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Hi Folks
So I bought this house. Right on the river, sweet space, great price, 1 mile to nearest power line that's not attached to a tower. Off the grid, with solar, minihydro, generator. It all works, pretty much. I'd like to ask the membership at large for some input in a couple of different areas. The list of stuff I know about the system is at the bottom. I'm sure there's much more information that I'll need to gather when I get there at the end of the month (we're going to use it for a vacation/getaway home from LA.)
Here's the deal:
The system was semi-professionally installed (I'll explain in a minute), and it looks pretty "clean", and it has been running in one fashion or another for 12 years. I need to know if they did a good job sizing the setup. Because it feels marginal to me for our expected use, especially in the evenings, particularly when the well runs. Over Christmas, I found that the Morningstar controller would show that the available battery charge would drop to 20-40% remaining, running only lights, heater fan & water for toilet use and kitchen wash up. The mini-hydro would show that it was putting out 30A (on its own built in ammeter), but nothing showed how much charge was reaching the batteries. It felt like the charge went down very quickly for the amount of usage. Over the next few hours the batteries would recharge and the Morningstar would show 60-80% or more after 3-4 hours of charging without any further usage (I was paranoid about driving the charge below 20% and damaging the batteries.) Does that sound right? The previous owner told me he had only run the generator twice the previous winter, but that tells me very little about his actual usage. Also, the generator runs, but its front end display is blank even when running so I have no idea how much charge it produces. It's rated at 17kVA single phase, but I have no idea if it runs the load directly or charges the batteries. My guess is that it charges the batteries by default, because there's an "Inverter Bypass" switch at the panel. (Photos attached.)
The solar portion was originally installed 12 years ago, with 8 150W panels and a large battery bank at 12 volts. It was upgraded to 24 panels in 2007 or so (I believe all are 150W, but that's not for sure. I know that some are monocrystaline and some are poly, just from looking at the backs. But the panels are pole mounted in a field that was underwater at Christmas, and I have only a picture of 1 panel.) The owner also swapped out the batteries (I don't know when) to the current 2x24V string of 8 Trojan L16H-ACs and installed a complete Outback system, built around the MX60 MPPT controller. That part was done by a solar contractor. He also ran a seasonal, weir based minihydro setup, which produces (it says) 30A at some unknown voltage to a Morningstar TS-60 controller with diversion resistor. Give that we're in Oregon, this should help in the winter, while the solar works best in the summer. But he did it himself, and he was not an electrician, and the solar contractor that helped him is gone.
So, here's what I know that I know (forgive me, Dick Cheney
:
Batteries: 8 Trojan L16H-AC, wired as 2 parallel strings of 4, 465AH @20 hour rate -> 3720 AH nominal or 2976 at 80% usage. They seem to be in good shape. I used a hydrometer with little floating balls and all but 2 of the cells were showing full. I know i need a real tester, it's on order. None of the cells were more than a little low on water, I topped up with distilled and have continued to monitor. The cases are clean and dry and sit on an insulated board in the well house, which is also insulated and vented.
Controllers: Outback MX60 MPPT and Morningstar TS-60.
Panels: 24 panels, at least some are Isofoton I-150S/24. Panels are located 150 feet from the inverter, pole mounted and fixed. 3 cables join the panels to the inverter setup. If they are indeed all 150s, they produce 3600 watts, but at what amperage?
What I know I need to find out:
Inverter Model and capacity
Well pump specs (I believe it draw 11A running, 13.7 initial surge at 240V through a current doubler but I need to check.)
Complete energy audit of house: Fridge, washer/dryer, furnace fan, kitchen appliances, lights, security system, computer, Satellite dish and modem, etc.
Panels: are they all the same, are some better/worse, older/younger, dirty? Amperage(s)?
I also need to learn how to maintain the system, beyond checking batteries if there is more to do. Equalizing? When? How?
I need to figure out how the generator is wired into the system, if indeed it is.
What don't I know that I should know or learn? That's the real question here, I think. Any and all help/input is greatly appreciated!
I've attached a couple of pictures, maybe they'll help.
