battery charging?

Batteries too large??


i presently have two 12 volt solar panels on the roof for a total of 140watts, charging four trojan 105 batteries with a trace C30+ controller. at best the meter shows 9 to 10 amp charging the batteries. we are about 100km north east of toronto, ontario, canada
i will be upgrading the charge controller to a MPPT type


my question is, is there a formula to calculate how many batteries i can charge with my existing system setup. for example, i may have the opportunity to get either nine SAFT SPL 1.4V 340Ah Ni Cad or twelve 2.0V lead acid batteries.

as it stands, would anyone be able to tell me if my existing system would be able to adequately charge these batteries?

thanks in advance

Comments

  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: battery charging?
    markb40 wrote: »
    Batteries too large??


    i presently have two 12 volt solar panels on the roof for a total of 140watts, charging four trojan 105 batteries with a trace C30+ controller. at best the meter shows 9 to 10 amp charging the batteries. we are about 100km north east of toronto, ontario, canada
    i will be upgrading the charge controller to a MPPT type


    my question is, is there a formula to calculate how many batteries i can charge with my existing system setup. for example, i may have the opportunity to get either nine SAFT SPL 1.4V 340Ah Ni Cad or twelve 2.0V lead acid batteries.

    as it stands, would anyone be able to tell me if my existing system would be able to adequately charge these batteries?

    thanks in advance

    covered in this post:
    Panel & Battery Sizing
    http://forum.solar-electric.com/showthread.php?t=2924&highlight=battery+charge+time
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,431 admin
    Re: battery charging?

    Also, if you can, get the data sheets for the cells you are looking at... Some of these cells are for special uses and have somewhat different charging requirements. (some are for stand by, others can cycle many times--as long as they are not cycled deeply, etc.).

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