have 6 300 wattpanels on my charger now i want to add 6 more 300 watt panels

crank · February 2016

schneider60 150 mppt charge controller,,,i have 6 300 wattpanels on my charger now i want to add 6 more 300 watt panels,,,will my charger handle them???

BB. · February 2016

Welcome to the forum Crank.

What is your battery bank voltage? 12/24/48 VDC? What is the Amp*Hour rating of your battery bank?

How do you have the panels wired (2x series, * 3 parallel or what). Also, what is the Vmp/Imp of your panels?

-Bill

vtmaps · February 2016

As Bill points out, we need more info to answer your question. Your controller's output is up to 60 amps... if you have a 48 volt battery bank, the power your controller can handle (60 amps X 48 volts) is 2880 watts. If you have a 24 volt battery, the wattage is half that.

Of course, with hot panels and controller losses, you typically get about 75% of the nameplate power transmitted to your batteries. Thus if you double your array to 3600 watts (48 volt system), you will typically get about 2700 watts into the batteries, so your controller can probably handle it OK.

--vtMaps

crank · February 2016

THANKS VERRY MUCH FOR THE HELP GUYS,,,MY BATTERY AND INVERTER ARE A 48 VOLT SYSTEM,,,I HAVE 3 BATTERY BANKS CONSISTING OF 16 CROWN CR220 6 VOLT BATTERIES,,,I HAVE A ANYPOWER 4000 WATT INVERTER CHARGER,AND AS I SAID A SCHNEIDER 60,,150 MPPT CHARGER,,I HAVE 2 GENERATORS POWERED BY LP OR GAS,FOR CHARGING THEM IF NEEDED,,,NONE OF MY STUFF IS GRID TIE,,,IM NOT REALLY INTERESTED IN THAT,,,I HAVE BEEN TESTING MY SYSTEM RUNNING MY HOUSE WHICH CONSISTS OF 2 DEEP FREEZERS,,1 REFRIGERATOR,AND 3 0R 4 LED LIGHTS,AND MY TV AND DIRECT TV BOX,,,I TURN MY DEEP WELL PUMP OFF AT NITE,,I HAVE A PRESSURE TANK THAT HOLDS 15 GALLONS OV WATER WHICH HAS BEEN A PLENTY SO FAR,,,RUNNING OF 1 OF THE 16 BATTERY BANKS MY BATTERY VOLTAGE AFTER ABOUT 10 HOURS IS AROUND 48.6 TO 48.8,,WHICH I UNDERSTAND IS EASY ON MY BATTERIES,,,,I ALTERNATE BATTERY BANKS EVERY NITE,,,I HAVE BEEN TOLD I HAVE MORE BATTERIES THAN I NEED,,,IM NOT SURE ABOUT THAT,,,MY FREEZERS ARE ON TIMERS TO RUN ABOUT 1 HOUR 3 TIMES DURING THE NIGHT AND THE SAME WITH MY FRIDGE,,IM NOT 100% SURE HOW MY PANELS A WIRED,,I WAS TOLD,,STRINGS OF 3,??? BY THE INSTALLER,,,FOR A TOTAL OF 6 PANELS 300 WATTS EACH,,,I GET FULL SUN ABOUT 4 TO 6 HOURS OF SUN EACH DAY DEPENDING ON THE SEASON,,,ANY HELP YOU FOLKS CAN GIVE ME WOULD BE GREEEEEATLY APPRECIATED,,,,CHARLES

vtmaps · February 2016

crank said:

I HAVE 3 BATTERY BANKS CONSISTING OF 16 CROWN CR220 6 VOLT BATTERIES
<snip>
RUNNING OF 1 OF THE 16 BATTERY BANKS MY BATTERY VOLTAGE AFTER ABOUT 10 HOURS IS AROUND 48.6 TO 48.8,,WHICH I UNDERSTAND IS EASY ON MY BATTERIES,,,,I ALTERNATE BATTERY BANKS EVERY NITE

Why all CAPITAL letters? It's unpleasant to read. Are you saying that you have 48 CR220 batteries? And only discharge 16 batteries at a time? What about charging... do you charge all 48 at once?

