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Why This Subforum Exists.

Perhaps if you know someone at NASA or aboard the space station. :unsure:
ok sure, let me see if I can ping my bro up there..

Me: yo bro you still up there?
Bro: Sure dude, what up?
Me: can you shoot me some pics please? the better the rez the better?
Bro: Dude, this is your second demerit. Please use these channels for important things only ;)
 
Hi all, I use several systems (PV, SCC, Battery) in a way the SCC manufacture says you shouldn't do (hence posting in this section).

In order to keep [portable genset, mower, tractor, etc.] batteries from going flat when not used, I've got them on their own chargers.
This works really well, but it involves disconnecting the battery from the system when ever 'that bit of gear' has to earn its keep.
So far, the SCC has coped fine, but clearly this is not ideal.

So - does anyone else (admit) use regs like this and have you done anything to make it less-worse?

As an experiment, I've added some capacitors to the battery output of two SCC to see how it would behave. So far it looks good.

On the first, I ordered a PCB with 40F caps (w/ balance/limit dev.). What arrived is a 100F bank which seems to be doing its job.
The second, I added a single 24000uF cap. It was an old cap and oscillated a bit to start with, but is now stable.
 
yes, agreed. but does one know of another source? commercial perhaps?
Many counties in the USA have gms site to get seasonal images… counties use it to check for unpermitted buildings, and trash unapproved outside storage.
 
Hi all, I use several systems (PV, SCC, Battery) in a way the SCC manufacture says you shouldn't do (hence posting in this section).

In order to keep [portable genset, mower, tractor, etc.] batteries from going flat when not used, I've got them on their own chargers.
This works really well, but it involves disconnecting the battery from the system when ever 'that bit of gear' has to earn its keep.
So far, the SCC has coped fine, but clearly this is not ideal.

So - does anyone else (admit) use regs like this and have you done anything to make it less-worse?

As an experiment, I've added some capacitors to the battery output of two SCC to see how it would behave. So far it looks good.

On the first, I ordered a PCB with 40F caps (w/ balance/limit dev.). What arrived is a 100F bank which seems to be doing its job.
The second, I added a single 24000uF cap. It was an old cap and oscillated a bit to start with, but is now stable.
Anyone?

Can anyone think of a reason how this could go bad?
(so far, both seem to be working perfectly)
 
As an experiment, I've added some capacitors to the battery output of two SCC to see how it would behave. So far it looks good.

On the first, I ordered a PCB with 40F caps (w/ balance/limit dev.). What arrived is a 100F bank which seems to be doing its job.
The second, I added a single 24000uF cap. It was an old cap and oscillated a bit to start with, but is now stable.
The above two systems are still behaving well, so I added a cap to the third system where the battery is routinely disconnected.
This time I used a 10000uF 25V and works just almost as well as the other two.
Watching the Batt. Voltage graphs, there is a little oscillation when the battery is disconnected, but not significant.
 
I can't advice yet on your setup. I do intend doing something similar though when I finally have the time to focus on it.

Please do not hesitate to inform us when things work well or go up in smoke ;)
 
Please do not hesitate to inform us when things work well or go up in smoke ;)
If it goes bad, I'll post pics!

It's been six months with many connects/disconnects and the SCC's all seem happy.
The wild glitches are gone and you can barely see a transient on the graphs.

From what I'm seeing, I wouldn't go lower than 10000uF and my preference would be for double that.
 
While I agree, it doesn't really apply here.
The higher the capacitance, the greater the ability to smooth transients.
Too low and it doesn't really do anything
Too high just costs more, but doesn't really work any better.
Neither too large or too small should result in catastrophic failure - it just might not work very well.

In this case, if in doubt, go bigger!
 
if it running on voltage only it will not give two squats.. if it is running a coulomb counter it will freak out. it boils down to how you do the accounting nothing more.
 
It's not the accounting that is of interest - it's the potential for transients to exceed the limits of the SCC when a battery is disconnected.
Effectively, a large enough capacitor will look to the SCC like a battery is still connected. The nature of a capacitor is that it will resist a change to its terminal voltage which inturn will look to the SCC like battery charging.
 
Seriously? The County or State must have a building code. Or are you saying it is too far in the woods to be caught?
As someone who built his system in Southern Oregon - I can tell you permits/code-compliance is required in my jurisdiction. The 'roof guy' was the biggest problem - gave me scowling looks even though I used IronRidge + their 'vetted' engineering docs for the permit :)
 
If it goes bad, I'll post pics!

It's been six months with many connects/disconnects and the SCC's all seem happy.
The wild glitches are gone and you can barely see a transient on the graphs.

From what I'm seeing, I wouldn't go lower than 10000uF and my preference would be for double that.
Maybe you will never post again...
 

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