been reading for 2 whole days, even on the bogg....

[s-thang]

and yet still need to resolve my question.. and really pardon my dumbness, there are no pills yet for this

my current setup is as follows:

2x12V 180W Panels
50A C-Controller (non mppt)
2 x 102AH Royal batteries
1500W inverter (24V)

the whole system is series by the way (panels and batts)
so my issue is..
I have rigged emergency lights in and out of the house...
lets say worst case scenario i keep all of them on (150W total since they are LED types) for 10 hours = 1.5KW (per day)

I have had the system working fine in the first month or so, but off late I have noticed extreme battery temps...
basically they are FUBAR (Fd up beyond all repairs) cannot hold charge etc..

so could this be that I was overcharging them (Amp wise?)
or do I install more batteries (same type (basically 4 x 102A/H units new?)
perhaps smaller inverter?

the load is only used in cases of power outages (once a week or so)

I bow humbly to the masters opinnions... and guidance.
thanks
S

[thastinger]

The inverter is way to big for the battery bank.
Are your loads really 1.5Kwh? That figure is the most important and will determine your system design. Post the actual load demand and we can go from there but if it is really 1.5Kwh, you're going to have to start over.
FWIW, the system in my sig is designed for 2Kwh/day.

[Amy@altE]

Are the panels really 12V? What is the Voc on them? Around 22V or 38V?

If your loads are 150W, the 1500W inverter really is overkill, 10x bigger than you need. But I don't think that's causing the problem.

1500Wh / 24V = 62.5Ah. 62.5Ah /50% Depth of Discharge = 125Ah battery bank (not accounting for temperature compensation). So you've been regularly going well below 50% DoD, around 60% DoD with your 102Ah battery bank. Not good, but for once a week for a month, I don't see how that would destroy the batteries.

Are you sure the charge controller can handle the voltage of the panels? My guess is the panels are not 12V panels, but 20V panels, and wiring them in series caused damage to the charge controller, which is passing power through to the batteries unchecked, causing over charging. That's at least my working theory for now.

[Wy_White_Wolf]

Are the batteries a sealed battery? If so, do you have the Charge Controller set for a sealed battery?

WWW

[s-thang]

Are the panels really 12V? What is the Voc on them? Around 22V or 38V?

If your loads are 150W, the 1500W inverter really is overkill, 10x bigger than you need. But I don't think that's causing the problem.

1500Wh / 24V = 62.5Ah. 62.5Ah /50% Depth of Discharge = 125Ah battery bank (not accounting for temperature compensation). So you've been regularly going well below 50% DoD, around 60% DoD with your 102Ah battery bank. Not good, but for once a week for a month, I don't see how that would destroy the batteries.

Are you sure the charge controller can handle the voltage of the panels? My guess is the panels are not 12V panels, but 20V panels, and wiring them in series caused damage to the charge controller, which is passing power through to the batteries unchecked, causing over charging. That's at least my working theory for now.

Hi all
Voc is around 20v...
The reason for the bigger inverter is for future expansion.
The c controller is an ecco unit. And rated at 50A according to calcs should be ok.. the specs read max voltage of 55V.
What i am thinking of is we did encounter a 2 - 3 day stint where we had no power from 5pm to 10pm.. and i used it then.
150w (All the lights accumulated for ten hours usage ...thats how i got to 1500w/h..
Apologies for not elaborating..must be my afrikaans to english translation.

Currently i am saving to go mppt and increase panels and attery bank accordingly. This current setup is my foot in the door of the solar world.
Thank u all very much for your feedback.. much appreciated

[thastinger]

Starter system or not, you do get that it is critical to design your system based off of loads, worst time of year for sun hours and a couple days of cloudy skies correct?

What generator and charger are you using to EQ the battery bank? What is the SG of the batteries?

[s-thang]

Starter system or not, you do get that it is critical to design your system based off of loads, worst time of year for sun hours and a couple days of cloudy skies correct?

What generator and charger are you using to EQ the battery bank? What is the SG of the batteries?

Indeed I am fully with you thastinger, like said, I have a generator wired into the house and this can be disconnected with a single plug (much like those used in motorhomes, this was done by an electrician)

when I moved into the house, I did see there was an extra light in the corner of each room, the previous owner installed it and had all of them running off a UPS in an outroom.

since I do not always want to run the gennie (especially at night) the idea was to go solar route
so currently the house has the outside lights and inside lights, and adding all of them up amounts to 150W (all cfl and LED combination)

I previously used a single 102AH delkor battery with a simple 250W inverter (12V) and was managing fine....
now it seems the 24V setup, something is not right... could it be the C Controller (it is a chinese thing i think Ecco 50AMP 12V-24V CHARGE CONTROLLERHumanization LCD DisplayAutomatic Detection)
all was purchased from www.zultek.co.za)
the reason I looked at thecurrent setup is because of information available to me at the current time, bearing in mind this is before i discovered this wonderful site


generator is a honda version (5.5) and the inverter is doubled as a charger (Mr Power unit MP-1600), the battery is a maintenance free type, how would I be able to measure the specific gravity?
with the new batteries, they each measure over 12 V with my fluke....

thx for bearing with me.

[thastinger]

Your inverter change over may be part of your problem. Your old 250W inverter was operating much more efficiently than the 1500W one will on a 150W load. Also check the standby power draw on the 1500w INVERTER.

[s-thang]

Your inverter change over may be part of your problem. Your old 250W inverter was operating much more efficiently than the 1500W one will on a 150W load. Also check the standby power draw on the 1500w INVERTER.

that makes sense Thank you!
looking at the specs (japanese) it does state >76% efficiency and <1.5% self consumption.. also states %W per hour will be wasted, even if nothing is connected.... wow!!!

just had a look at the panel V and 35V @ 2A - 5A is displaying...
will have a better reading (i just connected the panels back on to the CController) later today
I just had a look and there is not much in terms of smaller W 24V converters....

[Amy@altE]

What generator and charger are you using to EQ the battery bank? What is the SG of the batteries?

I googled the batteries, they are sealed, not flooded.

[thastinger]

that makes sense Thank you!
looking at the specs (japanese) it does state >76% efficiency and <1.5% self consumption.. also states %W per hour will be wasted, even if nothing is connected.... wow!!!

just had a look at the panel V and 35V @ 2A - 5A is displaying...
will have a better reading (i just connected the panels back on to the CController) later today
I just had a look and there is not much in terms of smaller W 24V converters....

So that inverter consumes 23W at all times, that is a huge draw on your size system and to get your 1500W of power for the lights, you have to draw 2600W from the battery bank.
I'd be looking to add a much more efficient inverter (>92%) with a "sleep mode" on it.

[s-thang]

So that inverter consumes 23W at all times, that is a huge draw on your size system and to get your 1500W of power for the lights, you have to draw 2600W from the battery bank.
I'd be looking to add a much more efficient inverter (>92%) with a "sleep mode" on it.

Most def!
Thx so much for assistance and guidance.
Trust me for a newb it helps stax...