charge controller diversion voltage

[kbhale]

With charge controllers like the Xantrex C60 Charge Controller or others similar is the power diverted? Similar to the battery bank or the raw power the solar panels are putting out. Just wondering what to do with the diverted power.

I'm starting to buy the misc... needed for 2k of panels. The wiring, circuit panels, fuses, controllers, mounting, batteries and on and on. Starting to think the panels are the cheap part of the system.

[russ]

You are noticing what they DIY schemes don't generally point out - it is overall system cost that counts.

If factory panels drop in price by 10% from 2.50 USD/watt it doesn't make all that much difference in system cost when you add up all the other components.

[Sunking]

With charge controllers like the Xantrex C60 Charge Controller or others similar is the power diverted? Similar to the battery bank or the raw power the solar panels are putting out. Just wondering what to do with the diverted power.

Well as long as their is no wind generator involved, you do not need a dump load or diversion. So just ignore it.

I'm starting to buy the misc... needed for 2k of panels. The wiring, circuit panels, fuses, controllers, mounting, batteries and on and on. Starting to think the panels are the cheap part of the system.

Well you are right about that, but it is the batteries that are going to kill you and make electricity 10 times more expensive for the rest of your life.

[kbhale]

On my current 300 watt system once the batteries are charged. It more or less disconnects from the solar panels. So the power, the 300 watts could be making is not diverted, the power is lost. I would like to use the diverted power to equalize the temperature between several hot water tanks, running small 12 volt dc pumps. Leaving the batteries fully charged and unused.

If the power was raw like the panels I would need controller and a small battery to run the pumps?

[Mike90250]

With charge controllers like the Xantrex C60 Charge Controller or others similar is the power diverted? .

For Solar, the panels don't care, and the charge controller just turns them off.

For wind or hydro, where a load is needed to keep the turbine from overspeed, a diversion load is needed, a bank of 500W lights, a heater, water heater element, something that can take a lot of power for a long time.

[prometheus]

With charge controllers like the Xantrex C60 Charge Controller or others similar is the power diverted? Similar to the battery bank or the raw power the solar panels are putting out. Just wondering what to do with the diverted power.

We heat our domestic hot water with our surplus. But we have a turbine so we have to keep a load on our system to avoid free spinning and destruction. However the bulk of our water heating (80%) takes place when our 1800 watts of PV are putting into the system.