Solar PV - Battery Storage

[russ]

Wind has been around forever - not actually new at all - only the huckster companies trying to sell rooftop units are new.

Before considering wind you need to be sure of the wind resource available to you at YOUR location.

Where I am:
1) 1 km away down on the beach has better wind
2) 1 km farther up at the hill top there is better wind
3) there is a commercial wind farm maybe 10 km away

Where I am a wind turbine would be useless.

All of the turbines worth having are expensive with tall towers - to get up into a decent wind.

[mack22]

Matching Batties and solar panels

I have an idea of a solar generator, could be stored on a small trailer or set up anywhere really. How do you match the panels to the batteries? I'm assuming golf cart batteries would be the best and there at Costco for about $75 a piece. Going to Alibaba solar panels really aren't that over priced. The panels are all kinds of different voltages so how do you match them up? Is there a formula?

[Mike90250]

How do you match the panels to the batteries?

A solar generator uses a stirling engine. Moving parts. A solar PV power instalation is silent and no moving parts.

1) match the batteries to the load. Normal load should only consume 20-30% of the battery capacity daily.

2) charge source (PV) should be about 10-15% of the battery total capacity.

3) an aux stand-by generator is needed, in case of a 4 day storm, that can damage your batteries by over-discharge.

[mack22]

20 to 30%? Why? I mean if you look at a golf cart and it's use, wouldn't that be way more that 20-30%. I'm not trying to be argumentative but if this is true in what you say I can see why this hasn't been done in the past.
If this is the case then a different application needs to be put in place. Any ideas? And if it is all about battery load then matching the different watt solar panel and batteries is irrelevant? You can use whatever and it works fine?
Let me be a little more detailed in what I

[Sunking]

[QUOTE=mack22;12759]20 to 30%? Why? I mean if you look at a golf cart and it's use, wouldn't that be way more that 20-30%. I'm not trying to be argumentative but if this is true in what you say I can see why this hasn't been done in the past.
If this is the case then a different application needs to be put in place. Any ideas? And if it is all about battery load then matching the different watt solar panel and batteries is irrelevant? You can use whatever and it works fine?
Let me be a little more detailed in what I

[mack22]

Thanks Dereck, great info. I can assume you're applying a 'deep cell battery' vs. a High CCR (Cold Cranking Amps) and the same principal applies? http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question219.htm

This paragraph is confusing to me: The battery should have sufficient amp hour capacity to supply needed power during the longest expected period

[Sunking]

Thanks Dereck, great info. I can assume you're applying a 'deep cell battery' vs. a High CCR (Cold Cranking Amps) and the same principal applies? http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question219.htm

Yes a CCA rating tells you immediately it is NOT a deep cycle battery and should not be used in a deep cycle application.

[QUOTE=mack22;12764] This paragraph is confusing to me: The battery should have sufficient amp hour capacity to supply needed power during the longest expected period

[Mike90250]

Cool ! Mr. Sunking never holds back info, when presented with enough data to complete a task.

[mack22]

Awesome job, thanks. I

[russ]

Well put Sunking!

[scheek]

I think I follow your thought.

Alliance makes a converter panel. You can wire the specific circuits you wish to use to it through your main circuit board. You can run those circuits with your battery bank with an inverter or solar panel (if you have enough) or generator. All you have to do is push a circuit button to switch from grid to battery backup, etc. (This is also a good thing if ice storms are frequent in winter)

Maybe this is close to doing something you are trying to achieve.