Solar system review

[mikejh]

Haha. Sorry about that, I just drew it up on MS Paint and copied and paisted the panels. Yes, I would do two in series and two in parralels.

[Mike90250]

It's correct if you want 3 panels in parallel, and one in series. ??

solar panel diagram.jpg

[mikejh]

I have done quite a bit of electrical work, but being that this is my first solar project, I don't want to blow my panels up! Here is what I think I should do:
solar panel diagram.jpg

Is that correct?

[Mike90250]

I am going to connect two panels in parallels and two in series, thus boosting the voltage to a better level for the charge controller, and reducing the amps on the wire back, but I am not positive how to wire this. Is there a site, or some diagram that would help me with this?

DANGER Will Robinson !

To learn this stuff, you really need to have a basic electricity course. If you just "ape" a sketch of a wireing diagram, and don't see a blatant typo in it, or make your own typo, you can really mess yourself and your gear, up big time.

It's about the same as watching a video once on how to re-line brakes, and then buying the tools and parts. While you may get things apart and back together, if you don't notice you kinked the brake line, you get to learn an expensive mistake the first red light you blast though.

See photo 10 on this site for a good idea of what's needed.

[mikejh]

I am going to connect two panels in parallels and two in series, thus boosting the voltage to a better level for the charge controller, and reducing the amps on the wire back, but I am not positive how to wire this. Is there a site, or some diagram that would help me with this?

[mikejh]

Ok, I think I understand it know. Thank you for your help! It is always very appretiated!

[Sunking]

So (4) S-600s because the bank would be 24V, would have almost as much capacity as (6) S-1590s because they are only 12V? That sounds like a winner if that is correct!

Pretty close, but my eyes are not as good as they use to be, or to be honest I did not look at the specs close enough and assumed the S-600 were 600 AH 6 volt batteries. You are correct they are 6 volt 450 AH batteries.

Point is battery capacity in watt hour = voltage x amp hours. So 12 volt x 1200 amp hours = 14,400 watt hours = 24 volt x 600 amp hours = 48 volts x 300 amp hours.

For example lets say you have 24-2 volt 300 Amp Hour batteries. If you series all 24 cells you have a 48 volt 300 Amp Hour (14,400 watt hours) battery stack. If you arranged them in a 2 x 12 configuration you have a 24 volt 600 AH (14,400 wh) battery stack. Now if you arrange them 4 x 6 configuration you have a 12 volt 1200 AH (14,400 wh) battery stack. All 3 configuration are equal and use the same 24 batteries.

Also note watts = volts x amps. So if you have a 2000 watt inverter the battery needs to deliver 167 amps @ 12 volts, 83 amps @ 24 volts, and 42 amps @ 48 volts.

Understand the relationship and what effect it has?

[mikejh]

So (4) S-600s because the bank would be 24V, would have almost as much capacity as (6) S-1590s because they are only 12V? That sounds like a winner if that is correct!

All I want is to be able to run my 2 frezzers for at lease 4 days with a fully charged set of batteries without destroying the batteries

[Sunking]

don't the S600s only have about 450AHs? Also, I thought they were 6V batteries, which x6 would make a 36V bank.

I looked at the S600s, but ended up getting the 1590s because I wanted more capacity. It is just a shame I didn't know that I should have 24V before I bought them. Live and learn I guess. I will just have to use some really heavy duty wire and get a good fuse.

Capacity = Amp Hours x Voltage.
12 Volts x 1200 Hours = 14,400 watt hours = 24 Volts x 600 Amp Hours. If you sleep in a Holiday Inn you would know that.

Difference is the 24 volt system uses half the current and reduces wiring and heat losses by 400% for a given size wire. 48 volts cuts another 400% in wire and line losses That is why utilities use up to 1,000,000 volts to move electric power around. It takes much smaller less expensive wire with considerable less power losses.

[mikejh]

don't the S600s only have about 450AHs? Also, I thought they were 6V batteries, which x6 would make a 36V bank.

I looked at the S600s, but ended up getting the 1590s because I wanted more capacity. It is just a shame I didn't know that I should have 24V before I bought them. Live and learn I guess. I will just have to use some really heavy duty wire and get a good fuse.

[Sunking]

Fantastic batteries, but you are stuck with 12 volts. A better choice with same capacity is 6 S600 batteries for 24 volts

[mikejh]

I have (6) Rolls surrette S-1590 batteries.

[Sunking]

What kind of and how many batteries do you have?

[mikejh]

Well, I think I am going to bite the bullet and get an OutBack FM80 controller. I was looking at the Instapark controller that I bought, and it is totally false advertised. It isn't even an MPPT, it is just a re-labeled PWM controller.

I am probably going to get it from Wind & Sun, unless you guys know of a better (cheaper) place to get it? Eco Direct has it for a few bucks cheaper, but I have never dealt with them before. Do you know if they are a good company to buy from? (good CS ect?) Thanks.

[Mike90250]

Lets hope both fridges don't kick on at the same time