--vtMaps

crank · February 2016

Sorry bout the caps,,thanks for any and all help,,,yes i have 3 banks of cr220s,,,i charge the bank i used the night before,,and with average sun 2 or 3 hours my bank is full again,,,the following nite i will use a different bank,,,and so on,,,i have a schneider 60/150 mppt charge controller,,,and it does a greeeeeat job,,,,,i have 6=305 watt panels and would like to add more,,,,as many as my charger can handle without overloading it,,,i was told i could add 6 more panels by someone,,,and was told by someone else that would overload my charger,,,, on cloudy days i could really use the extra watts if possible,,,i could somehow only use the extra panels on cloudy conditions???

crank · February 2016

i do always make sure my batteries stay fully charged even if i have to fire up my generator

vtmaps · February 2016

Since you are charging only 220 ah of battery at one time, you should aim for about 22 - 28 amps of charging current. Your 1800 watts of panels should provide that (lower end of that range). If you double your array you will have to limit the charging current to the batteries.

Perhaps you should add just one string of three panels.

--vtMaps

crank · February 2016

i think thatsthe way i should go,,,can i run the 3 new panels into my charger,and just connect them to the same place my other panel wires go,,pos. and neg.???????,,,and again thanksfor all your help

vtmaps · February 2016

crank said:

i think thatsthe way i should go,,,can i run the 3 new panels into my charger,and just connect them to the same place my other panel wires go,,pos. and neg.?

No, it's not that simple. Do you have a combiner box? If not, you need one (it's an important safety issue).

You have two strings of panels (three panels to a string) and the two strings are in parallel. If one of the strings has a fault, the other string can backfeed the faulted string. That's OK because the faulted string can handle the current.

When you have three (or more) strings and one string has a fault, the two (or more) good strings can backfeed more current than the faulted string can handle... that can cause a fire.

When you combine the three strings in a combiner box, each string will have a circuit breaker to limit the backfeed current to a safe level.

--vtMaps

crank · February 2016

thanks vtmaps,,,,,i found 1 on ebay,,prewired for 3 strings,fused,,fpor bout 85 bucks,,,chould i buyit?????

crank · February 2016

should i buy it

vtmaps · February 2016

crank said:

thanks vtmaps,,,,,i found 1 on ebay,,prewired for 3 strings,fused,,for about 85 bucks,,,chould i buyit?????

I have no idea what you are looking at or whether it has UL certification. caveat emptor (buyer beware of ebay) Also, I would recommend circuit breakers rather than fuses. What size fuses does this ebay combiner have? If they are not the right size for your panels they will not blow when they should, or they will blow when they shouldn't.

The host of this forum sells a 3 circuit Midnite combiner for about $74, and Midnite DC rated circuit breakers for about $11 each. You might get a better price for something on ebay, but you cannot get better quality than Midnite.

By the way, What is the series fuse/circuit breaker rating of your panels? Be sure to buy the correct size circuit breakers for your panels.

--vtMaps

crank · February 2016

i reeeeeally appreciate your help,,,ill get my panel info and get back 2 u,,,,thanks

animatt · February 2016

As I read it. It appears he is using 3 battery banks. Each being 440ah in size.

This should require minimum of 22 amps of charging current. But 44 amps would be much more optimal. Up to about 66amps would be fine without any limiting. Which new purposed setup would do very nicely.
Although 1could be reading it wrong.

Really bulk charging could get away with somewhat higher. I have a small 48v 220ah bank which I sometimes charge at around 35 to 40 amps with not much of an issue. But this is at fairly discharged state.

vtmaps · February 2016

animatt said:

As I read it. It appears he is using 3 battery banks. Each being 440ah in size.

This should require minimum of 22 amps of charging current. But 44 amps would be much more optimal. Up to about 66amps would be fine without any limiting. Which new purposed setup would do very nicely.
Although I could be reading it wrong.

I just reread the thread... I think you are reading it right... he has 48 batteries and charges 440 ah at a time. He should double his array. He will need a 4 circuit combiner.

--vtMaps

have 6 300 wattpanels on my charger now i want to add 6 more 300 watt panels

Comments

Categories