NEED BIG help choosing Charge Controller/controllers please?

[Bigmotoxer]

Run away, fast.

Lol why run away? Quality? Or the peoduct/application itself?




Yikes - an air conditioner !! The compressor starting surges will be your big issue..

500 Watt window unit installed in front/in sleeping area.
My xantrex 2000 prowatt actually starts it and runs it fine...I am looking at other cooling alternatives also, I'll look harder once I'm done w installation.


Find someone with the fancy clamp on PEAK HOLD AC AMP meter and see what the starting load is.. That's what your inverter has to be able to supply for 5 seconds while the compressor spins up. The batteries and wires must also be able to sustain that load too. 24Vdc gets you to some better gear, that can handle real life surges. But my recommendation would be, since you don't NEED 12V anymore, go all the way to 48V. You can use 8, cheep, 6V-200a golf cart batteries in series,

How long do you think 8 batteries in series will run a 500 watt load? 2-3 hours? .....I have 12 6v Crown golf cart batteries 220ah


simplifying the battery bank issues for 12 / 24V where you will need parallel. less issue with OOOO cables & crimpers needed

Using 4/0 s.o.w. (which is actually 250mcm diameter, one size larger than 4/0). I have been tossing around 24v or 48v. I'm thinking 24 tho.

[Bigmotoxer]

The truth is out guys, I'm evolving lol

http://www.battcon.com/papersfinal2002/mcdowallpaper2002.pdf

[Mike90250]

The truth is out guys, I'm evolving lol
http://www.battcon.com/papersfinal20...lpaper2002.pdf

KEWL. NOT. That article talks of massive parallel strings in a phone center backup plant. "float service"

In a home power plant, the strings are cycle 10,000% more and the batteries quickly diverge in performance.

[Bigmotoxer]

Kewl

[radareclipse]

8 250 watts panels are 166 amps to 12 volt battery bank, you need 2 Midnite Classic 150 wire the panels 2 in series. if you use any other CC you need three of them. Classic 150 can give you 96 amps each. others 80 amps Max.

I see this in a different light. 8 panels x 8.74 amps ea paralleled should be 70 amps of current. 12 volt applications like amperage. House stuff likes volts and watts. That Xantrex 2000 watt inverter is going to need that 166 amps (or more) that you came up with. And depending on your wire run from the batteries to the inverter, you might need anywhere from 1/0 to 3/0 cable to hook it up.

If you series 2 panels, the voltage doubles, but the amp rating stays the same as just one panel. 12 volt stuff needs AMPS / raw current. I think your fine and better off staying with 12 volt batteries. I might have missed how batteries you have, but i think you mentioned 1200 ah which means you might have 12 batteries. They are gonna love and NEED all of that 70 amps of charging. If you run them down a bit, 70 amps is going to take awhile to get them back to float.

[Bigmotoxer]

I see this in a different light. 8 panels x 8.74 amps ea paralleled should be 70 amps of current.

Yes with this setup, before I got the last 4 panels(1000Watt, 8.75 x 4)...only 4 panels but same everything else...CC(Intrinsic MPPT CC) was sending 50 amps to battery bank. Now for the fun of it I just bought another one(they're good up to 78amps, made in usa)...I talked with the head guy(which is also the electronics engineer) in Massachusetts and he said to put 4 solar panels on one controller, the other 4 to other controller and connect both CC to battery bank on same + and - posts. That will give me 100amps(50 x 2) @peak sunlight here in central Florida.

12 volt applications like amperage. House stuff likes volts and watts. That Xantrex 2000 watt inverter is going to need that 166 amps (or more) that you came up with. And depending on your wire run from the batteries to the inverter, you might need anywhere from 1/0 to 3/0 cable to hook it up.

I'm actually using 250mcm (one size bigger than than or soow 4/0 all with equally sized lugs/terminals and professionally crimped.

If you series 2 panels, the voltage doubles, but the amp rating stays the same as just one panel. 12 volt stuff needs AMPS / raw current. I think your fine and better off staying with 12 volt batteries. I might have missed how batteries you have, but i think you mentioned 1200 ah which means you might have 12 batteries.

Correct. Exactly.


