Typically you won't have much extra power while cruising(using the boat). An example would be the panels on your house are only a little over 1HP. I am guessing here but any boat with room for the same number and size of panel would require more than 1HP under normal conditions and much more in windy conditions.
For the batteries to recover for any kind of trip would take many days in good sunlight. In my opinion, solar panels are good for only the last 20% of the charge cycle. They will also limit the drain down of the batteries while under way with good sun conditions. I tell people that live close to me that it is best to not use a controller for solar panels unless you are away and not using the power. If you find yourself overcharging the batteries while connected in this way add another battery bank so you get the most of your panels. If you are running out of power because your batteries are low after a day of charging the add a panel.
This is over simplified advice but works well. If you are away for some time from your system then a controller is in order. My system simply has a timer to limit charge time while I am away. I have built a MPPT controller using an Arduino board and related components but have retired it with a better use for the Arduino.
On 08/09/2012 10:07 PM, Craig Carmichael wrote:
Without trying to figure theirs out, I'm planning to do a solar
charge controller/DC to DC converter with the following features:
a) If the input (ie solar collectors) is too low (night), the unit
will shut off. It will draw no (or virtually no) current from the
batteries.
b) If the output can't be maintained at the set voltage (ie, the
batteries are too low or the load is too great), then the input will
be held at maximum power point and the output will put out the
highest voltage it can, regardless that it's low.
c) If the input rises much above max.pwr.point (batteries are charged
and present loads are satisifed), current will be supplied to a "dump
load" to use up the extra power from the collectors, rather than
letting it go to waste. This might be (in my plan) a hot water
preheater tank. Probably this is the same idea as the "load dump"
they're talking about.
(I've put up 4 collectors on my house, 892 watts capacity, but it's
likely to be some months before I get to this project.)
Craig
=====
> > A while ago a thread was talking about MPPT controllers which also had a
> > 'Load Dump' feature.
No comments:
Post a Comment