160 Amp solar Tracker 5

[John_Koorn]

Bob, I've been doing what you asked for weeks now with no problems at all. I'm able to run my SSG 24/7 in generator mode or at night I run some lights, or an inverter to run a 2A12.

Like Chuck said, you're pretty much only limited by your imagination and the limits of the devices and batteries.

I would recommend that at least once a week you allow the batteries to fully charge with the Tracker 5 until the green light comes on and stays on for a few hours.

John K.

[John_Bedini]

@ All,
First some questions that have been asked about the use of the tracker 5 chargers.

Some have asked if you can run an SSG off the charger ? The answer is NO unless it is completely filtered any spike will short the output amplifier.
These chargers are intended for ""Batteries only"", do not boil water or anything like that, charge batteries only. Take your power from the battery and make sure that the charger is disconnected when you run an SSG, to run the SSG come to the conference and learn about this type of charger. The SSG can be converted in generator mode to use this type of charger to charge batteries with a special circuit to do the conversions.
Please do not do that or you will destroy the unit.
Thank you
John

[BobZilla]

Chuck that is not what I mean, I would have the panels to the tracker, to a battery say system A ,,, now system B is monopole to charge other batteries. Could system B use the battery on system A as it's primary.

So what I am really talking about is connecting the monopole up normally to charge batteries but the primary is the one on the charge side of the tracker. The alternative would be no don't do that and just charge batteries with system A to use on system B and not connect the two.

[Chuck Hupp]

@ Bobzilla
You will need the monopole charging a separate battery for that. Not going back to the tracker if that's what you meant.
Chuck Hupp, Energenx inc.

[Chuck Hupp]

Hello Mr. Bedini,

Perhaps you have already said the answer but I have a question about the 3a unit.

Supposing I have a full battery connected and it is just floating during the day time. Could I connect a monopole to that battery as a load and let the tracker supply that until the sun goes down at which time the battery would then supply the monopole? Then by the next day the panel and tracker could charge the battery back up. I know I would have to keep within reasonable draw to allow the battery to come back up but is this conceivable?

I am only talking about a small monopole that draws around 500ma. Any concerns with having the primary of a monopole connected on the charge side of a tracker?

Thank you very much for all you have shared with us. I have built many devices and homemade cells with the knowledge you have passed on to us.

Bobzilla, as with any of the tracker 5 line of solar chargers a load can be pulled during the charging process. It really depends on the amount of radiation getting through the clouds, time of day etc as too how much the overall charge to the battery will get. So yes that would be fine. Also a cell phone or radio or even lights can be used. The tracker 5 linear design allows for that by design. Just remember know your equipment and it's limitations and then the only limits are your imagination...
Chuck Hupp, Energenx inc.

[BobZilla]

Hello Mr. Bedini,

Perhaps you have already said the answer but I have a question about the 3a unit.

Supposing I have a full battery connected and it is just floating during the day time. Could I connect a monopole to that battery as a load and let the tracker supply that until the sun goes down at which time the battery would then supply the monopole? Then by the next day the panel and tracker could charge the battery back up. I know I would have to keep within reasonable draw to allow the battery to come back up but is this conceivable?

I am only talking about a small monopole that draws around 500ma. Any concerns with having the primary of a monopole connected on the charge side of a tracker?

Thank you very much for all you have shared with us. I have built many devices and homemade cells with the knowledge you have passed on to us.

*Edit*
I worded that question kind of awkwardly.

What I am really asking is would it be a bad idea to leave a monopole connected to the battery that the tracker is connected to.

I have ordered a 3a and I will mostly be trying to use it for charging primaries for my machines and I thought why not keep it all connected.

