my system

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stuntplus
stuntplus Registered Users Posts: 2
in Off Grid Solar & Battery Systems #1
i have solar laminates 6 of them at 124watts a piece and a skystream 3.7 a c40 charge controller along with a air x 400 watt wind generator my inverter is xw 6048 and i have 8 12 volt 170 ah deepcycle batteries i am running without the grid it is wrkn fine but somehow i think i can get more out of it because my heater,stove and drier are propane the only other load that i have on my system is a 220 compressor that i use basically everyday i just feel like there's alot more to it
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,439 admin
    #2
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    Re: my system

    How has your battery bank been holding up? In general, electric motors take a lot of power, both to start loads and if running for hours per day...

    Have you been keeping track of battery state of charge (hydrometer+specific gravity, resting voltage) and how many kWH/AH per day you generate/use?

    A Battery Monitor (and this other Mfg.) can be very helpful for you to keep track of the battery bank state of charge. Especially handy for spouse and kids to help them understand the state of charge of the battery bank (for example, you can tell them to turn off loads/start generator if they see the bank below 50% state of charge).

    In general, your hardware is pretty tolerant of "mistakes"... However, batteries are not and can be easily damaged/destroyed if not taken care of.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #3
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    Re: my system

    How big is that 220 VAC air compressor? 3 HP? 5 HP? That thing is likely to be really rough on the system. Start-up surge alone would be a challenge for such a small battery bank.

    Otherwise your numbers aren't too bad. 744 Watt array ought to supply about 10 Amps for charging - nearly 6% rate. A bit low, perhaps, but the compressor is bound to be the big consumer.

    Are you actually getting anything out of those wind turbines? They should each have separate controllers with dump loads, you know.

    Could you define "think I could get more out of it"? We need to know a specific problem to come up with a specific answer.
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  • Windsun
    Windsun Solar Expert Posts: 1,164 ✭✭
    #4
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    Re: my system

    You are running a SkyStream with a battery system ??? :confused::confused:
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  • waynefromnscanada
    waynefromnscanada Solar Expert Posts: 3,009 ✭✭✭✭
    #5
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    Re: my system
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    How big is that 220 VAC air compressor? 3 HP? 5 HP?
    Unfortunately, very unfortunately, it seems that compressor manufacturers have learned the fine art of exaggerating, from the small wind turbine industry. Ya just can't go by the advertised, stated, or listed HP rating of most compressors. It's not uncommon to a find supposed 3HP or 5HP compressor that requires less than 800 or 1000 watts to operate. Perpetual motion machines anyone? And with power left to spare. Hahaha
    Years ago Sears Canada was doing the same thing with home stereo watts. I remember one stereo listed as 200 watts*. And when I looked to the bottom of the page to find the *note, it said:
    "*Truth in advertising. Our 200 watts is actually 3.5 watts RMS."
    Likewise, there should be "Truth in advertising" with compressors and wind turbines. Unfortunately, it's buyer beware :(
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  • stuntplus
    stuntplus Registered Users Posts: 2
    #6
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    Re: my system

    my compressor is 5 hp the skystream is not hooked up to the batteries its tied in to the a.c output of the inverter at the point where it goes into the house and it works because of the true sine wave i plan to add 740 more watts of solar very soon also the comp. is only used mabye once a day on weekdays and hardly ever on weekends i think i get by because i live alone and be very careful not to run the batteries close to 50% what can i do to have a system that can be almost guaranteed not to fail because i think theres something i,m missing.
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