diy solar

diy solar

System can't keep up after upgrades and reconfiguration

This switches power between the microwave and the ac unit so they can share a 30amp breaker
interesting
D6616480-C164-449D-A2D7-6EF5E85AB9EA.jpeg
 
Yes very cool ,I used one to add a second freezer onto a 1500 watt inverter
so they won’t come on at the same time and trip it .
less wasted power.
 
OK, think I need to temporarily put this thread to rest. I need more charging amps, and I might still need new batteries, depending. The rest of this thread has morphed into 'integration' so I started a different thread. I'll link it here and move that part of the discussion over.

 
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Feel fr
OK, think I need to temporarily put this thread to rest. I need more charging amps, and I might still need new batteries, depending. The rest of this thread has morphed into 'integration' so I started a different thread. I'll link it here and move that part of the discussion over.

Feel free to visit new thread!
 
Batteries at 12.77v after full day’s charge w/ no load. Moved location today, no chance for SG testing.
 
Eq them again , and check sg I’m sure you are looking at surface charge
try to get all cells above 1.275 or better
 
This is what you ask for , it has it’s PF corrected this is a good charger you could go bigger but it starts to get expensive.
DF8CF1C5-71D5-42F4-B5E4-6C80C19B8118.jpeg
 
Eq them again , and check sg I’m sure you are looking at surface charge
try to get all cells above 1.275 or better
Will do. Down to 12.2-something this morning, but only managed to use 40 or so amp-hours overnight. I guess switching the lighting under the rig to an LED rope/tape made a fairly significant difference.
 
@Wellbuilt So hey - a couple of things that I just realized:
  1. I've been worried about absorption stage, having read somewhere that you have to be able to customize it so you can get to 14.8v - however, I just 'rediscovered' that the absorption range for my FLA is 14.4-14.7 - so almost any PFC charger would work here
  2. My focus on absorption is probably wasted, because in my particular usage case we were talking about running the generator for a couple of hours every 7-10 days to give the solar panels a helping hand. If that's all I'm doing, the charger will never leave bulk stage! So worrying about multi-stage is almost useless. Maybe I'll use it at some point, but it's kinda unlikely...
So really I just need a bulk charger. Yes, I'm trying to justify spending less. I can't help it. LOL
 
PF has nothing to do with any of that , it’s all about the power being used from the generator .
There is nothing better then a inverter/ charger nothing , but the tru charge is a close second .

You will need to run the generator way more then you are thinking .
You can just bulk charge for 3 days and then get to full charge on the 4th day
Here is a good charger comparison , with my Honda 2800 inverter generator my out back will charge at 1900watts and the Honda has to put out 2000watts ,when absorb hits the watts start backing down , and when I get down to the battery’s only taking 600watts I’m 99% charged .

With a cheep charger iota ? My system will charge at 1900watts but the Honda generator will not run it , because of PF
It needs 3500watt to run ☹️ So your 4000watt genarator could charge with a cheep 30amp charger .
But it will cost you in fuel and Where in tear.

If I charged down to 700watts I would be losing a little power every day so my sg will start to go down .
I think 4 GC battery’s can be charged down to 150 watts to be at 99%

Then IF you do a soft eq every 30 days all of the above is not so important .
I have my trailer system that is 2 Duracell GC battery’s going on 6 years
and the morning star CC Automatically EQs every month but the system floats a lot .

You need to stop using the battery’s until you get the sg up .
you don’t want to start over charging every morning .

12.2 with the inverter on ? If it is your voltage should come up a point maybe 12.3ish
my system is around 50 / 50.1 in the morning in the winter
Now I’m a few point higher =12.5 +
12.2nis around 55% ☹️ Maybe 60 ish if their is a load .
And if there was any sun at all , it will push the number up .
Today I’m sitting at 14.6 absorb setting 3 hour absorb
But my sg is dropping off a little sooooo I have to add to the absorb time
or tweak the voltage until the sg is all good 12.75or above
next month I’ll go up to 14.75v absorb by Christmas I’ll be creeping op on 14.9
and I get the numbers by looking at my morning volts , checking the SG
My system is temperature compensated , So when the battery’s are cold my charger ups voltage buy temperature
62 volts + 15.5 ish if the bank is 35o or so .
Any way
Those battery’s are not to be charged over 62 volts at all .
 
