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Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
3 September 2012, 00:48,
#31
RE: Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
Most wind controllers have a dummy load (resistor bank) that they 'short' across the wind turbine when the battery bank is full. Without this the wind turbine can overspeed and be damaged.

I don't think there is a simple "yes" or "no" with regards to whether regulators can be operated in parallel into the one battery bank. It depends on the regulator, some may be able to others can not.

A grid tie wouldn't be operating at 11kV unless it was a very very big system, much bigger than anything we would be considering. If the power comes into your house at 230V then you would export (to the utility) at 230V.
Some of the cost is the protection required for a grid tie. A los off mains relay is required to ensure that if the line is broken that the 'load' side generation (your solar grid tie) disconnects very quickly. Otherwise someone working on the line could be injured since they wouldn't be expecting power to be coming from the load. Also once you are disconnected you will lose synchronism with the mains. If the mains was to reconnect your system would be damaged. These relays can cost about £1000.

You also require a grid tie inverter that can match the Voltage of the mains very closely and control the amount of power exported, these are much more expensive than a simple inverter.

And you need a new meter that can count 'units' going both ways (imported and exported)

Unfortunately solar systems seem to be designed either for feeding battery (disconnected from the mains) or mains-tie with no battery back-up. Systems capable of both are uncommon and therefore cost more. For most preppers we should forget the grid tie, especially if we've EMP concerns. Install a separate DC lighting system somewhere to use the power before an event and know that it's available for other things after an event.
Doctor Prepper: What's the worst that could happen?
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3 September 2012, 02:20,
#32
RE: Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
(3 September 2012, 00:48)Skvez Wrote: Most wind controllers have a dummy load (resistor bank) that they 'short' across the wind turbine when the battery bank is full. Without this the wind turbine can overspeed and be damaged.

I don't think there is a simple "yes" or "no" with regards to whether regulators can be operated in parallel into the one battery bank. It depends on the regulator, some may be able to others can not.


I am going to buy a 300 watt turbine, and get some new battery’s and run two separate systems, this will give me a chance to familiar myself with wind energy, and it could be fun to do.
Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except your self    ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ
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3 September 2012, 10:11,
#33
RE: Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
I'd like to amend something I wrote late last night

All regulators can be paralleled but you might not get the benefit of both.
If you've wind and solar both feeding a battery bank you may find with some regulators that you get whichever is stronger. On a windy night the wind feeds the battery, on a calm day the solar feeds the battery. On a windy, sunny day you may end up getting the wind *or* the sun but not both but if the batteries are getting charged anyway do you care that much?
This is really only a problem if you're trying to feed two solar regulators into the same battery bank.
Doctor Prepper: What's the worst that could happen?
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3 September 2012, 13:46,
#34
RE: Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
@Skvez



What I am being told and was told in the past as well, that yes you can use multiple regulators and that they won't see each other, ill quote.


quote:

You do not have to chain, them. link them in any special way, etc. You just connect them both to the same battery bank. Neither one knows about the other, but since they both see the same battery voltage they work together. It does work best if they both have the same stage voltage settings, but even that is not 100% necessary, since during the bulk stage they both will be sourcing current rather than trying to set a voltage.

Unquote.

another fellow said on the 3rd June 2012:

quote:

If you have more panel wattage than your controller can input, then you must use 2 or more controllers as separate solar panel arrays. However there is no problem for multiple controllers to serve a common battery if that is what you want to do. In fact Xantrex makes a communication cable to wire between controllers to do exactly that function. You program one controller to be the Master, and the rest are Slaves.

Unquote.

And then the same fellow posted directley to me:

Quote:

You can but would be foolish to do so. A 10 amp PWM controller at 12 volt battery is limited to roughly 170 watt maximum input power, and 340 watts @ 24 volts. Do yourself a favor and buy yourself a good 30 to 60 amps MPPT charge controller. It will be much less expensive in the long run. In your location if you use say a 500 watt panel input on a PWM CC will generate as much a 300 watt panel with MPPT.

Unquote.


Like I said no real clear answer, I think what this is pointing to I might have to get hold of this Xantrex CC plus that lead, and have this option to slave CC.

Why is this so important, I already own 4 CC's three of them PWM as these are quite cheap, only one is MTTP as you know these can be quite expensive, my MTTP is 30A which can run 360watt, already I have 400 watt connected to it, and spare panels in stores, this is why I want to know about connection Multiple CC as post shtf I would like the added power and know my system won't fry if I chain link.
Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except your self    ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ
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3 September 2012, 16:43,
#35
RE: Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
(3 September 2012, 13:46)Nemesis Wrote: ... as post shtf I would like the added power and know my system won't fry if I chain link.
I have no fear that the system will fry but what might happen is that the chargers are not all actively charging. You may end up with only one of the chargers in the group actually charging.
It depends a bit on the battery Voltage and how the chargers sense the state of charge of the battery
Doctor Prepper: What's the worst that could happen?
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3 September 2012, 17:06,
#36
RE: Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
Don't forget the preppers motto. Three is two and two is one. Even if I had the best regulator I would be looking at having a backup so having several panels feeding into several regulatorsw and feeding a bank of batteries appeals to me.
Skean Dhude
-------------------------------
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. - Charles Darwin
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3 September 2012, 17:26, (This post was last modified: 3 September 2012, 17:26 by Skvez.)
#37
RE: Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
I prefer multiple panels with separate regulators into separate battery banks.
Batteries in a bank need to be the same age and need replaced all at once (*). They require replaced every few years and a single bad battery can ruin your whole bank (if not destroy the batteries at least leave them all flat).
I'd much rather replace half my batteries twice as often as need to replace them all at once.
How bad would you feel if an event happend just as your batteries were all coming up to their end of life?
Totally separate systems are more expensive but you have total redundancy. One bad anything and you've still got 1/2 your capacity.

(*) You can run systems with different batteries but the 'newer' or 'better' batteries take more than their fair share of the load and the system capacity is reduced and total charge can be harder to predict. For a professional system this is a no-no but for a home grown amateur system it would work but not as well as matched batteries would.
In an event will I be collecting car batteries (of various capacity and age) and wiring them up together ... yes, I probably still would but I'll accept that there are disadvantages to doing this.
Doctor Prepper: What's the worst that could happen?
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3 September 2012, 19:55,
#38
RE: Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
Ladies can I just drop a hint of a reminder that I'm looking for info on setting up the most simplest, basic and affordable PV system that will help the average prepper and not provide for all their various needs.

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3 September 2012, 21:03, (This post was last modified: 3 September 2012, 21:10 by Nemesis.)
#39
RE: Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
(3 September 2012, 19:55)NorthernRaider Wrote: Ladies can I just drop a hint of a reminder that I'm looking for info on setting up the most simplest, basic and affordable PV system that will help the average prepper and not provide for all their various needs.

That has already been done in the other thread you made, in my reply to TOF.
(3 September 2012, 17:06)Skean Dhude Wrote: Don't forget the preppers motto. Three is two and two is one. Even if I had the best regulator I would be looking at having a backup so having several panels feeding into several regulatorsw and feeding a bank of batteries appeals to me.


I think where Skvez hit the hammer on the head for me is I know will run my system as separate ones, and not join CC but I will make a switchable junction box to allow my wind solar to charge all bank during the night and just unplug it during the daylight hours.



And for NR page two of this thread is the small setup info, not other thread.
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Do not look for a sanctuary in anyone except your self    ཨོཾ་མ་ཎི་པདྨེ་ཧཱུྃ
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4 September 2012, 08:07,
#40
RE: Can we talk about a BASIC UNIVERSAL simple PV kit for preppers.
ta muchly.

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