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No worries, yes I have been meaning to do an update. We are just coming out of winter and are now going into summer. There hasn't really been anything to report because they have been doing their job fantastically. I will however be packing up my setup and putting it into storage as I will be...

I'll let you know what that happens also! Also thanks for the confimation that I'm onto something. How do you know when your over the target? You take the most flack!

Here is another old Edison manual from 1914 https://web.archive.org/web/20120704014908/http://ironedison.com/images/products/Iron%20Edison/Edison%20Manual%20of%20Storage%20Battery%20Practice%20%28c%29%201914_.pdf

Thank you!! See what I did there? We cant have too many going off plantation now can we? Must keep them in the company store! Can't allow them to be free! Couple sets of panels + spare pot ash + deionized water + NIFE cells = lifetime Free energy device!! We cant have that now can we!! How does...

ok, there are a few points here that are simply not true... 1/ Yes these batteries are expensive compared to most so I agree, longevity costs money 2/ When the sun disappears for a few months then this will surly be a massive issue! I'll let you know when that happens. 3/ Its quite...

Its probably worse than that, lets remove 1000kwh (direct solar to load) so 1084/1265= 85% <-- yeah thats about right, roughly the same as lead acid!

Their no worse than Lead Acid, however if you decide to overcharge them to gain 30% capacity over the rating (as the old Edison manual says you can do), your efficiency will drop through the floor!! But if your on solar and its a sunny winters day and a storms a coming, you may elect to do that...

This year for the total system... Source 2265.84kWh, Load 2084.09kWh Probably half of that being direct solar to load, with the other half being via the batteries. But honestly, who cares? The sun shines regardless and panels are cheap!

2020 (to date) Month Source (kWh) Load (kWh) Batt Out (kWh) Voltage Cycles ROI Avg Load (kWh) Avg Source (kWh) January 160.11 146.95 67.16 16.28 - 12.44 11 $50.06 4.74 5.16 February 163.08 153.85 88.72 16.52 - 10.12 11.23 $48.93 5.31 5.62 March 121.42 110.57 61.92...

Spring Update Well its spring time here now, and things are warming up, it’s amazing the difference between now and the depths of winter as to the amount of usable sun I'm receiving. Right now, I'm getting good sun from 8:30am through to 5:30pm or 9 hours where as I was getting around 6 in the...

Yeah I wish Inverters were as flexible as charge controllers are, but the cost of doing that is most likely quite prohibitive and its a limitation of the FET's used.

Edison Batteries are also called Nickel Iron or NI-FE. Checkout my thread.... https://diysolarforum.com/threads/ni-fe-1000ah-12v-with-5kw-of-panels-running-4kw-reverse-cycle-ac-for-heating-house.2490/ I go into great detail my setup, I have tons of data to backup my experience also. And I...

Yes 12V has been a little challenging, I'm running 70mm2 between the batteries and the fuses and 35mm2 between both Charge Controllers and Inverter (all separately) to the fuses. But as I go up in voltage I will keep my wire sizes which will also help with Voltage drop. Doing it this way...

Thanks great news, glad to hear it. I'm going to 24V first, but thanks.

Yeah no worries, well good luck!!

Sounds like you may have got a bad batch of cells, they are made in china, or the electrolyte wasn't mixed correctly in that bank. Allowing the voltage to go below .95v will destroy them as they will delaminate. Well I'm on the inside, but its the most livable leper colony in the world!! Well...

Yeah they are not for everyone, which is a shame really given their low temperature characteristics. Operating temperature range of -22 to +140F (-30 to +60C) Surly you must get some good wind!

I have been driving mine to 0% SOC all winter now. its only the last few days as we come out of the worst of winter than II have been able to get multiple days of charge in and not use near 100% You don't need to be all nice like with these batteries, you have to be a little rough with them...

Day Source (kWh) Load (kWh) Batt Out (kWh) Voltage Dod ROI 1 13.72 10.57 3.62 16.18 - 12.85 44% $3.74 2 12.07 11.20 4.63 16.15 - 12.81 45% $3.94 3 2.88 5.50 3.32 14.64 - 12.33 31% $1.91 4 4.46 2.44 1.36 15.98 - 10.78 69% $0.76 5 9.78 10.84...

Winter Breakout Well over the past few days we have had the first signs of spring show itself and the worst winter month is now behind us. So far, I have used around a half of the wood I stored for winter use and I’m ahead of where I thought I would have been at this time. I’m now right on 12...

What?? Who cares? Low light is not my target!

I'm just waiting on some capacitors from china to see if it works with different types, but they are taking their sweet time unfortunately.

Yes that is best avoided. I have a 12V 300W ceramic heater heating my bedroom, but I have an 80V solar run to a small 40A epever charge controller along with some capacitors. I will probably doument that soon, the smaller 20-40A epever charge controller don't require a battery to run, it will...

Yeah get yourself an MT-50 if you havent already done so, much easier and more convenient to program than using the god-awful PC software, IMO.

It sounded like you were going to put them all around your greenhouse, that would require longer runs yeah?

Unless it catches on fire.

Heat Pump cloths dryers are also a thing now, so perhaps thats another application for DC in this way!! You could have direct PV 100-300VDC running around your house and an AC-DC (or DC-DC) converter to supply power when the sun is down. Holy crap, maybe Edison will have the last laugh after all!

These things require between 100-300V so its not that easy. And using a DC-DC converter introduces similar losses to an inverter (maybe a little less) and are also expensive. But yes I'm kinda torn, on one hand you can reduce the amount of charge controllers needed in your system, but the...

Yes, I do the same. The purpose of this thread is to discuss the newer DC capable devices.

I see solar PC powered AC units becoming more and more available. Engineer775 talks about them in the US... Seems they are now available here in Australia also... http://aussiesolarworld.com.au/solar-air-conditioner.html This is a game changer, as it doesn't require storage, and uses the...

Generally around the same however there are some variables here. I have 12kw of storage (1000ah 12V), and in the middle of winter i have around 6h of good sunlight. These batteries take around 15h to fully charge however in my 6h I'm able to pump in 8-9kw at a float of 16.2V. However when I go...

This article does seem highlight the disadvantages well, however there are advantages to this battery tech this article doesn't even mention. Such as cold climate performance which is off the charts compared with any other battery chemistry I've come across. For stationary solar storage most of...

Yes, see my thread.... https://diysolarforum.com/threads/ni-fe-1000ah-12v-with-5kw-of-panels-running-4kw-reverse-cycle-ac-for-heating-house.2490/ I'm almost 12months in now, and the batteries have been working well.

Interesting, I didn't realize they just use hot water heater elements in the bottom of those oil filled column heaters. The only problem with converting them to low voltage DC is your going to have a lot of amps traveling some distance around your greenhouse.

June 2020 Day Source (kWh) Load (kWh) Batt Out (kWh) Voltage Dod ROI 1 2.36 1.23 0.59 15.55 - 13.35 29% $0.38 2 5.48 6.86 2.70 16.14 - 11.29 65%...