Huge day at The Amish House!!

Rngr275
Rngr275 Solar Expert Posts: 127 ✭✭
in Off Grid Solar & Battery Systems #1
After 2 months we have put power to our refrigerator!8) Although a week or so away from the PV being connected we are running off of the batteries and inverter. I intend to be very careful the my new 16 babies in my cellar (Trojan L16RE-B's). I will run my Honda 2000 as needed daily if necessary to keep the fridge running. Installer set up the charge sysstem to limit charge voltage (exhaust system for battery box not in yet). Kill A watt was at .55Kwh for the fridge which includes the start up from room temperature. It has been plugged in for ~ 12hr's. Outback Mate had the battery voltage @ 50.8v when we threw the switch on the system and this morning it was reading 50.4v, but that includes an hour of 2 30W CFL lights last night... we couldn't resist reading with a real lights.

Getting really exciting around here. Setting the pipe on Wednesday. Panels are in 16 255w panels in my shop just waiting to go.

Anything to worry about or keep an eye on over the long weekend?

Thanks again to everyone here for knudging (kicking my butt) in the right direction!

McD
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Comments

  • TheBackRoads
    TheBackRoads Solar Expert Posts: 274 ✭✭
    #2
    Re: Huge day at The Amish House!!

    Awesome! Don't forget to share pictures in HERE! Why don't you hook a couple panels up temporarily?
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  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,006 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #3
    Re: Huge day at The Amish House!!

    Congratulations! This weekend marks the end of summer madness, and hopefully heat, I suspect many projects will get going soon, hopefully mine, too!
    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.
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  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    #4
    Re: Huge day at The Amish House!!

    that's great news. i can't say that you are excited because you see the light at the end of the tunnel because you got it right there literally right now.8) the rest of it will come together soon enough though and thebackroads is right that you can throw a bit of pv on it right now. without them mounted you can temporarily lean them against something aiming south. by the way, you should give the batteries a full charge and note the voltages and specific gravities after the batteries have rested (edit for better read) at least 3 or 4 hours from being fully charged. now is the time to also start observing things in general. if something is amiss it will start to show and if nothing is wrong then you will come to know what is normal so as to quickly spot a problem later.
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  • PorkChopsMmm
    PorkChopsMmm Solar Expert Posts: 189 ✭✭✭✭✭
    #5
    Re: Huge day at The Amish House!!

    As someone with an Outback system that let their batteries get too low once -- set a high voltage cut off so that your batteries won't drop for some odd reason if you leave home for a day or two. For example, inverter shutoff at 75% or the like. I did not, left my off-grid cabin for a winter, and came back to a 48V bank down to 6V!!! The inverter drew down the power, my panels were covered with snow, and it slowly bled down the voltage. Just an FYI. Good luck!
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  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    #6
    Re: Huge day at The Amish House!!
    PorkChopsMmm wrote: »
    As someone with an Outback system that let their batteries get too low once -- set a high voltage cut off so that your batteries won't drop for some odd reason if you leave home for a day or two. For example, inverter shutoff at 75% or the like. I did not, left my off-grid cabin for a winter, and came back to a 48V bank down to 6V!!! The inverter drew down the power, my panels were covered with snow, and it slowly bled down the voltage. Just an FYI. Good luck!

    Along those lines, the nominal system Voltage is usually a good choice for LVD. The Outback will allow <LVD for 5 minutes before turning off.
    But be advised that it does not turn completely off, and neither does the charge controller. If "no charge" conditions persist for too long the batteries will still go dead due to the small amount of power being drawn by both inverter (looking for reconnect Voltage level) and charge controller.

    Given enough time, even a small load will drain a large battery to dead.
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  • inetdog
    inetdog Solar Expert Posts: 3,123 ✭✭✭✭
    #7
    Re: Huge day at The Amish House!!
    Cariboocoot wrote: »
    Along those lines, the nominal system Voltage is usually a good choice for LVD. The Outback will allow <LVD for 5 minutes before turning off.
    But be advised that it does not turn completely off, and neither does the charge controller. If "no charge" conditions persist for too long the batteries will still go dead due to the small amount of power being drawn by both inverter (looking for reconnect Voltage level) and charge controller.

    Given enough time, even a small load will drain a large battery to dead.

    IMHO, the only way to get "zero drain" except for self-discharge, is therefore a relay drop-out that requires a manual reset to turn back on again. Simple enough electrically latching relay circuit interrupted by the LVD of the inverter if it provides such a signal.
    SMA SB 3000, old BP panels.
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  • Rngr275
    Rngr275 Solar Expert Posts: 127 ✭✭
    #8
    Re: Huge day at The Amish House!!

    The Weekend went well. I/we were very conservative with our use. The Fridge used 2Kwh over 48hrs... including start up from room temp. Not bad at all. HAven't done all the checking of SG and the like yet. Starting voltage of the system (on the OB MAte) was 50.8. I let it get down to ~50.0v and then ran my Honda 2000i for a couple hourse to bring it back up. I didn't want to run them down too much because of the limited output of the generator. That was Sunday. Between Sunday afternoon and last night the battery bank was down to 49.6v (had many power tools and contrators here yesterday). RAn the generator last night for an hour and a half but I am not sure where the voltage ended up as I had to hit the rack and the readout was at a "False High". I told my wife to fire up the generator this morning after the kids left for another hour or 2 to get everything back up. According to my installer he is only pulling~ 1200-1300w to the batteries so it take a bit to charge.

    Digging hole for sona tubes today, diging ditch for conduit and he will be doing some more installation stuff. Charge controller, etc.

    I will post pictures when I can.
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  • westbranch
    westbranch Solar Expert Posts: 5,183 ✭✭✭✭
    #9
    Re: Huge day at The Amish House!!
    Rngr275 wrote: »
    I didn't want to run them down too much because of the limited output of the generator.

    what are the specs/make, model on your charger?
     
    KID #51B  4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
    CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM 
    Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
    2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
    Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
    West Chilcotin, BC, Canada
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