Oh not knocking them just making sure I wasn't seeing things
The 15 year old panels I have are still going strong after all these years. I never "retire" panels !
Victron is Over-priced Eurotrash. Why would anybody buy Victron over an AiO?
- Thread starter sunshine_eggo
- Start date
The 15 year old panels I have are still going strong after all these years. I never "retire" panels !
This is true. Apparently that new password protocol didn't extend to the Quattro I bought last fall. The devices come with a sheet that has two stickers on it. At least for the smaller MPPT devices, either of the stickers fits on the side of the MPPT. I take a picture of the sticker and keep it on my phone. The sides of the two MPPT devices in my system are no longer easily accessible.
No plan survives contact with the mounting surface.
sunshine_eggo
Victron's little biatch
Oh not knocking them just making sure I wasn't seeing things
The 15 year old panels I have are still going strong after all these years. I never "retire" panels !
those Santan panels were putting out 270W according to one of those AliExpress solar panel testers. Was pretty impressed.
I bought a pallet of the 290w trina panels from santan and they all are working great. I got real lucky on the aionrise 360watt panels from santan with them being new but at used pricing. Company went out of business is the reason for the low prices I guess. Wish I could of got more of them.
Good job! And here I am doing mental acrobaticss trying to plan out how I’m going to mount 4 panels to my cabin.A view from the roof. 4th string was added, and the base rails for the 5th are mounted to the container:
View attachment 283973
Some fat bastard was on top of the container attaching the last set of rails...
View attachment 283970
Yes. The roof can support my weight. Eff you.
Finally (no, the wiring isn't done - just strings 2 and 4):
View attachment 283971
Feels pretty good to get this done. It took the better part of two full days. While my racking system was incredibly cheap ($420), it was labor intensive. Now... had I actually accounted for the humps in the roof in the initial design, it would have been luscious simplicity, but we had to drill NEW holes in 12 panel frames.
First, string three had to be shifted to be flush with string 2, or we wouldn't have had room for the 6th string. Yes. there is still a 5" gap between string 1 and string 2. Get over it. We drilled them IN PLACE. The top two panels being supported by the bottom was a piece of cake... the bottom panel was terrifying... and extra heavy.
Strings 4 through 6 needed new holes in the panel frames. In a blinding stroke of luck, string 6 resulted in only a 1/2" gap using the stock holes at one end, but we did have to drill the other end. Thank goodness for little victories. Of course, I didn't realize we had to drill the other end until we had already humped to up to the roof and did a test fit. So much dumb.
Rather than having all the wires snuck in through the top of the door seal, I actually added some conduit bits and drilled a hole in the side of the container for wire entry. If I can stomach the shame, I might post pictures tomorrow... It's pretty bad, but it works.
In the end the 6 pairs will enter through 1-1/2" conduit to a MNPV6 with individual 15A MN 150V breakers. In an effort to not run out of wire and maybe send some back, we're re-using some of the old wiring. As such, only strings 2 and 4 are actually connected.
10awg into the MNPV6
4awg welding wire to the 250/100 PV input.
2awg welding sire to the bus bars... funny story...
Yes. You're correct. I did something AMAZINGLY stupid. I was very carefully back tracking the (+) wire to the breaker between the MPPT and bus bar when it slipped out of my hand and the unstripped end hit the COVERED (-) bus bar... one of the (-) wire terminals... that I didn't put shrink on... POP went the 300A class T
No. I don't have a spare.
Yes. I bypassed the fuse. No! I'm NOT going without power!!!!! I'll see if an electrical supply place in town has a replacement. Otherwise, I'll use a shitty 70A breaker that I know will take 50A sustained when I leave it unattended in the next day or two (no loads exceed 1500W while I'm offsite). Until then, I'm raw doggin' that wire!
Lastly... HUGE thank you to my oldest, Michael. Dude just put up with my shit to no end and hung in there through every moment of indecision waiting for me to make up my damn mind. Two grueling days of 9+ hours of climbing, squatting, lifting, grunting, crying, cursing, etc. He hung in there like a champ and maintained a positive attitude. No. I really wasn't that bad, but I tend to be very hesitant at any step I'm not 1000% certain on the path/outcome. He just quit a shit job that had him working 50-60 hours per week getting home at 4-5am loading pallets. I have a feeling this was a cake walk for him in comparison! Bottom line is I couldn't have done it without his help. Thanks bud!
P.S. Beautiful weather up here... but we both forgot that being closer to the sun increases your sunburn risk... we are both quite pink and tender.
