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Post by tattoo on Nov 6, 2018 22:25:28 GMT
Why the redundancy? Because I am a retired nuc submarine sailor....Rode one the the Very North Pole and back, peed my name in the ice there. I would have gone with a larger much better system and carried spare parts..... But it's your money...
Enjoy your retirement....
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Post by swampmonster on Nov 6, 2018 22:33:36 GMT
31.5 ft almost new class C. E450 with V-10. Huge for a single old man....Whee!
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Post by bupkis on Nov 7, 2018 1:08:56 GMT
If I were the OP i'd do series pairs but due to the layout all in series could avoid combining the pairs. no wonder devnull has not returned! Luckily the OP is not limited to just one choice.
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Post by swampmonster on Nov 7, 2018 3:44:16 GMT
with a Voc limit of 40v I would not have one. glad you are impressed with it! Fersure, I understand that have different requirements, so pick whichever controller you desire. I am NOT here to defend my equipment selections or my system design...MY system is designed to suit just ME...JUST ME. HOWEVER, for MY particular requirements, the Blue Sky was the absolute best choice....Money was not a factor, the main factors for me were it's features and closest COMPATIBILITY with my panels and batteries....For my system configuration, Blue Sky 3000i won hands down. Yes, it has a 40Voc max limit, but the controllers will NEVER see 40Voc.....These controllers are DESIGNED to be especially efficient with 36 cell 12V panels in parallel....Max input of 400 watts/30 amps. The controller can if required control higher voltage 60 cell panels up to 22 amps total, but as designed it is extremely well suited to get very high efficiency from my Eclipse panels in PARALLEL only.....In fact Renogy recommends this controller as a top choice for their panels....But of course they also suggest their controllers. The OP's question was about series/parallel panel configuration to his controller....My replies were intended to help him make the best choice where I described my particular install......EVERY install is different, and hopefully it is properly designed.
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Post by swampmonster on Nov 7, 2018 3:53:30 GMT
Why the redundancy? Because I am a retired nuc submarine sailor....Rode one the the Very North Pole and back, peed my name in the ice there. I would have gone with a larger much better system and carried spare parts..... But it's your money...
Enjoy your retirement....
LOL, you think 1000 watts total on the roof is too small?...OH, Lawd...It's an RV buddy, not a house.....A much better system?.....Meaning?
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Post by tattoo on Nov 7, 2018 4:05:16 GMT
LOL, you think 1000 watts total on the roof is too small?...OH, Lawd...It's an RV buddy, not a house.....A much better system?.....Meaning? You don't have 1000w in one system it's in several systems remember, So that really doesn't fly saying you have 1000w total......... If you did , Yes that would be a large system, but you have several small systems...
If that's what you want that's fine with me... It's a clean setup none the less.....
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Post by tattoo on Nov 7, 2018 4:11:36 GMT
Yes, it has a 40Voc max limit, but the controllers will NEVER see 40Voc.....These controllers are DESIGNED to be especially efficient with 36 cell 12V panels in parallel....Max input of 400 watts/30 amps. A 30a CC is a small CC no matter how you look at it... Where do you have 1000w of panels going to?
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Post by swampmonster on Nov 7, 2018 5:01:12 GMT
Yes, it has a 40Voc max limit, but the controllers will NEVER see 40Voc.....These controllers are DESIGNED to be especially efficient with 36 cell 12V panels in parallel....Max input of 400 watts/30 amps. A 30a CC is a small CC no matter how you look at it... Where do you have 1000w of panels going to? FIRST of all, I WANT multiple charge controllers for REDUNDANCY....REDUNDANCY, because I will be way far off from any support for weeks at a time. Of the 10 100 watts panels, 6 serve my new solar batt bank thru 2 controllers in parallel, so that is a quazy dual 300 watt system configured Port/Starboard and normally cross connected for 600 watts...That system is connected to a 2000 watt PSW inverter with smart charger operating off a large lifeline battery bank....The inverter is connected on A/C side to my main house 120V distribution panel, but NOT my main house panel converter. The main house panel converter is connect to my house batts and programmed smart charge them on shore or gen set power., whereas the large inverter will charge my solar bank when on shore/genset power.....Cool, huh? My remaining 4 100 watt panels serve my pair of 6V 220 amp house batteries thru 3rd controller. The house batteries are connected to a 600 watt PSW inverter.....This system alone can power all my nightly needs including sat TV, computer, phone charging and interior led lighting. Yes, it fersure is a complex, but very powerful system...It will prove to be a very RELIABLE system were several equipment failures will not be a show stopper. Yaknow buddy...I served the first 7 years of my career(before the submarines) as an engineer in Destroyer main propulsion engine and fire rooms...1200PSI superheated steam plants, configured into two separate plants where either or both could turn either or both props...Each of the two plants produced 35,000 shaft horsepower from each main engine set(HP steam turbine engines)...The plants consisted of two fire rooms(boilers), and two engine rooms...Either fireroom could steam either engine room or both when cross connected. When split plant, that little Destroyer got up on it's hind legs and twisted those prop shafts with 70,000 horse power and threw a rooster tail 20 foot high even when at flank speed....That class Destroyer was the last straight stick steam engineering plant commissioned, and it was a truly capable and reliable warship that could suffer tremendous damage and continue to steam ahead. Redundancy!...Back ups for the back ups...Cross connection capability....split plant capability...keep steaming no matter what....So young man, do you now get the idea?...Huh?...Nuff said, if I gotta explain further, you won't understand. I am a retired Navy steam and nuclear submarine engineer, so these are the things I lived with inside very tiny spaces for many years...Complex systems and equipment. Wonders of design, with amazing redundancy and flexibility.
