Originally Posted By: Paul FNG
Originally Posted By: Freg
Paul, what kind of solar out put do you have at your barn? I like the solar idea but don't want to have to put in a huge system. I actually found something on Amazon that was a 100 watt panel wired into a floating water pump. I'm considering just trying that with a deep cycle battery and seeing how it goes.


I have three 200w Hightec Solar panels, purchased from fred480v on eBay and manufactured in Michigan City, IN.

Those panels are wired in series (63V @ 9.5A) to a Renogy Rover 40A MPPT controller, which feeds a 24V battery bank comprised of four Duracell 6V GC2 flooded lead acid golf cart batteries in series.

The batteries feed an AIMS 24V 2000w inverter/charger, with direct wire output to a load center. I've currently got circuits powering overhead LED lights, two 72" ceiling fans, and eight NEMA 5-15 120v outlets. Plan on adding an additional circuit for the dock.

I have three more 200w panels I need to mount to my barn roof, which will give me 1200w total PV and help maintain batteries during a run of overcast days; my panels being mounted sub-optimally (west-southwest vs. south) and subject to late afternoon shading reduce my generation potential.

A ceiling fan that uses a DC motor, such as those made by Fanimation and available at Lowes, use stupid low energy for the air they move. I have Slinger V2s and they move 6400CFM for only 14W of draw.

Depending on the pump you are planning to run and when/how long you plan to run it, could probably design a simple system with a single 200w panel, 20A MPPT charge controller, two 6V GC2 batteries (or a single DC31), and a 600w pure sine inverter. With solar, it is ALWAYS better to slightly oversize everything...

Full disclaimer that I'm no electrician, but it appears that a 500' run of 10/2 would keep voltage drop less than 4.2% with a 10A load.


Paul,

Please read up on Vmp and charger voltage requirements for maximum solar power production. At 63V (voc I assume) you are loosing a lot of power to heat as your conversion rate is over 2 to 1 for a 24V system. Your Vmp should be less, so you are going to be closer, but nowhere near where you want to be to produce maximin power. When you install the other three panels, I would suggest three strings of two panels in series for better production. However, at 1200 watts, you would really be hitting those smaller batteries very hard in full MPPT production.

If you want my recommendation, use four panels in two strings of two panels and see how that works. Remember you should not hit your batteries with more than 1/6 their capacity (20 hour rate for Lead acid chemistry) when charging. If you are using AGMs the rate is even lower. Other chemistries vary as well.

Hope this helps.

And for the other two panels, sounds like you can use them all by themselves at your pond for other power requirements.

Brian

The one thing is the one thing
A dry fly catches no fish
Try not to be THAT 10%