Batteries wont hold Voltage...

[Sunking]

If I got robbed, so be it. Why you would take pleasure in it is beyond me.

I take no pleasure in it. I just wonder why you would cough up $30K on something you know nothing about or did any homework to protect yourself. To go off-grid requires you to know a lot about batteries and power, or else you end up where you are at now. Screwed.

Your system failed for multiple reasons"

Grossly undersized.
Complete mismatched of equipment not made to do what you demand.
Using battery power for heating, cooling, cooking, and hot water is a huge No No.

You got away with it during the long summer days. When winter short days came, you lost 60% of your generation capacity Coupled by demanding 5 times more energy that your panels and batteries can deliver. You basically hopped in a car with a 1/4 tank of gas ham sandwich, and no money or credit cards for a 2000 mile road trip. You then drove 100 miles, ran out of gas and blame us for it.

Got news for you. You own the problem and is yours to fix.

[littleharbor]

So do you ,in fact, have 6000 watts of solar panels charging a 24 volt battery through one 60 amp charge controller? That doesn't sound possible as you have a potential 214 + amps available If it is in fact that's what you have, your controller is limiting your charging output to a mere 60 amps.

You mentioned it yourself you don't know much about this whole solar thing and that's what you paid the "pros" for. You really should be a little less argumentative and a little more willing to listen to what these very knowledgeable people are telling you. Plus they aren't charging you a dime for their time and their vast knowledge.

[Mike90250]

Ok. This is starting to make sense somewhat.
I can tell you for certain I was never using up 95% of the batteries. They were dropped to around 50% only a few times. I generally started recharging them at 60-70%.
And yes, he did not configure the absorb time. He mentioned that "mistake" yesterday. But again, that doesnt explain the batteries falling off a cliff instantly. They went from holding their voltage to not holding their voltage immediately after the autostart was installed. Not days later.

Take your SOC meter and put duct tape over it , It is worthless. All of them are worthless, except the amps in/out totalizers. But still, refrigerators are sold in Alaska.

I'm going by your loads and hours. Your batteries lasted valiantly , right till the misconfigured (missing) Absorb cycle, which should have lasted 3 hours,
put the nail in their coffin . Without absorb, they never recharged much at all, Without recharge, they sulfate. End of battery, Then, a fully charged battery
that collapses rapidly under load, is the classic example of sulphated,

[Jabroni]

Yep seen the Link and told me what I already know. It uses voltage to determine SOC.It works like any other controller with SOC whistle. It reads the battery voltage then spits out a number made from a table like this below. completely useless on a working system.

You couldve explained that a while back instead of being a dik. U automatically assume I know everything about solar that you do.

Furthermore, if the controller was using voltage to determine (fraudulent) SOC then why isnt my SOC dropping as fast as my voltage?

Maybe Im getting false voltage readings on the controller?

[Jabroni]

Let me make it clear to all members as they will get a buzz out of this.Jarbon is not going to like this and clearly demonstrates he got his body shook and his money took.

You ave 6000 watts of panels operating into a 24 volt battery. Who wantsa to tell him what is drastically wrong with his design He is not going to like to hear his 6000 watt panel has been reduced to 1440 watts max.

Who wants to tell him he got robed?

If I got robbed, so be it. Why you would take pleasure in it is beyond me.

not sure if this matters, but I have (8) 6v batteries. Not a single 24v battery.

And if my panels only put out 1440w max, then how am I able to put 3000watt loads on the system during the day and the system remain in float?

[Jabroni]

Of other note:

When the installer had installed the geni auto start, he'd accidentally flipped the generator voltage switch to 120v instead of the 120/240 setting. And as a result, any time the generator kicked on the breaker on the geni flipped. This occurred maybe 4 or 5 times. I couldnt figure out the problem. I got the installer on the phone that night and after troubleshooting we figured out that was the issue.

It's not possible that incident couldve been the root issue right?

[Sunking]

Again, Im not using voltage to determine SOC. Did u not see the link I already posted for you?

Here is the exact model I have. It has a SOC function on it. http://www.magnum-dimensions.com/sit...Router_5x7.jpg

Yep seen the Link and told me what I already know. It uses voltage to determine SOC.It works like any other controller with SOC whistle. It reads the battery voltage then spits out a number made from a table like this below. completely useless on a working system.

[Sunking]

I believe I have a single 60 amp charge controller. I think.

Let me make it clear to all members as they will get a buzz out of this.Jarbon is not going to like this and clearly demonstrates he got his body shook and his money took.

