New member introductions (READ THIS FIRST)

[Powerplay]

Looks like we'll top (or is that bottom)  the -5 today.  Air temp -17.8C battery bank -7.7C.  I insulated the bank but ascribe the higher batt temp to how slowly they loose heat.  Manufacturer says they can take a charge between -10C and 50C.  I'm a lot more worried about the 50C end and I'm planning cooling countermeasures for next summer.  The local app is great for keeping an eye on this.  They will produce current from -40C to 50C so no worries there.  I think the Classic will operate fine from -40C as well.

How did you arrive at end amps = 5?  I have a spreadsheet that calculates all of my compensations including end amps based on AGM of course.  I'm tuning it as I go but it is working really well now.

[Cniemand]

LFP chemistry or those that are pretty close to it are considered full when the amps get pulled back (Absorb is at constant voltage that adjusts the amps to maintain that voltage) to a 0.05C rate. For my 100aH cells that is 5 amps. 180aH cells would be 9 etc. 

[Powerplay]

Thank you.  I should have deduced this from your listed specs.  On AGMs, I'm shooting for temp compensated .01C.  And I'm fine with Midnite not doing the temp comp on End Amps since I'm tweaking this formula a bit as I notice when the Batts go into float.  This is really getting close to this number now days and I'm happy with the result.  I've noticed the absorb time should also be T-comped to longer based on observations.  At 0 degrees C = T-comp +25% and absorb time goes to 2:30 hours from 2:00 hours or a 25% increase at 0.  Pretty cool how it all falls into place.  How sensitive is your battery chemistry to holding in absorb after & below .05C is reached?  AGM are relatively insensitive to this and that's why I can experiment a bit.

[russ_drinkwater]

Hi, I am Russell from the land down under. Living in Queensland inland from Bundaberg.
We have 12.5 kw of grid tie systems and have made some smoke from ergons transformers
Have setup a small stand alone system lately and atm have 8 x 220 watts hyundai panels (12 more panels waiting for roof space), 2 x mid nite classic regs (one hooked up), latronics 3 kw inverter and 4 x L16 trojan batteries.
I am a bit of a dinosaur as far as tech goes so everyone will have to be patient with me. Am more hands on than techno geek.
Have played around with different wind turbine blades and such from Windy Nation when our $ was closer to pariaty with the
green back. All that has stopped now as we are on approx 70cents US.
Just here to learn what I can in case of future world trends and possible lack of grid power.

[Solar trucker]

Hi my name is Walter from Ottawa Canada... I'm a solar enthusiast that lives in a 5th wheel RV in the winter months in Wellton AZ...I've gone through 3 different set ups of Panels and controllers since
adopting solar till I finally have a system that I really like.  4 - Sunpower 327 watt (72 cell) panels...
2 strings of 2 panels combining and feeding the controller at 130 volts (classic 150 on 12VDC).
6 - 6 volt Standard Flooded battery bank for 696 AH....SOON to be replaced with 6 - 2V Lifeline 900 AH
AGM's...Magnum Energy MS2812 Full Sine Wave Inverter and all 12 Lights in RV changed to LED's
inside and out...

[CDN-VT]

That looks Tight  .

[AlfredoVDLC]

Hi all!,

I am Alfredo from Spain, and I am building a house in the countryside that will be solar powered. I joined this forum cos the Midnight Classic cached my attention.

[dannpd]

Hi, I'm Dan and I am a rancher in central Texas. Ive had a solar powered water well for years and now I'm slowly but surely moving towards RE on my house. I've installed a 2K wind turbine and 1.5K of solar. Just posted a couple of videos of my system today.

[aussiejohnny]

G'day.  my name is Johnny and i am from Australia.  Just opened up a box containing my 1st real solar controller, a classic 200 that will be utilized in the large caravan my wife and i live in.  Just starting with a small 400ah 12v lipo set up and 4 x 250 watt panels.  Eventually looking at running up to a 24 volt bank around 800ah and be completely off grid.

Will be a big learning curve for me, have been doing much research and looking forward to setting it all up once i have purchased all the bits i need to complete the system.

Cheers.

[Westbranch]

welcome, start a new thread, probably under

http://kb1uas.com/mnsforum/index.php?board=2.0

so we can discuss your system design..

[CDN-VT]

Hi, I'm Dan and I am a rancher in central Texas. Ive had a solar powered water well for years and now I'm slowly but surely moving towards RE on my house. I've installed a 2K wind turbine and 1.5K of solar. Just posted a couple of videos of my system today.

Dan Post up your links so we all may view !!

VT

[dapago]

Hello to all members. My name is David and I am new on this forum and on solar understanding but I am trying my best to get my head on it. I am European, my first tongue is not English so I apologize if sometimes (or too often) I make stupid English mistakes on my future posts. I live totally Off Grid in a small island in Granada Nicaragua and having a tech coming here for help or repair  is near to impossible. I run a small eco lodge on the island where I am living. I try my best to help the local community living nearby which is my proud.

[CDN-VT]

No worries on the English Folks .
Im English & that's my only tongue & I never seem to get it correct according to my Wife .
David  ,Glad you made it & I have noticed if with the broken english posts , they are still somewhat understood & helped.

VT

[grweldon]

Good day all,

I'm a self-study on PV systems.  Been accumulating components for a couple of years.  Just bought (2) Deka 9C12 batteries yesterday and wired them in series (24V) and connected them to my "Classic 150" that I purchased 2 years ago for a great price.  Charging with (3) 250W Renogy panels also hooked up for the first time yesterday.  I've got things hodge-podged together for the moment just to see it work properly.  Powered my whole barn today with a 1500W Cotek inverter.  This included a computer and moniter, a 100A (output) audio amplifer, a 4' LED tube light with two tubes and a small 3cu.ft. refrigerator.  Didn't balk but I didn't push it either.

I live in central Alabama and it was a filtered sunlight day today.  I saw over 100 volts as input on occasion and the highest I saw my charging amps get up to was 20.  I haven't checked SG on any cells yet but will get to that soon.  I got a good deal on the inverter but I intend to eventually upgrade everything to power a 6KW split-phase inverter charger in my new house to be completely off grid.

Still haven't decided what path to go down for backup charging.  I'm sure I'll pick up some good advise here.  Any tips about anything will be thoroughly considered! Looking forward to it!

Glen

[russ_drinkwater]

I did much the same for years, read as much as possible and researched which products were the best for my $$$$'s.
I went with 24 volt system purely from the shtf situation (always find 2 x 12 volt batteries of pushed and solar batteries have died) and grid outages here.
Solar panels from grid tie installers can be a good source of cheap panels for your standalone.
After seeing what a friend has gone through with smaller cells I could not recommend anybody seriously using 12 volt deep cycle batteries and the like when better are available atm. Save your pennies while you play and get the best high amperage solar batteries you can afford. It is money well spent if you are serious about being offgrid!
Good luck!