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I am extremely happy today because after 10 years of waiting I have bought a simple piece of electronics that will measure the battery voltage and publish it on a micro web server.
I don't know why it has taken so long for someone to develop this. It has been possible with some some charge controllers but never just a simple standalone solution.
Just about everyone would benefit from having their battery voltage available wherever they are.
The company that makes it is in the Slovak Republic. I am in the EU so it was easy to ship it to me. Supposedly they would ship to the US.
Here is a link.
Here is how I am using it:
I have given the device a fixed IP address.
It also has a DDNS function so that it can be viewed over the WAN as well as the LAN.
I have a synology device that has php installed. (you could also install php on an old smartphone)
I just wrote a very simple program in PHP to open the xml feed and hey presto I have the voltage appearing on a web page.
I can now dump my excess power to a water heater element.
By the way:
This is also very easy:
Sonoff mini now have a DIY mode which allows you to very easily flash the sonoff device over wifi with tasmota which allows you to send simple on off commands using a simple URL
The commands can be sent according to the voltage by the same php script using CURL
I now have full control. Haleluya!!
This is a game changer!!
NOW THE QUESTION:
I have about 1500 watts of solar panels.
My hot water heating element is 500 watts.
My battery system is lead acid 24 volts .
What voltage should I use for dumping the power.
I thought that maybe on at 28.5 and off at 27.5
Does anyone have any experience of this?
Also I have been told that charge controllers do a special charge every 3 weeks or so when they allow the voltage to go up to 30ish to equalise the cells.
If I have my system running this will never happen.
Should I have one day a week or a month when I let the charge controller do the special charge.
How long does the special charge take?
I don't know why it has taken so long for someone to develop this. It has been possible with some some charge controllers but never just a simple standalone solution.
Just about everyone would benefit from having their battery voltage available wherever they are.
The company that makes it is in the Slovak Republic. I am in the EU so it was easy to ship it to me. Supposedly they would ship to the US.
Here is a link.
Here is how I am using it:
I have given the device a fixed IP address.
It also has a DDNS function so that it can be viewed over the WAN as well as the LAN.
I have a synology device that has php installed. (you could also install php on an old smartphone)
I just wrote a very simple program in PHP to open the xml feed and hey presto I have the voltage appearing on a web page.
I can now dump my excess power to a water heater element.
By the way:
This is also very easy:
Sonoff mini now have a DIY mode which allows you to very easily flash the sonoff device over wifi with tasmota which allows you to send simple on off commands using a simple URL
The commands can be sent according to the voltage by the same php script using CURL
I now have full control. Haleluya!!
This is a game changer!!
NOW THE QUESTION:
I have about 1500 watts of solar panels.
My hot water heating element is 500 watts.
My battery system is lead acid 24 volts .
What voltage should I use for dumping the power.
I thought that maybe on at 28.5 and off at 27.5
Does anyone have any experience of this?
Also I have been told that charge controllers do a special charge every 3 weeks or so when they allow the voltage to go up to 30ish to equalise the cells.
If I have my system running this will never happen.
Should I have one day a week or a month when I let the charge controller do the special charge.
How long does the special charge take?
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