Large Solar Instalation

[TinMan]

Hi Guys

Sorry for being absent for some time,but have had a lot going on the last couple of months.

Mostly my mothers health took a downturn,but she is on the mend now.
The other being this large Off Grid solar system i have been building for my boss.
As i have been building it and sourcing the needed parts by my self,it has taken some time and long hours to get the job done.

The system has--

16.6kw's of panels. There is also another 3kw's of panels to be installed on a solar tracker system later on.
3 x 5kw inverters,which i have connected in parallel so as i have 15kw of output.
1 x 200v-100 amp EPEVER charge controller.
And a 64.8 kwh battery bank.

The batteries are Fusion 2v x 1350 amp hour.

I have set the system up as such--

The top row of panels on the rooftop are series connected in banks of 5,so as i have 3 banks of 5 series connected panels. Those 3 banks are then connected in parallel-->the last panel on the top row is just a dummy panel(not used),just so as there was no gap left on the roof-->for looks only.
This gives me 160 volt @ 27 amps peak. This string of panels go's to the EPEVER charge controller.

The rest of the panels are as follows.
3 panels across the roof are series connected to make one string,so as i get 105VDC
Then 3 strings down the roof are paralleled -->see diagram below.
This gives me 6 banks,where the last bank is 1 lot of 3 panels series connected.
2 banks then go to each inverter,which has it's own charge controller built in.

I did it like this because the inverters charge controllers are +/- 5%,where as the EPEVER is +/- 1% accurate.
So i set the inverters charge controllers slightly lower than peak battery charge voltage,and let the EPEVER charge controller top up the batteries to there peak charge voltage,as it is more accurate than the inverters charge controllers.

ATM,i am waiting for the DC circuit breakers to turn up.
Once they arrive,i have about a day left on the instal.
We then just have to get the licenced sparky in to wire up the 240v side of thing's,and were good to go 


Brad

[Itsu]

Now thats what i call a successfull Free Energy project! 

Nice build Brad, especially when someone else picks up the tab 



Itsu

[Chet K]

 A beaut of an install , I would imagine it keeps the Barn a bit cooler inside too
wonder what the temp difference is between the covered and uncovered
side ?

those batteries are not typical here in US ,I remember you mentioned two volts
per Battery ? Beasty,,,[more info ?

nice project to have under your belt !!
thx for posting the pics.

Glad about your Mom doing better

[muDped]

TinMan,

It is a relief to discover that you've been busy on a large scale
Free Energy project.  Some of us were worried that you may
have been done in by the Bushfires.

Presumably your project is slated to be Grid-Tied which could
reap considerable benefit.  Your Battery Bank arrangement brings
to mind the setups in the old Diesel-Electric Submarines.  The cells
used on the Boats were much larger in physical size but also the
2 Volt cells.

Hoping that your Mum recovers fully.  Best wishes mate.

[TinMan]

 author=muDped link=topic=3881.msg79537#msg79537 date=1579409473]

It is a relief to discover that you've been busy on a large scale
Free Energy project.  Some of us were worried that you may
have been done in by the Bushfires.

No.
Lucky for me,i live in the southwest of Western Australia,and the bad fires are over in the eastern side of Australia. Australia now holds the record for the largest fires in the world,something we did not want to be famous for. Seems we have lost 1/3rd of our koala population this time,and many have lost there lives and homes.

This was all thanks to the greens party,who pushed and pushed to have hazard reduction burning stopped,which they succeeded in doing so some 5 years back. They claimed it killed to much wild life,but it has really come back and bit them in the ass this time.

Presumably your project is slated to be Grid-Tied which could
reap considerable benefit.

This was a tricky one to sort out with the power provider,as they would only allow a 5kw system on feedback,due to the size of the transformers on the local grid. So they would not allow a 16.6kw system to be grid tied with feedback. So what i did was i used non feedback inverters,and so the system then becomes nothing more than an electrical appliance --just like a big UPS in reverse mode.

So,the system is grid tied without feed back.
The farm draws power from the solar panels first.
Then when they cannot deliver enough power,the system draws from the batteries.
If the batteries get down to low,only then dose the farm draw from the grid.

Your Battery Bank arrangement brings
to mind the setups in the old Diesel-Electric Submarines.  The cells
used on the Boats were much larger in physical size but also the
2 Volt cells.

I had to do a lot of research on the battery bank.
All of the solar companies keep pushing for the tesla powerwall 2 batteries,but the cost for output just did not add up.

The powerwall 2 is about $12700.00 over here,and comes with a 10 year warranty.
This gives you 13.5kwh at best at a 2kwh draw,and has a peak continuous draw of 5kw.

The batteries i talked my boss into using cost $13500.00,and that was with all the bridging links.
These batteries also have a 10 year warranty,but a 14 year warranty for 90% capacity.
They can deliver 9.6kw continuously without damage,and have a capacity of 64.8kwh at 100%.
I have set the inverters to draw the batteries down only 30% of there rated capacity,but that is still 19.4kwh.

So for the extra $800.00,the good old deep cycles kill the tesla powerwall batteries in $s for stored energy value.

Tesla powerwall at 100% capacity draw-->$940.00 per kwh
Deep cycle at only 30% capacity draw-->$696 per kwh.
So for home use,these deepcycle's are the way to go.

As we have (on average) 300 days of clear sky's each year in this part of the country,i think the system should pay for itself in under 4 years.

Hoping that your Mum recovers fully.  Best wishes mate.

She has her up's and down's,but she is doing ok ATM.
Thanks for your good wishes.


Brad

[JimBoot]

TinMan,

It is a relief to discover that you've been busy on a large scale
Free Energy project.  Some of us were worried that you may
have been done in by the Bushfires.

Naaah sand doesn't burn.  Awesome mountain of work Brad. I fear you will soon make it obsolete though

[TinMan]

Naaah sand doesn't burn.  Awesome mountain of work Brad. I fear you will soon make it obsolete though

Nothing will beat the silence of solar 

[muDped]

TinMan,

I agree that the Deep Cycle Lead-Acid battery arrangement makes
good sense.  Do you know whether the new generations of charge
controllers have any built-in provision for "Desulfating" or "Maintenance"
which would periodically "pulse" the battery banks to assure that no
sulfation build-up occurs?

I've used the "Recondition" mode on my small 12 Volt Viking charger
from China several times on my own cars and on my Daughter's car
and it has really surprised me with how well it brings a weakened
battery back to good service.  The process takes several hours to
complete and it surely does make a difference.

It would be nice if the Solar Controllers had a similar function and
I'm hoping that it either will be included or already has.  I want to
put a several hundred watt solar array in my back yard with a
small battery bank and a 3000 watt Pure Sine Wave Inverter that
I've already received from China.  I plan on getting my Solar Panels
at the local Harbor Freight.  I know that they're a little higher in price
than other sources but they're conveniently located and have some
great user reviews.

The attached document has a wealth of info on the Current Interrupt
Charging Algorithm tests done to show that the procedure will
extend the useful cycle life of the Lead-Acid Battery.  The testing
was done with a bank of VRLA Glass Mat constructed batteries
but the principles apply to any type of Lead-Acid Battery.