24 Hours Of Solar (1 Viewer)

funflair

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Well only while the sun is out.

Talking to John @Don Quixote at the fix it about solar computers and how much we can harnes he suggested I post a thread on it so here goes.

We have 320 watts of solar panels and a Votronic MPPT controller that is also set up to run the fridge on 12 volts when there is spare capacity. We arrived at Stratford show on Monday and at 5:30 pm I read the solar computer thingy and noted the readings, after a nice sunny day yesterday and using the inverter for the usual microwave, coffee machine, hair dryer etc I read the solar computer thingy again at about 7:30 pm by which time in just over the 24 hour period we had made 90ah of power, i will add that as the batteries were never flat enough to absorbe this much power it was the fridge that was using it, but it shows what is available, peak amps is around 20.

I will keep an eye on it for the rest of the week and report back.

Martin
 

Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
Martin, thank you for this. I hope it will give members a better understanding of solar.

Over the same period in the same place ( parked a few meters away from you ) I produced 28 amps: 1 x 120watts panel / MPPT controller and 3 x 110 amp batteries.
On Monday night did not use TV, but did charge phones x 2 and laptop as well as running iBoost. Tuesday night had everything on drawing 5 amps per hour for 5 hours around 5pm on.
This morning batteries reading 12.98volts and solar only producing 2.8 watts ( this is peak ) as will go down to .5amp at times. So in my case if I'm lucky by teatime today I might have replaced 20 amps from my 1 x solar panel. First thing I will do on returning home later this year is add another panel to the MH.
In your case with so much power being produced your batteries will be fully charged, but in my case they will only be "topping up" as cannot produce enough solar amps to replace what I take out unless we get another day like Tuesday were I was getting 7.5 amps for 4/5 hours at peak and I might be lucky.

Will report back here how batteries are at end of the week here.

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DP+JAY

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We were at Southport last weekend
The weather was mixed (sunshine&showers ) We have 160w of panels which produced between 0 & 3.5 amps ( depending on weather & demand ). Every day the batteries reached 14.2v before evening & usually by lunchtime
 
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I'm close to installing my pair of 150w panels and will be naturally curious to see what I can make per day.

I don't think my controller has the facility to tell me what I make in a 24hr period, just an instaneous reading; do you get your daily output from your controller, or is the 90ah recorded on something else? I'm guessing the "solar computer thingy" ?
Another toy to buy perhaps!

Be good if you could please provide a little more info' Martin:)

Thanks, David
 

Don Quixote

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I fitted a Victron BMV-600. This tells me everything I need to know about my system.

This shows:

Battery voltage: this readout is useful to make a rough estimation of the battery’s state-of-charge ( battery voltage is another subject ). A 12 V battery is considered empty when it cannot maintain a voltage of 10.5 V under load conditions. Excessive voltage drops for a charged battery when under heavy load can also indicate that the battery capacity is insufficient. A battery that is discharged to 12.2volts or less is on the way to being destroyed beyond the point where it WILL NOT recover and hold it's charge. Some people are lucky and with a "smart charger" can recover the battery before damage is permanent, but remember discharge a battery down to 12.2volts to many times and it is DEAD.
Current: this represents the actual current flowing in amps to or out of the battery ( works with CE ). Allows me to see what the B2B or solar charger is giving me amp wise into the batteries.
CE: Consumed Energy: this displays the amount of AH consumed from the battery/ batteries. A fully charged battery sets this readout to 0.0 Ah (synchronized system). If a current of 12 A is drawn from the battery for a period of 3hours, this readout will show –36.0 Ah. I know at the end of the day what I have taken out of the batteries. The next day when solar is working hard I can see the amps taken out reducing to 0.0 on a good day.
SOC: state-of-charge: this is the best way to monitor the actual state of the battery. This readout represents the current amount of energy left in the battery. A fully charged battery will be indicated by a value of 100.0%. A fully discharged battery will be indicated by a value of 0.0%.
TTG: Time-to-go: this is an estimation of how long the battery can support the present load; until it needs recharging.

The CE is the one I watch as this tells me what is drawing the amps in the MH. I know now exactly what amps each bit of kit draws in my MH.

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funflair

funflair

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Hi David @jac-in-a-box i think John's @Don Quixote system is quite a bit more sophisticated than ours.

Ours is a Votronic solar computer and simply plugs into the Votronic regulator with a cat5 type plug, it tells you volts on the battery it is connected to amps that the regulator is putting in and it keep a running total of amp hours and KW hours, if you want a 24 hour period you just remember or write down the reading.

I will post our next 24 hour period in the morning but it will be considerably less as the sun has been a bit shy today at Stratford, the batteries are still full but the difference will be that the fridge has done more time on gas.

Martin
 

SMB

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Well only while the sun is out.

Talking to John @Don Quixote at the fix it about solar computers and how much we can harnes he suggested I post a thread on it so here goes.

