And yes, you are right. With panels off the grid, you want to splay your arrays to give you more usable power. North is for Griod-connected systems. We have found if you only do 2 directions, you face 1/3rd of your panels east / at the 10.30am sun angle in winter and the other 2/rds west at the 1.30pm sun angle in winter. Or you can go crazy like me and have them east, North west and south!
MPPT operating voltage range is constrained by battery voltage - PV Voc should not exceed 8 x battery float voltage. For example, a 52,8V float voltage results in a maximum PV Voc of 422,4V. See product manual for further information. If you are already at the higher end of the string voltage.. Just remember the voltage rises as the temperature goes down so if it gets cold where you are winter mornings around 0C those strings will go over 450V and possibly damage equipment. Temperature co-efficient of the solar panel is on the datasheet. Also your measured voltage will be the Voc, the voltage displayed on your MPPT is the Vmpp
We have a 8.3kw grid connected system here in Melbourne, VIC. About 5kw facing East with strong shading in the early morning. The rest face north with no shading. We get heaps of power from the East string until late afternoon and in summer when the clouds roll in they get to work making more power as the clouds make the sky a giant reflector. East and West panels work really hard in Australia. Especially when you are trying to reduce gird or battery usage in the morning and afternoons like you are.
I also got a ute load of 28 panels heading to landfill 11 years ago. Gave many away but only one was faulty. Simplicity is the key and Victron make great products which I still use. My original Aus made Selectronic inverter is now 26yrs old and works fine. Living in town we also have a 3kW grid tied system for house use but as I've grown weary of cabling fuses voltage drop etc I am switching to plug and play power stations which are all in one. Also more DC when possible like fridges and the amazing USB-C products. Weather is the ever present risk and long cable runs with high volts are lightning attractors. Even Victron stuff doesn't like that. Hail and fire on bush blocks are also a concern and we used to live on acreage. Lithium batteries now cost very little, have long life and are relatively stress free compared to the old lead acid batteries. They plug straight in to my power stations and extend operation time to whatver you choose. Saving energy is 5 times more effective so even AC 150l chest freezers converted to fridge mode with a $20 beer thermostat uses less power than a 40l car fridge. Mine use around 250Wh on a 40 deg C day. Think big but act small is my approach after 45 years of living with solar.
I have been thinking about your soil erosion problem and may have a solution you could try. I'll try posting the link in another comment because sometimes u tube will delete links but there is a company called Hesco that makes barriers for the military and to assist with natural disasters using a production called Hesco Bastion. Basically it is a wire mesh cage with a hessian liner that is filled with dirt and linked together to create a barrier. Your going to have to break down the sides of the eroded area's so the water doesn't cut in any deeper anyway and with the excess soil put it into your home made barriers of any height you wish. When the rain water flow hits the barriers they will solidify and stop the flow. Just a thought I haven't been able to get out of my head since watching your video :) Cheers and have a happy xmas and all the best for your homestead.
2:00 point of correction, you can mix lithium batteries of different ages and amp hours as long as they have the save voltage rating if each battery has its own BMS which takes care of overcharging protection
I second what others are saying about using the exess power elsewhere im in the uk and use 2x 300l water tanks (baught second hand) one for my shower water and the other for suplying my radiators through the night once up to temp the one will give me hot showers for 3 days and the one on the radiators will give 8 hours of heat through the night thats at around 0deg c. If you set up a similar system, you could probably use all that wasted mid day solar and eliminate half your gas bill.
I'm definitely onboard with a redistributed thinking around existing power consumption - that's the off-grid challenge, after all. And you have to be kinda truthful about it don't you - for example, there's no point running consumption activities that you wouldn't have otherwise run just to be able to say you've used your power more effectively. But your setup is a really good idea!
Another kind of "battery" you could use is your hot water cylinder (if you have one) as they often have an electric heater for emergencys, the idea is you have an automatic circuit that turns on the heater when you have an excess of solar power. For example my fairly standard one at its working temperature has over 10kw of (heat) energy in it.
@@reganperry We use a 130 litre HWS with a 1800W element. Great low cost storage Aus made and around $800. We switch it on 9am - 3pm and it works fine.
