Two Classics for Solar - Another for Turbine

[gowen]

Greetings -  I have an off-grid cabin in central British Columbia. So far I have purchased four 240W 24Volt panels for my system but still need a charge controller, inverter and batteries. My spare time is spent reading and viewing solar power systems to aid me with my future system which I plan to complete next summer.

The other day I viewed a friends off-grid system being installed be a contractor. His system has 12 290W 24V panels feeding two Classic controllers to charge a 1300 Ah 24V Rolls battery pack. The input is around 100 VDC. This friend has an old 32 VDC wind turbine that he has used for a number of years that is now out of service with his new solar system. We talked about somehow altering the excitation circuit on the turbine to lower the output voltage to match the new 24 volt system.

After reading about the Classic charge controllers can my friend add a third controller in parallel with the initial two, for the turbine? The turbine has small fly-weights on the blades for speed control. It has a third wire that is connected to a relay used to disable the excitation and zero the output. For stormy weather a hand crank will move the tail fin change the angle of the wind to the blades.

Thanks
Gordon

[TomW]

Gordon;

If I understand what you are saying the answer is yes.

You can actually let the turbine run at higher voltage than the battery bank feeding a Classic and the Classic will match the battery volts. Up to 150 volts or something but closer to battery volts is more efficient, I believe. I have 1 on solar and one on wind feeding one bank so I know you can run multiple Classics on one battery bank. The "Follow Me" function will ensure they are all doing the same thing (float, bulk or equalize) and don't fight each other.

Hope it works out for him.

Tom