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Main House Electricity System (view source)
Revision as of 16:49, 17 September 2020
, 16:49, 17 September 2020no edit summary
The electricity system consists of a set of four deep cycle batteries, an inverter, five 200 W solar panels, one 250 W solar panel, an MPPT charge controllers for the five solar panels, a micro-hydro, and a diversion controller.
## Solar Panels and MPPT Charge Controller
There are five [SUNGOLDPOWER 24V Monocrystalline 200W Solar Panels](https://sungoldpower.com/collections/monocrystalline-solar-panel/products/200-watt-monocrystalline-solar-panel#specification_1) that are connected in parallel, which keeps their voltage at 24 V and adds up their amperage. On a sunny day, they output up to 500 W to the [SolarEpic 4125BN MPPT Solar Charge Controller](https://solarepic.com/products/solarepic-mppt-40a-solar-charge-controller-150v-pv-input-tracer-4215bn?variant=12497866457137). The charge controller is rated for 40 A.
The additional, older 250 W panel is connected to a small PWM charge controller. Note that PWM charge controllers are less efficient than MPPT controllers.
## Micro-Hydro and Diversion Controller
The micro-hydro system outputs around 60 W all day long. We currently don't have any accurate information on its original efficiency, head, or other characteristics. Please update this section and the micro-hydro page if you know more.
As the micro-hydro system charges the batteries 24/7, it is important to prevent overcharging with a diversion controller that redirects the energy to a heating element. The heating element dumps the electricity and converts it into heat. The diversion controller is the C-35 by Schneider ([Manual](http://solar.schneider-electric.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/c-series-manual-975-0004-01-02-rev-d_eng.pdf)).
## Deep-Cycle Batteries
[[File:12-FS-210 Rolls Battery.JPG|thumb|Deep-cycle battery 12 FS 210 by Rolls Battery]]
The main house has a 24 Volt [V] deep-cycle battery system with a capacity of 420 Ampere-hours [Ah].
[[File:Batteriesinseriesandparallel.JPG|border|thumb|Four 12V batteries in series and parallel]]
As with all deep cycle batteries, they shouldn’t be drained to less than 20% of their capacity, which results in a usable capacity of 336 Ah with 24 V (~8,000 Watt-hours [Wh]) after purchase. If the hour rate (time to discharge the battery) is closer to 10 hours, the usable capacity fluctuates around 296 Ah with 24 V (~7,100 Wh). Please note that these numbers will be lower after long-term usage. Based on experience, the batteries are severely damaged resulting in a capacity of approx. 40% (3,200 Wh).
## Plans for upgrading # Upgrading the systemBatteries
One should refrain from adding new batteries to an already used set as it wears down the old batteries faster. This will result in deep discharged old batteries. Therefore, we could consider moving the current/old set to our future octagonal cabins. As depicted in the illustration above, we could run two independent 12 V systems in different locations. Rolls Battery released a new version of our current batteries, the S12 185 ([data sheet](https://www.rollsbattery.com/battery/s12-185/?pdf=8512)). Here is a [summary of the model updates](https://rollsbattery.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Model-Updates.pdf).