Off grid cabin set up

[Mike90250]

Thank you! That is what I will do.
One more quick question, can anyone here see an issue of running the galvanized steel frame of the cabin as the earth/negative of the 12v system to keep wiring costs down?

I feel it would be a mistake, unless the panels are welded together, galvi steel merely bolted together, is NOT a reliable conductor.

Also, if the panels are in series, you need to insure there is never any shade or leaves/debris shading the cells

In parallel, you are able to aim them in different angles SE, S, SW and spread power harvest over a wider part of the day, or aim them all due south.

[Lloyds]

Thanks mate!

Edit, I should add I'm in Australia! So I will be pointing the panels north away from trees etc in a field.

[Justin B.]

I connected my "ground" to ground rod I pounded into the ground...

[Lloyds]

OK. I roughly set everything up today just to test it out. (Roughly being the key word here, my final set up will be done properly)

3 panels hooked in series saw ~100vdc 58w? at the charge controller. The charge controller is charging the battery as it was a little depleted. Its charging at 14.5vdc - 3.9Amps? and once the battery (wet cell) is full the CC is set to float at 13.8vdc

does this all seem OK to you fellas?

FWIW its a perfect day here, 28*C and not a cloud in the sky.

Cheers.

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[Lloyds]

Update.

These are the readings now after a couple of hours of running.
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[Lloyds]

Anyone!?

[PNPmacnab]

Sorry, but I have to laugh after seeing that. I have a makebluesky which this is a clone of. I have a 60V array and a 12V battery. Mine does this crazy tracking stuff too. .So often that I had to build circuit that disconnected the panels for 5 seconds any time the panel voltage dropped below 40V for more than three minutes. That immediately raises the panel voltage back to normal and boosts the power over 40%. MPPT sounds great in theory, but the controller still has to figure out what the power point is. That takes time so they do little tricks in software. You must have some extreme shading on the panels. Panels have a bypass diode about every 9V and in low light levels it can think the tracking is in a far different range. Every controller works great on sunny days. You might also have a really bad connector. Try that disconnect thing and see if everything jumps back to normal. MPPT is not the greatest thing in the world.

[thastinger]

The voltage looks about right for 3 250w panels in series. The watts and amps "output" will depend on the state of the battery. If you had several of those batteries and they were 50% charged, you should see significantly higher "output" on the display.

[Lloyds]

I thought that may be the case, its only going to put out the amps the battery asks for? Thanks for the replies!