Renewable Energy Questions/Discussion > Automation, Controls, Inverters, MPPT, etc
Battery voltage sensor placement TrisStar 45 MPPT
Rover:
I should probably add that I will very likely never see the rated capacity of the panels as it feeds a battery bank which I don't discharge more than 30% on average. Also since these panels get sun after my other set, there already has been charge going to bat when these go active.
Rover
ChrisOlson:
What's BX MPPT?
--- Quote from: Rover on January 26, 2012, 03:31:56 pm ---Ask me in a month or so, after I get a few more panels on line and change to a series parallel configuration.
--- End quote ---
What I'm considering doing it putting a Classic on my Sharp 123's to test it. I bought another Classic 150 controller because I'm going to put it on another wind turbine. If I get more power from the panels with the Classic on it, I will probably re-wire my Sharp 123's for 218.0 Voc and get a Classic 250 for them. In that case I'll have a used MPPT 60 for sale.
There's some other things I like about the Classic - one being it has HyperVOC so wiring the panels up near the voltage limit of the controller won't hurt the controller on really cold days. The other being it can melt the snow or ice off the panels, which for me is a main thing here.
--
Chris
Rover:
Hi Chris,
Assuming you feed to bats, what is the SOC of the bank when the panels come on. Quite honestly if you are doing so well with wind and acknowledge a bad solar area, isn't it pretty much to be expected?
I have the reverse... crappy wind and mediocre solar, but my solar has a 20X gain over my wind. Do I still put up mills , yep, cause its a hobby and I'm a nut job.
Rover
ChrisOlson:
--- Quote from: Rover on January 26, 2012, 05:09:49 pm ---Assuming you feed to bats, what is the SOC of the bank when the panels come on. Quite honestly if you are doing so well with wind and acknowledge a bad solar area, isn't it pretty much to be expected?
--- End quote ---
Usually they're from 50-80% SOC - it depends. The bank is rarely below 24.0.
The solar actually works good here in the spring, summer and fall. I just don't think I'm getting what I should get on overcast days during the winter. I don't know if there's a way to measure how much solar power is getting thru the cloud deck. But some days I can see the bright circle of the sun thru the overcast - like looking at the sun thru a welding helmet, and the panels are still only putting about 20%. Most guys claim I should be getting more than that.
When the sun actually peeks thru so it's shining direct on the panels and it's really cold out, they will get to rated power. But isn't the idea of MPPT to get more power from the panels under less than perfect conditions?
Frankly, I don't think I'm getting any more with MPPT on them than if they were direct hooked. That's why I want to try a different controller.
--
Chris
Rover:
Chris,
Don't think there is an easy answer here. In order to come up with a conclusion you will need to data log your sources over a large period of time (large enough that you can average out and hope you have a decent best day / worst day comparison) . Then you have the successful wind power ... In order to evaluate the performance of the solar panels you would need to isolate them as the sole charging source.
Way too many variables to define how your solar is doing. Course covered in snow is never ideal :)
Rover
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