[John_Bedini]

Tesla Tracker 5 3 Amp unit

In this video Chuck and I are showing the new 3amp tracker 5 RV/ Marine charger. The chargers are usually used for emergency power and camping. With small solar panels, the fold up type as Goal Zero builds for backup solar

[John_Bedini]

Tesla 5 Micro mini

Here is an example of a Goal Zero panel that can be used with the Micro Mini Tesla 5 Tracker 3 amp charger. This panel can do 20 watts and it folds up. The charger will charge your car battery within 6 Hrs if conditions are right. The out plug on this type of panel is a problem so I just cut it off and add #10 lugs and use wing nuts on the input post. When using the micro mini the battery is connected first to give time for the Amplifier to bias itself. You may not think 20 watts is very much but when you have no power you will wish you had it to charge that 65 Amp Hr battery. it will push the battery right to 15.2 volts in the time allotted. These micro chargers are for emergency use. Example, would be if you left your lights on by accident inside your car or the headlights on, you could start your car in 30 minutes if the battery is in fair condition. I have done this many times. the other thing is campers with deep cycle batteries this could be used for that too. The other thing is you could make a small power generator for camping and use Led 40 watt lights. I will post some of the systems we have tested. I use a mini for all the garden lights around the yard. The charger can be ordered for use with Lithium Iron Sulfate batteries if you need that.
As I have said before here these are military type chargers condensed down. The charger has built in resettable overcurrent protection on the output side, input side is back flow diode for the panels. The thermal capability is a heat fin design inside the case. Pictures to follow.
John B

[John_Bedini]

John K,
That's right you can use the Tracker 5 as a lab supply if you do it correctly. You have discovered the use of linear supplies that the US army uses in many applications. The main application is charging batteries because of it's regulation. Feedback makes that possible with in the regulator circuits. you will also notice that if you add a load to the batteries the current will supply the load without touching the batteries. If you remember I talked about this a while back.
You are going to be real surprised at what I'm going to show next here with micro mini chargers working on this same designs, I will give some examples and pictures and a video of the Tracker 5 3 amp working on cheep panels and then a micro mini charger doing the same power levels, I'm not going to deal with China parts that have a built in failure, everything will be made right here, now some things are not made here so we must test and test before we use them.
Chuck and I are working on the video right now. A charger that can charge your car battery in less then 6 Hrs after taking 10 amps for 1.6 Hrs on cheap Solar Panels. Charger cost at $105.00 dollars US. So in a few days I will post the video and pictures. Again the Tracker 5 is a Linear regulator Current Amplifier, all Tracker 5's work the same way.
John

[John_Koorn]

Thanks for the detailed response John.

What you described is exactly what I am seeing with the 24V 80A Tracker 5. (S80A24)

I've been testing it at night with a lab power supply and I see what you mean about pushing the battery hard for a short time and then tapering. As soon as the battery hits 30.5V the current from the supply starts to taper off. If left long enough it will float at 30.5v and only draw less than half an amp from the supply.

There is no heat in the batteries and they don't boil away, just bubbling like a bottle of pop.

Like Peter said in his video, you can run the Tracker 5 with a lab power supply as long as it can put out the required voltage. It's not just for solar panels. I'm using mine more and more as a general charger off a power supply, as well as solar during the day.

John K.

[John_Bedini]

some answers

Hi John K,
I would leave the diodes in place if the panels have them. No matter what you do John with the solar panels the efficiency of the panel is rated at laboratory conditions and that is a prefect condition. The real world condition is much different, so a 250 watt panel if your lucky you will only get say 205 watts and you will find some losses between the wire and charger. Linear chargers have drop out voltages depending where you set them, but if the panel can not push them with the high voltage then you will have nothing. The tracker 5 looks like a single ended amplifier so it has gain when it turns on and the voltage is sent to a small capacitor to hold a charge on the device. The Tracker 5 will push maxim and show the loss between the panel and the wire, and that is where the loss is. Adding one more diode is not going to make much difference unless the diode can not handle the current. If you study a linear regulator and look into the chip you will find it is a DC current amplifier and can be adjusted no matter what regulator it is so emitter followers are needed for high currents.
The circuit is very critical when dealing with current amplifiers and the devices used. Either device can be used (NPN/PNP) but must be chosen for gain and the proper SOA curve at the operating voltage. This is an analog science and digital is not a good choice except for control, and then it should be PWM. The new 10 amp charger uses this control with a large Heat Fin design and the devices have an arrangement to current limit them to not exceed the volt amps of the transformers used. So example if the transformer is rated at 12 amps then the devices must current limit at 10 amps to not exceed this. The idea with a solar charger is to push the battery as hard as you can for a short time and then taper, the trick is to not boil the battery away so the float is very important.
If you watch the battery you will see it gassing but you only want micro bubbles and not boiling as that would mean you have no control over heat in the cells. Now take the standard charge controller power point tracking and you will find the battery never charged and this is because you cant average the batteries charge otherwise you can not break down the sulphation in the plates, that's why the batteries are useless in two years, they are never charged.
The batteries must be kept floating at 15.3 volt with no boiling, that is the important thing. No way around that, you either have a battery that is charged or a battery that is not charged and is dieing, and then the battery ceases to function. Charging a battery to 13.80 volts is not charged as that leaves no reserve power to run things, so your generator starts running and you gain nothing. The Tracker 5 can adjust to the load within it's current range, meaning it does not touch the battery as the Tracker is running the load and is controlled by feedback in the amplifier circuit.
The only other way which takes time is a Solar Pulse Charging device but it may be to slow to give you what you want as you only have so much sun during the day and it keeps changing. You would only use this type of charger when you have bad batteries and your trying to bring them back to life.
After that you must push them up within a time frame to the 15 volts and hope they are not damaged from under charging. Gel batteries you can not push or they will dry out and you will have nothing, so floated batteries are the best for solar houses off grid. Most people do not understand any of this and assume they are off grid until the system fails and they must buy new batteries. Solar Houses must be calculated for the power used and I would have 50% reserve for days you have no sun. So here it's battery capacity that is important and then the charger having the current rating to supply all you need under load. Hope this answers some of the questions you have. Again the Tracker 5 is a different beast.
John B