I am confident your east and west panels will work well. Another idea is to put panels on the S/SE side of your dam. In the winter you will have less trees in the way late in the day, but also likely to pick up some reflected light. I have 6 of my old 250w panels vertically mounted on my back and side fence to provide power for my office through a Bluetti AC200 Max solar generator. You would be amazed how much power those fence mounted panels can create in the winter and the panels won't get in the way. Perhaps a vertical arrangement around the south of your dam to maximise solar mid winter?
Also make sure you use the VOC value on your panels when calculating max input voltage for your charge controller, don’t base it on what any meter says.
Voc corrected for locations minimum temperature. Correction factor is on the datasheet Lower the temperature = higher the voltage. Rough estimate for mintemp of 0C is 10% higher.
In tasmania we have gone through a winter of tweaking our arrays and ended up with north and west facing arrays because those last few hours of sun are so important. In summer our 15 hours of daylight makes those western sun hours quite profitable for the battery's. Im definitely feeling the need for a bigge mppt now that ive come into some more second hand pannels aswell.
You can always setup multiple MPPTs. My father-in-law is about to so that he can add Lithium batteries to his current lead acid setup (with an isolator to switch between the two setups). But some of these MPPTs are even designed to be daisy-chained.
Need to look at a voltage drop calculator, the more amps the higher the drop (hope your wire is 6mm2?) also if the cable as it gets hotter. You need to be careful creeping up to 450v voltage as cold weather and cloud edge effect results in higher voltage on the panels and hot weather increases the ISC. They used to have requirements for isolators on the roof they changed the regulations recently to not require them as most grid tie have an isolator on them to disconnect DC power and the isolators were failing and causing more issues than resolving (at one time isolators needed a metal cover to reduce UV impact on the outdoor isolator.
i'm the one with 180 panels. buying batteries is a last resort unless you get them second hand from a scrap metal dealer, i bought 60 x600 amp hr gel cels 25 yrs ago for 2;000 dollars. they appear to have lost some capacity. they are much much heavier than when i bought them so i am in no hurry to replace them. i am focusing on reducing my dependence on batteries. heating water directly from panels, making a 1;500 ltr sand and steel storage direct from panels for cooking and hopefully steam for hot coffee in the mornings. also 24 inch 35 watt tv when we have no hydro power. i have tried welding direct from panels and that worked well.
Definitely add some east and west panels, use a separate Victron charge controller as well if you can. Panels, especially for free or low cost are much better bang for buck than more battery capacity.
Have you thought of other storage for your excess power. For example, using a redirect, when the batteries are fully charged it can send the power through to your water heater, or maybe a water pump to move water to storage near your vegetable garden. Having excess power at the wrong time just means you should think outside of your batteries.
From working and living in the solar industry for over 25 years, i now leave it to the young guys, my experience is micro inverter panels fail very easy. just think about the electronics on each panel, mounted behind a panel in heat. I've seen systems fail and panel companies refuse to fix/replace. Secondly, my first panels on my original set up were BP 140W 24V. i replaced them 19 years later, but they were putting out maximum power as if they were still brand new. no degradation at all. i use secondhand grid fed panels in some off grid systems of a good quality and get them for free, well a box of beer, and they do the job just fine. as you have done, use a high voltage MPPT and choose a good unshaded spot and they work just fine. now, here's the best thing I have done, is to install a grid fed system taking advantage of the rebates so i can use more power during the day, more panels, so things like washing machine, dish washer, pool if you have one, electric hot water if desired, during the day, running directly from the sun, and not eating power from the batteries. It's a cheap upgrade that has seen us not having to run a generator for over a year. Anyway, good luck, and Victron is the only brand i use and have been served well at home for 20 years using victron equipment.
Wow! Thanks - appreciate the genuine advice. And very interesting about micro-controllers - I've heard that a few times now, but haven't got to experience them for myself yet.
I’d suspect it’s not a voltage drop on the cables, but measure their resistance and the current and you can calculate it: V=IR. I’d also trust the MPPT. Mixing panels can also be a problem. I’d keep the same panels together.
