New off grid Solar setup

[JesseOsolar]

Hey everyone, 

I am new to the solar game and I am looking for some advice for parameter settings of my Midnight 150 Controller.

I have 4 535W Solar Panels that provide 100VDC in perfect conditions.

They feed my Classic 150 that goes to
8 6V batteries in series
4200w inverter

From the Inverter it feeds the AC Panel.

What should my settings be for?

Equalization
Absorption
Float
Max input current
Max output current

Thank you for your help.

[Vic]

Hi Jesse, welocome to the Forum.

Generally,  using the charge data from the battery manufacturer will provide the best situation for your batteries.   Finding charge data for Solar battery charging from some battery manufacturers can be a bit difficult.

You will also need:
Specific Gravity (SG) for full charge.
Charge Temperature Compensation value.

Your batteries look to be Flooded Lead Acid (FLA)s  -- Lead Acid batteries with easily removable caps. This type of battery allows measuring SGs (and therefore,  this tells you battery State Of Charge (SOC).  IF so,  then you will need a good Hydrometer, to measure SGs.  Get one that has a glass outer tube,  with a glass float  inside,  and numbers on the float (Not just, "High ,  Low, or just colors, as indidcators of SOC).   If you do not yet have a Hydrometer,  you can find one at an Auto Parts store.

Aborb time is also an important variable, as well, and, this time value will vary,  dending on how deeply-sischarged the battery was in its last cycle.

For FLAs,  you should not need to change the default Input Current,  and the output current can also be left at the default,  as,  your PV power,  is a faiely good match for the batteries,  if they are around 400 Amp Hours, at the 20-hour Rate.

More later,  this short post should help get you going, for starters,   Vic

[boB]

Very nice installation, Jesse !

boB

[Vic]

Very nice installation, Jesse !

boB

Indeed, boB,  very neat,  clean setup.

Several questions:

What brand, and model number are your batteries?

Do you plan to add the WhizBang Jr (MidNite remote current measuring module), to your system?

Thanks,  and very nice work!   Vic