New solar system

[wpowokal]

Time to share my new system.
Consists of 4Kw of BP solar panels feeding two Outback FLEX max 60 MPPT , the battery bank is 48V of Century Yuasa 4v batteries 1320 amp hour
The inverter is a Selectronic SP PRO 7.5Kw @ 25degC 6Kw @ 50deg C, need a computer to program it, can make your toast in the morning schedule reticulation, is grid interactive (no grid) starts the generator when it needs to actually it does everything but assure me that I am smarter than it.  

It supplies our new house, which we have yet to move into, there is no wind turbine yet, the panels are rigid mounted, one of the installers told me that tracking is a wives tail, needless to say I did not bother to educate him. he and his mate could not even get the panels lined up in a straight line.

The back up generator is a 27Kva 3 phase Perkins motor Stamford generator, OK a bit big for the job but I own it. If it gets used enough to glaze up the cylinders then it's a Sunday afternoon project to overhaul the cylinders, so simple on Perkins.

Until we start living in the house I don't know how well it will go. it ties into the Fruit packing shed system (yes Tom fruity allan), basically I don't know where the most generation will be needed yet. There are serious efficiency considerations to take into account with the link which is  not what I expected, transfer capacity is 3+Kw.

Interesting first post only captured one pic, worked fine before this board went live, maybe it was because I put ten pics in (the max), anyway enjoy

regards Allan

[Sr WiNdTeCh]

WOW, someday I'll be there....    Excellent pictures and nice setup!

[dnix71]

The SunCycle AS series claim to be better batteries than the Yuasa's. Did you look at those or was this a package deal? Batteries are the real expense in a setup like this if you aren't careful about discharge and maintenance.

http://www.planetarypower.com.au/solar_batteries.htm

[wpowokal]

It was a package deal , to get the gov. subsidy I had to have an expert design and install, thus the non tracking panels. I will be up for new batteries at my Fruit packing shed soon (existing bank get the keys to the door this year) a smaller bank but will aim a little higher as it will be my money and me doing it.

allan

[BruceDownunder]

Nice work and new home ,Allan.

 What a lovely view out to the ocean you will have ,I see you are putting a fence around to keep the Roo's out of the vege patch??


 allways like your posts ,,hope you are all well that way ,will catch up someday.

Bruce..

[hayfarmer]

sweet,nice job.got along way to go to catch up someday

[ghurd]

Only 4KW?  Wow!

"There are serious efficiency considerations to take into account with the link"?
Meaning line losses with 3+Kw?
G-

[wpowokal]

G the losses are across the transformers, at 3 Kw the cable loss is minimal to nil, suffice to say if there is surplus power at either end then losses are not so important.

Probably I should not have mentioned the link but it is a factor I need to take into consideration when deciding where I place future generation, or indeed possibly relocate existing generation.

The 4 Kw of solar will only be used to it's fullest if we load schedule and I get the balance with the packing shed system as good as possible, at this stage placing a wind turbine on top of the hill ie near the new system is not necessary, although it is a better site than where the existing units are placed.

I am sure I will locate at least one there as the site (some 250M from system yes another problem) has great exposure to SE winds overnight in Summer a time when I need maximum generation to run the cool room. The exposure is to all directions except north, we only get north winds preceding rain in early winter when generally there is still good solar incoming. Oh and a small one near the house so I can see it.

I was only thinking today that it would be interesting to document the evolution of my system, although when I retired from 37 years of making "mains" power I knew I did not want to be dependent on the grid, but I did not have much of an understanding of the journey I was undertaking.

regards Allan

[wpowokal]

The pic of the batteries was during the installation, we are in the process of fully lining the room to keep the dust out and insulation on the two outside walls. The fuse block lying on top of the batteries goes in the battery positive and is the point of last resort disconnect, to disconnect at that point without first disconnecting the incoming sources would potentially expose the inverter to excessively high voltages magic smoke escapes type voltages.

Allan

[richhagen]

Well, it looks pretty good.  You probably were given a list of options from the provider to choose from.  I wish I had the space for something like that, but it is urban where I am, and my panels are on the roof.  I looked at grid tying, but my conclusion was that the hurdles would be more trouble than my limited sun exposure was worth.  I can run in LBX mode on my Xantrex inverter, which will allow me to switch some appliances back and forth automatically as power is available.  Have fun down south there.  Rich

[wpowokal]

Bruce ocean views west, or a small part of it.

[Junkie]

Wow nice array!   

[ruddycrazy]

G'day Allan,
               Nice setup mate and the new house does look great, anyway my mags are officially on the slow boat from China and once they get here I'll started on my 24 volt genny and get it working and tested then I'll start on your 48 volt one. I'll be able to do a test run here by combining my 2 24volt arrays together for 48 volts and do it when i've discharged them. Then I'll be able to see how the 48 volt one goes charging them. If all goes well I'll be bringing it over later in the year.

