Typical beginners mistakes....

tvengineer
tvengineer Solar Expert Posts: 31 ✭
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
I admit it.. I made the typical newbie mistakes..

I first bought a couple of 40 watt panels off of ebay to try to run a beer cooler..
Found they were not enough and then bought two 80watt panels from ebay...
Using a Morningstar sunsaver charge controller.. and a 12v deep cycle battery they work fine making cold beer.

So next I thought.. wouldn't ICE be NICE.. so I bought two 205 watt panels... morningstar ProStar 30 controller and a couple of golf car batteries...
so now I have a freezer :-)

Next.. I started to desire solar powered outdoor secruity lighting..(not garden lights.. REAL light)..
And I just ordered 4 x 100watt panels at a price that I could not pass up...

So.. Now I have a whold mixed bag of panels.
2x 40watt - not currently in use
2x 80watt - morningstar sunsaver 10 -> 12v battery
2x 205watt - morningsar Prostar 30 -> 6v batteries in series
4x 100watt - not sure what controller to use yet..

and I am now thinking.. that I now have just over 1000watts of panels.. running three separate dedicated things...

Or now should I combine it all into a 1kw system that can do some real work????


My questions????

I Know I now have to invest in more and better batteries.. I am still deciding on that..

I know that morningstar says that you can parallel controllers into one battery bank and that they will work well together.

Should I get another ProStar 30 for the 4x100 watts.. then parallel the outputs of all three controllers into one bank???

What about mixing panels into the controller???
should I think about getting one larger controller and just paralleling all the panels into it?
Is it OK to have different panels paralleled into one controller.. (not even sure what the Voc / Vmp is on all of them)...


Like I said.. I realize that I have made the classic mistake of buying a bunch of stuff.. only to wind up with a mix of things that might not work well together.

Also.. I realize that 1kw is really pushing hard at the limit of how much you can do with 12volts... and stepping up to 24volts would make a whole lot of sense..
I might consider it.. but some of my loads (freezer and beer cooler) are 12volt loads.. so sticking with 12v would have less loss than converting back down..

Oh.. and all of this is just a "hobby" system.. really to give light, cold drink, and ICE during power outages..
so going grid connected with a bunch of Ebay junk is not an option.

any suggestions as to what I should do?

Louis
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Comments

  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #2
    Re: Typical beginners mistakes....

    My suggestion: get a comprehensive plan of what you want your system to do both now and in future. See how well what equipment you've already got fits into that plan. Flog the surplus stuff on E-bay.
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  • tallgirl
    tallgirl Solar Expert Posts: 413 ✭✭
    #3
    Re: Typical beginners mistakes....

    I agree with 'Coot.

    But before you dump the stuff on eBay, get a feel for what you can by from eBay all at once, THEN find out what panels show up on a regular basis. I've not seen Maverick around here, but I've been at his house when he's bid on more of whatever panels it is he's got on eBay.

    I'm waiting for Kyocera's discontinued 175GT panels to start showing up on eBay because I'd really like a couple more KW of exactly what I've got.
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  • icarus
    icarus Solar Expert Posts: 5,436 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Typical beginners mistakes....

    Avoid, the "Ready, fire, Aim! syndrome. Do a bunch of reading and research, both here and other places.

    Define the loads, then work backward to see how to effectively power them.

    Tony
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  • dwh
    dwh Solar Expert Posts: 1,341 ✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: Typical beginners mistakes....
    tvengineer wrote: »
    any suggestions as to what I should do?

    Louis

    One of the forum members here, 2manytoyz, did basically the same thing. He has a really good web site about his rig. I suggest...check it out:

    http://www.2manytoyz.com/
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  • tvengineer
    tvengineer Solar Expert Posts: 31 ✭
    #6
    Re: Typical beginners mistakes....
    dwh wrote: »
    One of the forum members here, 2manytoyz, did basically the same thing. He has a really good web site about his rig. I suggest...check it out:

    http://www.2manytoyz.com/



    Thanks... that is a good site..
    That guys set up is almost what I will have..
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  • AntronX
    AntronX Solar Expert Posts: 462 ✭✭
    #7
    Re: Typical beginners mistakes....

    Since it's just a hobby system and because of your loads, stay at 12V. Tie all controllers to one battery bank. Assuming you work at a TV station (your username), you may be able to take home old batteries from UPS systems at your station. I just did that a week ago. If you can get 1000Ah of AGM batteries, you will be all set.
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  • tvengineer
    tvengineer Solar Expert Posts: 31 ✭
    #8
    Re: Typical beginners mistakes....
    AntronX wrote: »
    Since it's just a hobby system and because of your loads, stay at 12V. Tie all controllers to one battery bank. Assuming you work at a TV station (your username), you may be able to take home old batteries from UPS systems at your station. I just did that a week ago. If you can get 1000Ah of AGM batteries, you will be all set.


    Yes.. I do work for a TV station :-)

    I had not thought of getting batteries from there :roll:
    It would be sweet to get some batteries.. but the station is too cheap to change the ones in their UPS.. they are over 4 years old now.. and have never been serviced..
    I think there are 84 of them in that monster UPS.. but by the time they get around to changing them.. they will probably be trash anyway....
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