Bloody show off, haha Massive array of 190w panels. I'm currently trying to rewire the mc (not 4) connectors from the 6 x 167w panels that came shed roof mounted on my newish off grid property. All the best for 2025
Yes it works. I have and I am doing similar things. You don't even have to voltage balance all the strings as the one that gives the highest voltage will supply the current. What you are doing is in fact tracking the sun but with stationary means. What I am a little worried about is that even though your MPPT regulator can handle 450volt and 100Amps I believe then it is NOT 45000Watts. The 100Amps is at your battery voltage. If it is 48Volt the total power allowable is 4800Watt. I believe some of the regulators may just cut the excess power or if over voltage the excess voltage but it is in DANGER zone. You should read your manual. In regards to batteries then I am now only adding LiFePo4 batteries. They have become so much cheaper and their performance is so much better. I currently have about 30kWh of those at my farm. I put fuse breakers in between each new set so if anything goes wrong with older ones (shorts) then it should disconnect. I have also put them parallel with Lead Crystal and Lead Carbon batteries but at the moment I don't know how they work. I plan to test them soon. I have plenty of power over night at the moment for the aircon for both heating and cooling but how that will go next winter I don't know. The times you really need the extra panels is when the weather is bad. A rainy day in winter (Ballarat Australia area) does not give much power. You may expect down to 5% only of the panel wattage value. Generally I get 1.5 times wattage value of power over a winter week and 4.5 times in summer. All year harvest is generally 3 times wattage value. Of cause on rainy days shade doesn't exist. All light it scattered so just about any direction works. 4mm^2 solar cable is supposed to have 4.6mohm a meter and should give a 4.6mV drop per meter and per amp. 10 amp over 20 meters should be 0.92 volt.
Thanks for the advice! Yep, it's a 48v setup, and I will definitely look into whether or not that 4800w limit applies in my case. You're dead right about designing for inclement weather!
You might want to turn them slightly north as unless you are on the equator the sun wont rise in the exact east so probably north east and the seting set north west so get a bit more out of them
Ao the voc is allways going ro be higher than what youngwt at mppt. Is be happy to explain the how and why but verbally would be easier. Remember rhe rs can take in 100 ampa so depending on your cable runs from the panels consider differet sp configuration Overpanelling is possible but an east west array can be more efficient but you need to match the panels together in those grouos I regularly over panel but nver over voc While i am a victron seller, id be happy to give this advice freely as tou have bought the product s already
Re batteries, I would circle for a while. Sodium Ion batteries will become more widely available soon, even though they a bigger than Lithium Ion batteries which is not a problem for you they have many advantages over Lithium, Don't have the same temperature restraints, longer life, cheaper plus other pros.
The 40 permanent panels are anchored (not these experimental ones though), but they're also only at 12 degrees so very little chance of getting lifted. However, it's still something I want to upgrade and have some plans to build a better, more elevated racking setup sometime next year.
Regarding battery storage, have you considered using gravity batteries? It is something that you could DIY and can be used to aid your current lithium battery storage.
you are limited with the amount of power you can feed in to a battery bank with the price of batteries this is a BIG problem. i used to buy renew magazine and 30 yrs ago they were saying battery prices would drop a lot in the future . the opposite has happened and i think it will get worse. buy panels bypass batteries whenever possible.
i don't have a lot of trust in those mc4 connectors and mostly i cut them off. after all they are made in china. i have plenty of rusty power points. they are mostly poorly plated steel these days, they used to be brass. it is hardly surprising the number of homes burnt down these days.
Also, the whole microcontroller statement is non sense. If you are talking about micro inverters, maybe but you're using strings, where micro inverters only do ac. If you are talking about optimizers, their actual gains are HIGHLY debated Your appt will by its nature try to lower the voltage and up the amps, that is the whole point of a mppt. Measure with your multimeter when battery is disconnected, and I'll bet the voltage is about the same
Off grid systems in isolated areas are a really good idea. However, this video demonstrates how silly Albo, Bowen and Labor are to introduce millions of solar panels into the main electricity grid. In this one example there are two hundred solar panels for one household. Not only that a tree had to be sacrificed. The numbers get really scary when this is extrapolated out for 10 million households and millions of businesses. Not only that labor wants everyone to drive EVs putting more pressure on the electricity grid. So important to introduce nuclear into the grid to relieve these issues.
