bigrovar:
So yesterday I finished series of updates I have been carrying out on my system. The upgrades include an additional solar panel (250w) to my 240w+240w+220w array. I made was to replace my crudely put together battery monitor with victron Energy BMV 700 battery monitor. Comes with a shunt and display too.

Hope to do a product review on the BMV soon. (Fantastic product.)
Below are mandatory pictures

harveyspec:


thanks, How much did you get your fangpusun, meter inclusive?

did you import it ?

I can't seem to find where it's being sold online, aliexpress doesnt have it

cooldipo:


Pls we need more contributions to this issue of limit pose by charge controller rating. In my case, I have a 12V inverter set up and a 30A Epever Tracer charger controller with 3 units of 150watt mono panels. The Max Pv input power is 390watt(12volts) 780watt(24volts) for the cc..... I was tempted to add one more panel even though the Maximum Power current is about 8.5A per panel. I wanted one more panel if 150watt for obvious reasons......bountiful harvest on days with less solar radiation which my supplier gave a nod to but my installer here gave me the scare that I run the xtra/over current...... Pls help me out with informed opinion. Thanks

cooldipo:


Pls we need more contributions to this issue of limit pose by charge controller rating. In my case, I have a 12V inverter set up and a 30A Epever Tracer charger controller with 3 units of 150watt mono panels. The Max Pv input power is 390watt(12volts) 780watt(24volts) for the cc..... I was tempted to add one more panel even though the Maximum Power current is about 8.5A per panel. I wanted one more panel if 150watt for obvious reasons......bountiful harvest on days with less solar radiation which my supplier gave a nod to but my installer here gave me the scare that I run the risk of blowing up my cc with the extra/over current...... Pls help me out with informed opinion. Thanks

cooldipo:


Pls we need more contributions to this issue of limit pose by charge controller rating. In my case, I have a 12V inverter set up and a 30A Epever Tracer charger controller with 3 units of 150watt mono panels. The Max Pv input power is 390watt(12volts) 780watt(24volts) for the cc..... I was tempted to add one more panel even though the Maximum Power current is about 8.5A per panel. I wanted one more panel if 150watt for obvious reasons......bountiful harvest on days with less solar radiation which my supplier gave a nod to but my installer here gave me the scare that I run the risk of blowing up my cc with the extra/over current...... Pls help me out with informed opinion. Thanks

Onosy:
Installer do give different prices for installation of a 5kva complete system.
As it stands now I don't even know what the best option, though someone suggested Nickel batteries or FLP batteries

dapsyra:
Yesterday, at sunset, I washed my Solar Panels and was rewarded with a bountiful harvest today.

My harvest increased by 3kwh, from 11.7kwh the previous day to 14.7kwh today. My daily harvest had consistently hovered around 11kwh since January when the harmattan haze took over the skies of Abuja.

If you have not washed your panels recently, please do so without further delays. Your efforts will be pleasantly rewarded by the god of green energy.

JUO:
nothing will happen to your cc. I have used 900w on the same cc on 12v. The only advice I have for you is to modify the cooling system

JUO:
nothing will happen to your cc. I have used 900w on the same cc on 12v. The only advice I have for you is to modify the cooling system

kiekie1:


Yes I concur ! I use above 1600w array on 60a I Tracer mppt for my 24v 1320a batt bank system .... Cheers

efuro:


for sharing your experience, i say thank you !

i love your Tubular batteries too i wish recession should just go to purchase some too. the distance btw battery bank & CC + battery loop seems too long, but you seem to have solve energy loss using rated cables. Nice too!

i admire your monitoring meter and its basic installation. it re-buttress what konnection said earlier that we are like hawks watching over our power solutions.

I am not comfortable with your cables hanging or dangling from your PVs. I hope you don't have domestic goats around your place or else they may practice "head butt" with it or use horn to test their stamina to impress she-goats.

Obimind1:

That being the case, what's the maximum watts someone can use on a 24v system, bcus personally I've always wanted to add more panels to my 1,200 watts array which runs on a 60ah mppt charge controller, but I've been kinda scared to avoid exceeding my cc limit.

dapsyra:
Yesterday, at sunset, I washed my Solar Panels and was rewarded with a bountiful harvest today.

My harvest increased by 3kwh, from 11.7kwh the previous day to 14.7kwh today. My daily harvest had consistently hovered around 11kwh since January when the harmattan haze took over the skies of Abuja.

