PV opportunity hot water heating

[tecnodave]

Has anyone tried opportunity hot water with a kid?

This seems doable as the kid can divert a load through the load output using PWM control.

I am going to try this,

880 watts PV in, 70 volt strings
One kid
4 L-16 batteries, 380 ah, 24 volt nom.
600 watt DC water heater element and thermostat, Missouri wind and solar
WBjr and shunt
BTM

Kid mode.  Solar
Load mode: battery,  PWM Divert/auto

This would not be ideal as charge rate for these batts should be a bit higher.

td

[Roy]

Has anyone come up with a solution to flickering lights when utilizing PWM diversion?
I have added a timer and a relay next to the SSR from the aux so I can just turn on the water heater for an hour when the flickering is making me crazy (not ideal).  I am also worried about what this flickering is doing to things like fridge and freezer compressors
I have been making 98% of my domestic hot water this way for almost 2 years now.  It is great and cheaper than going solar thermal.....just that damn flickering!

[russ_drinkwater]

I was going to be slack and just hook up 2-3 x 200 watt panels to the 24 volt 600 watt dc element and leave it run!
No regulator involved just a circuit breaker.
On a 200 liter system I doubt whether it get the water hot enough to vent the system.
Just use trial and error and fine tune it as needed.
Probably said the wrong thing!

[mike90045]

The flicker is likely from the high power load being cycled ON and OFF.   I'll assume the lights are DC ?

[tecnodave]

I have the flicker in all my AC powered led lites but not he ones that run on 24 v.dc not only the diversion does this but the big culprit....   My high power switch mode power amp,   On music peaks it will completely extinguish the AC powered LEDs      Annoying but I love that Carver sound

Note: the DC lites  are : Gold Star RV 1176 bayonet style bulbs found on Amazon. These work on 12-30 volts!  No flicker connected to main 24 volt bus. They fit into standard RV fixtures. They are not round cylinders like most but are built like a paddle with all the LEDs on one side and rotatable in the fixture to aim the lite where needed.  Chinese but way better the run of the mill led bulbs

I have built some fixtures using Home Depot can lite covers.....not the whole can but just the waterproof shower cover for the can lite with an led array mounted behind....only 1" thick!

td