A few interesting thoughts here. I don't totally disagree with you...however... I'm only using 60 panels (not 200) AND they're very old an inefficient panels. They'd be equivalent to ~20 new panels. As far as the tree goes - I get these comments a fair bit - but I think what you need to consider is how many trees (and other natural resources) get redistributed/wasted for your own lifestyle choices. Someone needs to come up with a calculator or app for this. It would be very interesting to track it and get an honest perspective. At least in my scenario, the tree gets repurposed a dozen different ways and the only fossil fuel involved is the few ml of petrol in my chainsaw. I'm onboard with the nuclear idea - I just think our politicians are too gutless and greedy to do it.
@@reganperry I am glad you see the logic for nuclear. It really is the best way to go. Bill Gates is building a nuclear power plant as the new data centres he uses requires hugh amounts of energy to power them. Hopefully the coalition does get Australia on the nuclear path by winning the next election. Even 20 new panels for every Australian household that is 400,000,000 panels and would need a huge amount of battery storage and still is no where enough.
And yes, you are right. With panels off the grid, you want to splay your arrays to give you more usable power. North is for Griod-connected systems. We have found if you only do 2 directions, you face 1/3rd of your panels east / at the 10.30am sun angle in winter and the other 2/rds west at the 1.30pm sun angle in winter. Or you can go crazy like me and have them east, North west and south!
MPPT operating voltage range is constrained by battery voltage - PV Voc should not exceed 8 x battery float voltage. For example, a 52,8V float voltage results in a maximum PV Voc of 422,4V. See product manual for further information.
If you are already at the higher end of the string voltage.. Just remember the voltage rises as the temperature goes down so if it gets cold where you are winter mornings around 0C those strings will go over 450V and possibly damage equipment. Temperature co-efficient of the solar panel is on the datasheet.
Also your measured voltage will be the Voc, the voltage displayed on your MPPT is the Vmpp
We have a 8.3kw grid connected system here in Melbourne, VIC. About 5kw facing East with strong shading in the early morning. The rest face north with no shading. We get heaps of power from the East string until late afternoon and in summer when the clouds roll in they get to work making more power as the clouds make the sky a giant reflector. East and West panels work really hard in Australia. Especially when you are trying to reduce gird or battery usage in the morning and afternoons like you are.
That's what my research suggests, and what I plan on implementing
Good to have it confirmed
East, North and West facing panels
South West Vic off grid
I also got a ute load of 28 panels heading to landfill 11 years ago. Gave many away but only one was faulty. Simplicity is the key and Victron make great products which I still use. My original Aus made Selectronic inverter is now 26yrs old and works fine. Living in town we also have a 3kW grid tied system for house use but as I've grown weary of cabling fuses voltage drop etc I am switching to plug and play power stations which are all in one. Also more DC when possible like fridges and the amazing USB-C products. Weather is the ever present risk and long cable runs with high volts are lightning attractors. Even Victron stuff doesn't like that. Hail and fire on bush blocks are also a concern and we used to live on acreage. Lithium batteries now cost very little, have long life and are relatively stress free compared to the old lead acid batteries. They plug straight in to my power stations and extend operation time to whatver you choose. Saving energy is 5 times more effective so even AC 150l chest freezers converted to fridge mode with a $20 beer thermostat uses less power than a 40l car fridge. Mine use around 250Wh on a 40 deg C day. Think big but act small is my approach after 45 years of living with solar.
I have been thinking about your soil erosion problem and may have a solution you could try. I'll try posting the link in another comment because sometimes u tube will delete links but there is a company called Hesco that makes barriers for the military and to assist with natural disasters using a production called Hesco Bastion. Basically it is a wire mesh cage with a hessian liner that is filled with dirt and linked together to create a barrier. Your going to have to break down the sides of the eroded area's so the water doesn't cut in any deeper anyway and with the excess soil put it into your home made barriers of any height you wish. When the rain water flow hits the barriers they will solidify and stop the flow.
Just a thought I haven't been able to get out of my head since watching your video :) Cheers and have a happy xmas and all the best for your homestead.
Thanks Harry! I googled Hesco - very interesting. I reckon something like this is going to be the go!
