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Wombat Regular Member Joined: 27/05/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 72
Posted: 07:55am 04 Jun 2011
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I was wondering/hoping if a Sunny Boy SB1100 could by hooked up to batterys and Solar Panels (as it has 2 inputs), and run off grid as a stand alone inverter. I ask because I picked one up today for a good price - end of stock.
Also picked up a few panels:
1x 190W 7.15A 26.56V - 32.56V open
3x 170W 4.83A 35.20V - 44.40V open
1X 185W 5.09A 36.38V - 45.12V open damaged.
The glass has shattered on the last 1 and didn't want to see it in the bin!
Not sure what to do with it now. Do you think the glass could be picked off? or try laminating? It looks like a shattered windscreen, such a shame...
They were odd panels he had laying around the shop, so out came the bartering skills.
Worked out to be just under $2 per Watt for the good panels.
My batterys are 6X 12V 240Ah/10HR, ex data centre UPS and in need of a little TLC.
I'm quite sure 4 of them are fine, and will end up as 24V 480AH.
The other 2, when/if feeling better, I would like to leave at 12V 480AH to replace all these flippin' plugpacks I have here.
MPPT's? Can a 24V panel charge 12V battery? etc etc... What of the Sonny Boy!...
Well... so may questions... so much to do... I feel like a little kid with big boys toys. haha.
Any and all assistance, comments and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Russ
VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539
Posted: 10:09am 04 Jun 2011
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Hi Wombat
The shattered panel will depend if it has any cells damaged do a load test on it I had one of my old ones like that when a branch fell on it and I stuck a piece of glass over the lot and sealed it with silicone loose about 10% power but still usable. Do it in the sun on a hot dry day and put some silica jell to absorb any entrapped moisture.
The second 2 panel lots would be OK in parallel but the first one will need a separate regulator as it is a bit far out of spec with the other two. I would suggest a MPPT on it as well as the others.
You can buy a down converter 24 to 12 volt 30 amp to run your 12 volt stuff with and you can charge 12 volt off 24 volts by putting some 12 volt headlight globes in parellel to limit the current to the 12 volt battery, try to keep it down to 5 amps or less and be care full as the 12 volt battery can be overcharged by this method.
You can float charge off the down converter as the one I have runs at 13.5 under load.
Dont know on the sunny boy no help there.
All the best
BobFoolin Around
Tinker Guru Joined: 07/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1904
Posted: 01:38pm 04 Jun 2011
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It depends on the MPPT Russ. The one I have is auto battery voltage sensing - got it from Altronics, its in their catalogue.
Its a GSL MPPT60-1 btw.Edited by Tinker 2011-06-05Klaus
yahoo2 Guru Joined: 05/04/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1166
Posted: 10:34am 05 Jun 2011
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RE sunny boy 1100 and 24volt panels into 12volt batteries.
sunny boy 1100 off grid, the short answer is no, without chucking buckets of money at it. You will need a very stable fake grid or the safety shutdown system will not let it run. A "sunny island" is designed to supply that fake grid but its Mucho $$$!
24v panel into 12v battery. Yes this is a goer, but with a few catches.
morningstar TRISTAR and Outback FLEXMAX regulators are designed for just this scenario, right up to a max panel voltage of 150 volts, but you will need some more panels to make it worthwhile spending that much (even in the US they are $600 - $700).
A standard MPPT regulator may not accept the high voltage, it will go into over-voltage protection or melt the switching transistors.
However the old style switching regulator or pulse width modulation (PWM) regulator should let the batteries drag the panel voltage down, just as they do with a wind turbine, they will work fine. You will only get a percentage of the total wattage of the panel eg 7.15A @ 14.4V = 102 Watts max instead of 190W. But hey, it will work short term and if its a 12/24V reg when you find another battery you will be back up to 85% power @ 24 volt.
Yahoo I'm confused, no wait... maybe I'm not...
Wombat Regular Member Joined: 27/05/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 72
Posted: 12:25pm 05 Jun 2011
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Thanks VK4AYQ, Thew, a tongue twister to type
The broken panel works fine! So it's an extra laminate for that one!
Will wait for summer thou for good hot weather... It's not going anywhere.
Tinker, Yes MPPT's are the go. Nice unit you have there, not cheep thou...
And prefer quality over price... talking nicely...
Thanks for the input Yahoo2. You made me think that it could be used as a dump load??
As long as the grid is "online", it should be possible... What do you think?
Russ
VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539
Posted: 04:41pm 05 Jun 2011
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Hi Wombat
I use an inverter as a to grid dump and that is successful, but really needs a back up dump in case you loose grid, not to much an issue as most regulators I used have an over voltage cut out in battery feed and just let the panels over voltage float and that doesn't do them any great harm. For a wind mill a larger battery bank can dump to a degree, as long it isn't for to long, it can provide a equalization charge, as at my place the wind tends to have high peak power for limited time often less than I hour so unless the batteries are not being used and are at maximum float voltage they can absorb some extra energy for short periods, a good time to do the washing ironing and boost the HWS, make a cup of coffee and some toast, all natural load dumping without wasting the energy. It would pay to have a volt meter on the battery to monitor it and train other members of the family to so as well, this will make them energy conscious. Then Glenns dump controller could be set up to respond automatically as well.
The mill is an other kettle of fish though as it will need a load or it can run away and create realty dangerous voltages, not to mention damaging it self.
I am converting mine to a 24 volt system, because when you have a long string of cell needed to create high voltage, 300 - 350 volts the cells are all in series and are limited to the conductivity of the worst cell in the string, so losses can be high.
The other advantage of this is you can add more panels without real accurate matching and the voltage isn't enough to kill you unless you are real stupid. MPPT regulators are good for stretching the maximum out of you panels but not essential.
Notice. New forum software under development. It's going to miss a few functions and look a bit ugly for a while, but I'm working on it full time now as the old forum was too unstable. Couple days, all good. If you notice any issues, please contact me.
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- end of stock.
haha.
