kiekie1:


Hello,
I have a similar fluke which reads only AC currents .. Isn't your fluke working well ?

Putting them up for sale at affordable price ;

Fluke 321 with pouch bag

Overview:

Fluke 321 and 322 are designed to verify the presence of load current, AC voltage and continuity of circuits, switches, fuses and contacts. These small and rugged clamp meters are ideally suited for current measurements up to 400 A in tight cable compartments. The Fluke 322 also offers DC voltage measurements and has a higher resolution for loads below 40 A.

Price : 10k

Contact ;
Smartcell global services
081-350-31951

babaegun:


@nonoski

Please take a look at the specification for FLEXMAX 80 before you max out on the max. power and voltage specification. Kindly keep us updated with diagrams of your installation. Best of luck

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Although all CCs have some overcurrent protection built in, all. manufacturers recommend to use a sort of external DC Disconnect device aka overcurrent protection aka DC breaker or SLOWBLOW fuse between battery and CC.

Given that your PV Array and CC may be capable of pushing up to 80amps DC into your batteries and/or loads under ideal conditions, I would suggest you use minimum 25mm flex cable or best case 35mm flex between your CC and battery bank. This will help guarantee the cables always run cool and also prevent losses in case you have a long distance between the CC and batteries.

I suggest you move that 100a DC breaker from between the CC and PV array and use it for the CC to battery instead. Your 4500w array set as 3S 5P will be running on average between 80v to 120v under load with max amps you will see on the PV side between 40 to 50amps. Thus you can get by with a 63a DC breaker on the PV side.

There is one small but very important matter to consider when it comes to breaking the CC to battery connection. What happens if for whatever reason the breaker between CC and battery trips while the solar PV breaker is still closed/hot/live? The only Morningstar CC I ever lost was destroyed by just such an occurence and afterwards I started using manual disconnects only. People like Oga DMerciful circumvent this by using 2 pole breakers between the CC and battery - one pole breaks CC to battery while the other pole breaks PV to CC. This way if the battery breaker ever trips, the PV is simultaneously disconnected from the CC. Further upstream, there is yet another DC breaker between the first breaker and the actual PV array and with this you can easily isolate/shut down the PV for maintenance or troubleshooting. This is a clever workaround but may still fail in a scenario where one pole of the breaker e.g the PV side burns and remains hot/live such that the breaker tripping disconnects battery but not the PV to CC connection.

ceaser:


Bro, I'm still temporizing o. Wanna get it all right and be dead sure before i start connecting stuffs.

nonoski:

Yes I know the max wattage for flex max 80 using 48v system is 4000 watts like u pointed out but from what I gathered from this forum is that a 4500 watts system will most likely not do above 75% - 80% (3600w max) from my pv due to inefficiencies.
So I think I will be doing just fine

sinistrian:
Just picked up the Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 from @Ola28. Yes, it's the 60Amp Tristar Mppt and yes, it was the same price.

nonoski:

Yes I know the max wattage for flex max 80 using 48v system is 4000 watts like u pointed out but from what I gathered from this forum is that a 4500 watts system will most likely not do above 75% - 80% (3600w max) from my pv due to inefficiencies.
So I think I will be doing just fine

makavele:


God help you the day a solar flare occurs !!!

babaegun:
...I believe you may experience 100% or better performance on your panels one day.

pranil:


daikin is approximately 10 % more efficient and much quieter - LG has more gimmicks including a phone app ( only for troubleshooting ) Also LG looks more futuratsic with white LED display behind panel while daikin has usual green red blue LED's


I ended up fitting bedrooms with Daikin and Parlour with LG - I have total 4 ac's running from my Ipower inverters

sharks776:


How much?

pranil:

And yes all my bulbs, water pumps fridges etc are maxed out in terms of energy efficiency including switching off automatically on schedule or movement except the Plasma TV which the madam of the house refuses to change

sinistrian:
Just picked up the Morningstar TS-MPPT-60 from @Ola28. Yes, it's the 60Amp Tristar Mppt and yes, it was the same price.

