On the grid at this time but within 2-3 years plans are to find a nice piece of property with enough water flowing for a micro hydro system. :)
Right now getting ready to put a Radian online in UPS mode. Since micro hydro will not require a monster battery bank down the road I'm going with a modest 225AH @48V to feed the Radian and keep the fridge, furnace, lights, and PC/network going for several hours before the genny has to start up.
I went with 8 Trojan T105-RE 6 volt batts. The cost difference between those and 8 L16-REB's was enough to get a decent 1KW PV array so I have at least some RE to offset the grid/genny etc.
With our mostly cloudy conditions here the 1KW PV won't do much but it's a start.
Primary backup genny is not just a generator. I have a Miller Legend Welder/Generator. 225Amps AC/DC welder and 5KW 120/240 AC genset @ 1860RPM. VERY quiet and powered by what else? An 18HP Onan twin setup for duel fuel, Propane/gasoline.
Some before and after pics of the Miller. It was in sad shape when I got it and since been rebuilt top to bottom front to back.
A few n more before pics.
Nice rats nest... :)
Turning the corner.
Done! Total time...45 minutes + 1 case of beer....not buying that? OK, start to finish about 1 week. :)
Now it's time to get the "silent" genny online. The nice thing about the smaller T105's is they are easy to unload and place. ;D
Quote from: onanparts on October 26, 2012, 02:00:34 AM
Done! Total time...45 minutes + 1 case of beer....not buying that? OK, start to finish about 1 week. :)
WoW !! Nice cleanup !!
I like the winding part of the generator !!
boB
The AC power side actually has 3 windings. A pair of 120V windings and a 150V winding that is tied into the voltage regulator to keep that output tight under heavy changing load conditions.
I knew I had a schematic someplace....The surge rating of this sucker is 10KW! I've spanked it hard on more than one occasion with a small portable air compressor, 1.5 real HP, not the "start winding HP" and it did not even burp.
Question concerning my planned use of welding cable for the interconnects etc. US made, 1/0 600V double insulated. I have a nice big spool of about 200' of it. Purchased it back when the cost was .58 cents per foot. :) Plated solid copper terminals. I've always been a crimp and solder nut, I prefer the electrical & mechanical connection.
Thoughts? I know some inspectors go either way with welding cable. The stuff is certainly designed for abuse/conditions it will never be subject to in an RE system.
Just did some checking and am certain what I have is not the type W per UL 1650 cable.
The Beast is alive! Finally found the time to get the Radian located where I wanted it. Some serious relocation of "stuff" was required to make it happen. The Radian and battery bank are in their permanent site but before anyone raises "two" eyebrows on the rats nest of battery inter connects, for the record that is a temporary setup.
I had a box full of quick disconnects I am using until my 2/0 cables are finished. I'm halfway done making them now but wanted to get the radian up and running in "test" mode and play with it under limited load conditions. The only loads put on it are using an Onan resistive load bank, 9 glow cones at 660W ea. that can be switched on/off in any combination.
The Beast is a good name for it! No way it was getting mounted to the wall without anybody else around but me....until Mr. dolly with a winch put that sucker in it's place! :)
Batts in place and "rats nest" connected. Radian wall hanger plate bolted in.
It's mounted on the wall...with a little help.
GSLC/epanel in place and a quick look with the covers on. It was 3AM at that point so a good nights rest was in order before wiring up the AC & DC to find out if any magic smoke would escape.
3KW load and the magic smoke stayed inside.
Spanked it with a 50% plus load for 30 minutes and still no magic smoke escaped. :) Onan load bank. Not as pretty as 3-500Z's glowing in the dark but on a cold December night the extra heat was nice......
Now to finish up the 2/0 interconnect cables and put some full output loads on this thing!
The Radian got some test run time today connected to the actual loads I want it to power when the grid fails. Since it was a bit chilly outside, around 39F and the battery bank was not much higher at about 50F it was a good chance to see how the system performs under below average conditions.
Furnace/burner running nearly continuous, two PC's, fridge, chest freezer, 46" TV, all lighting on that would be burning with the grid up etc. Spectro Acoustics audio gear blasting out my favorite tunes... :)
After a 3 hour test the battery bank was at 56% SOC. Considering the temps I'm OK with that. With an insulated battery box and a few more LED lights scattered around I could live with maybe 4-5 hours run time at 30-40% SOC. The oil furnace blower normally runs 24/7/365. It draws 6 amps AC, 10 amps when the burner kicks in.
Should be interesting to compare battery run times with it on continuous and then set only to cycle with the burner. 60 amp DC surge on start up for about 2 seconds....test...test...test.
