Hooking up a combined wind/solar system

moldeco
moldeco Registered Users Posts: 1
in Solar Beginners Corner #1
Hello all,

This is my first post and am excited to get your input.

Here in Moldova in Eastern Europe, I've come across a system with a 2.5 kW wind turbine and 6x250W solar panels. There are 5 220A/hr batteries and 10 100A/hr batteries, a 5kW wind/solar hybrid controller, a 5kW Inverter and a 5kW Dump Load. Everything is ready to go (wind turbine is installed, solar panels are on a south facing roof, the connections just need to be made between all components).

If someone could give me a basic walk through of how to set up a system such as this or direct me to where I could see this (it may have been asked before in a previous thread, if so, sorry I missed it!)

I've been tapped as the 'expert' by the group as I speak english and the user's manual is only in english. The problem with this is that I have zero experience with installing wind and solar so am looking for any help I can get :)

Thanks in advance!

John
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  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,590 admin
    #2
    Re: Hooking up a combined wind/solar system

    Welcome to the forum John!

    Let us see what we can do. At this point, we need the name/model numbers of the solar panels (so we can check the operating voltage and current of the panels Vmp/Imp at least), the charge controller (if we can find the manual on-line for it), and a bit more information about the battery bank (what voltage and Amp*Hour capacity of each type of battery--12 volt or 6 volt @ what AH).

    Also, need to know about the AC inverter (voltage, model/brand, and try to find its manual on-line). Also, do you have any backup AC battery charger / Generator / utility power?

    The "heart" of your system will be the battery bank. The batteries will need to be wired in series/parallel to achieve the voltage needed to run your AC inverter. You should have some very heavy DC battery cable, fuse or circuit breaker and perhaps DC switch to connect to the AC inverter.

    The hybrid Solar/Wind controller may be a bit more of an issue. The solar panels (and wind charger) need to "match" the battery bank voltage. And many hybrid charge/shunt type controllers have a very narrow range of acceptable input voltage for the solar panels and wind turbine--And many 250 watt solar panels without a "MPPT" (maximum power point tracking) type solar charge controller are not really a good voltage match for a shunt type controlled battery bank.

    By the way, how were the parts ordered? Is that person still available to you? Working with large DC Battery banks has an element of risk. Lead Acid batteries can supply hundreds or even thousands of amperes into a dead short--So, hopefully one of your crew has some electrical experience. If not--You should find somebody who does. This is going to be difficult build out an off grid power system the first time with just help across the Internet.

    If you already have the batteries--You probably will need to accurately measure their voltage (i.e., 12.73 volts) and their specific gravity (with a hydrometer) to determine their state of charge. Flooded Cell lead acid batteries need to be charged at least once a month when in storage--or they will slowly discharge and eventually die. Make sure the plates are covered with electrolyte--but do not over fill with distilled water (fill the cell about 1/2 full to top--so the electrolyte will not spill out when the batteries get warm and start bubbling when charging).\

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