New system, is it OK?

System

Hi,

We are due to move to a rural property near Almeria, Spain.

Have no mains power to the house, so am looking to install a solar / generator hybrid system, the components I have selected are as follows:

6, Kyocera 205w, 24v panels, 3 banks of 2 panels wired in series.
4, 357Ah, 12v Rolls Solar 5000 batteries, in series giving 48v, 357Ah or
8, 400Ah 6v Rolls Solar 4000 Batteries, same config.
1, Outback FM80 Charge Controller
1, Outback VFX3048e Inverter Charger
1, Hub4
1, Mate Controller
1, 5.5kVa genset, with autostart.

We have estimated a daily useage of approx 4Kw, but hopefully have sized for slightly more.

Is the above equipment, and configuration any good?

Can anybody come up with any issues with the above, as I am very new to this, and pretty much making it up as I go along.

Thankyou for any help you can give me.

mike95490

Re: New system, is it OK?

scottydog wrote: »

6, Kyocera 205w, 24v panels, 3 banks of 2 panels wired in series.
batteries, in series giving 48v,

48V battery banks require about 59V to charge, which the charge controller manages. But you need to feed the controller 72 volts, for it to mange this. You may need 3 panels in series instead of 2. The charge controller has a "magic" MPPT circuit in it that converts the 72v to 59V for charging.
I don't know if outback has a panel sizer like Xantrex does, but you need to account for your coldest temperatures, which is when your panels output their highest voltage, which can approach the controllers limit.

Your daily power looks OK for summertime, but if you get some partly cloudy days in winter, you will come up short and need to run your generator. Will you be able to tilt your panels for optimum angle in the winter ?

For connection simplicity, I like 12V batteries, but if you like ease of replacement of a sick battery, the 6V batteries have better "granularity".

System2

Re: New system, is it OK?

Thanks for the help.

Yep got that the wrong way round, will be 2 banks of 3 panels, to give me a Voc of 99.6v per bank, and nominal of 72v.

Am looking at hinging the panels, so I can alter the angle for different times of the year. The house is south facing so think that should be OK.

Will I gain a decent amount if I do alter the angle?

Temp wise, I dont think it ever gets below 0C, even worse case winter time, during the day we will get +10C, and at the moment the ambient is around 40C!

Scott

System2

Re: New system, is it OK?

Also what size cable would be recommended for connecting the panels to the FM80?

3 panels in series would provide:

99.6v Open Circuit
8.21A Short Circuit

If I then connected the 2 banks of panels in parallel, that would give me:

99.6v Open Circuit
16.42A Short Circuit

Cable run is about 7 metres.

Is there any benefit to either of the above methods? ie both banks, 1 set of cabling or 1 set of cabling per bank.

Thanks again for any help.

Scott

nigtomdaw

Re: New system, is it OK?

Scott, dont forget to pay attention to earthing and lightning protection. If your still in UK source some earth rods and clamps , 4 or 6 and some copper linking 1 inch wide tape about 40/50 ft . You will most likely be in a dry rocky arid location and I guarantee no attention will have been applied to obtaining a good earth,connecton. Buy in UK ship tp Spain, and save some money, locate your earth circuit near a waste water output like the washing machine for better wetter damp earth connection. Best investment you can make and dont exclude Lightning arrestors from Delta or Outback from your buy list. Dont exclude Dc disconnects either Flex Ware or Midnight Solar E Panels. Your spec seems OK without a electric fridge freezer for a eco aware couple. But just a tad too much solar panels is a good thing IMHO. Dont think of multiple single earth rods in several locations just one quality earth system which all circuits are attached too. Best advice I can give you. as you already have good equipment choice.

Hot dry arid sunny weather means lightning displays you could make a movie of!

For warned is for armed.

nigtomdaw

Re: New system, is it OK?

PS it would be cheaper to go with 2 RTS units and loose the Hub4 unless u think you will upgrade to a twin VFX3048E 6 kw system in the future. I run a 3.3 kw inverter with a electric American fridge freezer and manage my loads. I even plan to run a swimming pool pump in the future and 3.3 kw will be OK. No air con just fans.

Guess my american friends will be gobsmacked. 3,3 kw huh

niel

Re: New system, is it OK?

i believe for that 7 mtr distance that our standard of #10 copper wire would yield about 1.14% with .82v dropped based roughly with 46ft of wire and 15.42a. i think #10 is close to 2.5mm in diameter. our #12 copper wire would give 1.81% with a 1.3v drop. i believe that's a bit over 2mm in diameter. the mm conversion i'm not positive about so please double check me. the mtr to ft conversion i am certain of.

nigtomdaw

Re: New system, is it OK?

Wire comparison chart here

http://www.simetric.co.uk/siwire_elect.htm

6 mm2 seems about right, readily available in Spain, but only in blue,brown,black and earth.

halfcrazy

Re: New system, is it OK?

why 2 different kinds of batterys and how do you plan to get around that they cant be mixed into the same bank

niel

Re: New system, is it OK?

halfcrazy wrote: »

why 2 different kinds of batterys and how do you plan to get around that they cant be mixed into the same bank

from the original posted info,
4, 357Ah, 12v Rolls Solar 5000 batteries, in series giving 48v, 357Ah or
8, 400Ah 6v Rolls Solar 4000 Batteries, same config.

halfcrazy

Re: New system, is it OK?

oh my mistake i didn't see the "or" that makes much more sense