You ave 6000 watts of panels operating into a 24 volt battery. Who wantsa to tell him what is drastically wrong with his design He is not going to like to hear his 6000 watt panel has been reduced to 1440 watts max.

Who wants to tell him he got robed?

[Jabroni]

One more tip for you, You cannot determine the battery SOC from voltage. Only a hydrometer can do that. The voltage falling off a cliff is because the batteries are fully discharged and cannot take a charge. You cannot fix dead.

Again, Im not using voltage to determine SOC. Did u not see the link I already posted for you?

Here is the exact model I have. It has a SOC function on it. http://www.magnum-dimensions.com/sit...Router_5x7.jpg

[Sunking]

One more tip for you, You cannot determine the battery SOC from voltage. Only a hydrometer can do that. The voltage falling off a cliff is because the batteries are fully discharged and cannot take a charge. You cannot fix dead.

[Jabroni]

We see it al the time, sometime multiple times a day. Just not usually $30,000 mistakes.

Whoever designed this has no clue what they were doing, or had any idea what you wanted to do.

Example one. with a 6000 wat panel system tells all of us hear you should be running 48 volt battery @ 1250 AH battery. FWIW a 48 volt 1250 AH battery is equal to a 24 volt 2500 AH battery or 3 times more than you have now. Secondly even if you had that much battery could not do what you are doing. At 6000 watts into a 24 volt battery would require 250 amp controller which there is no such thing and would require three very expensive 80 amp charge controllers. Do you have 3 80 amp charge controllers?

You are using more power than a large home would use connected to the grid. No heat sources like heat for the house, cooking or hot water should ever use Solar PV or battery. That is what they make Propane and natural gas for unless you are connected to limitless dirt cheap AC power from the utility. All you can do know is run the generator full time.

I believe I have a single 60 amp charge controller. I think.

The company I bought the system had a very clear idea of what I was looking to do. I brought in a spec sheet with every possible electrical unit my facility would be using, the amps/watts/volts load, etc so they could properly design the system. Originally it only had 2000w worth of solar panels but I wanted the ability to charge the system quicker and charge well even on cloudy days so I later added the additional 4000w of panels. The system's controller is maxed out at that 6000w of panels (I am planning to add another 4k worth of inverter and 2k worth of panels so I can run up to 8000w during a normal summer day on float)

My shop is a industrial facility and they knew that going in. Be that as it may, watts are watts are they not? Whether I use them for a heater or for a water pump or a microwave?

And for the upteenth time, the system worked fine as intended until the day the auto-start was installed. That is where the problem lies. How/why I have no idea. That's why I'm here now asking.

[Sunking]

All of those auto-start functions are on the same controller. It's redundant on purpose. And it didnt cost any more or less.

Being that you dont have anything helpful to add to this conversation, I'd appreciate it if you left this thread alone from here on out. You obviously know a lot about solar setups, but you've done very little in the way of addressing the issue I'm having with my setup.

Have it your way silly. No one can fix your problem. I can say anything I want, and I will not charge you a dime. You are going to learn a very expensive lesson you will never forget.

[Sunking]

And I wanted to check with some experts or experienced people in this field before having it removed. I was hoping maybe someone had seen this issue before.

We see it al the time, sometime multiple times a day. Just not usually $30,000 mistakes.

Whoever designed this has no clue what they were doing, or had any idea what you wanted to do.

Example one. with a 6000 wat panel system tells all of us hear you should be running 48 volt battery @ 1250 AH battery. FWIW a 48 volt 1250 AH battery is equal to a 24 volt 2500 AH battery or 3 times more than you have now. Secondly even if you had that much battery could not do what you are doing. At 6000 watts into a 24 volt battery would require 250 amp controller which there is no such thing and would require three very expensive 80 amp charge controllers. Do you have 3 80 amp charge controllers?

You are using more power than a large home would use connected to the grid. No heat sources like heat for the house, cooking or hot water should ever use Solar PV or battery. That is what they make Propane and natural gas for unless you are connected to limitless dirt cheap AC power from the utility. All you can do know is run the generator full time.

[Jabroni]

I can give you 30,000 reasons.

1 Money.
2. More Money............................................. .................................................. ...............................

All of those auto-start functions are on the same controller. It's redundant on purpose. And it didnt cost any more or less.

Being that you dont have anything helpful to add to this conversation, I'd appreciate it if you left this thread alone from here on out. You obviously know a lot about solar setups, but you've done very little in the way of addressing the issue I'm having with my setup.

[Sunking]

why would that tell me something is wrong?

I can give you 30,000 reasons.

1 Money.
2. More Money............................................. .................................................. ...............................