2:00 point of correction, you can mix lithium batteries of different ages and amp hours as long as they have the save voltage rating if each battery has its own BMS which takes care of overcharging protection
Ahhh, thank you! That's a question I've been getting mixed answers on, but your point about individual BMS's makes sense.
Get old push bikes and use the them to make a movable frame so you move the panels so they always get the most sun
can't wait to see the results
Hi guys, absolutely loving your videos, so informative, thank you!
Cheers mate, glad you're enjoying them!
nice! i like your thinking.
Another great video. Thank you!
Cheer Dan! thanks.
I second what others are saying about using the exess power elsewhere im in the uk and use 2x 300l water tanks (baught second hand) one for my shower water and the other for suplying my radiators through the night once up to temp the one will give me hot showers for 3 days and the one on the radiators will give 8 hours of heat through the night thats at around 0deg c. If you set up a similar system, you could probably use all that wasted mid day solar and eliminate half your gas bill.
I'm definitely onboard with a redistributed thinking around existing power consumption - that's the off-grid challenge, after all. And you have to be kinda truthful about it don't you - for example, there's no point running consumption activities that you wouldn't have otherwise run just to be able to say you've used your power more effectively. But your setup is a really good idea!
Another kind of "battery" you could use is your hot water cylinder (if you have one) as they often have an electric heater for emergencys, the idea is you have an automatic circuit that turns on the heater when you have an excess of solar power. For example my fairly standard one at its working temperature has over 10kw of (heat) energy in it.
That's actually a really good idea. We use instant gas h/w ATM, but I'm considering how we can move away from gas entirely.
@@reganperry We use a 130 litre HWS with a 1800W element. Great low cost storage Aus made and around $800. We switch it on 9am - 3pm and it works fine.
I am confident your east and west panels will work well. Another idea is to put panels on the S/SE side of your dam. In the winter you will have less trees in the way late in the day, but also likely to pick up some reflected light. I have 6 of my old 250w panels vertically mounted on my back and side fence to provide power for my office through a Bluetti AC200 Max solar generator. You would be amazed how much power those fence mounted panels can create in the winter and the panels won't get in the way. Perhaps a vertical arrangement around the south of your dam to maximise solar mid winter?
That's a really interesting idea. I wonder if the gains would outweigh the costs to setup and efficiency considerations (the dam is about 150m away)
@@reganperry Not likely at that distance. All good food for thought though.
Also make sure you use the VOC value on your panels when calculating max input voltage for your charge controller, don’t base it on what any meter says.
Voc corrected for locations minimum temperature. Correction factor is on the datasheet
Lower the temperature = higher the voltage. Rough estimate for mintemp of 0C is 10% higher.
In tasmania we have gone through a winter of tweaking our arrays and ended up with north and west facing arrays because those last few hours of sun are so important.
In summer our 15 hours of daylight makes those western sun hours quite profitable for the battery's.
Im definitely feeling the need for a bigge mppt now that ive come into some more second hand pannels aswell.
You can always setup multiple MPPTs. My father-in-law is about to so that he can add Lithium batteries to his current lead acid setup (with an isolator to switch between the two setups). But some of these MPPTs are even designed to be daisy-chained.
Need to look at a voltage drop calculator, the more amps the higher the drop (hope your wire is 6mm2?) also if the cable as it gets hotter. You need to be careful creeping up to 450v voltage as cold weather and cloud edge effect results in higher voltage on the panels and hot weather increases the ISC. They used to have requirements for isolators on the roof they changed the regulations recently to not require them as most grid tie have an isolator on them to disconnect DC power and the isolators were failing and causing more issues than resolving (at one time isolators needed a metal cover to reduce UV impact on the outdoor isolator.
This. I would have thought at least 8mm2 for 15m
yep, using 6mm. Also as others have suggested I think I'm measuring VOC while MPPT is showing VMP
if you mount panels supported in the middle you can just flip them twice a day , if you have the time. i chose the buy more cheap panels route.
i'm the one with 180 panels. buying batteries is a last resort unless you get them second hand from a scrap metal dealer, i bought 60 x600 amp hr gel cels 25 yrs ago for 2;000 dollars. they appear to have lost some capacity. they are much much heavier than when i bought them so i am in no hurry to replace them. i am focusing on reducing my dependence on batteries. heating water directly from panels, making a 1;500 ltr sand and steel storage direct from panels for cooking and hopefully steam for hot coffee in the mornings. also 24 inch 35 watt tv when we have no hydro power. i have tried welding direct from panels and that worked well.
