y Philippines Retirement Solar Off Grid System

[tinyt]

Hi SN,

I am just starting on this hobby and just started designing an experimental inverter based on Oz/Clockmanfr designs. It is still on paper but will be ordering the PCB soon. I opened a thread in the backshed forum for this.

I am sorry I don't have a powerjack. Maybe others can help.

[solarnewbee]

The fet boards pull almost 1 amp on the DC side. Not enough led’s to draw that much. What you think that’s all about? Anyone?

[solarnewbee]

Ok, update,

Seems it was a dummy moment, stop and read the instructions fully. Must be reset at power up every time. Funny how that works. Now reads 0 amps battery draw inverter off.

Next decision is in January. I’m determined to get the panels on the roof when we vacation in the Philippines. The sheet metal under the tile roof apparently isn’t thick enough to accommodate installers methods. To reiterate I’m too big to stand on those tiles. I have to have a grid welded to the roof to bolt the rails to that will hold the whole thing down in case of typhoon or they won’t guarantee the install.

I need advice guys:

My panels are as follows
300w
72 cell
36 volts (I tested with a meter on the 2 shattered panels in indirect sun and they read 36v)
Label reads 8.78 amps and other stuff I can’t remember.

My charge controllers can handle 144v and 2800w. I’m not even going to bother with the pj ones. I have 5400w total. If I connect in series In pairs, 72v, that cuts the watts In half? Increase in voltage pushes more current if i read correctly. I’m sure I need to go above 36v but just not sure if connecting in 3’s for 108v would lower or increase my charging capacity. I have looked around the net but there isn’t really any discussion on this matter. With 18 panels there’s only room for 2 more panels one on front side and one on the back. The terrace roof may hold between 6 and 9 in the future.

I can’t tell you how tempting it was to try and glue a piece of tempered glass over the shattered panels and use them anyway. Shipper refused my claim and the factory just wanted to send new ones when I bought more. I was like, nope, not buying from you again. Alibaba.com is a great place to buy wholesale because they care if your a company or not and many have minimums of one and will ship with an invoice that shows a much lower price for customs and says samples of let’s say “batteries”. That’s exactly how they shipped my lifepo4 batteries. The fees were much lower. Always best to find the company that has sold the highest dollar amounts. PayPal is a plus too. As far as my broken panels go I went to my bank and back charged the whole thing then sent them the appropriate amount minus 2 panels and shipping.

Awaiting your best advice!

SN

[WooferHound]

Well . . . if the charge controllers can handle 144v then 108 volts seems completely acceptable. Starting to get dangerous though.
As I understand it , any overvoltage is converted to amps in the process so any series/parallel connection of the panels will give you the same charging capacity.

[solarnewbee]

Well,

It happened, my panels are finally up. Cost?, 15k ($300) found these guys on Facebook marketplace and were ready for me the day after my plane landed.  800ah of lfp are reaching float by 10am after a night of 1 1/2 window units running,(1/2 unit being set at 28 for the inverter room) electric fans, fridge, water cooler. Anything that can be is inverter tech. 8kw PJ as OZ surely pointed out doesn’t like putting out over 3.5kw for long, beep beep flat line. I’m trying to teach energy management here like don’t use the electric rice cooker when you have lpg. Don’t use the on demand shower heater after 4pm, preaching to the choir? I had to jumper out a 110v line at the kitchen for the coffee pot so a remote to turn off the PJ just to use it. There is actually a grounded neutral line from the pole but not sure what might happen if I actually grounded the PJ and plugged in the pot to the jumpered 110v. Not testing that one.

The first night I tried to run 2 1/2 window units, batteries died about 5 am and the ats kicked in and the PJ squealed. Housemaid sleeps in there and came out screaming  like a banshee. By my calculations there should have been enough reserve. Today I did some checking in my chargers and float refloat absorb charge battery ah charge rate refloat low etc weren’t even close to correct. Both banks actually reach float levels now. Running 108v in from 18 panels 300w each 72 cells 36v. By 9:30am frontside group of 8 are giving out 121v 1.15kw and not much from the rear. By 11am both sets are cranking around 110v 1.5kw 111v .75kw amps are ranging in the 30’s most of the day. All that current and these lfp’s are cold to the touch. Purchased on Alibaba.com for a whopping $115 each and $870 shipped.

My bms system current sensors show average 16a per bank charge throughout the day. As the sun fades it jumps all over the place between 6 and 23a per bank. Each block consistent 3.303v and impedance 1.5meg. 32 lfp’s, 4 banks, 8 blocks each. Can’t get a live data bank voltage ever but history is there. I sat on this thing until the warranty was expired so there’s no returns. It acts flaky but I’m told it needs further configuration.   The software is in Chinese and the instructions in englishese. Can’t configure if I can’t read it! Getting the right disk is like pulling teeth.

Pictures to follow.

Ps. Keep you eyes on your torch!