They are gonna love and NEED all of that 70 amps of charging. If you run them down a bit, 70 amps is going to take awhile to get them back to float.

I think 100 amp will be good until I see what it'll do...hopefully I'll be happy, if not I'll go from there.

[radareclipse]

Those charge controllers are stepping up the amperage which is a great thing. I would agree with going with two of those as it's more efficient and they aren't tapped out. They don't have to work as hard. 100 amp charging will be good.

4/0 cable is also great. How long is your cable run from the battery to the inverter? Just curious.

[Bigmotoxer]

+ and - are only 3'

[thastinger]

I see this in a different light. 8 panels x 8.74 amps ea paralleled should be 70 amps of current. 12 volt applications like amperage. House stuff likes volts and watts. That Xantrex 2000 watt inverter is going to need that 166 amps (or more) that you came up with. And depending on your wire run from the batteries to the inverter, you might need anywhere from 1/0 to 3/0 cable to hook it up.

If you series 2 panels, the voltage doubles, but the amp rating stays the same as just one panel. 12 volt stuff needs AMPS / raw current. I think your fine and better off staying with 12 volt batteries. I might have missed how batteries you have, but i think you mentioned 1200 ah which means you might have 12 batteries. They are gonna love and NEED all of that 70 amps of charging. If you run them down a bit, 70 amps is going to take awhile to get them back to float.

Paul is talking about the amps the CC will be sending to the battery. Pretty simple math really 8x250=2000/12=166A...that is assuming 100% from the panels, in reality probably more like 140-150A most of the time

[radareclipse]

So that charge controller is going to take 70 amps into it and turn it into 166 amps to the batteries? If that is the technology, okay. But I don't buy it. I know the MPPT controllers can step up current, but not in that quantity. I'm not looking to argue, so please don't take this that way, I'm just starting my opinion.

[Bigmotoxer]

Paul is talking about the amps the CC will be sending to the battery. Pretty simple math really 8x250=2000/12=166A...that is assuming 100% from the panels, in reality probably more like 140-150A most of the time

Guys I keep saying that despite the math and any other factors, with my system, with 4 panels to one CC at the height of the day delivered 50amps(maybe 51). I was there I recorded it. So , not in theory but in factual actual reality, with 4 more panels to one other CC I will be receiving exactly 100amps to battery bank(maybe 102).

[thastinger]

Guys I keep saying that despite the math and any other factors, with my system, with 4 panels to one CC at the height of the day delivered 50amps(maybe 51). I was there I recorded it. So , not in theory but in factual actual reality, with 4 more panels to one other CC I will be receiving exactly 100amps to battery bank(maybe 102).

The panels are flat mounted to the roof? Makes sense if that is the case because the angle is far from ideal

[thastinger]

So that charge controller is going to take 70 amps into it and turn it into 166 amps to the batteries? If that is the technology, okay. But I don't buy it. I know the MPPT controllers can step up current, but not in that quantity. I'm not looking to argue, so please don't take this that way, I'm just starting my opinion.

Actually yes, my midnite classic 200 takes in 150V 8A from my panels and converts it to 48V 20A into my battery bank. In reality, both the input and output fluctuate quite a bit depending on weather and battery SoC.

[jimindenver]

The good people here helped me decide on a controller for my 750w system. Both the big Outback and Midnite had fans and that took them out of the running because I don't want to listen to them. The Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 has just a big heat sink.

I did a driveway test of our system running the little air conditioner in 95 degree heat. That controller was rather hot by the end of the test and it was only pushing 45a from 10 am to 5 pm. It made me realize that there was no way I would get away with having the controller inside of the trailer. 45a is actually on the low end as the panels were in series and it was hot. They can run as high as 55a in parallel on a cooler day, a fourth panel would keep the controller maxed during peak sun.

I have the controller set up with a remote display as well as connected to a laptop. The laptop allows me to log info and customize the settings. The only issue I have is I can't customize the temperature compensation values and they don't agree with Lifeline below 20 F or above 90 F.

[Bigmotoxer]

The panels are flat mounted to the roof? Makes sense if that is the case because the angle is far from ideal

Not flat mounted. Only when mobile.