = automatically balanced. So that takes the headache out for those that are trying to keep L1 and L2 balanced since some inverters spaz out when things get out of balance much.
Click to expand...

Just curious why more solar type people don't just hang clothes outside to dry. I bet the overall efficiency must be close to 75%, vs 15%or so for pv based drying.

Just saying
 
1201 said:
Just curious why more solar type people don't just hang clothes outside to dry. I bet the overall efficiency must be close to 75%, vs 15%or so for pv based drying.

Just saying
Click to expand...
Did that for a few years when I first got married. Concept made sense but had mixed results. Ranged from clothes having smells from neighbors cutting grass to occasional wildlife hitching rides. Also the clothes seemed "stiffer" to me as in had a course texture vs being dried in a dryer. I just left the dryer on the grid so not a problem for us.
 
Crowz said:
Did that for a few years when I first got married. Concept made sense but had mixed results. Ranged from clothes having smells from neighbors cutting grass to occasional wildlife hitching rides. Also the clothes seemed "stiffer" to me as in had a course texture vs being dried in a dryer. I just left the dryer on the grid so not a problem for us.
Click to expand...
Yeah I haven't dried clothes on a line in years but I did it for over a decade in the past. I also don't like using my electric dryer- I feel it doesn't get clothes quite dry enough.
 
Crowz said:
Did that for a few years when I first got married. Concept made sense but had mixed results. Ranged from clothes having smells from neighbors cutting grass to occasional wildlife hitching rides. Also the clothes seemed "stiffer" to me as in had a course texture vs being dried in a dryer. I just left the dryer on the grid so not a problem for us.
Click to expand...
FWIW, running in the dryer without heat when nearly dry removes the stiffness.
 
OffGridForGood said:
TOU Rates?
If your area has TOU-utility rates, I find it advantageous during Nov-Dec to let the PV collect what they can each day, then top up the ESS at night on low Time of Use rate to bring ESS to 100%, (in MPP settings there is one called "FUL" {full} so you can set the inverters to control charging up to 100% at night and then switch automatically back to "SBU" (solar battery utility) ready for the next morning).
On days with good solar, the night-time charge is very little energy/cost, and on crappy days it is more, but at the lowest utility rate available. For me, being out in the sticks, power outages are pretty common during winter (snow-covered trees like to fall on power lines it seems) so the charging up each night generally means I have my ESS pretty full when the utility drops out. Also the larger the difference in TOU rates, the more sense this makes to load-shift using the batteries.

To set up control for the TOU charging I use a programable HWT-Timer to cut off the Utility during on-peak time of day. Set the inverter to switch to 'charge battery from utility at a relatively high SOC like 53v, but when the inverter doesn't have the utility available it remains on battery/PV waiting. When the TOU rate comes up, my timer control switches on the utility - and the inverter immediately switches to charging until it hits that "ful" setting then it switches back to battery. In the early morning when TOU rate ends, the timer cuts off the utility and the inverters run off battery even while lower than the SOC setting I used, again the inverters are just waiting for utility to be available.

My solar set up is in the shop (next door to my home) and originally charging at night also meant the shop is basically just in heating mode (low electrical load) so one thing I noiced while adding more and larger loads from the house onto the shop solar - if the inverters are charging the ESS they are also in pass-through mode, so you don't really want to be charging and running the electric dryer/HWT all at the same time. There can be good reasons to set the control of the utility becoming available to midnight or some time of day with low use. A chargeverter would be a better option likely, set it to charge the ESS when utility is available, then use the HWT timer control to cut off power to the chargeverter when TOU rates are high. At least this is what I am thinking, not sure if the chargeverter will work this way, ie once power is cut off, will it need to be switched on, or will it come on as soon as power is available. I may need to think about a DC relay instead, ie the chargeverter on 'all the time' but the DC connection controlled by timer. I have to get my hands on a chargeverter and test it out.
Click to expand...
Wow, you're giving me some great ideas here.

We don't have tou in the winter, only the summer, but while I haven't lived a winter in this house I suspect I won't use nearly as much energy as I do in the summer.

The idea you've given me though, is time of use in the summer. I expect summer production of about 50-60kwh a day but in July and August I'm using 70-80 kWh a day.

I will eventually add more panels to cover the shortfall but for now you've got me thinking about the tou plan. Normal plan is about 11 cents per kWh all the time and tou is 20cents from 3pm till 8pm and 7.4 cents from 801pm till 259pm.

I could set it up to be able to go from 3pm till 8 only on battery, pv and save some more dollars that way. Nice
 
Shimmy said:
FWIW, running in the dryer without heat when nearly dry removes the stiffness.
Click to expand...
I never realized it before putting the dryer on the solar, but with SA - I see the Heat up and the 'cool down' at the end of a drying cycle - the top power drops from 5kW still cycles on and off but at lower peak load and the final part just spin and no heat until it is finished.
When we got this place 23 years ago there were two clothes lines - my "Offical Solar Tester" instructed me at the time to 'take those down' - honestly I have never had the nerve to suggest they go back up! :ROFLMAO:
 
Crowz said:
Did that for a few years when I first got married. Concept made sense but had mixed results. Ranged from clothes having smells from neighbors cutting grass to occasional wildlife hitching rides. Also the clothes seemed "stiffer" to me as in had a course texture vs being dried in a dryer. I just left the dryer on the grid so not a problem for us.
Click to expand...
:) Wimp! get more panels and inverters! It's only money.
 
ksmithaz1 said:
:) Wimp! get more panels and inverters! It's only money.
Click to expand...
I doubt I'll ever put the dryer on the unit with batteries but I do plan on running one of the tp6048's with panels only for dryer, washing machine or anything else that can be just used during the day. That way the cloths washing is free :)
 
OffGridForGood said:
I never realized it before putting the dryer on the solar, but with SA - I see the Heat up and the 'cool down' at the end of a drying cycle - the top power drops from 5kW still cycles on and off but at lower peak load and the final part just spin and no heat until it is finished.
When we got this place 23 years ago there were two clothes lines - my "Offical Solar Tester" instructed me at the time to 'take those down' - honestly I have never had the nerve to suggest they go back up! :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
My Official Loads Tester runs the dryer all the time. Even on cloudy days but does hang on the line in good weather.

I do have enough pv and battery to manage the loads, as I said, my house has basically run off grid since I finished installation. The only time I used grid power was when working on the system and when we went on vacation because of the charge controller setting the bus start failure code intermittently.
 
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