So I bought this house. Right on the river, sweet space, great price, 1 mile to nearest power line that's not attached to a tower. Off the grid, with solar, minihydro, generator. It all works, pretty much. I'd like to ask the membership at large for some input in a couple of different areas. The list of stuff I know about the system is at the bottom. I'm sure there's much more information that I'll need to gather when I get there at the end of the month (we're going to use it for a vacation/getaway home from LA.)
Here's the deal:
The system was semi-professionally installed (I'll explain in a minute), and it looks pretty "clean", and it has been running in one fashion or another for 12 years. I need to know if they did a good job sizing the setup. Because it feels marginal to me for our expected use, especially in the evenings, particularly when the well runs. Over Christmas, I found that the Morningstar controller would show that the available battery charge would drop to 20-40% remaining, running only lights, heater fan & water for toilet use and kitchen wash up. The mini-hydro would show that it was putting out 30A (on its own built in ammeter), but nothing showed how much charge was reaching the batteries. It felt like the charge went down very quickly for the amount of usage. Over the next few hours the batteries would recharge and the Morningstar would show 60-80% or more after 3-4 hours of charging without any further usage (I was paranoid about driving the charge below 20% and damaging the batteries.) Does that sound right? The previous owner told me he had only run the generator twice the previous winter, but that tells me very little about his actual usage. Also, the generator runs, but its front end display is blank even when running so I have no idea how much charge it produces. It's rated at 17kVA single phase, but I have no idea if it runs the load directly or charges the batteries. My guess is that it charges the batteries by default, because there's an "Inverter Bypass" switch at the panel. (Photos attached.)
The solar portion was originally installed 12 years ago, with 8 150W panels and a large battery bank at 12 volts. It was upgraded to 24 panels in 2007 or so (I believe all are 150W, but that's not for sure. I know that some are monocrystaline and some are poly, just from looking at the backs. But the panels are pole mounted in a field that was underwater at Christmas, and I have only a picture of 1 panel.) The owner also swapped out the batteries (I don't know when) to the current 2x24V string of 8 Trojan L16H-ACs and installed a complete Outback system, built around the MX60 MPPT controller. That part was done by a solar contractor. He also ran a seasonal, weir based minihydro setup, which produces (it says) 30A at some unknown voltage to a Morningstar TS-60 controller with diversion resistor. Give that we're in Oregon, this should help in the winter, while the solar works best in the summer. But he did it himself, and he was not an electrician, and the solar contractor that helped him is gone.
So, here's what I know that I know (forgive me, Dick Cheney
:Batteries: 8 Trojan L16H-AC, wired as 2 parallel strings of 4, 465AH @20 hour rate -> 3720 AH nominal or 2976 at 80% usage. They seem to be in good shape. I used a hydrometer with little floating balls and all but 2 of the cells were showing full. I know i need a real tester, it's on order. None of the cells were more than a little low on water, I topped up with distilled and have continued to monitor. The cases are clean and dry and sit on an insulated board in the well house, which is also insulated and vented.
Controllers: Outback MX60 MPPT and Morningstar TS-60.
Panels: 24 panels, at least some are Isofoton I-150S/24. Panels are located 150 feet from the inverter, pole mounted and fixed. 3 cables join the panels to the inverter setup. If they are indeed all 150s, they produce 3600 watts, but at what amperage?
What I know I need to find out:
Inverter Model and capacity
Well pump specs (I believe it draw 11A running, 13.7 initial surge at 240V through a current doubler but I need to check.)
Complete energy audit of house: Fridge, washer/dryer, furnace fan, kitchen appliances, lights, security system, computer, Satellite dish and modem, etc.
Panels: are they all the same, are some better/worse, older/younger, dirty? Amperage(s)?
I also need to learn how to maintain the system, beyond checking batteries if there is more to do. Equalizing? When? How?
I need to figure out how the generator is wired into the system, if indeed it is.
What don't I know that I should know or learn? That's the real question here, I think. Any and all help/input is greatly appreciated!
I've attached a couple of pictures, maybe they'll help.
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