nonoski:
Good day house
In continuation of my last post where I'm trying to add solar panels to my already existing inverter.
Attached below is a schematic diagram of my intended connection.
Total of 15 panels (12 are 300w while 3 are 325w) connected in 3S 5P total 4575w connected to

Midnite Combiner box MNPV6 with a high voltage lightening surge arrestor

Distance from Combiner Box to Cc is 51m so I'm using 16mm2 flex (5AWG)

Outback Flex 80 FM80 MPPT 80 AMP Solar Charge Controller including OutBack Power RTS Remote Temperature Sensor

48 x 400AH battery bank (with ZHC battery equalizer)

3.5kva 48v Exulted Inverter (to be replaced with Must power 5kva)

I will doing all the connections myself, this weekend we will be removing interlocking stone to pass conduit pipes from the PV stand to the building and all other ancillary works.

A few Questions:
Is it necessary I include a DC breaker between the Cc and the battery bank (I already intend to put a 100amps breaker between the Combiner box and Cc)

What size of wire do I use between the CC and the battery bank.

Looking at the attached diagram pls is there anything I missed out just incase

Thank you

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Congratulations Sir and welcome to the club.

With the MorningStar, you will now see clearly that 'charge controller pass charge controller'.

Please come back and give the house your reviews soon and if perchance you have any questions about any aspects e.g. custom programming, please do not hesitate to ask.

I am assuming you will want to monitor your system performance at some point? Instead of buying that TS-M-2 or remote meter with their sickly yellow screen - just get yourself an RJ45 crossover aka network cable and connect directly to your PC - the cable costs under $10 and is also commonly available in Lagos (Computer Village).

Via PC you get access to convenient live monitoring as well as data logs with many parameters of interest conveniently on display.

richmon74:


I usually don't like commenting quickly on this kind of design posts for a couple of reasons. I usually allow others to do so first while I read. One of the reasons is that I don't usually comment is the fact that the actual applications from my experiences might differ very well from the theoretical designs.

Like Barezzi and c0ogumo has calculated for you, sometimes you will see that if you want to follow the actual dos and don'ts according to the theories you won't install solar.

As a man in the field, the truth is your configuration is perfectly ok for the real life practical application. You'll be shocked that you will hardly run your battery bank (which is theoretically incomplete) down to 50% as long as you have that amount of solar panels installed. This config will run off-grid without any stress. Reason being that you'll learn and adjust your load as time goes on.

Now for the question of if you have to use one cc. Just like I said before that if you want to do all that the solar theory says you won't install solar. The manufacturers of the CCs calculates the number of panels the cc can carry by the rated current carrying capacity and that is why Barezzi said you can load up to 15 panels. But the solar standards say you should leave a head room of about 30 to 40 percent on the cc current capacity meaning if you are using an 80A cc the max load on it should be in the region of 3kw as in your design.

In actual application, I have loaded 18 255W solar panels on an Outback FM80 charge controller (theoretically wrong) on more than one installation site and it works effectively. Why? The reason is simple, it is only very few minutes in very few days of the year that the power output from the panels will hit 100% and above (as in the case of Solarworld Panels) and in such cases the cc will simply clip the excess current and no harm is done to no one. Those moments are very few that they are insignificant. For the remaining larger part of the day/year the output power will remain within the region of 80% (that's about 76A) peak which is safe for your CC operating level.

In summary, you can install up to 18 panels on FM80 should you want to cut cost as you said.

Also remember to use professional accessories for all the stages to achieve a high efficiency.

Do not also forget to buy our Professional Solar Mounts (page 79 of this thread)

Hope this helps someone

DUNKA:
Yes I know the max wattage for flex max 80 using 48v system is 4000 watts like u pointed out but from what I gathered from this forum is that a 4500 watts system will most likely not do above 75% - 80% (3600w max) from my pv due to inefficiencies.
So I think I will be doing just fine

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Congratulations Sir and welcome to the club.