Definitely add some east and west panels, use a separate Victron charge controller as well if you can. Panels, especially for free or low cost are much better bang for buck than more battery capacity.
Have you thought of other storage for your excess power. For example, using a redirect, when the batteries are fully charged it can send the power through to your water heater, or maybe a water pump to move water to storage near your vegetable garden. Having excess power at the wrong time just means you should think outside of your batteries.
From working and living in the solar industry for over 25 years, i now leave it to the young guys, my experience is micro inverter panels fail very easy. just think about the electronics on each panel, mounted behind a panel in heat. I've seen systems fail and panel companies refuse to fix/replace. Secondly, my first panels on my original set up were BP 140W 24V. i replaced them 19 years later, but they were putting out maximum power as if they were still brand new. no degradation at all. i use secondhand grid fed panels in some off grid systems of a good quality and get them for free, well a box of beer, and they do the job just fine. as you have done, use a high voltage MPPT and choose a good unshaded spot and they work just fine. now, here's the best thing I have done, is to install a grid fed system taking advantage of the rebates so i can use more power during the day, more panels, so things like washing machine, dish washer, pool if you have one, electric hot water if desired, during the day, running directly from the sun, and not eating power from the batteries. It's a cheap upgrade that has seen us not having to run a generator for over a year. Anyway, good luck, and Victron is the only brand i use and have been served well at home for 20 years using victron equipment.
Wow! Thanks - appreciate the genuine advice. And very interesting about micro-controllers - I've heard that a few times now, but haven't got to experience them for myself yet.
I’d suspect it’s not a voltage drop on the cables, but measure their resistance and the current and you can calculate it: V=IR. I’d also trust the MPPT. Mixing panels can also be a problem. I’d keep the same panels together.
Bloody show off, haha
Massive array of 190w panels.
I'm currently trying to rewire the mc (not 4) connectors from the 6 x 167w panels that came shed roof mounted on my newish off grid property.
All the best for 2025
Yes it works. I have and I am doing similar things. You don't even have to voltage balance all the strings as the one that gives the highest voltage will supply the current. What you are doing is in fact tracking the sun but with stationary means.
What I am a little worried about is that even though your MPPT regulator can handle 450volt and 100Amps I believe then it is NOT 45000Watts. The 100Amps is at your battery voltage. If it is 48Volt the total power allowable is 4800Watt. I believe some of the regulators may just cut the excess power or if over voltage the excess voltage but it is in DANGER zone. You should read your manual.
In regards to batteries then I am now only adding LiFePo4 batteries. They have become so much cheaper and their performance is so much better. I currently have about 30kWh of those at my farm. I put fuse breakers in between each new set so if anything goes wrong with older ones (shorts) then it should disconnect. I have also put them parallel with Lead Crystal and Lead Carbon batteries but at the moment I don't know how they work. I plan to test them soon. I have plenty of power over night at the moment for the aircon for both heating and cooling but how that will go next winter I don't know.
The times you really need the extra panels is when the weather is bad. A rainy day in winter (Ballarat Australia area) does not give much power. You may expect down to 5% only of the panel wattage value. Generally I get 1.5 times wattage value of power over a winter week and 4.5 times in summer. All year harvest is generally 3 times wattage value. Of cause on rainy days shade doesn't exist. All light it scattered so just about any direction works.
4mm^2 solar cable is supposed to have 4.6mohm a meter and should give a 4.6mV drop per meter and per amp. 10 amp over 20 meters should be 0.92 volt.
Thanks for the advice! Yep, it's a 48v setup, and I will definitely look into whether or not that 4800w limit applies in my case.
You're dead right about designing for inclement weather!
You might want to turn them slightly north as unless you are on the equator the sun wont rise in the exact east so probably north east and the seting set north west so get a bit more out of them
That's a fair point!
you can buy old copper power line etc from scrap dealers and just feed it through poly pipe.
i suspect you are reading open circuit voltage at your panels, it drops down when they are under load.
