Solar system review

[mikejh]

I guess I am pretty stumpped... Any suggestions other than spending another $2,500 to boost the voltage?

[Mike90250]

remove flamable materials from around the inverter. The low voltage inverters, generally cant take the heat they create.
(I mentioned their heat issues earlier)

[mikejh]

I will definantly do that.

This is getting mighty expencive and frustrating just to run two little appliances that only draw 150watts each!

[Sunking]

I will definantly do that.

This is getting mighty expencive and frustrating just to run two little appliances that only draw 150watts each!

Education is expensive, especially trying to learn after you jump off the cliff. What you are going to learn is going off-grid battery will cost you on average 10 times more for the rest of your life vs just buying from the power company. Just think you get to replace your batteries in a few short years. So when you do upgrade to 24 or 48 volts and replace the inverter too.

[Mike90250]

Lets hope both fridges don't kick on at the same time

[mikejh]

Well, I think I am going to bite the bullet and get an OutBack FM80 controller. I was looking at the Instapark controller that I bought, and it is totally false advertised. It isn't even an MPPT, it is just a re-labeled PWM controller.

I am probably going to get it from Wind & Sun, unless you guys know of a better (cheaper) place to get it? Eco Direct has it for a few bucks cheaper, but I have never dealt with them before. Do you know if they are a good company to buy from? (good CS ect?) Thanks.

[Sunking]

What kind of and how many batteries do you have?

[mikejh]

I have (6) Rolls surrette S-1590 batteries.

[Sunking]

Fantastic batteries, but you are stuck with 12 volts. A better choice with same capacity is 6 S600 batteries for 24 volts

[mikejh]

don't the S600s only have about 450AHs? Also, I thought they were 6V batteries, which x6 would make a 36V bank.

I looked at the S600s, but ended up getting the 1590s because I wanted more capacity. It is just a shame I didn't know that I should have 24V before I bought them. Live and learn I guess. I will just have to use some really heavy duty wire and get a good fuse.

[Sunking]

don't the S600s only have about 450AHs? Also, I thought they were 6V batteries, which x6 would make a 36V bank.

I looked at the S600s, but ended up getting the 1590s because I wanted more capacity. It is just a shame I didn't know that I should have 24V before I bought them. Live and learn I guess. I will just have to use some really heavy duty wire and get a good fuse.

Capacity = Amp Hours x Voltage.
12 Volts x 1200 Hours = 14,400 watt hours = 24 Volts x 600 Amp Hours. If you sleep in a Holiday Inn you would know that.

Difference is the 24 volt system uses half the current and reduces wiring and heat losses by 400% for a given size wire. 48 volts cuts another 400% in wire and line losses That is why utilities use up to 1,000,000 volts to move electric power around. It takes much smaller less expensive wire with considerable less power losses.

[mikejh]

So (4) S-600s because the bank would be 24V, would have almost as much capacity as (6) S-1590s because they are only 12V? That sounds like a winner if that is correct!

All I want is to be able to run my 2 frezzers for at lease 4 days with a fully charged set of batteries without destroying the batteries

[Sunking]

So (4) S-600s because the bank would be 24V, would have almost as much capacity as (6) S-1590s because they are only 12V? That sounds like a winner if that is correct!

Pretty close, but my eyes are not as good as they use to be, or to be honest I did not look at the specs close enough and assumed the S-600 were 600 AH 6 volt batteries. You are correct they are 6 volt 450 AH batteries.

Point is battery capacity in watt hour = voltage x amp hours. So 12 volt x 1200 amp hours = 14,400 watt hours = 24 volt x 600 amp hours = 48 volts x 300 amp hours.

For example lets say you have 24-2 volt 300 Amp Hour batteries. If you series all 24 cells you have a 48 volt 300 Amp Hour (14,400 watt hours) battery stack. If you arranged them in a 2 x 12 configuration you have a 24 volt 600 AH (14,400 wh) battery stack. Now if you arrange them 4 x 6 configuration you have a 12 volt 1200 AH (14,400 wh) battery stack. All 3 configuration are equal and use the same 24 batteries.

Also note watts = volts x amps. So if you have a 2000 watt inverter the battery needs to deliver 167 amps @ 12 volts, 83 amps @ 24 volts, and 42 amps @ 48 volts.

Understand the relationship and what effect it has?

[mikejh]

Ok, I think I understand it know. Thank you for your help! It is always very appretiated!

[mikejh]

I am going to connect two panels in parallels and two in series, thus boosting the voltage to a better level for the charge controller, and reducing the amps on the wire back, but I am not positive how to wire this. Is there a site, or some diagram that would help me with this?