malewithatail
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Posts: 3,963 
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Location: Northern Rivers NSW
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Post by malewithatail on Apr 12, 2022 15:37:26 GMT 10
No 6 solar system now installed on the farm. The main system is 48 volts, ,2500 amp hrs with 5 kva inverter/charger, 20 kw (peak) solar panels, 2 off PL60 regulators, plus Victron 150/100 regulator, net amp hour monitoring etc, 12 kva diesel, backup 8.5 Kva Petrol/gas Honda.
System 2 is 3 kva Victron inverter, 3.3 Kw solar, 100 amp charger, 24 volts, 1,000 amp hr battery's.
System 3 is 3 kva Victron inverter, 40 amp Woods dialamatic charger, 3.6 kw solar, 24 volts, 1,000 amp hr battery's.
System 4 is 12 volts, radio room, 600 watts solar, 1,000 amp hr battery's, 650 watt inverter.
System 5 (guests accommodation), is 12 volts, 1,000 amp hrs, 750 watts solar, Plasmatronics PL60 regulator, 300 watt Rainbow sine inverter. (To be upgraded to 2.9 Kw solar, 24 volts, 1,000 amp hr battery's and 3 kw inverter/charger.)
System 6 is 1.5 Kw solar, 12 volts, 1,000 amp hrs, 1.5 kw sine wave Jaycar inverter. (Will be upgraded to 24 volts, 1,000 amp hrs and a Selectronic SA 21, 12/24 inverter and a Victron regulator of some type.)
Im getting too old to be climbing on roofs !
Electric lights don't emit light, they suck out dark.
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malewithatail
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Posts: 3,963
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Location: Northern Rivers NSW
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Post by malewithatail on Aug 22, 2022 9:31:02 GMT 10
Update, system 5 is now been upgraded to a 24 volt, 400 amp hour lithium battery, a 3 kw inverter/charger, 9 off 400 watt solar panels, a Victron 150/100 regulator and new control gear etc.
The radio room will get the 'old' 3 off 250 watt panels, and a new Victron 150/100 regulator (which will be the spare for the other systems).
System 2 has a battery issue with the 2nd hand gel battery's I bought a few years ago. Not a good idea, so its getting a new 24 volt, 400 amp hour lithium battery pak, and that will be done in a day or two, the battery is already here.
Should have the power systems set for a while then.
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malewithatail
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Posts: 3,963
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Location: Northern Rivers NSW
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Post by malewithatail on May 15, 2023 9:41:30 GMT 10
New lithium 400 amp hour, 24 pack installed. Functioning perfectly. Once again due to the large box, the door needed some modifications to enable it to close.
I am still amazed at how much these battery's can handle, full sun and 130 odd amps at 24 volts and the battery takes it all.
Collecting bits for yet another system, this time its for my sisters other daughters caravan. It will be 24 volts, with 8 off 185 watt panels and a Jaycar MPPT regulator, but with a lead acid battery pak probably based on some heavy duty truck battery's. The reason is....no money ! And it only has to run a 24 v fridge, and a few lights, charge a phone etc, so not particularly hard duty.
Simple system this time.
I may look calm, but in my head Ive already slapped you three times.
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malewithatail
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Location: Northern Rivers NSW
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Post by malewithatail on May 15, 2023 17:05:20 GMT 10
Update on the new lithium-iron battery paks.
First issue.
They are finicky with their charge regime, or should I say the BMS is. When boosting from the main 12 kva generator, the chargers can deliver about 100 amps at 24 volts at each installation. No issues with power, and the power quality is perfect from a big diesel generator as u would expect.
However, when the battery's are nearing full charge, if the battery charger isn't regulated or limited in voltage, then the battery management system (BMS) in the paks switches off the battery at about 29 volts DC. And the time from when the battery is fully charged to the time it gets to 29 volts is around 20 seconds, with our 100 amp Standbury, Scarf and Lord chargers. This is 'cause the Lithium battery's are so efficient, they charge at full power until almost fully charged, then the voltage rises very quickly and trips the internal BMS off. This causes the system to see the open circuit voltage of the charger, well over 30 volts DC and the Victron inverter to switch off along with the Victron 150/100 regulator to record an error and shut down as well. Resetting the inverter brings it back on, but the Victrons don't seem to like to be reset from the front panel after this fault and need a power cycle to restart charging.
Lesson, keep a close eye on the charge voltage and when it gets to absorption level on the Victron, (yellow LED), switch the aux charger off, quickly and let the battery's finish charging from the solar. Lead acid battery's behave quite differently under the same circumstances and can take more charge after the absorption level is reached, eventually boiling the electrolyte if you are not careful, but as they don't have a BMS internally installed, they don't trip off and hence cause issues. The issue is probably due to the BMS system, but I do wonder if you had a large amount of solar connected, say 50 kw, weather the BMS would have an issue. The Victron regulators are very quick in their regulation action and would probably keep it all under control, but I think its a fine line.
In short, user error !!
Don't adjust your mind, the fault is with reality.
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