diy solar

diy solar

Need help!

Hi Hagern, That is an awesome big ship. You have a lot of space for panels and other equipment, and no problem carrying heavy batteries. This is all good. I'm no expert at solar/PV at all, but it sounds like your batteries are not getting fully charged. Its possible I guess that they need to be cycled - run down as low as is safe without ruining them, and then recharged, with fairly low current, to see if you can get better performance from them. I don't think it has to be super complicated. A lot of guys here include a lot of great, but quite complex, equipment in their systems. I think you want to keep it very simple, even if that means you don't get the absolute maximum performance.
 
@Hagern.yacht with the generator running, what is the battery voltage measured with a multimeter?
If you can apply a clamping DC multimeter what current is flowing into the battery.
If a battery shunt is available what does that say?
How do you monitor battery current/voltage?
 
MisterSandals said:
22v is definitely low. But this is drawing 20-30amps all the time too?
Repeatedly running them below 24v will damage the batteries.

Can you see any sign of the Victron actually charging the batteries? It must be windy there so charging? Any readings?

I am not familiar with your charge controller. I believe we need to conjure
@Justin Laureltec
Does that work?
Click to expand...
The Inveter display give me the reatings and I have a Amp meter and see the charging up to 189Amp so yes the victron is charging.
the Manuel is from the fabric it self and said charging to 34V for a 24v system ( battery's are from a Fork-Lift )
on the display I see we use 20Amp ( 800 watt ) from the Inverter to make 230V .
Yes in the netherlands we have more wind than Sun :)
 
KauaiMolokai said:
Hi Hagern, That is an awesome big ship.
Click to expand...
I have space enough and can load 90Ton extra so the battery set of 889Kilo is no problem I know 99% of the ship but I am not alone so i need a simpel system yes its true so the other people on board can handel it to :)
we did some tests 12x cell is 2.08V all of them 1 or 2 are 2,06V so not bad ....
We have a display we can read all of it , inverter, solar, wind in one display and we can see it alone so the inverter or solar or wind and see what they are doing ( watt houre Amp from the sun p.h ect. all is good only the battery's dont lest long on a full charge :( .....
 
Low voltage disconnect settings, if load compensated look too low a.d absorb voltage too high. If it experiences wide temp swings, it need a battery temp sensor on all charger sources.

Use manufacturer spec and tune in actual settings with a hydrometer. Its the only way to get 10 to 15 years and reliable trouble free power.

If you are pushing the limit of high voltage, the difference in temperature compensation can be too much.

Over charging can be as bad as under charging.

***An efficiency setting of 100% will not allow state of charge setpoints to operate correctly and your battery will pump down....... its possible. Try 85 or 90 percent there.

Try going into menus and switching to voltage setpoints amd current return limit instead of soc based. Just to see.

*Make absolutely sure your charge termination for soc, time in absorb and or return amps are terminating at proper specific gravity accross all cells to start or you are never close. Needs to be checked.

There should rarely be a whole battery just puke out like that and about never 3 sets in a row.

You likely have a charging issue that has turned into a battery issue.

Possible all sources (combined) are too many amps.

Using alot of water? Smell sulfur? Acid/sulfate on top of battery=Too much current and or voltage.

Never full= settings or charge capacity or finish too low. Or damaged battery.

Shunt wiring? A, B and C in correct locations?
 
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For 1260Ah 150A plus your constant load would put you at 180A. Dont boil, just simmer them!
 
A photo of your battery tops could tell us alot. If you were at low soc and filled then charged hard the batteries they could have purged electrolyte. You cant get it back. Battery will need to be full or near full charge before adding water to the indicated point.

If you must add water with a low battery only add enough to ensure plates stay covered. Check hydrometer and force charge until cells are equal or very close. Then top up with water.
 
Wasn't going to get involved but do you have a battery monitor so that we can look for a parasitic load?
 