What is that web page ? Is that what the Mate 3 serves up for system status ??
boB
Quote from: boB on December 29, 2012, 01:56:43 AM
What is that web page ? Is that what the Mate 3 serves up for system status ??
boB
Yup. Time for a 3rd party app that does a much better job with the data stream. I've seen several that look interesting. This one for example:
http://www.jeperez.com/monitor-solar-outback/
For those of you cringing at my "temporary" rats nest of interconnects I finally found the time today to do it right. 2/0 welding cable with liquid tape at the terminals and heat shrink to double seal them up. :) The temp install had bad voltage drop under load. Spanked it with a 5K load test for over an hour and it never dropped below 48.6 volts. Same test with rats nest it was dropping down to 44-45 volts. ::)
Now that the battery bank is properly setup it's time for some PV and a Classic!
Quote from: onanparts on June 14, 2013, 01:54:51 AM
Now that the battery bank is properly setup it's time for some PV and a Classic!
Be sure to wipe the foam off your mustache after sipping !!!
No sipping around here! First fill the pint glass half way with some Guinness, then pour Baileys in a shot glass half way and top off with Fireball or Jamison, carefully drop the shot glass in the Guinness and then it all goes down the hatch in one fast but smooth move. Ahhhhhh! Sippin schmippin!
Quote from: onanparts on June 15, 2013, 09:46:28 AM
No sipping around here! First fill the pint glass half way with some Guinness, then pour Baileys in a shot glass half way and top off with Fireball or Jamison, carefully drop the shot glass in the Guinness and then it all goes down the hatch in one fast but smooth move. Ahhhhhh! Sippin schmippin!
Sacrilege.. :o
Guinness needs to be filling the pint glass (straight sided, no mug handles) and allowed to settle until black with a creamy head
then you drink it, no sipping but not downed in gulps. Certainly NEVER drop or float foreign objects in it or contaminate it with
stuff. It needs to be savoured and enjoyed.
As for Baileys its either for the women (no sexist comment intended) or only imbibed in desperation when the single malt has all evaporated. And Jamieson, although a decent blended Irish Whiskey should be kept for visitors or if you are a generous type then
the best Irish blended Black Bushmills is served to them
In any case the single malt Irish Green Bushmills whiskey or a scotch whisky is top shelf only, rarely shared.
dgd
Bah,
Straight corn.
mebbe cut with some crick water for those who can't handle their licker.
It's lonesome away from your kindred and all,
By the campfire at night where the wild dingos call,
But there's nothing so lonesome, so dull or so drear,
Than to stand in the bar of a pub with no beer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJW19nlzb3Q
48.8 volts under a 3KW+ load. Much better than the 44 volts under the same load with a rats nest of interconnects! ::) Next load test will be at a full 8KW output.
45.3 volts with an 8.2KW load and 44.8 volts with almost a 9KW load. With typical loads well under 3KW the battery bank I have now should be fine....for now.. :)
Although the Miller welder/generator I have is a keeper and not too bad on the fuel consumption, about 1/2 GPH at 50% load it will not be able to handle the full charging output of 115 Amps DC from the Radian when I need or want to do a bulk charge. Extended cloudy days etc.
The Radian draws about 25-28 amps AC to get the full rated charging output. The Miller is rated for 5KW/21 Amps at 240V. A new addition to the RE system is a nice Onan 12.5KW genset good for 52 Amps at 240V and 104 Amps at 120V. With the 12.5KW unit I can easily bulk charge the battery bank and still have 25 + Amps available for house loads, heat, lights, fridge etc.
It's in need of some fresh paint but mechanically and electrically it's in great shape. On the plus side the unit is rated full output at 12.5KW 1PH and 3PH with multiple voltage configurations from 120V all the way up to 480V.
It has a Tri Fuel carb so I can feed it NG, LPG or Gasoline. Inline 4cyl air cooled engine. Built like a tank!
Just under a 50% load test in this video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dx59I_Gz38
So much time so little to do......I wish! :)
Finally getting around to pulling the trigger on some PV panels. looking at 6 SolarWorld SW 270 mono's to get me going. Two strings of three in series is the plan with a MNKID.
MNKID sizing tool indicates it will be just right for that array with a little room to spare, barely.
Opinions on those panels? Keep in mind I'm still on the grid with zero RE sources at the moment and want to start pulling some plugs while it's easy and painless. Baby steps!
A small step yesterday gets me very close to my PC network easily being 100% RE powered, especially on cloudy days, we get a few of those around here.... ;D One desktop PC shut down and replaced with an Asus Netbook. The desktop PC and APC Smart UPS it was plugged into were eating up 145 watts.
Netbook is pulling 10 watts with battery at 100% and AC adapter plugged in. The other PC will see a similar change but since I'm not giving up the 26" monitor it will be drawing around 40 watts total. Still not bad going from just North of 350 watts down to 50 or less!