Which Solar Tracker V?

[jelloir]

I will be purchasing a Solar Tracker V with capacity to run my home. I live about 1 hour south of Melbourne in Australia on the Mornington Peninsula and should be able to get sunlight on my panels almost all day (weather permitting) with the exception of the early morning due to some trees.

My understanding is a Solar Tracker V will power the load and keep the batteries topped up. The batteries are only used if the ST is not able to power the load.

Based on this, it seems logical to get as much high power consumption work done during the daylight hours such as running washing machines, dishwashers, electric ovens (but avoid doing them at the same time). and purchase an ST large enough to support the maximum load that one might expect these devices or combination thereof to draw. The hungriest device is the oven at 2856 Watts, on average is used 1 hour per day.

Questions:

• If the ST cannot power all the load does it continue to power as much as it can and lean on the batteries to provide the remainder, or does it hand off all the work to the batteries?
• Maximum daily usage for my home should be 20kWh but I hope to reduce this even further as I make my home more energy efficient. So what would be the minimum size Solar Tracker presuming off grid usage and usage as per previous point?
• Is it worthwhile running 2 battery banks or is one bank ok with a larger ST?

Obviously weather introducues a variable.

I am a beginner so I'm sure I am overlookig some obvious things. So lets expand from here so I don't make this first post to large

[Aaron Murakami]

I will be purchasing a Solar Tracker V with capacity to run my home. I live about 1 hour south of Melbourne in Australia on the Mornington Peninsula and should be able to get sunlight on my panels almost all day (weather permitting) with the exception of the early morning due to some trees.

My understanding is a Solar Tracker V will power the load and keep the batteries topped up. The batteries are only used if the ST is not able to power the load.

Based on this, it seems logical to get as much high power consumption work done during the daylight hours such as running washing machines, dishwashers, electric ovens (but avoid doing them at the same time). and purchase an ST large enough to support the maximum load that one might expect these devices or combination thereof to draw. The hungriest device is the oven at 2856 Watts, on average is used 1 hour per day.

Questions:

• If the ST cannot power all the load does it continue to power as much as it can and lean on the batteries to provide the remainder, or does it hand off all the work to the batteries?
• Maximum daily usage for my home should be 20kWh but I hope to reduce this even further as I make my home more energy efficient. So what would be the minimum size Solar Tracker presuming off grid usage and usage as per previous point?
• Is it worthwhile running 2 battery banks or is one bank ok with a larger ST?

Obviously weather introducues a variable.

I am a beginner so I'm sure I am overlookig some obvious things. So lets expand from here so I don't make this first post to large

The 160A 12v or 24v is what you need if you have up to 2250 watts max if you have a 12v array or about 4500 watts if you have a 24v array.
If you have more solar, use more than one Solar Tracker 5.

Yes, provides what it can and uses batteries as last resort. It doesn't hand off all work to batteries unless there is no solar input.

One bank of batteries is fine.

This is the Solar Tracker to get - the S160A 12 or 24v unit: http://teslachargers.com/solartrackeriii.html#solar12

[jelloir]

Can a 12V Solar Tracker be connected to a 24V solar panel? I will have my 10A12 Solar Tracker soon and may be able to pick up a second hand panel for testing with the following specs:

Open Circuit Voltage: 37.32V
Maximum Power Voltage: 29.79V
Short Circuit Current: 8.9A
Maximum Power Current: 8.23A
Max Output Power Under STC: 250W
Model: Topsola TSM60-156P

[Tom C]

No the rated input is set for the control circuitry (voltage) and number of panels (amps) . you will blow up your tracker.

Tom C

[jelloir]

Thanks Tom,

P.S. Perhaps you could put the specs for the Solar Trackers on teslagenx.com?

[Tom C]

Sure we can do that, other than amps and voltage what info are you concerned with? if you are concerend with converting amps to watts, here is a fun website for caclulating a few things!!
http://www.rapidtables.com/calc/elec...Calculator.htm


and here is a worksheet for calculating daily loads
http://www.wholesalesolar.com/StartH...applianceTable

or here

http://www.threeactionsproject.org/A...rgy-Budget.php


100 year batteries
http://ironedison.com/store


Tom C

[jelloir]

I was searching online for variations of "Use 24V solar panels with 12V charge controller" and discovered you can get MPPT controllers that will take input from 24V panels and output 12V. But the Solar Tracker is different, hence the question.