We have 320 watts of solar panels and a Votronic MPPT controller that is also set up to run the fridge on 12 volts when there is spare capacity. We arrived at Stratford show on Monday and at 5:30 pm I read the solar computer thingy and noted the readings, after a nice sunny day yesterday and using the inverter for the usual microwave, coffee machine, hair dryer etc I read the solar computer thingy again at about 7:30 pm by which time in just over the 24 hour period we had made 90ah of power, i will add that as the batteries were never flat enough to absorbe this much power it was the fridge that was using it, but it shows what is available, peak amps is around 20.

I will keep an eye on it for the rest of the week and report back.

Martin

I'm interested about the excess power being used to power the fridge and I'm wondering if I could do the same with my system. I have 230w of solar panels, 4 x 110A batteries and the Ctek smart pass / dual B2B charger fitted, anyone out there help?
 
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Bear in mind when reading voltages the batteries are on charge. Battery voltage is only indicative of charge level when the battery has been disconnected (from everything) and allowed to settle for a hour or so. A 12v lead-acid battery can never attain a terminal voltage (off charge) of over 13 volts - it will in fact fully charged be under 13v.

Impressive stuff nevertheless - just shows what a decent solar set-up is capable of. :)

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funflair

funflair

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I know @Techno100 built himself something to do this but he is a bit too clever for me, I just bought a Solar controller with the AES function built into it and then just used a diode to make it switch on the alternator D+ terminal.

Martin
 
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SMB

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I will have to look into it as it would be handy when I use aires and the less time I spend trying to work out how to use the GPL pumps the better, thanks Martin (y)
 
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I recently posted that we managed 12 days on solar with a 100 watt panel and a 110 Ah battery but we had the fridge on gas. Fridge only, a 6 kg bottle can last up to four weeks.

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Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
I recently posted that we managed 12 days on solar with a 100 watt panel and a 110 Ah battery but we had the fridge on gas. Fridge only, a 6 kg bottle can last up to four weeks.

What you failed to add was what you were / are running from the 110amp battery. I have no doubt with the setup you have that 12 days would be fine, however I doubt that you were / are running TV, Sat dish, Sky Box, iBoost system, charging phone or phones, charging laptop or iPad, running the water pump for shower every night for 2 people and having the heating on...... etc etc.
The reason I put it this way is because these days, that is what many MH owners have running for 5/6 hours every night. There is NO WAY a 110amp hour battery WILL cover this PERIOD.
 

Techno

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Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
I recently posted that we managed 12 days on solar with a 100 watt panel and a 110 Ah battery but we had the fridge on gas. Fridge only, a 6 kg bottle can last up to four weeks.
Your fridge takes power from your battery, all be it less than an amp until you open the door when the light comes on ( around 1amp ), but still drains the power.
 

vwalan

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i run 6x 80wt panels through two pwm regs . have for years , to 600amp of batteries .
in winter powers my 240v fridge in the truck. or a under counter fridge freezer . depends which i take . plus tv computers etc through an inverter .
in summer i run an extension lead into the house run a under counter fridge and a tall freezer
plus do other things with the leccy like hoover or computer.
in late sept oct . i dont power the house . just let it look after the truck leisure side .
i cant say what it puts in or takes out . but works . as been for about 12 years now .
like stan says too busy to sit watching meters .
 

vwalan

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i forgot to add i go south to spainor maroc in winter. and use a twintub washing machine through the inverter while away as well.
i think using the truck solar in the house saves about 40p a day.in summer .

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Don Q and funflair, Martin; thanks for your replies. Having a look at the same and similar items that Don Q use's - bit over my head without doing some more homework. Probably best to get my panels set-up and go from there.

My controller, the same as Techno Andy use's, has a cat5 / RJ socket, but sadly no indication in the instructions for its use....Andy?
 
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funflair

funflair

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OK guys, next update for 24 hour period ending Thursday morning.

Yesterday was not so sunny but we managed 54ah, OK it's well down on the nice sunny days 90ah but still enough to keep our batteries full and a bit left over. Batteries last night at 11:30 were 13 volts (GEL batteries).

Martin
 

Techno

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My controller, the same as Techno Andy use's, has a cat5 / RJ socket, but sadly no indication in the instructions for its use....Andy?
It's for messing with the software linked to a PC not really for the end user.

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Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
Update 24 hour period ending Thursday morning:
Yesterday sun what sun...... only got 18.5 amps ALL day.....
Amps drawn 24 hour period 19amps
Batteries were reading 12.7 at 23.30hrs last night. ( 3 x 110amp Sealed Calcium )
Solar panel: 120watts
 
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funflair

funflair

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Update 24 hour period ending Thursday morning:
Yesterday sun what sun...... only got 18.5 amps ALL day.....
Amps drawn 24 hour period 19amps
Batteries were reading 12.7 at 23.30hrs last night. ( 3 x 110amp Sealed Calcium )
Solar panel: 120watts

Hi John

There will come a point where you don't get power from your panel because you don't need it, if you drew off 19amps and recharged 18.5amps and were fully charged to start there is not much more you could do, I only get more at times because it spills to the fridge when the batteries are full.