If you have not washed your panels recently, please do so without further delays. Your efforts will be pleasantly rewarded by the god of green energy.

bigrovar:

Egbon according to your pvoutput page. You are using a mercury MC5048E inverter. How is it serving you. I always thought mercury inverters are all modified wave.

dapsyra:


The Mercury MC5048E is a very rugged pure sinewave inverter rated 48vdc, 5kva (4.2kw).

It was installed on 1/12/15 and I have not had a single issue with it. I live semi off-grid, so the inverter is on duty 24/7.

It has a very good load bearing capability. I have thrown all types of loads at it. Be it resistive, capacitive or inductive load, it bears them all without a hiccup. I have even loaded it up to 4.8kva for 5minutes and it handled well.

I do not use it to charge my batteries, so I don't know how good the charging circuits are.

It has two down sides that I have observed:

1. The Low Battery Voltage disconnect is 40vdc. This represent 100% DOD which will greatly shorten the life of your batteries if you allow them to get that low on many occasions.

2. The High Battery Voltage disconnect is 58vdc. While this value is adequate for SMF Gel and AGM batteries, it is too low to properly charge and equalize Flooded Lead Acid batteries.

kiekie1:


Contact me for same Fangpuson mppt 60a (meter inclusive) & Fangpuson mppt 80a . Thanks

GeorgeD1:


javid4me,
this is really impressive. i'm glad you finally summoned the courage to take the plunge and
you have done it in such grand style!
i also like that you decided to throw in a wind turbine into the mix. it's an area i would like to
take a little more than passing interest in.
congratulations! a fitting way to end an eventful year, if you ask me.
i also like your fully illustrated schematic diagram. it gives me an impression of a mind with attention
to details.

two things to note however:

1. your may consider splitting your solar array into two strings and having two charge controllers.
i know chris81964 already touched on this and i saw your response but no matter how much you
try to equalize the voltages of both sets of panels, you will keep having one set of voltage being
higher than the other, tilt leg or no tilt leg. this will be more apparent in the mornings when the sun
is just beginning to rise and in the evenings when the sun is setting. the money you think you're
going to save now by avoiding the purchase of an extra cc may well be lost many times over in the
next 25 yrs when you keep losing valuable power as a result of this discrepancy of panel voltage.

2. you may also consider getting a stand alone charge controller for your wind turbine. i'm a bit
doubtful of the reliability and efficiency of the inbuilt cc of that wind turbine. depending on the model
you want to buy it may not be anything sophisticated or expensive. just a simple solid state cc like
the tristar prostar:

http://www.morningstarcorp.com/products/prostar/

for a 600w turbine, you don't need a 30a or 45a cc besides a stand alone type will be more flexible
for adjustments.

just my two cents.

DMerciful:
See your dashboard .
I wash my small array weekly...my area is untarred and as such dusty...my array is 1000w....can be cleaned under 8mins

Javid4me:


Thanks Oga GeordeD1 and chris81964 for the advice.
I got the upgrade done whilst i was out of town and there is significant difference that astounded me when i got back & queried the system.
Look at the readings on CC1 and CC2 .
Knowledge, wisdom and experience. I duff my OGAs.

Thanks to Solar Depot. Expedient delivery.
1 Midnite Solar Combiner Box with fuses
1 Midnite Solar DC SPD
1 Outback 80Amp CC

Awaiting Windmill CC, until then the breaker is off.
Panel cleaning does really help. Dust trying to deny me my harvest from God. Na lie.

Kindly review pictures and as usual your comments, criticism and queries are very welcome

Best wishes to everyone.

Does anyone have Outback Hub & Mate/Mate3?

harveyspec:
Saw this on coscharis website, they are the licensed distributor of mercury product

does it mean the the mercury tubular battery is of 2 variant? Acid & Non Acid type

does it also imply that the tubular without Acid is Maintenance free?

CC

Dmerciful
kiekie1
GeorgeD1
bigrovar
JUO
efuro

DMerciful:
Can you post a link of the website so we can check it out?

mank1234:
Does anyone has link for a cheaper DC surge arrester 120V, 125V or 150V? The midnite series is damn too costly.

DMerciful:
Glad to see the ever supporting gurus giving advice and coaching...thumbs up!
Now to the next frontier....remote monitoring.

Gurus in the house kindly recommend a 'cheap' modem/router with remote management or Dynamic DNS that I can use to monitor my renewable energy system from anywhere over the internet. The router is the remaining piece for me to go live

Once again appreciate ur help as u respond...thanks