With the MorningStar, you will now see clearly that 'charge controller pass charge controller'.

Please come back and give the house your reviews soon and if perchance you have any questions about any aspects e.g. custom programming, please do not hesitate to ask.

I am assuming you will want to monitor your system performance at some point? Instead of buying that TS-M-2 or remote meter with their sickly yellow screen - just get yourself an RJ45 crossover aka network cable and connect directly to your PC - the cable costs under $10 and is also commonly available in Lagos (Computer Village).

Via PC you get access to convenient live monitoring as well as data logs with many parameters of interest conveniently on display.

kiekie1:


Good morning Ceaser,
I didn't mention running all appliances at once ! I run them one at a time even though the inverter can power the microwave-grilller and 1hp split at once , can also power the 1hp ×2 AC , but 1.5hp ×2 triggers overload alarm ! Cheer's

makavele:


Just give it to us anyhow !!!

dejidotun2000:
Hello sir. Do you mind if I send you a mail ?

ceaser:


The links you provided do not appear to put the price and there is no way to place orders from the link. Are these product available on the common online malls (k*nga, J*mia and the likes) where orders can be placed. Please give the info. Thank you.

nonoski:


LOL that's why I'm trying to get the circuit breaker disconnect amperage right so the breaker trips of when too much current passes through it.

ceaser:


Plasma TV na terrible power hugger o. Recently changed LG 42 inch was rated at 600 watts.

Do you also place the fridge on solar comfortably as you do the deep freezer? Someone advised me that it is better to have freezer on solar than a fridge cos the former starts up at more frequent times than freezers do, the compressor thereby drains more stored power from high start up currents. He gave the same arguments for air conditioners placed on solar Inverters. Is this argument very valid in your opinion?

Opinions of other pros in the house are highly welcome.

lexi28:
Mr Pranil, mr Niyi et all.

I read that the axpert and its clones can be stacked. I want to know, will this require them being connected to the same battery bank? Will their outputs still be synchronized and load shared if they were connected to same-voltage but different banks.

Kiekie, Zeestone, makavele and the house...help with info too.

Thanks!

pranil:


Not only Axpert but any inverter which is paralleled requires the same battery bank ( exception is grid-tie inverters running directly from panels)
The same is true if you need multiphase setup
The reason being the battery and AC side is not galvanically isolated and for paralleling the reference -ve ( or +ve) should be same

for axpert you need a parallel kit and have to replace the card inside both inverters.also both have to be connected with datalinks and current sharing cable ( see the ugly cable between two of my inverters )
also, cables from the battery and input-output AC should be identical and preferably similar in distance to allow perfect load sharing

mank1234:
What's the total solar panel wattage connected to this charge controller?

NiyiOmoIyunade:
Two separate PV arrays on two separate MorningStar MPPT 60 CCs

1st PV Array - 3.6kw of Flames 300w Mono Panels - 12pcs about 2 years old

2nd PV Array - 2.97kw of Canadian Solar 330w Mono Panels - 9pcs under 6 months old.

The two PV arrays do essentially the same thing although some days one CC takes the lead and some days the other one does - I have not yet succeeded in getting the two Morningstar CCs to operate in perfect sync despite being connected to thesame battery bank and sharing thesame voltage sense cable. See the two average outputs at boost/early absorb below.

Picture 1 - CC1 - 3.6kw array

Picture 2 - CC2 - 2.97kw array

pranil:


Not only Axpert but any inverter which is paralleled requires the same battery bank ( exception is grid-tie inverters running directly from panels)
The same is true if you need multiphase setup
The reason being the battery and AC side is not galvanically isolated and for paralleling the reference -ve ( or +ve) should be same

for axpert you need a parallel kit and have to replace the card inside both inverters.also both have to be connected with datalinks and current sharing cable ( see the ugly cable between two of my inverters )
also, cables from the battery and input-output AC should be identical and preferably similar in distance to allow perfect load sharing