But this headache pain and turmoil is the real reason bruecy just drapes his panels around his yard like cast off dirty laundry.
Brucey
Velcro Man
Son drilled out one of my m8 distributors, no more weakness with a single 250A breaker, using the solid busbar option in lieu of a fuse with the m10 lynx shunt:
outboard1196
Solar Enthusiast
Even your containers are blue....A view from the roof. 4th string was added, and the base rails for the 5th are mounted to the container:
View attachment 283973
Some fat bastard was on top of the container attaching the last set of rails...
View attachment 283970
Yes. The roof can support my weight. Eff you.
Finally (no, the wiring isn't done - just strings 2 and 4):
View attachment 283971
Feels pretty good to get this done. It took the better part of two full days. While my racking system was incredibly cheap ($420), it was labor intensive. Now... had I actually accounted for the humps in the roof in the initial design, it would have been luscious simplicity, but we had to drill NEW holes in 12 panel frames.
First, string three had to be shifted to be flush with string 2, or we wouldn't have had room for the 6th string. Yes. there is still a 5" gap between string 1 and string 2. Get over it. We drilled them IN PLACE. The top two panels being supported by the bottom was a piece of cake... the bottom panel was terrifying... and extra heavy.
Strings 4 through 6 needed new holes in the panel frames. In a blinding stroke of luck, string 6 resulted in only a 1/2" gap using the stock holes at one end, but we did have to drill the other end. Thank goodness for little victories. Of course, I didn't realize we had to drill the other end until we had already humped to up to the roof and did a test fit. So much dumb.
Rather than having all the wires snuck in through the top of the door seal, I actually added some conduit bits and drilled a hole in the side of the container for wire entry. If I can stomach the shame, I might post pictures tomorrow... It's pretty bad, but it works.
In the end the 6 pairs will enter through 1-1/2" conduit to a MNPV6 with individual 15A MN 150V breakers. In an effort to not run out of wire and maybe send some back, we're re-using some of the old wiring. As such, only strings 2 and 4 are actually connected.
10awg into the MNPV6
4awg welding wire to the 250/100 PV input.
2awg welding sire to the bus bars... funny story...
Yes. You're correct. I did something AMAZINGLY stupid. I was very carefully back tracking the (+) wire to the breaker between the MPPT and bus bar when it slipped out of my hand and the unstripped end hit the COVERED (-) bus bar... one of the (-) wire terminals... that I didn't put shrink on... POP went the 300A class T
No. I don't have a spare.
Yes. I bypassed the fuse. No! I'm NOT going without power!!!!! I'll see if an electrical supply place in town has a replacement. Otherwise, I'll use a shitty 70A breaker that I know will take 50A sustained when I leave it unattended in the next day or two (no loads exceed 1500W while I'm offsite). Until then, I'm raw doggin' that wire!
Lastly... HUGE thank you to my oldest, Michael. Dude just put up with my shit to no end and hung in there through every moment of indecision waiting for me to make up my damn mind. Two grueling days of 9+ hours of climbing, squatting, lifting, grunting, crying, cursing, etc. He hung in there like a champ and maintained a positive attitude. No. I really wasn't that bad, but I tend to be very hesitant at any step I'm not 1000% certain on the path/outcome. He just quit a shit job that had him working 50-60 hours per week getting home at 4-5am loading pallets. I have a feeling this was a cake walk for him in comparison! Bottom line is I couldn't have done it without his help. Thanks bud!
P.S. Beautiful weather up here... but we both forgot that being closer to the sun increases your sunburn risk... we are both quite pink and tender.
sunshine_eggo
Victron's little biatch
Even your containers are blue....
It was a happy accident, but as has been noted, it's the wrong blue...
So, I'm in the Victron MPPT sizing calculator. Using my 325W panels as an example I currently have an 8s2p, same azimuth, one set's vertical and the other's on ground mounts. I have another set of 8 in series. Those are currently wired to two different MPPTs in my existing AIOs.
If I think of this as 450/50's, I start getting confused. On tracker 1 in the calculator, 8s2p is allowed, and on tracker 2, the single 8s string is also allowed. This looks to me like it would far exceed the total 5800W in the spec sheet. On balance, as the 8s2p array is ramping down as the sun moves, the 8s string will ramp up due to its location.
Viable config, or would I leave something on the table this way?
