Title tells ALL, neighbour came in to his cabin today as he knew his LBD had tripped on his previous visit 3 weeks ago... He has 2 - 230W GT panels and a KID CC and lots of snow on the panels.
AARRG,.... 8.35V consistent on all 4 batteries.
We currently have the 110VAC charger on the bank, 4 12V 'deep cycle ' boat batteries, taking 13.3 to 13.4V @ 15A so when the gas runs out we will see how much we gained...
ADD: up to 13.7 V in hour 1
Once the charger sent > ?12.? Volts to the KID it turned on too, 2.9A 39Watts coming in through the cloud/fog we have today...
Looking through the manual for a possible solution got us thinking about setting the LBD ON at 12.0 V and not have anything attached to the "LOAD" terminals.. see page 33 of Manual
Question: Will the LBD work in this manner , even though there will be 'No Load" to power?
Day 2 recovery: well those batteries came up from 8.3 V to an overnight resting 12.8V
The day started a bit brighter than yesterday and about 10:00 the KID was pumping in 14A.
It's after 16:40 not quite sundown and there is still enough ambient light to give 20W at 13.1V so we will see if there is any gain.. I know my main battery did not make it to ABSORB today from 82% SoC up to 88% with ~ 2 X the panel Watts but I have a fridge on full time ... all his loads are OFF
Snow Rake !!
They were on sale last week from HH
We have 3 units & two were overworked last weeks.
One has a special rubber strip , just to do panels ,
That works at -5C and below , At close to 0 , Back feed & wait for the snow to drop & do a cleanup !
A good designed panel layout & roof is to make sure the snow falls over the gutter!
I couldn't get Pix this year , to busy on the rake / blower/tractors.
VT
EDIT in red
Morning Nigel, problem is they are roof mounted and he is disabled enough not to be able to get up there. Even foolhardy me would not go up, steel roof and 7/12 pitch... ;)
There must have been a parasitic load as the 4 parallel batteries were all within a 0.1V of each other.
Plus there must have been a real heavy snow after an ICE storm that lasted through that cold snap we had in Dec and Jan. We managed to get in 4 weeks ago and I put BESSY the backhoe to work clearing the snow off the road...
and the panels were clear then.... but with the KID only seeing 8.? Volts it would not start up...
So the batteries went maybe ~8 weeks without any input....
Right now watching my system go from 2W to 12W till the sun breaches over the trees :(
I had scrapped off the (say 10" -keep in imperial for all ) when we were real friggin cold , I / we use pruning 3 leggy ladders so were up & out of the way & snow rakes .
Once that was cleared & the sun hit we were melted back to panel (6-12 pitch) then came the wet dumps & a foot ! , but was say just at freezing or close , So I can effect.
Back feed power(at panel voltage output of VOC ) in DC to the correct polarity & give it time , have the CC off . & make sure you know the landing area is keep the Butts & Boobs away . Ya never know when or why .
Clean Up on Roof 3 is needed . Im setting up areas to blow the snow (honda snow blowers) so the trees are out of the way .
Were not going to see less of this .
I haven't mounted my 6' kubota snow thrower in a while , That moves snow & kills things , @ 4'+ It's needed .
VT
Quote from: Westbranch on February 21, 2017, 11:59:40 AM
EDIT in red
and the panels were clear then.... but with the KID only seeing 8.? Volts it would not start up...
So the batteries wnt maybe ~8 weeks without any input....
Right now watching my system go from 2W to 12W till the sun breaches over the trees :(
I have had "ellie " the golf cart , that has a KID , I pull the battery fuse to stop the drain .
If I leave it on & the golf cart is in the garden shed (40X40 garage black when doors shut ) the MNBCM is all yellow red , charged up & pull the fuse on the Battery KID , I get a month at a mid green at 48-49 Vdc .. If I leave the KID battery fuse in , Im 2 days & red.
So 7/12 is not that steep , but your snow is way different than our wet packers .The 6/12 pitch here works on somedays
VT