[John_Koorn]

Thanks for the update John.

The solar panels I am using on the 24V 80A TST5 have blocking diodes in them. Do you recommend removing them so as to get a higher voltage from the panels?

John K.

[John_Bedini]

To All that have been sent questions about 18 watt solar panels.
Tesla Solar has been working on a 3 amp Tesla Solar 5 tracker. We decided to do this because of the request for portable power. The unit is portable and can be used to charge car batteries. The unit uses a linear amplifier regulator. All Tracker's use this design now, the Fet designs can not be made because of the failure in the Chinese parts at this time.The problem with these parts is as follows, inconsistencies in the chip and poor bonding. All the Tracker 5's have been re-designed to use Linear Regulator Amplifiers and massive heat sinks, or what as known as Wakefield forced air cooled at a set CFM. We test all the fans but again these Fans are coming from China and again we have found inconsistencies in the circuit of the fans. Some of the Solar Panels can and do push the voltage beyond the 12.5 volts so we drop the voltage though a 50 watt resistor, we are looking at reducing the speed to cover this. The 3 Amp Charger is a heat fin design and using no fan. This charger again is a linear charger amplifier. The best panels to use with this is a Goal Zero 18 watt panel, I hope to post a video here on the operation of this charger under sun light conditions. When choosing a panel you want the most voltage open circuit and everybody must remember that Solar Panels are laboratory tested, and that is not the real world condition so always expect to get far less power from them under sun condition and overcast sky's. During the winter I get the most power at 30 degrees in bright sunlight, as the panel warms up expect to loose some power. During the winter I have been wasting about 1Kw that I must dump as my batteries are charged to maximum at 15.3 volts, the power company will not allow me to put it back on the grid unless a contractor does it and it plays havoc with a smart meter. So I have been dumping the power into lighting up the back yard with 40 watt led lights. So again I will say when using these chargers you want the panel that gives you the most open circuit voltage for 12 volts that is about 22.5 volts. Living in the real world conditions expect to loose some of the rated output as you again are not under laboratory conditions. I hope this answered some of the questions that were sent to me. I will try to answer more soon. I will be covering at the conference the Linear Regulators Amplifiers, this includes the SSG. One more thing the question about Harbor Fright Thunderbolt Panels. They also have a very high open circuit voltage and some them do not have blocking diodes, but that is built into the charge regulator.
John B

[John_Bedini]

Mike,
I run about 2000 watts since I only use for the off grid office and yard lighting right now. The panels are 250 watts each. Batteries are DIE-Hards platinum deep cycle batteries they are all in parallel arrangement for 1000 AH total. 12 Volt System

[John_Bedini]

Yes later you can upgrade.
John

I have the 10A Solar Tracker 5. It sounds like then with just a 10A model I am limited to just this one panel...

That's good news that I can upgrade later to a larger unit...