Apartment Solar in Ohio

Started by Shade, July 14, 2019, 08:54:10 PM

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Shade

my retirement village apartment solar setup. i used all UL approved items to sweet talk the manager to let me do this. owners do not know yet :)

midnight solar kid
10 gauge THHN wire to breakers and to battery
8 gauge for solar panels

baby big box 30A breakers

KRIËGER 4000 Watt 12V Power Inverter modified
will buy UPS for computers and tv

LightCatcherSolar 4 of LCS 100 Watt 12 Volt Polycrystalline Solar Panel
using 3 till i get more batteries

NPP NP12-100 A 12V 100Ah battery
need more $$ for 2 more. box will hold 3



Shade

limited space for panels 9.00 to 4.00 i get good sun without shading.
left side wall get early morning sun. after some time ill ask to use that space.

Shade

still need setting for wizbang jr

ClassicCrazy

Nice you got to put up some solar.
Why would you want ups for your TV ?
I would suggest a smaller sine wave inverter to run your TV and computer - Samlex has some smaller watt ones. The reason being the smaller inverter probably uses a lot less power when idling and is probably more efficient in use if closer matched to the loads. So maybe a 600 watt inverter ? .
Also note on the batteries - it is good to have them the same age and type so they are matched - so if you wait too long to add some more that isn't so good.  Also tough to get good  power equalization on too many parallel batteries . Maybe consider if you get another battery put two in series and to make 24v and get a Samlex 24v inverter is an option. You would have to series your PV too . I think that would work .
What setting are you waiting on for your Whizbang or did you mean you haven't set it up ? Should work by just changing shunt from internal to external or something like that - been awhile since I set up a Kid.
Your setup is fine - just some suggestions ! Good job getting that setup in your apartment - your lights won't ever go out .

Larry
system 1
Classic 150 , 5s3p  Kyocera 135watt , 12s Soneil 2v 540amp lead crystal for 24v pack , Outback 3524 inverter
system 2
 5s 135w Kyocero , 3s3p 270w Kyocera  to Classic 150 ,   8s Kyocera 225w to Hawkes Bay Jakiper 48v 15kwh LiFePO4 , Outback VFX 3648 inverter
system 3
KID / Brat portable

Shade

Quote from: ClassicCrazy on July 14, 2019, 09:35:17 PM
Nice you got to put up some solar.
Why would you want ups for your TV ?
I would suggest a smaller sine wave inverter to run your TV and computer - Samlex has some smaller watt ones. The reason being the smaller inverter probably uses a lot less power when idling and is probably more efficient in use if closer matched to the loads. So maybe a 600 watt inverter ? .
Also note on the batteries - it is good to have them the same age and type so they are matched - so if you wait too long to add some more that isn't so good.  Also tough to get good  power equalization on too many parallel batteries . Maybe consider if you get another battery put two in series and to make 24v and get a Samlex 24v inverter is an option. You would have to series your PV too . I think that would work .
What setting are you waiting on for your Whizbang or did you mean you haven't set it up ? Should work by just changing shunt from internal to external or something like that - been awhile since I set up a Kid.
Your setup is fine - just some suggestions ! Good job getting that setup in your apartment - your lights won't ever go out .

Larry

next month can buy 2 more batteries.
wizbang jr is installed  i need setting from NPP batteries.
smaller inverter is an option.
id love a bigger 24v system but money and space limited. i did not want to get greedy and they say no to solar. this is more of a back up for me.
this has taken a very long time to buy these items. had a stroke and lost everything.  im happy to have have solar up and running.

ClassicCrazy

Hey - great job getting what you have set up. Let us know if you want any help with anything.
According to what I look up for your battery
20 amps max charge current
Absorb 14.5 v
2 hours absorb time
ending amps -I can't tell from the chart fro your battery - from other agm battery info on second link looks like 6 amp for ending amps
Float 13.5 v
-3 mv for temperature compensation .
If you are going to be shallow cycling the battery - not taking too much out you probably want to set up skip days .
https://www.omnitron.cz/download/datasheet/NP12-100Ah%20NPP.pdf
https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-GEL-and-AGM-Batteries-EN.pdf

What do you think ?  Maybe someone else can give some input if I got that ending amps right.

Larry

system 1
Classic 150 , 5s3p  Kyocera 135watt , 12s Soneil 2v 540amp lead crystal for 24v pack , Outback 3524 inverter
system 2
 5s 135w Kyocero , 3s3p 270w Kyocera  to Classic 150 ,   8s Kyocera 225w to Hawkes Bay Jakiper 48v 15kwh LiFePO4 , Outback VFX 3648 inverter
system 3
KID / Brat portable

Shade

Quote from: ClassicCrazy on July 14, 2019, 11:51:37 PM
Hey - great job getting what you have set up. Let us know if you want any help with anything.
According to what I look up for your battery
20 amps max charge current
Absorb 14.5 v
2 hours absorb time
ending amps -I can't tell from the chart fro your battery - from other agm battery info on second link looks like 6 amp for ending amps
Float 13.5 v
-3 mv for temperature compensation .
If you are going to be shallow cycling the battery - not taking too much out you probably want to set up skip days .
https://www.omnitron.cz/download/datasheet/NP12-100Ah%20NPP.pdf
https://www.victronenergy.com/upload/documents/Datasheet-GEL-and-AGM-Batteries-EN.pdf

What do you think ?  Maybe someone else can give some input if I got that ending amps right.