There is nothing better then a inverter/ charger nothing , but the tru charge is a close second .
I haven't been looking at inverter/chargers for two main reasons: (well, maybe three)
  1. I have a 1500watt inverter already - most inverter/chargers seem to max out at 1200watts
  2. I keep reading, here on these forums, that every time you combine functions you lower quality or performance.
  3. Well, price, of course
You will need to run the generator way more then you are thinking .
Then why bother adding a charger at all? I thought the whole idea was to provide extra bulk charging before maximum solar hours?
With a cheep charger iota ? My system will charge at 1900watts but the Honda generator will not run it , because of PF
It needs 3500watt to run ☹️ So your 4000watt genarator could charge with a cheep 30amp charger .
But it will cost you in fuel and Where in tear.
According to this thread the iota 55amp unit runs just fine on a Honda 2000i generator
You need to stop using the battery’s until you get the sg up .
you don’t want to start over charging every morning .
The only way for this to happen would be for us to move into an RV park for a few weeks.
 
The thing is you have a in expensive inverter , it uses a lot of power buy it self
Chance are the spec are not real ?
The Chinese’s lie ?
I would bet a good 1200 watt inverter would out perform your 1500watt unit .

Lower Quality ? Performance?
Hmmm you are at the bottom of barrel with your inverter .
Inverters Are not created equal
Price ?
No one ever said solar off grid was cheep .


The reason for adding a charger is to keep your battery’s alive .
Having one and not running it wont help you at all .
I can’t tell you when or how much you run your charge , but the battery’s will tell you .

Honda 2200 watt with iota
Hmmmmm , well that is not my experience .
My champion 3500 watt could barely run one
The iota engineers said I need more power ?
The article was from 09 and that is in my time frame of experience .
Why don’t you give the tech guys a call
And ask them ? That is what I did .

Here is another way of looking at it
You used 40amps so 500watts
Your panels on there best day 400 watts
So 300 watts in x sun hours in Colorado
About 4.5 so may be 1300 watts for the day . You have 800 watts left .
But then your panels are flat ☹️ Flat panel kill your power and it get worse in winter .
Any way you mite only have 300watts left ☹️ Then this is on a good day .
So you will just walk your battery power down to nothing the battery’s are not dying
Its more like they are being
Murdered .
Let stop with the money aspect , you have only a few choices
1 sit in the dark
2 stay in a camp ground
3 go to bed early
4 figure a way to charge your battery’s to full every 3 or 4 days .
More solar will help .
But I have 4 times the battery power 16 gcbattery’s and 4500 watts of solar
And I have no choice but to run the genarator .
I run every morning for a hour or more
So I get maybe 6 years or more out of them .
You are gaining experience and there is a learning curve , my family lived off grid in the 70s in Norway 6 hours drive from any where in good weather ( we skied year round )
My uncle ran a lister Diesel genarator every day from 4 pm to 800pm .
I only get 2.5 sun hours hours here
It is what it is .
I’m just sharing information here try to help , it kind of a pay it forward thing for all the people helping me along the way . ?
 
The thing is you have a in expensive inverter , it uses a lot of power buy it self
Chance are the spec are not real ?
The Chinese’s lie ?
I would bet a good 1200 watt inverter would out perform your 1500watt unit .
Specs on the VertaMax say < or = to 1 amp which would be 12 watts? Seems fairly low?
I'm noticing that something has changed in my system. I typically see a 5-amp draw even when not 'using' anything. So the inverter + fridge + CO2 detector + any phantom draw = 5 amps or so. But today I'm only seeing 3 amps. Not sure what happened there.
I’m just sharing information here try to help , it kind of a pay it forward thing for all the people helping me along the way . ?
(y)
 
Strange
5 amps = 60 watts i Don’t think any inverter is on and using 12 watts even for search mode if you have one that would be low . My system uses 50watts .
12 watts ? Not a real spec
 
Yes, typical usage is sitting at 60 watts, although today it is more like 36 watts. Yes, this includes the inverter. All measured across a smart shunt.

Right now it's back to 5 amps, but I also have the LTE router on. Maybe that's the difference?
 
Ya maybe your smart shunt Is not so smart ?
I know mine not very smart .
And if it’s reading off dead battery’s
I’m not sure how it could be accurate
With one do you have ?
 
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