Very new to solar but started purchasing items, not sure of the final specs of the whole system.

[kromc5]

Sun came out and the victron connected to the new banks is doing 75.4 amps from a 6s2p. Which is excellent.

Up to twelve 100W panels on the second string now, very impressed with the 450/100s performance. Seems to produce a little more than my 150/35s (within their limits).

View attachment 210520

That is excellent, here's what the 450/200 did with only a 6s2p to charge new banks.

 

[kromc5]

Ok so you are under panelling a fair bit then.

I'm trying to take time and have more reasonable arrays for all the mppts, considering the expense of the updates.
But I'm happy with everything so far as monitoring is so helpful.

 

[Brucey]

I'm trying to take time and have more reasonable arrays for all the mppts, considering the expense of the updates.
But I'm happy with everything so far as monitoring is so helpful.

All good, you must have limits based on existing layouts. I'm planning on going the other way, overpanneling a little to maximize winter utilization

 

[Brucey]

Sun came out and the victron connected to the new banks is doing 75.4 amps from a 6s2p. Which is excellen

That is excellent, here's what the 450/200 did with only a 6s2p to charge new banks.

It's been crazy cloudy for months, hoping for a full sunny day soon.

 

[kromc5]

It's been crazy cloudy for months, hoping for a full sunny day soon.

I was initially shocked by how much they can reduce solar; we've had two storms midday where the
growatt mppts clicked off. We are running the heat today and most likely tomorrow; it's cold for this time of the
year.

 

[kromc5]

We have almost finished adding the fifth panel to each row; after this, we will have 105 panels.
Then, I will have lots more work as I need to do three more arrays and probably still have issues
in the winter. I'm looking for anyone who loves solar and enjoys long hours of pay-free hard work.

 

[Brucey]

I was initially shocked by how much they can reduce solar; we've had two storms midday where the
growatt mppts clicked off. We are running the heat today and most likely tomorrow; it's cold for this time of the
year.

Little bit of sunshine amongst the clouds this afternoon. I have my 100 on a 60A midnite breaker, I caught momentary push out to 86A, I just limited the charger to 70A until I get the distributor in place with a 125A mega fuse.

 

[Brucey]

We have almost finished adding the fifth panel to each row; after this, we will have 105 panels.
Then, I will have lots more work as I need to do three more arrays and probably still have issues
in the winter. I'm looking for anyone who loves solar and enjoys long hours of pay-free hard work.

You can prob qualify for a multimillion grant for solar workforce training courtesy of Brandon, you pay nothing and Feds pick up the bill.

 

[kromc5]

Little bit of sunshine amongst the clouds this afternoon. I have my 100 on a 60A midnite breaker, I caught momentary push out to 86A, I just limited the charger to 70A until I get the distributor in place with a 125A mega fuse.

View attachment 210675

That is super impressive, I curious to see what the amps will be for everything. Since I'm
going up in voltage on every array I wonder if I will see any reductions.

 

[kromc5]

I wanted to double-check my math at midnight; 6s3p is too much for parallel on the victron.

 

[Brucey]

I wanted to double-check my math at midnight; 6s3p is too much for parallel on the victron.

Aren't you going to run into the 4200W per tracker limit?

 

[kromc5]

Aren't you going to run into the 4200W per tracker limit?

I was planning to run it in parallel on two inputs, but I have been thinking of different ideas for the following 30 panels.
It would be easy to do two 6s2p, but I could put them all up from the next pallet.
As the sun sets, I'm leaning towards the bottom row a 6s and the next 4 rows above into two 6s2p.

 

[Brucey]

Sorry that 4200W is 4000W. So you can go beyond the 18A limit you just lose the reverse polarity protection:

Smartsolar RS 450/100 spec sheet confusion - Victron Community

community.victronenergy.com

 

[kromc5]

Sorry that 4200W is 4000W. So you can go beyond the 18A limit you just lose the reverse polarity protection:

Smartsolar RS 450/100 spec sheet confusion - Victron Community

community.victronenergy.com

That is a fascinating read; I am about 1/2 through the thread. Just finished wiring the panels up and checking all
of them. I got two pallets to install and make a small 7-8 panel array for the mini split.

 

[kromc5]

Sorry that 4200W is 4000W. So you can go beyond the 18A limit you just lose the reverse polarity protection:

Smartsolar RS 450/100 spec sheet confusion - Victron Community

community.victronenergy.com

In the thread, one person talks about over-paneling: "The ISC is with 27,62A over the limit."

 

[Brucey]

In the thread, one person talks about over-paneling: "The ISC is with 27,62A over the limit."

Yes, I read that as 27.62A, over the official limit of 20A. But assuming you don't connect as reverse polarity, you can go above that. Electrically it will still only draw a max of 18A.

 

[jbkrntrprz]

Simplest way to "correct" that would be to set up a photocell that cuts power to all loads when the sun goes down.
What do you actually care about operating at night?
If nothing, then not much need for batteries. I have 14 kWh (usable) storage, AGM batteries which cost $5000. Using similar for 50 kWh would cost you $15,000 although there are alternatives. I could get by with 3.5 kWh (usable) but I haven't disabled all my refrigerators/freezers at night. (Ice is cheap, lead or lithium is expensive.)
In contrast, the 14 kW of PV cost something between $3500 and $28,000 (typical range of PV), likely $7000 from a quick search.
PV is cheap and long lasting. Batteries are expensive and problematic.

I suggest a battery just big enough to run minimal loads at night. It will also kick over motors to start them.
Try to run everything (almost) directly off PV.
Configure some state-of-charge indication to enable other loads (e.g. water heater, which appears to be heat-pump?) so it kicks in when there is surplus power available.

You must live in an area of a lot of sun! Your idea would not work in my state in the winter. To many cloudy days! I like the idea of automatically cutting power when and where needed.

 

[jbkrntrprz]

I cut and moved another 8 trees yesterday, suprising how a few trees can really project shade when your actually paying attention. I'm also still surprised by the mounting costs with the pole kits. I have yet to find and affordable 9 panel system but since they are bifacial I really want to maximize them by getting them fairly high.

Check out my setup. Might not be what you are looking for and it was a lot of work but it is high enough for my Bifacial PVs I think.https://diysolarforum.com/threads/brightmount-rack.77778/

 

[kromc5]

Check out my setup. Might not be what you are looking for and it was a lot of work but it is high enough for my Bifacial PVs I think.https://diysolarforum.com/threads/brightmount-rack.77778/

That is very nice, I wish the flat land was closer. I would have really liked to have long arrays in that fashion. I do have a flat, but it's all 220+ feet from the house.

 

[kromc5]

I finally made another ethernet cable to have the 3rd victron up in vrm. I do not see a way to make separate panels for each one.
Does seem like you would need a cerbo for each one, I guess? I saw I can add the victron shunt to the cerbo so I may try that. I have a spare watchman and shut, but I would instead go with the victron.