Fuelly

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Breaking the 2kWp Barrier

Some nice weather this week meant a spot of gardening and some more woodwork...

The other 48Wp amorphous array has been upgraded to 160Wp, using a couple of the new Klearskies panels.  That leaves four more lolling about in the living room, waiting for a place to go. :D
The nearer one is the new one, and I move it around in the day, depending on how low the battery was from the previous night, or if the weather is forecast to be sunny only in the morning, or only the afternoon.  This brings the total installed capacity up to 2080Wp.

I can't actually use all of it at the same time as the Morningstar TriStar MPPT controller is only rated for 60A at 24V, or some 1600W (they seem to rate it for the float Voltage of 27V on a 24V system).  I've got 1740Wp installed (would generate just over 64A), but it points in different directions, so will never make the total power at the same time.  Orienting the panels in different directions just extends the time that the whole system runs without using the battery, and gives the battery the best chance of reaching full charge.

It's been incredibly sunny the last few days, and I've been able to move the 160W mobile array to track the sun from the SE in the morning, to the setting Westerly light, further increasing the "battery free" run time.

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