You can get another mppt and add 42kwh batteries for around $2800 n you should good
Ao the voc is allways going ro be higher than what youngwt at mppt. Is be happy to explain the how and why but verbally would be easier.
Remember rhe rs can take in 100 ampa so depending on your cable runs from the panels consider differet sp configuration
Overpanelling is possible but an east west array can be more efficient but you need to match the panels together in those grouos
I regularly over panel but nver over voc
While i am a victron seller, id be happy to give this advice freely as tou have bought the product s already
Ive got aome twst gear i can loan you to help you test panels. Also you neeed to lewrn about blocking diodes
Re batteries, I would circle for a while. Sodium Ion batteries will become more widely available soon, even though they a bigger than Lithium Ion batteries which is not a problem for you they have many advantages over Lithium, Don't have the same temperature restraints, longer life, cheaper plus other pros.
@@darkknight145 I’ve been hearing whisperings of this. But do we have any solid timeframes yet?
Follow the sun tracking is considered waste of time (for domestic purposes) as cheaper to put up more panels
I don't see any anchoring of your panels to the ground .Are you not concerned about wind lifting and possibly tossing your panels around?
The 40 permanent panels are anchored (not these experimental ones though), but they're also only at 12 degrees so very little chance of getting lifted. However, it's still something I want to upgrade and have some plans to build a better, more elevated racking setup sometime next year.
Measuring with multimeter you are Measuring voc and at the mppt you are Measuring vmp
Bingo! That makes perfect sense, and I can't believe I didn't think about that. But, that's why it's always better to ask hey. Thank you!
Regarding battery storage, have you considered using gravity batteries? It is something that you could DIY and can be used to aid your current lithium battery storage.
you are limited with the amount of power you can feed in to a battery bank with the price of batteries this is a BIG problem. i used to buy renew magazine and 30 yrs ago they were saying battery prices would drop a lot in the future . the opposite has happened and i think it will get worse. buy panels bypass batteries whenever possible.
i don't have a lot of trust in those mc4 connectors and mostly i cut them off. after all they are made in china. i have plenty of rusty power points. they are mostly poorly plated steel these days, they used to be brass. it is hardly surprising the number of homes burnt down these days.
Also, the whole microcontroller statement is non sense.
If you are talking about micro inverters, maybe but you're using strings, where micro inverters only do ac.
If you are talking about optimizers, their actual gains are HIGHLY debated
Your appt will by its nature try to lower the voltage and up the amps, that is the whole point of a mppt.
Measure with your multimeter when battery is disconnected, and I'll bet the voltage is about the same
Off grid systems in isolated areas are a really good idea. However, this video demonstrates how silly Albo, Bowen and Labor are to introduce millions of solar panels into the main electricity grid. In this one example there are two hundred solar panels for one household. Not only that a tree had to be sacrificed. The numbers get really scary when this is extrapolated out for 10 million households and millions of businesses. Not only that labor wants everyone to drive EVs putting more pressure on the electricity grid. So important to introduce nuclear into the grid to relieve these issues.
A few interesting thoughts here. I don't totally disagree with you...however...
I'm only using 60 panels (not 200) AND they're very old an inefficient panels. They'd be equivalent to ~20 new panels.
As far as the tree goes - I get these comments a fair bit - but I think what you need to consider is how many trees (and other natural resources) get redistributed/wasted for your own lifestyle choices. Someone needs to come up with a calculator or app for this. It would be very interesting to track it and get an honest perspective. At least in my scenario, the tree gets repurposed a dozen different ways and the only fossil fuel involved is the few ml of petrol in my chainsaw.
I'm onboard with the nuclear idea - I just think our politicians are too gutless and greedy to do it.
@@reganperry I am glad you see the logic for nuclear. It really is the best way to go. Bill Gates is building a nuclear power plant as the new data centres he uses requires hugh amounts of energy to power them. Hopefully the coalition does get Australia on the nuclear path by winning the next election.
Even 20 new panels for every Australian household that is 400,000,000 panels and would need a huge amount of battery storage and still is no where enough.