Here is what I'm gathering from this thread.
  1. The battery is charging @ high amps.
    1. There seems to be no period of tapered current charging.
  2. The charge system shuts down on high voltage.
    1. Charging amperage just prior to shutdown = unknown.
  3. Specific gravitys were taken but no amount of rest was specified.
  4. Battery voltage rapidly drops when the charge is discontinued.
A proper setup charge regimen should look like this:
  1. Charge starts @ medium current.
    1. Current rapidly increases as battery chemistry reacts to the charge.
    2. Once charge current peaks
      1. The charge current should begin to taper as battery resistance increases due to charge acceptance.
      2. Over the course of several hours the current should taper down to under 50 amps.
    3. Charge voltage should be reduced now to continue absorption.
      1. Over the course of several more hours charging amps should be down to single digits.
    4. Charge voltage should again reduce to float level.
    5. Now is the time to disconnect the battery to allow it to rest.
      1. Continue to run the ship on the generator.
      2. @ 2 hours take specific gravity (SG) readings on every cell & record. (Once a week or so)
    6. Bring the batteries back on line & secure the generator.
I'd like to hear what the charge voltage & current is every 15 minutes with the current setup.
 
Hagern.yacht said:
DC input low shut-down 20,60V ( manuel battery say 18,60v )
DC input low Restart 21,80V ( manuel battery say 20,60v )
DC input low Pre-Alarm 21,60V ( manuel battery say 20,80v )
Click to expand...

I wouldn't ever take those batteries below 24.4v (at rest). If you do it often, they will be toast.

Were all these used batteries? What does the date code on them say?


Hagern.yacht said:
Absorption voltage 32V
Fload voltage 30 V
Click to expand...

This is way too high, you're cooking them. Check their electrolyte level before doing any more charging, you are basically doing a high equalization charge every day.
 
you are charging at 32V, it is too high and it is even strange you can reach this voltage with a "small" charger and a over 1000Amp battery.
if you can reach that voltage it means the batteries are charged or have too much resistance to eat the charge.
but then they drop to 24V, that would be normal, but charging full at 32V should left you around 26-28V at full charge.
So either the batterie is dead (at least one or two cells) or the load is so high the voltage is diving low.
the you reach 22V, so it could confirm that one or more elements are dead.
 
Last edited:
SCClockDr said:
Here is what I'm gathering from this thread.
  1. The battery is charging @ high amps.
    1. There seems to be no period of tapered current charging.
  2. The charge system shuts down on high voltage.
    1. Charging amperage just prior to shutdown = unknown.
  3. Specific gravitys were taken but no amount of rest was specified.
  4. Battery voltage rapidly drops when the charge is discontinued.
A proper setup charge regimen should look like this:
  1. Charge starts @ medium current.
    1. Current rapidly increases as battery chemistry reacts to the charge.
    2. Once charge current peaks
      1. The charge current should begin to taper as battery resistance increases due to charge acceptance.
      2. Over the course of several hours the current should taper down to under 50 amps.
    3. Charge voltage should be reduced now to continue absorption.
      1. Over the course of several more hours charging amps should be down to single digits.
    4. Charge voltage should again reduce to float level.
    5. Now is the time to disconnect the battery to allow it to rest.
      1. Continue to run the ship on the generator.
      2. @ 2 hours take specific gravity (SG) readings on every cell & record. (Once a week or so)
    6. Bring the batteries back on line & secure the generator.
I'd like to hear what the charge voltage & current is every 15 minutes with the current setup.
Click to expand...
One thing. The charge should terminate at well above single digits for a battery that large.

1260Ah ×.02 =25.2 if testing with no load, all load breakers open.
He has 30-50A constant draw, so 55A charge termination as long as the loads stay consistant.
 
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kernel said:
One thing. The charge should terminate at well above single didgits for a battery that large.

1260Ah ×.02 =25.2 if testing with no load, all load breakers open.
He has 30-50A constant draw, so 55A charge termination as long as the loads stay consistant.
Click to expand...
kernel said:
One thing. The charge should terminate at well above single didgits for a battery that large.

1260Ah ×.02 =25.2 if testing with no load, all load breakers open.
He has 30-50A constant draw, so 55A charge termination as long as the loads stay consistant.
Click to expand...
Correct for generator current but for battery current not so much as the load current splits off before the shunt.

On point 2 I'll yield as it's been a while since submarine duty. But still a pretty low number relative to size.
 
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