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Post by swampmonster on Nov 7, 2018 11:49:23 GMT
with a Voc limit of 40v I would not have one. glad you are impressed with it! bupkis, Solar Power 101 sez, "When panels are connected in parallel, Voc remains the same, but amps are multiplied by the number of panels.. However, when panels are connected in series, Voc multiplies and amps remain the same." So Friend, I'll state this ONE last time. My panels will be connected in parallel...That means my charge controller will never see over 22.2 Voc from even a hundred of those panels. BTW, that fancy series parallel math trick also applies to batteries. Confused?... Wait, it gets better....When concerned with charge controller Voc you must also add the voltage of the battery bank...My fancy math sez, 22.2V + 14.4V = < 37 volts....Ain't that AMAZING?...Taking notes?
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Post by swampmonster on Nov 7, 2018 12:18:45 GMT
If I were the OP i'd do series pairs but due to the layout all in series could avoid combining the pairs. no wonder devnull has not returned! Luckily the OP is not limited to just one choice. Myself, I would rotate the panels in pairs to where all the connecting wires faced center and from there place a combiner box in the gap between panels..... Yaknow, Missouri Wind And Solar makes a really cool smallish sized combiner box that uses MC4 connectors...Yup I got one for my 6 panel system, and fixin to buy another for the other 4 panels....It's really cool, you simply plug the panels into the outside of the box....They use Amphenol brand panel mount style MC4 connectors in their boxes....It's also a great place to plug in the killer Renogy MC4 inline fuses I use...Each panel fused safely on the roof. But that's just me, and that's how I'd do it.
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Post by tattoo on Nov 7, 2018 12:49:16 GMT
So young man, do you now get the idea?...Huh? LOL Thanks for the kind words but I'd bet your not much older that I am if any older.... Sounds like you got your system figured out, Hope it works out for you...
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Post by bupkis on Nov 7, 2018 12:53:31 GMT
with a Voc limit of 40v I would not have one. glad you are impressed with it! bupkis, Solar Power 101 sez, "When panels are connected in parallel, Voc remains the same, but amps are multiplied by the number of panels.. However, when panels are connected in series, Voc multiplies and amps remain the same." So Friend, I'll state this ONE last time. My panels will be connected in parallel...That means my charge controller will never see over 22.2 Voc from even a hundred of those panels. BTW, that fancy series parallel math trick also applies to batteries. Confused?... Wait, it gets better....When concerned with charge controller Voc you must also add the voltage of the battery bank...My fancy math sez, 22.2V + 14.4V = < 37 volts....Ain't that AMAZING?...Taking notes? sorry no notes here cuz your math is BS input limit has NOTHING to do with battery voltage, go figure, you are confused. I suggest if one is to limit themselves to '12v' panels and use MPPT then get one that can use series pairs, heat can reduce Vmp to less than battery charge voltage (look at an panels IV curve and coefficients for temperature), going more than pairs one needs to consider voltage drop, there is much less when the amps stay low with series but bucking eff comes into play. 16v@6A = 32v@3A = 96 watts I'll suggest you quit digging your hole deeper.
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Post by Admin on Nov 7, 2018 20:07:58 GMT
I have a Renogy 40A Rover Li, Can I connect them all in series and have the MPPT controller handle the conversion to 12V to the batteries? Will the Rover handle the 18v + 18v + 18v + 18v? I guess thats 72volts. We hope your question has been answered. The verdict is different connections types might benefit different charge controller systems. For the Renogy system, we recommend going series or series parallel if you want to combat some shading and or heat better. Both are viable options. -Renogy Team
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Post by swampmonster on Nov 8, 2018 15:07:40 GMT
Point me specifically to what i need to by online/Amazon to make my panels hook up in parallel, with leads long enough etc. Or would I need to make some custom MC4 connections.
Also looking for the most streamlined option.
Good luck with the flex panels...I love the flex concept, but so far many have proven short lived and failure prone due to excessive heat and tendency to quickly become brittle and suffer cracking.
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v10
Solar Advocate
Posts: 81
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Post by v10 on Nov 8, 2018 23:56:28 GMT
It is a good idea to protect and secure all wires in a moving vehicle.
In the picture above the kinked white wire at the top left corner is dangerously close to the sharp edge of the metal work box. It might be pretty but underneath it's a truck. Trucks vibrate.
Left uncorrected, an exercise in redundancy would be a good pair of boots and a backpack
Several posts back not directly above
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