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Wanted: DC / DC Boost Converter

Pierre

Somewhere down South
Joined
Dec 21, 2019
Messages
1,122
I need a good quality boost converter as follows :
DC input voltage : 48 - 60v
DC output voltage : 150 - 180v
Output current : 10 amps.
I am experimenting with converting PV energy into heat energy in the water heater.
Instead of powering the heating element directly from the PV panels I would prefer to rather charge my 48v storage
battery and then let the boost converter supply the heating element from the battery.
Has anyone got any pointers to such a product ?
Thanks and much appreciated.
 
Last edited:
David Poz made a video on You Tube about running PV for hot water heater. I realize you want to run off of battery juice directly. But he has a section in here about buying and sizing elements for hot water heaters. Perhaps you could just size your heater elements to match battery voltage range directly, so no conversion is necessary? Less loss in conversion, means more power to go directly to the load, higher efficiency.

Anyways, might be an interesting video if you want to check it out:
 
I am experimenting with converting PV energy into heat energy in the water heater.
Instead of powering the heating element directly from the PV panels I would prefer to rather charge my 48v storage
battery and then let the boost converter supply the heating element from the battery.
Do some maths and you may have to re-think your idea! But a 48v DC element would save you getting a buck converter and the 600w version would negate the need for a thermostat.

I run a 600w12v element directly off 6 x 180w panels
 
Thanks for the advice and comments - much appreciated.
Just a bit of background to this project. I am evaluating a new geyser ( hot water cylinder ) micro controller that takes in both AC mains and PV energy and depending on the panel control setting one can select the split between the two as well as only the one or the other. The idea is that no changes to the existing geyser setup are required. In my installation it is a 150lt tank with a 3kW 230v element. Thus , the only additions required are the micro controller interface and the PV panels / cabling. I plan to perfect this set-up and bring it to market.
Currently I have 4 x 420w panels , Imax is 10A and Voc is 160v. Ideally the Vmax applied to the element should be 190 - 200v. The system works well and by 13h00 the geyser is on temperature without the need for AC top-up , but I want to harness the excess PV energy and store it in the 48v battery bank , hence the interest in a boost converter.
I live in a complex and do not really have more space for additional PV panels.
Will give David Poz’s video a look - thanks for that.
 
Thanks for the advice and comments - much appreciated.
Just a bit of background to this project. I am evaluating a new geyser ( hot water cylinder ) micro controller that takes in both AC mains and PV energy and depending on the panel control setting one can select the split between the two as well as only the one or the other. The idea is that no changes to the existing geyser setup are required. In my installation it is a 150lt tank with a 3kW 230v element. Thus , the only additions required are the micro controller interface and the PV panels / cabling. I plan to perfect this set-up and bring it to market.
Currently I have 4 x 420w panels , Imax is 10A and Voc is 160v. Ideally the Vmax applied to the element should be 190 - 200v. The system works well and by 13h00 the geyser is on temperature without the need for AC top-up , but I want to harness the excess PV energy and store it in the 48v battery bank , hence the interest in a boost converter.
I live in a complex and do not really have more space for additional PV panels.
Will give David Poz’s video a look - thanks for that.
Something like that...?

Hoodoo I'm sorry, you look for 190v applied to the element... This item do not fit.
 
A 120vac rms modified sinewave inverter has a DC to HV DC boost to about 155v. A 120vac sinewave inverter has DC to HV DC boost of about 180 vdc.

A 2-3KW inverter that you tap into HV DC would likely be lower cost than a 2 kW DC-DC converter alone.

Just using a MSW inverter there will not be much additional loss in output AC stage, so just as well use standard 230vac MSW 3 kW inverter.
 
Curious if you found something to satisfy these requirements? I'm wanting to charge some 120S NiMH battery packs I got for free and am looking for something similar to charge them from my panels once the main batteries are full. Need to be able to charge at 180V current limited and cut off charge based on temperature and/or delta-V
 
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