Martin
 

Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
Martin, that had not crossed my mind, I will have to look at this fridge charging idea as I hate wasting power. Thanks

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JJ

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I lived off-site, in my van, fulltime, in the UK (365 days a year) with no solar or generator.

Then I got an 80 watt solar panel from Sun and Wind (in the green field at Glastonbury) and was able to have the lights on longer and listen to music.

I am a lucky bloke 'cos I can enjoy life quite well without out a microwave, large screen telly or hairdryer.

Of course I have a genny to fire up my small oven for my Fray Bentos pies and pop up toaster.

(Now have six solar panels but four are being taken off the de commissioned Black Beauty and will be divided between my big Hymer, Frankie's little Hymer and the QMJ "power station")

JJ :cool:
 

SMB

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I lived off-site, in my van, fulltime, in the UK (365 days a year) with no solar or generator.

Then I got an 80 watt solar panel from Sun and Wind (in the green field at Glastonbury) and was able to have the lights on longer and listen to music.

I am a lucky bloke 'cos I can enjoy life quite well without out a microwave, large screen telly or hairdryer.

Of course I have a genny to fire up my small oven for my Fray Bentos pies and pop up toaster.

(Now have six solar panels but four are being taken off the de commissioned Black Beauty and will be divided between my big Hymer, Frankie's little Hymer and the QMJ "power station")

JJ :cool:

Funnily enough I don't need one of these either :crying:
 
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funflair

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Morning all, I will make this my last update unless the weather changes dramatically as then it may become interesting again.

Yesterday was again a nice day and we got a predictable 80ah in the 24 hour period, we were not in the van much yesterday or last night so again the fridge will have been using the power.

Martin

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Don Quixote

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Not long enough, but a little common sense helps..........
Likewise Martin got 26amps in yesterday and only took out 12amps as was out most of the day. Batteries reading 12.82volts at 23:45hrs last night. Do hope the sun shows it's face today.
 
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And from a simpletons perspective, just down the same row, same sun etc but no fancy diagnostics

I used to think we needed hook up, based on my experiences of flat cab batteries I still have some learning to do

But, today started with beautiful blue skies, now 90% cloud cover

Yesterday I watched TV for a few hours, had laptop on charge plus phone charger, lap top and TV plus some lights show I am taking up to 6A out of the leisure battery on my main controller, (I am not sure if this is net loss as the solar is not connected to this controller) didn't look at finish voltage last night, but by 09:00 this morning (Friday) leisure battery back to 13.4V (Gel) cab 13.0V, solar giving 6.6A output even now cloudy

I think my solar panel is 120W but that is based on memory so could be anywhere from 80 - 150 :D

We don't have an inverter, but it is my next acquisition, technically I do have one because I bought Haggers old one, but never fitted it (had it fitted) way above my abilities, not sure if that will then encourage more power consumption or make what we do now more efficient:)

edit - just had Martin round, talked about solar and he has now explained how my solar controller works, I am not generating 6A, Martin looked visibly shaken at the thought that my little system could generate so much :LOL::LOL:, turns out I was reading total A's produced since reset and the 6648 is Ahrs not mA as I thought. But we are producing a fairly credible 3.3A when the sun pops out :)

Thanks Martin, I am again slightly wiser, just don't ask me questions on it later :D
 
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funflair

funflair

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And from a simpletons perspective, just down the same row, same sun etc but no fancy diagnostics

I used to think we needed hook up, based on my experiences of flat cab batteries I still have some learning to do

But, today started with beautiful blue skies, now 90% cloud cover

Yesterday I watched TV for a few hours, had laptop on charge plus phone charger, lap top and TV plus some lights show I am taking up to 6A out of the leisure battery on my main controller, (I am not sure if this is net loss as the solar is not connected to this controller) didn't look at finish voltage last night, but by 09:00 this morning (Friday) leisure battery back to 13.4V (Gel) cab 13.0V, solar giving 6.6A output even now cloudy

I think my solar panel is 120W but that is based on memory so could be anywhere from 80 - 150 :D

We don't have an inverter, but it is my next acquisition, technically I do have one because I bought Haggers old one, but never fitted it (had it fitted) way above my abilities, not sure if that will then encourage more power consumption or make what we do now more efficient:)

Hi David

Inverter question first, it can only really make you use more power from the 12 volt side unless you don't ever use it(y) even if you charge your portable electronic toys from the inverter it would not be as efficient as using 12 volts direct, but it might stop you flattening the cab battery:LOL::LOL:.

Having just looked at your solar monitor I would suggest that you take a reading of your total ah supplied and then check 24 hours later. Then you can update us tomorrow.

Martin

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