Testing my solar backup during a power outage

[@defjamsgreen]

Saw that June bug flying at you . Your system seems to be holding up to its purpose . That’s why it’s sooo nice to have backup power for this SHTF situation or to save on the light bill at will .😊 if I May say ! Try to invest on some 6 volt golf cart batteries from SAMS club or Battery + instead of those car batteries that won’t really last long . Keep it up and running . May the solar be with you .😊

[@acuratltypes6694]

Hey nice little set up... Not bad for a test. Always better to be able to test your build to see how well it works. I'm running 2 of the 100w harbor freight mono solar panels in series to a 30a mppt and a 210w panel to another 30a mppt charge controller, to a 12v 200ah lithium battery bank and a 1000w pure sine inverter. We use ours every day in our bedroom 24/7. We don't have very many power outages here. But we are ready if we do. We definitely need to get a bigger inverter, but this works well for us. Hope to see the new stuff done to the system and any kind of updates.

[@Checkitfirst]

Hopefully someday I can get some lithium. Lead acid batteries such as 100 amp hour Lead acid battery is really truly only about a 30 amp hour battery when you do the calculations lol. I would be way better off with a 50 amp hour lithium battery.

[@acuratltypes6694]

We ran 4 115ah AGMs for the last 3 years. They worked very well. In the end it was my girls decision we go with lithium. We're definitely happy with them and my best friend is happy with our AGM batteries. He's got all my old Harbor freight solar kit set with the 750w hf inverter. He helped me build that first set up. So now he's got his own to work on now that we upgraded. We built on a budget. Small things here and there. Between the kit and everything we have now it was about $ 2500.00 in total after 3 years.

[@Checkitfirst]

@@acuratltypes6694 I have 500 watts of mono panels and 300 watts of hf original panels, not the mono kind. I think they are called amorphous ,,, I would not quote me on that lol. It’s a 30 amp charge controller. It is set up for 24 V. I think all I really need are the batteries.

[@acuratltypes6694]

Took me a couple months to save up for the batteries. We are looking at getting 2 more batteries and more panels to max out our 2 controllers. Winter was the hardest running at 400w of solar. Had to watch the weather alot and plan accordingly for our usage. But it's given us a better perspective of how to save money for the rest of the house.

[@wr2956]

Hi mate, good to see a real situation backup test working well for you. Just another word of advice with batteries, if you have a 75ah battery paralleled to a 100ah battery, the 100ah will only give you 75ah so you’re losing 25ah capacity right there. Something to do with the rules and laws of physics or something. If you have time and the budget, shop around and haggle hard for a good deal on 4 or 6 matching agm batteries, (the more ah the better), agm should serve you better than regular flooded batteries and take less looking after, no need to monitor or top up the electrolyte level in them. I just got another pair in my bank, now running 8x110ah in 12v, or 440ah when I switch around and upgrade to a 24v system. I have an interesting battery voltage chart I found with google, your numbers there are for a resting and disconnected battery, 12.1v at 50%, but if the battery is being used 11.89v is 50%, being charged with more current than being used at the same time shows 12.54v is 50%, being charged while disconnected/not used shows 13.08 is 50%. (Double the values for 24v). If I can find that chart again I’ll try to post you a link.

[@Checkitfirst]

Yes Yes Yes. I noticed the next day my battery bank was not charging back up all the way. I think the car batteries were sucking the life out of the matching marine batteries. The bank was charging at around 350-425 watts most of the day and wouldn’t top off. I disconnected the car batteries and the wattage dropped and the marine batteries began to top off almost immediately. I do believe I will not connect those car batteries back up either their damage or like you say it is way too mixed matched

[@wr2956]

This is the chart I found on google images, simply double the values for a 24v system. It is a guide for both sealed or flooded lead acid batteries, gel and agm have slightly differing voltages to this chart. I hope it’s of some use to you i.pinimg.com/originals/70/26/90/702690c756d6d5658c2399970822a880.png

[@Checkitfirst]

@@wr2956 Thank you so much. I took a screenshot and I’m going to print it out😁

[@aztecgold8997]

3 fridges is pushing it...probably could have made until sunrise by taking turns unplugging one every few hours..but yeah great real test. I'm doing the same thing. Using power outages to see what I can do

[@Checkitfirst]

I believe having car batteries caused it to run short also. They run down faster and cause the deep cycle batteries to dumb there voltage into them. Getting 2 more marine batteries soon. I’ll test it again

[@aztecgold8997]

@@Checkitfirst yep....I have only 2 batteries and they are the rv/marine kind. I am hoping to be able to go to 3 soon so I can run 2 fridges and maybe a couple of those lights from the harbor freight kit.I have 200 watts of panels and want to go to 300 when I add the 3rd battery

[@solarandwindinsouthtexasda1473]

I’m on man you have everything or you do you need two more batteries get your 12 V system working for lights when you are how are freight solar panels do you have a Jupiter inverter all you need is batteries make a back up for the back up

[@igorkvachun3572]

Yes.👍 🌞⚡💡🔌🔋✌

[@millenium2003]

Are you an electrician?

[@Checkitfirst]

I dabble a bit.

[@randylenart9674]

Need to use 0 or 1 gage wire on your batterys and to your inverter for a 12volt system

[@Checkitfirst]

I am not on a 12 V system. I am on a 24 V system. Wires from my battery to my inverter are zero gauge and I have a number six from my charge controller to the batteries