New to forum, not so much to electricity.

[finite]

Hello ladies and gents and those that are niether(do yall do that here)?.

Im a 20+ year electrician that got put onto a dodge promaster build out a couple years back and have wanted a system of my own ever since, Well that time has come.

I plan on starting small and expanding as i can afford so im starting with my chicken coop, yes my chicken coop. It will power a security light on the exterior maybe 1 light in the interior and probably a heated water bowl in the winter time.

Im starting out with the Renogy 200W kit for the panels and charge controller(it was on sale) for storage i ended picking up a box of 4 EVE 304 AH cells(also on sale) (i know its a large bank for the # of panels) and went with a daly 250a smart BMS.

I think i got lucky picking out the cells as i admitidly didnt do as much research as i should have. The BMS however im not as confident about after reading some things. like most things nowadays though sometimes you get good ones and sometimes you get a stinker.

Ill wrap it up with some pics of the promaster build out feel free to critique it as im self taught with all things solar.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Slick!

You gots enough blue for a pass on the "renogy kit"...

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Im starting out with the Renogy 200W kit for the panels and charge controller(it was on sale) for storage i ended picking up a box of 4 EVE 304 AH cells(also on sale) (i know its a large bank for the # of panels) and went with a daly 250a smart BMS.

It is NOT a large bank for the array. There's no significant relationship between LFP battery cap and PV current like there is with lead acid. More capacity just means more boondocking lusciousness before you have to charge!

I think i got lucky picking out the cells as i admitidly didnt do as much research as i should have. The BMS however im not as confident about after reading some things. like most things nowadays though sometimes you get good ones and sometimes you get a stinker.

I'm probably the first to point the finger of blame at DALY, but you're right... you only hear about the bad ones. Hopefully, you got the one made on a tuesday at about 10pm after they had their coffee and weren't already checked out for lunchtime...

 

[finite]

Slick!

You gots enough blue for a pass on the "renogy kit"...

Lol i wasnt sure if that was a thing, like dewalt V milwaukee. You have confirmed it is. That blue stuff was expensive(i didnt pay for that stuff) the renogy im paying for lol. What i meant by the array being small was im unsure that if i drained that battery the array would be able to charge it back up in 1 day.

 

[ScrotusGobbleBottom]

Hopefully that is the last and only Renogy kit you have.
Victron is fantastic and a good value except for their batteries in my opinion.

Welcome to the forum!

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Lol i wasnt sure if that was a thing, like dewalt V milwaukee. You have confirmed it is. That blue stuff was expensive(i didnt pay for that stuff)

I paid for mine... but I have no regrets.

the renogy im paying for lol. What i meant by the array being small was im unsure that if i drained that battery the array would be able to charge it back up in 1 day.

Definitely not. 200W flat on the roof will be disappointing. 4 * 3.2V * 280Ah = 3584Wh.

3584Wh/200W = 18 hours. You'll get 4-5 hours of charging from sunrise to sunset daily in favorable conditions/seasons.

If you have a deployable array that you can tilt and reposition a few times throughout the day, you can harvest 30-40% more than flat.

The important thing is to know how many kWh/day you can generate to keep a tally on your daily use. Most MPPT will report this value. The Victron keeps a 30 day history and can track items in the Trends tab for 46 days.

 

[finite]

Hopefully that is the last and only Renogy kit you have.
Victron is fantastic and a good value except for their batteries in my opinion.

Welcome to the forum!

More than likely ill grab 2 more panels to max out the controller and use to as a seperate system on the well house/shop

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Hopefully that is the last and only Renogy kit you have.
Victron is fantastic and a good value except for their batteries in my opinion.

Even *I* can't go there....

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Sample lightweight PVC frames/flexible panels for a deployable array:

Cheap Dual Flex Panel Mobile/Tilting Stand

Here’s a super lightweight and cheap adjustable stand design that I use for 100w flex panel pairs. Each unit costs

diysolarforum.com

 

[finite]

Sample lightweight PVC frames/flexible panels for a deployable array:

Cheap Dual Flex Panel Mobile/Tilting Stand

Here’s a super lightweight and cheap adjustable stand design that I use for 100w flex panel pairs. Each unit costs

diysolarforum.com

Already got the panels up on the roof of the coop so i can keep them facing south and on a pretty good angle ~30° if i recall.

 

[ScrotusGobbleBottom]

Sample lightweight PVC frames/flexible panels for a deployable array:

Cheap Dual Flex Panel Mobile/Tilting Stand

Here’s a super lightweight and cheap adjustable stand design that I use for 100w flex panel pairs. Each unit costs

diysolarforum.com

Sweet! I got a bit of PVC and connectors laying around!

 

[ScrotusGobbleBottom]

Already got the panels up on the roof of the coop so i can keep them facing south and on a pretty good angle ~30° if i recall.

Looks great!!

 

[ScrotusGobbleBottom]

Even *I* can't go there....

Its only 5 times more expensive than DIY batteries.

 

[finite]

Its only 5 times more expensive than DIY batteries.

I need to browse the diy battery section..my battery was still a lil over 1/3rd of the victron 12v 330ah.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I guess with their recent price drop, they're actually cheaper than Battleborn.... but that still doesn't say much.

I just dropped almost $1k on 9X 280Ah cells that seem to be testing at 305-ishAh

$114/kWh

 

[ScrotusGobbleBottom]

I guess with their recent price drop, they're actually cheaper than Battleborn.... but that still doesn't say much.

I just dropped almost $1k on 9X 280Ah cells that seem to be testing at 305-ishAh

$114/kWh

I just purchased a Luyuan 16S battery box from Amy. I saw that you had a "reasonable" delivery time.
Are you making a box for your new batteries?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I just purchased a Luyuan 16S battery box from Amy. I saw that you had a "reasonable" delivery time.
Are you making a box for your new batteries?

Nah... just a gentle clamping.

 

[pollenface]

Looks awesome

 

[finite]

So this is what the lil renogy kit is doing, I suppose its acceptable, the 1 complete system i have installed is not mine so i havent had the pleasure of watching what the PV would produce during different seasons,and having a benchmark. Early spring in south carolina clear day mid-upper 70's. gathering 136w peak.

Edited to ask: what is this MOS acronym in the DALY bms?

 

[gotbeans]

So this is what the lil renogy kit is doing, I suppose its acceptable, the 1 complete system i have installed is not mine so i havent had the pleasure of watching what the PV would produce during different seasons,and having a benchmark. Early spring in south carolina clear day mid-upper 70's. gathering 136w peak.

Edited to ask: what is this MOS acronym in the DALY bms?

probably the mosfets that are bleeding power to balance