I found PDF's with the Maximum INPUTS from the Solar Panel for the 10A12 on teslachargers.com website after your response. If I knew it was 22V then even though I'm a newb I could figure it wouldn't work, figured other teslagenx.com customers might have the same query

Thanks for the links!

[Tom C]

yes an mppt controller may be built with a step down transformer inside, there are lots of variations of charge controllers out there. let us know if there is anything else you need.

Tom C

[Patrikas]

Hi Tom ,
looking to buy a solar tracker 3amp 12v which on the Teslagenx site you call an rv and marine i have a small 40 watt solar panel that i want to use with a solar tracker 5 to rejuvinate batts with and and also charge my front end batts for my sg and as a peliminary to going bigger so i can get exp with the hardware etc,
can you tell me approx when you can ship if i ordered this immediately.....
i have another q also .....has jb thought about doing a line of pure sine or really clean inverters... for delicate circuts like heat pumps computers etc....im just about to put 2 heat pumps in and have asked quite a few electricians and installers of heat pumps and havent been able to get a definate answer for anyone if its totally safe ....thought u may be able to shed some light on my q,s ..thanx in advance .....Pat M

[Tom C]

Patrikas,

I do not know what energenx has in stock, but I can let you know tomorrow. send an email to sales@teslagenx.com also, if you have bad batteries the tracker 5 will not restore them, it is designed to keep good batteries new, it is pure DC designed to cutoff at the correct voltage. if you need to restore you should use a monopole.

I do not know if energenx has anything on the design table for inverters. you need to contact the manufacturer of your heat pump and ask them if it can run off a modified sine wave inverter, or if they have DC heatpumps, then there is no loss doing the conversion. http://www.hotspotenergy.com/solar-air-conditioner/

pure sine wave inverters are really expensive.... I have run pc computers off of modified sinewave inverters no problem, this is just personal experience no guarantees here.

http://www.off-grid.net/forums/topic...puters/page/2/

Tom C

[thierrychretien]

Hi Tom,
What will be the best/more efficient configuration for the S10A12 in term of Panel and Battery?
I mean size of 12V Solar Panel? 100Watts? more? Size of battery 100a/h? Less?
Thanks for your advice
Thierry

[Tom C]

Thierry,

with a 12 volt system a good rough way is 15 watts per amp. so 105 watts gets you 7 amps, 135 will get you 10 amps. battery size depends upon your loads. you can charge a 100 amp hour battery with a small tracker over a period of days if you don't discharge it. you always start with the load and calculate backwards using your location in reference to available light thru the year. so if you are not using that much energy a 100 amp hour battery will work great with a 10 amp tracker and a solar panel. its all about the load. hope that helps.
Tom C

[LoganSar]

I will be purchasing a Solar Tracker V with capacity to run my home. I live about 1 hour south of Melbourne in Australia on the Mornington Peninsula and should be able to get sunlight on my panels almost all day (weather permitting) with the exception of the early morning due to some trees.

My understanding is solar energy will power the load and keep the batteries topped up. The batteries are only used if the ST is not able to power the load.

Based on this, it seems logical to get as much high power consumption work done during the daylight hours such as running washing machines, dishwashers, electric ovens (but avoid doing them at the same time). and purchase an ST large enough to support the maximum load that one might expect these devices or combination thereof to draw. The hungriest device is the oven at 2856 Watts, on average is used 1 hour per day.

Questions:

• If the ST cannot power all the load does it continue to power as much as it can and lean on the batteries to provide the remainder, or does it hand off all the work to the batteries?
• Maximum daily usage for my home should be 20kWh but I hope to reduce this even further as I make my home more energy efficient. So what would be the minimum size Solar Tracker presuming off grid usage and usage as per previous point?
• Is it worthwhile running 2 battery banks or is one bank ok with a larger ST?

Obviously weather introducues a variable.

I am a beginner so I'm sure I am overlookig some obvious things. So lets expand from here so I don't make this first post to large

Hello friend bit old thread but have you got the solar tracker for your home? I do have similar plans so can you please help me out with your experience..

[Tom C]

logansar,

what are your loads? we can get you where you need to go, but need info on your needs.
http://www.wholesalesolar.com/StartH...alculator.html

Tom C

[jason mcgrath]

hi there
I have an S20A12 solar tracker.I found these amorphous solar panels rating (Voc): 21.0 V (Vmp): 15.0 V and (Imp): 4.1 A .can some one tell me would 4 of these panels run the S20A12 solar tracker?Is the Vmp to low?
jason