NC_hydro
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2022
- Messages
- 984
I believe there is a 4,000watt limit per tracker on the RS450. You could do a 450/100 + 250/100 or a pair of 450/100. You’d have room to add more panels. Or stay with a couple 250/100s which could handle an 8s2p.
Or a 450/200 could handle 3 trackers with 8s or possibly more and have a 4th tracker for expansion. My 395w hyperions I can run 10s on each tracker and not go over voltage spec based on coldest temp of -25°F. But that is too much overall power for the SCC if I did 10 in each tracker. So I’m pairing it down to 6s in each tracker to maximize highest voltage and power for 36 panels spread across 6 trackers.
Basically plan for 2,900watts per tracker.
Or a 450/200 could handle 3 trackers with 8s or possibly more and have a 4th tracker for expansion. My 395w hyperions I can run 10s on each tracker and not go over voltage spec based on coldest temp of -25°F. But that is too much overall power for the SCC if I did 10 in each tracker. So I’m pairing it down to 6s in each tracker to maximize highest voltage and power for 36 panels spread across 6 trackers.
Basically plan for 2,900watts per tracker.
Brucey
Velcro Man
So on tracker 1, there's 16*325W panels for 5200W.
Tracker 2 has 8*325W for 2600W.
7800W in total.
There is a max output limit of 4kW per tracker.
You'll probably be clipping on tracker 1 in peak sun.
Electrically you can certainly do it that way.
The problem as I see it is with say just two 8s strings, you'll be at 5200W on a 5800W scc. To get better utilization as you'll rarely see max nameplate its normal to overpanel to some extent. But in this case now you have an 8s2p string, with 5200W of pv, on a tracker with a limit of 4kW. And if that tracker is pegged at 4kW, there's just 1800W available for tracker 2.
NC_hydro
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Oct 14, 2022
- Messages
- 984
You could run two strings of 10 on the 450/100 and only be overpaneled by 700watts. If you need every last watt in summer that wouldn’t be ideal but but work fine in winter. I had 8s2p on one tracker this winter with my 395watt panels and 10s on the other tracker. Didn’t lose output till February when the sun started getting higher.
Just looking at raw numbers for the ground mounts, I think the best will be to split them up. A pair of 250/70 or 85's will cover my needs there. Looking at the numbers, outside of the wiring differences, the 250/100 is good for 5900W on paper, which feels like a better deal overall to me. And if I keep 250/100's that keeps the entire range open to whatever needs I have now or down the road.
Then I'm thinking about a 450/x00 for the new panels that will be going up. Still need to math that out.
Quasi-related, I guess more on timing, is whether or not the tariff increases being discussed elsewhere will impact Victron kit. I'm hoping not given they aren't manufactured in China or based there.
Brucey
Velcro Man
There's the possibility of new tarriffs on Indian products starting on April 2nd but seems like there's a good chance a trade deal can be worked out:
India's Jio and Airtel ink deals to bring in Musk's Starlink
The move has caught most analysts by surprise, as Musk has publicly clashed with both companies recently.
www.bbc.com
Brucey
Velcro Man
Yeah might as well get the 250/100 its not much more than the 85. Gives you the option of three+ parallel strings/higher current layouts.
The 450s would be ideal but the 4kW per tracker limit means it's impossible to get the full 100A out of it without a second string. And then you might as well balance them to around 3kW each to avoid losing output in peak conditions.
Brucey
Velcro Man
Just to compare other higher voltage options there's the 600V hawkes bay 90 and 120A (good for 30A input), and Schneider 600/100, all around or over $1k.
sunshine_eggo
Victron's little biatch
damn it... first day...
outboard1196
Solar Enthusiast
Just a smurf wearing its customary white hat.
sunshine_eggo
Victron's little biatch
Damn it... that was a good one.
Brucey
Velcro Man
Guessing your assistant is no longer available for panel sweeeping duties.
sunshine_eggo
Victron's little biatch
Mostly just for dramatic effect... about 1/4" of snow covering everything. We were getting nearly 4000W an hour before I posted that pic as the snow melted pretty quickly...
We had a good day, though it was clearly very cloudy...
Not bad for a snowy winter day...
Looks like we hit the magical 100A, and a little bit over... :
sunshine_eggo
Victron's little biatch
Summer should be a really good test of the MPPT performance with heat. The interior of the container can easily hit 40°C with the door closed (I open it while on-site). I'll try to run some stress tests as I'm able to see if a hot unit affects output.
Brucey
Velcro Man
I believe they start derating beyond 40C on the way up to their 60C max.
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