What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

kayen
kayen Registered Users Posts: 17
Greeting,

I want to know how to connect my 5000w solar panel for my use at home.

What kind of inverter do I need to use, also the size of controller required for it.

How to connect solar panels and my batteries in series and parallel?

My solar panels are 300w with 18v mono is it OK? they are not 300w with 36v. Is there any big differnce between them?
I have inverter 5000w sinewave
I have 200ah battery 16 pecs.


I appreciate your help and support.

Best regards.

Comments

  • stephendv
    stephendv Solar Expert Posts: 1,571 ✭✭
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    What voltage is your inverter?
  • kayen
    kayen Registered Users Posts: 17
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    my inverter is 24v
  • stephendv
    stephendv Solar Expert Posts: 1,571 ✭✭
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    So you have 5kW and each panel is 300W, so you have 16.66 panels which must be 16 panels I guess. 5kW at 24V = 208A, so you would need multiple charge controllers. 18Vmp panels are ok to use with a normal PWM charge controller, so you have the option of using 8 parallel strings of 2 panels in series and enough PWM controllers to handle 208A.
    Or you could use MPPT controllers which are more efficient and then you have more freedom in how you wire the panels, e.g. if there's a long distance between panels and the battery you could wire them 4 parallel strings of 4 in series and operate at 72V from panel to the controller which will save on wiring costs.

    16 x 12V 200Ah batteries so you'd have to wire them in 8 parallel banks with 2 each in series, which is far from ideal. The more parallel banks you have the higher the risk of unequal charging across the banks which will lead to premature failure. Since you already have the batts, the best you can do is just ensure that you wire them properly, see: http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html
  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,002 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    Please tell us;

    The panels VOC, VMP, IMP, ISC?
    Battery Voltage and AmpHour rating?
    If you will have grid electric as well?
    If you will have a generator?
    The voltage and type of batteries?
    The location of system?
    The Loads involved in Your system?
    Is house home already built?
    Does your home have existing wiring?
    Is your inverter a True sine wave or a modified sine wave?
    Does your inverter have a built in charger?

    after that we'll want to know;

    How many days do you want to go with out having to run the generator?
    If your on grid currently, what is your current KWH use? This will be on your bill.

    We hope you understand that it's cheaper to conserve, and to add insulation than to produce off grid solar...
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
  • kayen
    kayen Registered Users Posts: 17
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    The panels VOC, VMP, IMP, ISC? VMP
    Battery Voltage and AmpHour rating? 12volt and 200ah
    If you will have grid electric as well? no
    If you will have a generator? yes
    The voltage and type of batteries? 12v lead acid





    The location of system?
    The Loads involved in Your system?
    Is house home already built?
    Does your home have existing wiring?
    Is your inverter a True sine wave or a modified sine wave?
    Does your inverter have a built in charger?

    after that we'll want to know;

    How many days do you want to go with out having to run the generator?
    If your on grid currently, what is your current KWH use? This will be on your bill.

    We hope you understand that it's cheaper to conserve, and to add insulation than to produce off grid solar...


    2nd system 20 - 200watt Evergreen blems + 14 Suntech 185watt panels in dark room. 1st system 8-115watt 12V, 6 - 170-5watt 24v, Pulse/Trace PC250 Power Center, 800AH 24V forklift Batt, ProSine 1800 watt (24v) inverter. Odds and extras, Rouge CC, 80-4/5watt 6v panels
  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    "ready,,fire,, aim"?

    More info required please
  • kayen
    kayen Registered Users Posts: 17
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    http://www.smartgauge.co.uk/batt_con.html
    excellent information Thanks
  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.
    kayen wrote: »
    The panels VOC, VMP, IMP, ISC? VMP

    The question asked was what the values are for Voc, Vmp, Imp, and Isc.
  • ggunn
    ggunn Solar Expert Posts: 1,973 ✭✭✭
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.
    icarus wrote: »
    "ready,,fire,, aim"?

    More info required please

    This sounds to me more like "fire! aim? not ready." :D
  • vtmaps
    vtmaps Solar Expert Posts: 3,741 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    Are your 16 AGM batteries 12 volt or 6 volt?

    As stephendv mentioned, your battery scheme "is far from ideal". Let me go further and say it will be a disaster. Get ready to scrap those batteries if you use them that way. If your batteries are 6 volt you have 4 parallel strings, if they are 12 volt you have 8 parallel strings.

    At this point you have spent money foolishly and the best you can do is cut your losses. I suggest that you return your inverter if possible and get a 48 volt inverter. That will cut your number of parallel battery strings in half.

    Another possibility is to have two systems. That makes sense because you need at least two charge controllers anyway. Many folks do that because it has the benefit of redundancy.

    In any case stop spending money until you have a sensible design. You can get very good help at this forum and/or hire a certified solar installer.

    --vtMaps
    4 X 235watt Samsung, Midnite ePanel, Outback VFX3524 FM60 & mate, 4 Interstate L16, trimetric, Honda eu2000i
  • kayen
    kayen Registered Users Posts: 17
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    batteries are 12v lead
  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,002 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    OK, so you don't know or don't want to provide the extra info...
    ...perhaps I can explain so of that information to help your confidence in the need.

    Most calculations start with the load, so your basic needs will be the KWH used, figuring your battery bank goes something like; Daily Load KWH divided by the battery voltage times 1.15 for system losses gives daily Amp hours needed. Typically you don't want to draw down a battery more than 20% in normal cycling so multiply by 5 gives the basic battery bank.

    Depending on your location and willingness to run your generator will help determine what size array you'll need. Then if you do have just 16 panels you might squeeze your array on 2 midnight classic 150 charge controllers in a 24 volt battery bank, if your inverter doesn't have a charger built in you need a charger(generators are normally 12 volt only if they have a battery charger).

    ...or just dump the inverter and get a 48V version, so you can go to a 48 volt battery bank. This will save you the money on a second charge controller and the money needed for the charger. If the current inverter isn't a pure sine wave inverter, you may have problems running motor type appliances, these include refridgerators, well pumps and A/C's.

    The VOC, ISC, IMP will help figuring out the ability of charge controllers to do you job, here's Midnite Classic's Sizing tool. Most of the info will be on the back of the panel, other than location info...
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,422 admin
    Re: What is the Best way to connect 5000w off grid solar panel for home use.

    Kayan is looking up the panel specifications, but pulled an earlier post to correct the information.


    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset