Wrong configuration?

[ILFE]

So, I went out there and now for the first time in 2 weeks, I am up to 4 blinks. That's a good thing..... Maybe I didn't connect it in the right order. Btw, Letitroll, everything is parallel. I'm hoping this keeps going this way. Voltage is up to 13.9 and steady. Hopefully with another battery, things will be better. Tonight will tell the tale on that. The light will be off but the heater for the water will run. It's supposed to be near 20 degrees overnight. Fingers crossed.

Well, how did it work out?

Inquiring minds want to know. (Lame advertising line from an old National Inquirer magazine commercial.)

[Living Large]

Don't spend the extra 200, just run the hard line. Off grid only makes sense when you have no other choice.

Or you live in Hawaii, can afford to spend $90,000 on a solar system with a beta test battery technology, and are actually on grid in case something goes wrong.

[Living Large]

Deficit charging works like this. You have $20 in the bank, you make $20 per day, and it cost you $30 per day to live. What is going to happen?

Visit to a government assistance agency toot sweet.

[Sunking]

Deficit charging works like this. You have $20 in the bank, you make $20 per day, and it cost you $30 per day to live. What is going to happen?

You will be living in a cardboard box and eating out of garbage cans in 3 days.

[sensij]

Another battery isn't going to help if you are deficit charging. The energy you take out needs to be put back in, plus another 25% for efficiency. 200 W of panels in NH at the orientation described earlier might generate 800 Wh of energy on a very good day in November according to PVWatts, which would replace 800*0.75 = 600 Wh of consumed energy. That is with a high efficiency MPPT charger, figure PWM will cost you another 20%. That would knock the generated energy down to 480 Wh. If you have any clouds, or an obstructed view of the horizon (trees, etc), it will knock that number down fast. Really, even 480 is high because the absorb stage of charging, done proplerly, means the battery is limiting the current, not the array, so some of the energy the array could have made goes unused.

Your prior guess at loads was above that (125 W * 3 h) + (13 W * 14h) = 557 Wh, so adding another battery temporarily buys you some time before they die, but because they wouldn't be getting charged enough, they won't last too long.

If you can't run a hard line out right now... if you do buy another battery, buy an AC charger for it as well. Then, you can run the coop from one battery each day while you bring the other inside to charge from the grid, and swap them each evening.

[Donniebosko]

So, I went out there and now for the first time in 2 weeks, I am up to 4 blinks. That's a good thing..... Maybe I didn't connect it in the right order. Btw, Letitroll, everything is parallel. I'm hoping this keeps going this way. Voltage is up to 13.9 and steady. Hopefully with another battery, things will be better. Tonight will tell the tale on that. The light will be off but the heater for the water will run. It's supposed to be near 20 degrees overnight. Fingers crossed.

[Sunking]

Okay, thank you Sunking and everyone else. I am trying to sort this out. Sunking, you say I need more battery and more panel. That is way more than I want to spend on chickens.

Sorry but not my problem.

I did this as an alternative to running power to the coop. I'm into it for about 800 bucks now.... I can't justify much more than another battery. It's 200 more and I'm hoping that'll do it. If not, I'm cutting my losses there and running a hard line out there next spring. .

Again I am sorry about that, but you really should have done your homework before buying anything. What you would have discovered you never take anything off-grid unless there is no alternative. Off-Grid power is at least 5 times more expensive in battery cost alone than just buying it from the power company, and extremely limited in quantity as you have discovered too late. If you had done that research first you would have known to run the AC line to the chicken coop.

I feel bad for you, but you are not alone. Over 90% of the folks who come here with off-grid issues made the exact same mistake. We see it every day here and some days many times. Like being an Emergency Room Doctor in Chicago or other large cities, You become immune to death/carnage so it does not bother you and drive you crazy. I can tell you what happened, why, and how to fix it. However it is up to you to do it and take the medicine.

Run the AC line, and sell off the solar to minimize your losses. The other alternative is cut your power use by 50% on solar. As of now 200 watt panel is about the right size to support the 95 AH battery with a PWM controller in your area. As a system to meet your needs, is only about half the size required. Sorry I cannot fix that.

Good Luck

[sensij]

Don't spend the extra 200, just run the hard line. Off grid only makes sense when you have no other choice.

[Donniebosko]

Okay, thank you Sunking and everyone else. I am trying to sort this out. Sunking, you say I need more battery and more panel. That is way more than I want to spend on chickens. I did this as an alternative to running power to the coop. I'm into it for about 800 bucks now.... I can't justify much more than another battery. It's 200 more and I'm hoping that'll do it. If not, I'm cutting my losses there and running a hard line out there next spring. I disconnected the cables. Battery reads 12.96 volts. It is full. I reconnected the battery to the CC and then the panels to the CC. Voltage went up to 13.6. Now it is draining and was down to 12.88 inside of 5 minutes. I'll go out in an hour or so and see what's doing.

[LETitROLL]

This is a new battery. When I first hooked it up, it ran for 2 1/2 days and then died overnight. The water heater is thermostatically controlled and only draws as needed. My best guess is a maximum draw of 3 hours at 125 watts. That should be a total of roughly 50 amps a day with the 13 watt light on at 14 hours a day. Just to be clear, this gel battery is an AGM, not a sealed gel lead acid.

Make sure you are hooking up the battery first to the CC, then the panels last, most systems will not charge properly if you do not do it in that order, the CC needs to see the battery first to properly set the voltage, also are your panels hooked in series , or parallel ?

[Sunking]

T12v 95ah battery and 2x100 watt panels are not enough to run a 13 watt draw and a 125 watt draw for a max of 3 hours a day and then 13 watts at an additional 11 hours a day. The guessing part is assuming the worst case scenario on the draw. That seems like a good amount of battery to me but I do plan on doubling that up. Any other help you can offer would be appreciated.

You have already stated what the problem is, you just do not know it. As soon as you said it died after just 2.5 days tells the tale.

(13x\w + 125w) x 3 h = 414 watt hours
+
13 watts x 11 hours = 143 watt hours
Total = 414 wh + 143 wh = 557 watt hours.

That requires a battery operating at 12 volts = 230 AH. You only have 95 AH.

As for panel wattage of 200 watts, very doubtful you can even generate 750 to 1000 wh per day, especially this time of year. You are using a PWM controller (huge mistake), which means you must generate at least 1100 watt hours per day and a minimum 5 Sun Hour day. Very few places on earth receive 5 Sun Hours in winter.. Many places do not even have 5 Sun Hours in summer. That means with 90% certainty you panel wattage is too low.

So back to your question: WRONG CONFIGURATION?

Is a big fat YES.

[Donniebosko]

Thanks so much Sunking for pointing all this out. You must be standing there with your arms folded and looking at me with a smug smile of superiority and thinking how sweet it would be to flay me alive in the public square. I'm sure that you also read that I clearly stated I was learning. I'm pretty sure guessing is part of learning. I also admitted that I don't know this area of electricity at all. I am here looking for a solution. So, while you ridicule me and refer to me as an "off-grider"(your spelling) like I'm a lower form of life than you, could you use that air of superiority to offer up a solution? You call yourself a solar fanatic so, you must surely have a solution..... A 12v 95ah battery and 2x100 watt panels are not enough to run a 13 watt draw and a 125 watt draw for a max of 3 hours a day and then 13 watts at an additional 11 hours a day. The guessing part is assuming the worst case scenario on the draw. That seems like a good amount of battery to me but I do plan on doubling that up. Any other help you can offer would be appreciated. Derisive ridicule and insults are not needed. I'll just return the favor and I really don't want to do that. I just need help with this, not Captain Obvious....

[Sunking]

This is a new battery. When I first hooked it up, it ran for 2 1/2 days and then died overnight. The water heater is thermostatically controlled and only draws as needed. My best guess is a maximum draw of 3 hours at 125 watts. That should be a total of roughly 50 amps a day with the 13 watt light on at 14 hours a day. Just to be clear, this gel battery is an AGM, not a sealed gel lead acid.

From the sounds of it you are in deficit charging. Meaning both your battery size and panel wattage is way to low. The battery if properly sized should last a minimum 5 days. You have made the same mistake 90% of off-griders make. Your system is grossly undersized. You made the most common mistake. You failed to plan and GUESSED.

[Donniebosko]

To follow up to sensij, the panels are mounted level and tilted to 43 degrees.. That is where I am in relation to the equator. They are pointed south. As far as the measurements of the battery go, I have a multimeter but I'm trying to learn how to use it. Please believe that I'm not a dummy... It's just that electricity has my respect. I'm common sense handy and can do it all. My problem is that I don't know this particular realm of alternative energy. So far, I've found that it's initially expensive. And frustrating. ....😠

[Donniebosko]

Okay, I've disconnected and reconnected according to the manual. Not enough sun left today for any results. I'm in NH. I'll let you all know tomorrow or over the weekend, depending on sunshine. I looked for the video I referenced and I can't find it. I did find two others though that support the panel neg to the charge controller. So, it is now pos and neg from panels to charge controller. Then to battery and then to the inverter. This is how I originally had it. Now, we wait. 🤔