Cheers Bryan

[wpowokal]

Looking forward to the results Bryan, I thought the trip was now or never? Apparently the house warming is the beginning of November.

allan

[willib]

Very nice Allen
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sorry the drool caused my hands to slip on the keyboard
william

[wpowokal]

OK we have been in the house for two weeks now, our average usage has been 9.09 Kw AC per day, now this is quite a lot so where have we used it.

We have a 52 inch plasma TV nearly 500 watts, now I would never have purchased one, too much of a scrooge, but we won it at our local pub so it's a big consumer. We have a dishwasher that is used daily, two computers used occasionally, water in house by a small Grundfoss pump and garden water by a larger pump. Lights are mostly compact fluros, we make our own bread, all in all a bit more than I would have hoped but still within the 4 Kw of solar panels capacity.

The generator did cut in one morning on low battery voltage because the resident blond started dishwasher/washing machine etc before the sun was high enough to be useful, I let it run because it need exercising anyway.

I will be erecting a wind turbine up here, probably I will move the conversion up here with a new set of blades, or a new unit or two.

allan

[TomW]

The generator did cut in one morning on low battery voltage because the resident blond started dishwasher/washing machine etc before the sun was high enough to be useful, I let it run because it need exercising anyway.

allan

A smart man knows how to pick his battles. It is all about risks / benefits.

Congratulations on that bit of insight.

Nice setup.

Tom

[wpowokal]

10Kwh/day keeps us within the top 15% of the batteries, so that part is good, if I read the manual for the Outback Flex max 60's they have an output that could be used to switch a load when the controller has spare solar power available. Allan is thinking automatic transfer of power between the two systems, relay to contactor to switch the transformer in, the transformer steps the voltage up to 750V and it is transformed down again to 240v at the other end about 650 meters.

Has anybody used this function?

The weather station has moved with us, a bit OTP  but works, and the new lawn has been mowed it's a new lawn variety called cape soft large leaves, it dies off in summer so that saves on water.

allan

PS we actually had rain last night a whole 18.3mm

[wpowokal]

OK we have been in our new house for a month now and I am pleased to say have our daily consumption down to 7-7.5 Kw h/day, I suspect that is as good as it gets but well within the systems ability to supply. I enabled the inverters state of charge function and it shows we are staying within the top 10% each day, I also lowered the generator auto cut in on 'low volts' from 48 to 47 volts as it sometimes cut in when breakfast was on the cook.

 I have decided to move the conversion up here as it will be happy on a 48V system, new blades are necessary, placing it on a tilting 3 leg tower will allow me to place it where it will have good exposure to most of my useful winds, it will be on a 25' (7.6m) tower so as not to throw a shadow over the solar panels at this time of year as the sun is very low in the northern sky. It is currently on my 3 leg 40' (12m) tower that the Dunlite should be on, picking up two new blades for that unit on Friday ( I bent two of the four by not tying off the pull up cable before letting it fly)


That is how it should look.

allan

[wpowokal]

OK 46 days of data now available from the new system, and I don't know if this will work but I am trying to post two graphs of usage etc. The first shows power in inclusive of diesel generator input, just the way I have collected the data, the biggest blip in the middle was a long weekend when this system ran the cool room to keep the fruit over until the next market. There were 5 times when I or the inverter started the generator, I have modified the start voltage to a more reasonable 47V this is load variable (smart inverter).

We have passed mid winter here and so far not too bad, it is rare for us to have more than two consecutive days without sun shine and I am still learning the system. Our mid winter sun is a long way north and the panels are fixed but have coped well, our greatest power usage is mid summer when we normally run the cool room in Feb-April, but the sun is in a much more favorable position then. Mid summer the sun is behind the panels but with 12 plus hours of good sun each day it should be no problem.

Basically the batteries are staying above 90% charged each day with the occasional dip to 85% on two consecutive days of low sunshine.

The second graph is % of power used that comes direct from the solar panels, a measure of how well we are managing our loads. OK they loaded up reverse but you can tell which is witch.


Allan
 power stats2.pdf (113.09 kB - downloaded 206 times.) power stats.pdf (70.69 kB - downloaded 201 times.)

[aypz]

While the world talks no end about solar PV, solar CSP as a technology is quite an ignored technology, though I guess it deserves equal attention. While the parabolic trough is by far the most popular, dish sterling and power tower are gaining acceptance as well. Which of the CSP technologies do you think has the best chance of being the leader in 5 years from now?


LINK REMOVED: DON'T DROP COMMERCIAL LINKS, EVEN ON-TOPIC, IN YOUR FIRST FEW POSTS OR YOU'LL GET DELETED OR BANNED

[wdyasq]

While the world talks no end about solar PV, solar CSP as a technology is quite an ignored technology,

And will continue being ignored if folks don't qualify enough of an acronym for anyone to even have a clue to research it.

Ron