[Pete]

Wow that is some burn.
The Battery management current sensors may be suffering from interference. Maybe try shielding the cables from the shunt or twisting them.
I have a powerjack inverter and it does put out some hash on the line when it is running. If I leave my stereo turned on and then switch the inverter on all the lights on the amplifier come on together. I have to turn the power off then back on to get it to function normally.
I put that down to some sort of hash generated when the inverter is switched on.
I have my inverter in my garage and just ran a twin cable from the on switch and connected another switch in parallel with it to act as a remote.
It works fine, It would probably be better to change both switches to a two way switching system but for what I have a parallel remote works good.
Good luck and stay away from gas torches.
Pete

[solarnewbee]

Aims 6kw LF inverter power board looks pretty much like a pj. That’s some really heavy flat copper there, never have seen a transformer like it. Photos are poor sorry, I snapped them from YouTube on the tv. I commented the guy should check Oz’s pj thread so maybe he can bring that 85% efficiency rating up some, or not.

[solarnewbee]

On another subject, watching one of my favorite youtubers saw this fridge. Had know idea who made these back then.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frigidaire

[petect]

Hi Solarnewbee
Would you mind commenting on your batteries? I will be buying LFPs (probably from China) at some point and any information you can offer would be appreciated. Which bats did you get, what do you think of them, what company did you get them from, how were they to deal with, etc.
Thanks in advance
Pete

[solarnewbee]

So far they seem just fine. I’ve had a learning curve with all of this but wanted longevity of course.
I bought 32 3.2v 200ah lfp’s. My inverters 24v so 4 packs of 8. 2 packs parallel for each bank.

Bottom balancing is a must as was pointed out to me by others on this forum. I will remember to mention their names next, they were very informative and helpful.

I bought mine from a wholesaler on Alibaba.com by the name of Bruce Zheng. They accept PayPal and will ship ups and FedEx. Cost was $115 each plus around $800 shipping to Philippines. Of course American Express was helpful, who has 5 grand sitting around right?

To purchase on Alibaba you will have to open a profile. He company is Hunan Auk New Energy Co. Or contact him by email. I will send to your inbox.

[petect]

   Solarnewbee

Thank you for the information.  Best wishes for your move, and your projects.
Pete

[solarnewbee]

Great Day!

Well, maybe not completely. My PJ has a lcd meter for ac power readings and battery readings. Battery’s readings lcd is from the built in solar charge controller that I didn’t use because it’s limited to 36v. For some time now it’s been showing a low battery reading of 24.7v even though the charge controllers show battery levels were at 27.8v. This week it’s announced low battery at 21v and shuts down inverter, charge controllers show full levels and bms shows all cells at 3.42v average. I remember that cutting r14 I think fixes over volt problems but I wonder if someone knows if there might be some way to adjust this. Is it possible that the charging lcd meter is signaling the control board to shut down?

Any thoughts guys. This Pj was sold as an off grid set and not many sol either but everything else inside is the same.

Thanks

[MadScientist267]

SN -

No personal experience with the PJ's specifically but sounds almost like oxidation (internal?) or similar creeping in and causing drop...?

If it's worse under heavier and heavier load this becomes more a possibility. While a small proportional drop is always expected, if it seems excessive or at all erratic, that would be my suspicion.

If it's low all the time, and not proportional to load, probably something else, and someone else would have to help with that.

Worth mentioning anyway... Good luck!

Steve

[solarnewbee]

Hopefully not corrosion, I’ve had them run the AC at 80 24/7 to keep things cool and dry. When I have time I’m gonna FaceTime with the daughter and have her disconnect the internal charge  controller since it’s not being used anyway and see if that does the trick. It has read over volt before and shut it down maybe twice since start up in January. If it’s off then it can’t communicate false faults I’m guessing really guessing since PJ’s have so many unknowns.

Thanks Steve.

[solarnewbee]

Some pics to add. Noticed they were missing I think from a crash last year.

Not in Any Order:

Screenshot from the BMS
The Mighty PJ and ATS that’s been quite reliable.
The Work Table, BMS and Monitoring Laptop and Battery Bank
(Uncovered)
The 2 Generic MPPT Charge Controllers
The Generally Chaotic Hastily Put Together Solar Power Board

All of this runs to and from the breaker box in the kitchen with 4-#6 Cables and a #10 ground.
The grid service is 65 amps and maybe 49 amps at best even with all appliances running.
The PJ holds the ATS true as if it were the grid and when the PJ fails or is turn of then the ATS switches to the grid. The only appliance affected is the 📺. I have a surge protector on both sides of the ATS now and everything is earthed finally to a pricey (not plated)copper rod.

Those balboas generic mppt’s are getting changed this year with Midnite Classic 150’s they are stateside part of an expansion project for this one. They are needed there more. Now if I could just get one of my “Mates” to take a vacation and do some charity work and help the daughter install the Classics and check the panels for mistakes. Got a feeling something ain’t right and it wasn’t me.

Have a good one guys!