Make output limit dependent

[Westbranch]

Binkino, re: your signature 1.21GW? sorry - not on my PV

please tell us how many panels you have as this is a commercial amount of power, if you have 1.2 Gw you should be selling into the grid....!!!

[SuperTed]

Hi Westbranch
I believe it is a reference to time travel in "Back to the Future"
Cheers

[Westbranch]

OK, never saw it, even now nor 25 years ago...

[binkino]

Hi Westbranch
I believe it is a reference to time travel in "Back to the Future"
Cheers

that's right, just a funny ref.




If someone don't know BTTF ...
We just celebrated the 30th Anniv. in Cinema and with friends

GREAT SCOTT!!!

[Jacotenente]

The AGMs are still going. Now three years old. Next bank will be lithium.
Still trying to "finish" the install. Combiner, SPD, AXS, and tidy up all still sitting in the corner.

This picture gave me a few ideas for my system....thanks!

[binkino]

Hi again

Will there be a way to limit only the charging current?

[Cniemand]

Lead acid has so many peculiarities to it! I am glad I bypassed them and went with LiFePo4. Simple charging. No input limits. Well, It would take a pretty damn big array to put in 3C for my 48v bank of 100aH.  300 amps incoming. Hmm. That would be fun over a wire, huh?

[Vic]

Lead acid has so many peculiarities to it! I am glad I bypassed them    ...   

Actually,  in a fairly balanced system,  LA batteries are robust,  forgiving and predictable.   That is probably why they are still so widely used for more than 150 years.

Am glad that others are adopting other battery technologies ...   but  there are a number of acceptable ways to store energy.

Am very happy with the LA batteries in use here.   FWIW,   Vic

[Cniemand]

Hello, Vic.

Not saying there is anything inherently bad about using Pb. Well. It's had it day for 150 years because that was what was available. However, tech has really advanced since just 2008 with the release of Lithium Prismatics.

IMHO I see Pb cells being nearly entirely phased out for other chemistries that are more "plug and play". Chemistries that do not have typical maintainance issues. Sizing ratios of battery bank aH to PV watts available. Sulphation. Off-gasing. Inability to charge at higher rates. Conversion efficiencies. Temperature compensation/capacity losses.

At this point it is merely a financial point. They simply cost more. Although they make fiscal sense over a long run as most things do in the Solar World. I.E. Hedging bets against runaway energy costs.

I am happy to see the Tesla Giga Factory coming along. It alone should push the drop of Lithium prices to something very affordable. Much akin to China Flooding the market in 2007/8 with Solar cells.



P.S. Wasn't my intent to be boastful or come across as snobbery. Lead Acid works. No doubt. I'm only speaking of good, better, best.

[zoneblue]

What do we know abou LFP recylclability?

[ClassicCrazy]

Here is an article on recycling - from 4 years ago .
Sounds like at least at that time it is still a work in progress. But perhaps for larger cells like would be used in solar and the manufacturer and exact chemistry is known that might make it easier to recycle.

http://powerelectronics.com/markets/uncertain-future-recycling-electric-vehicle-batteries

[Cniemand]

ZoneBLue :

Recycling always falls to an economic interest. When the metals inside a battery are worth it to recycle them and make a profit companies spring up to do just that.

The lithium isn't spent inside a LFP cell. Nor is the Copper and the aluminum.

I suspect we will have very little choice in the upcoming years about recycling. Due to government regulations and the inability to create new landfills. I can also see a time when landfills themselves are re-processed and seen as a place of valuable resources.

Thanks, Larry. The linked article talked about how much recycling is linked to the value of the materials being harvested. Good Stuff.

[zoneblue]

yes but some things are just so complex that they are too hard to recycle. For instance plastic packging is theoretically recyclable, and yet virtually none is actually able to be cost effectively brought back to the same grade of virgin plastic. Reason? too much junk mixed together, differnt plastic for lid, label, etc. The required microflters are too expensive, and mega tonnes off the stuff is just accumulating in vast piles, or incinerated, or at best used to make playground matting and the like.

Given the complex admixtures in LFP, and the universal reluctance to introduce deposit schemes, i fear something similar? Lead acid OTOH as we know are THE most recycled product class there is.

[binkino]

right, sure, there is allways something better, more efficient, and so on

but just don't solve my (and sure others) situation / problem.

Can not be such a big thing?
System measures the amps going out of the charger
it also measures the amps going thru the WBJr to / from the batteries
and the difference is what needed by load
we have one setting, the maximum amps going out the charger.
we only need a 2nd setting for "max. charge amps". measured from these datas.

At the moment there's a fine line, I have 30 amp set which are at too low consumption partly to high charging current to the batteries.
Actually in the winter time, this is only a short time happening. But back in summer, it can do bad damages to the batteries.
if I set to 23 Amps, this is the max. charge amps, and a load is there, the 23 Amps don't increase. I waste energy.
and so on.

[offgridQLD]

Oh yes the joys of charging lithium house banks at 3C .

Now I just need 10 more classic 150's and a field of PV so I can input the required 1200A! into my 400ah - 48v lithium house bank .

For now I will just have to be content trickle charging the lithium at 160A with the two classics and 8.2kw of PV 

Kurt.