diy solar

diy solar

Samlex: Dual AC and Solar Controller inputs, BMS Controllable, Fully programmable

JMc
Newby to off-grid stuff here, but lots of experience using using inverters on radio communications systems for backup power. We used the inverter's On/Off control to switch it so we manually charged the input caps through a power resistor during hookup.
I'm not sure how you are using your EVO, but in our motorhome it is ON all the time. The EVO co-ordinates charging through the shore-line and the solar panel and has the auto-transfer switch built-in to switch over to its built-in inverter.
When the motorhome is not being used, it is parked in the shop and plugged it because it has the shop's beer fridge in it! ?
 
66 ohms charging 56,000uF gives a time constant of 3.69 seconds, at that point the capacitor is charged to 63% of the source voltage. So at 4 seconds you are likely at 65-70% of the source voltage. Me, I would just use it the way it is. If you are worried about it, then they make one with an adjustable time delay that would satisfy your requirement.

Also, in DC circuits, the most damage to the contacts is when you break the circuit and the resulting arc until that arc is broken. So you are best to remove all the loads from the inverter to reduce the input current to the inverter before opening the contactor.
 
RF_Burns said:
66 ohms charging 56,000uF gives a time constant of 3.69 seconds, at that point the capacitor is charged to 63% of the source voltage. So at 4 seconds you are likely at 65-70% of the source voltage. Me, I would just use it the way it is. If you are worried about it, then they make one with an adjustable time delay that would satisfy your requirement.

Also, in DC circuits, the most damage to the contacts is when you break the circuit and the resulting arc until that arc is broken. So you are best to remove all the loads from the inverter to reduce the input current to the inverter before opening the contactor.
Click to expand...
The data sheet for the Kilovac EV200 shows a mechanical life of one million cycles. Capacitive loads at 90% pre-charge reduce it to 50,000 cycles, and at 80% pre-charge it drops to 50 cycles. Going from 80% to 90% pre-charge lowers the make current by ~ half.

I’m sure they are being conservative with those numbers but I don’t want to weld the contacts for no good reason. It was easy to replace the resistor.
 
So I looked up the data sheet on the EV200. Their electrical load life cycles is based on a "typical EV application" but they don't say what the value of capacitance this is based on, so I must assume it is a very large value.
 
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Dzl said:
is it possible to turn the inverter portion off without disabling solar charging?
Click to expand...
Didn't see an answer to this anywhere in this thread...

Does anyone know if the Inverter/Charger can be turned off and still allow solar charging thru?
 
I do not believe that the solar input will work with the Inverter OFF. There s no indication at all in any of their docs and Samlex is great with their docs.
 
Steve_S said:
I do not believe that the solar input will work with the Inverter OFF. There s no indication at all in any of their docs and Samlex is great with their docs.
Click to expand...
well, that's a bummer... I'm looking at this for my hunting cabin and do not need to leave the inverter on when I'm not there. But, would still like the scc to continue maintaining the batteries. (I guess I could just bypass that input on the Samlex...)
 
JAS said:
Didn't see an answer to this anywhere in this thread...

Does anyone know if the Inverter/Charger can be turned off and still allow solar charging thru?
Click to expand...
This following is straight from Samlex engineering...
"
The EXT DC input on the EVO series is a DC input which is wired (with a current shunt) to the battery terminals on the EVO, so charging on this input will take place as long as the battery continuity is present. The EVO does not control the power on this input, it only monitors it, recording it on the remote and data logging if enabled.



This input should be handled as if it was the battery bank which the EVO is attached to. Any DC power (controlled with a charge controller) attached to this input will “see” this as the battery connection.



The EVO, by default, will reduce the bulk current sourced from an AC source by the mount of current present on this input dynamically. The design intent of this feature is to prevent too much current (combined EXT DC current, + bulk current) to be pushed into the battery bank.

If the battery bank can handle the combined current then the parameter (CHARGE CURVE, EXT CHARGER) can be set to 1= Not affect, this will disable this feature."
 
LOL, Great Joey ! I honestly never really paid that much attention to that section as I don't use the Samlex SCC Port. Was going to but gave up the idea.
 
@Steve_S

Question.... What happens if the EVO is overloaded (longer than the powerboost times) and AC Input is connected? Will the whole unit shut down? Or will it fail over to the AC source?

Thanks,

Jeff
 
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