Larry

booklet i got with battery
float 13.6 - 13.7   set at 13.6
(cycle use ) absorb 14.6 - 15.0   set at 14.6
2 hour absorb time
below 15c or above 35c -3mv or -4mv   set at 3mv   was thinking this was wizbang jr setting like how do i get % from -3mv  :)

set set 6 amp for ending amps
wizbang
100ah
94% effiency
1.0 % per degree C

Shade

sun up now
soc 100%  104ah remaining
would i raise % in wizbang jr since i have 100ah battery  ???

ClassicCrazy

nice they gave you that info with the battery . And I am glad I was close to right reading their data sheet !
You need to enter -3 mv for temp comp setting - not  +3  . Not sure if you meant  that is what you put in.
Leave the default Whizbang 1% per deg C . You would tweak the SOC by changing the Efficiency%

The SOC percent is calculated from the other settings you put in like the AH capacity and the Efficiency and it factors in the temp too .
So when you use power it will subtract and the SOC % will go down . Next day the SOC% will climb to 100% - it will take more amps to fill it up than you took out because it uses the Efficiency setting  for that.
So if you are watching you want to see the SOC get to 100% about the same time it goes from Absorb to Float. Change the Efficiency or the Ending Amps to tweak it to get it close to matching. But you should probably have the SOC 80% so you know what is going on.
You may want to do that skip days if you aren't taking much  power out of the battery - at least for flooded lead acid - might not matter for sealed lead acid AGM - you will have to research that or maybe someone else knows. But if you aren't taking much out it probably goes quickly to ending amps and goes to Float so that is okay I think.
Did you set the maximum charging amps to 20 a ? That was the other setting you need to put in. If  you get more batteries you can raise that up.

Larry
system 1
Classic 150 , 5s3p  Kyocera 135watt , 12s Soneil 2v 540amp lead crystal for 24v pack , Outback 3524 inverter
system 2
 5s 135w Kyocero , 3s3p 270w Kyocera  to Classic 150 ,   8s Kyocera 225w to Hawkes Bay Jakiper 48v 15kwh LiFePO4 , Outback VFX 3648 inverter
system 3
KID / Brat portable

Shade

Quote from: ClassicCrazy on July 15, 2019, 11:54:29 AM
nice they gave you that info with the battery . And I am glad I was close to right reading their data sheet !
You need to enter -3 mv for temp comp setting - not  +3  . Not sure if you meant  that is what you put in.
Leave the default Whizbang 1% per deg C . You would tweak the SOC by changing the Efficiency%

The SOC percent is calculated from the other settings you put in like the AH capacity and the Efficiency and it factors in the temp too .
So when you use power it will subtract and the SOC % will go down . Next day the SOC% will climb to 100% - it will take more amps to fill it up than you took out because it uses the Efficiency setting  for that.
So if you are watching you want to see the SOC get to 100% about the same time it goes from Absorb to Float. Change the Efficiency or the Ending Amps to tweak it to get it close to matching. But you should probably have the SOC 80% so you know what is going on.
You may want to do that skip days if you aren't taking much  power out of the battery - at least for flooded lead acid - might not matter for sealed lead acid AGM - you will have to research that or maybe someone else knows. But if you aren't taking much out it probably goes quickly to ending amps and goes to Float so that is okay I think.
Did you set the maximum charging amps to 20 a ? That was the other setting you need to put in. If  you get more batteries you can raise that up.

Larry

-3.0 mv temp comp
SOC AT 80%   82% 85AH remaining. have tortoise light on think its 100 watt still in float battery 13.6v 128w
battery - absorb - amp limit 20a
skip a day setting were do i find it ?? dont understand this one

thanks for helping

ClassicCrazy

Not sure where that skip day setting is on the Kid - maybe only on the Classic but not sure.
If you are taking 20% out of the battery  you are okay and don't need it.

When you first set up SOC it can take a day or so to start showing the correct stuff - When it fills up to 100% and goes to float then it resets the AH from full  to zero .

Larry
system 1
Classic 150 , 5s3p  Kyocera 135watt , 12s Soneil 2v 540amp lead crystal for 24v pack , Outback 3524 inverter
system 2
 5s 135w Kyocero , 3s3p 270w Kyocera  to Classic 150 ,   8s Kyocera 225w to Hawkes Bay Jakiper 48v 15kwh LiFePO4 , Outback VFX 3648 inverter
system 3
KID / Brat portable