T-Pain Is On A Boat: Re: [Electric Boats] Multiple source charge controller?

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Re: [Electric Boats] Multiple source charge controller?

Kevin,

I'll have to respectfully disagree with you once again, for my application anyway. I'm getting everything the panels have to offer and the system works great.

First off, the micro inverter system you are talking about, which is the big trend in grid tie systems right now as you point out, is not the way to go for my type of application. Because I need to have a DC centric system, I don't want to invert it at the panel since I'm using the panels to charge batteries which then feed both my propulsion system and house power in parrallel, The house power is inverted with a 48VDC to 120VAC unit which supplies all the standard appliances I have on the boat, refrigerator/freezer, A/C, microwave, toaster, TV,DVD etc. The propulsion systems takes the 48Volts directly.

Second, partial shading is not an issue for me. I have designed my system with nothing above the panels, unlike what you admittedly might have on a sailboat or a house where partial shading can be a big issue. Also, because my arrays can track the sun, they are always exposed for maximum generation. Even if there was some sort of external shade, say, at a dock, because I have eight independent two panel arrays wired in parallel feeding the controller, and each panel has three separate parallel, diode protected, circuits in it, my losses from any partial shade conditions are very minimal and only a fraction of the array gets disabled from any partial shade. This can be a big issue in an array wired in series, as many household grid tie systems are, but my "boat" is not. Plus, when I am at a dock or anchored, I only need a fraction of my capacity anyway. Since the array is sized for propulsion, I have more power than I know what to do with when I'm not moving and most of my capacity is usually in standby in that situation.

For back up, my "fuel type" generator is in wired in parrallel with the solar array and charges the batteries directly, bypassing the "high dollar" controller.

I can't really comment that much from experience on wind applications, as I currently do not have a windmill. But I am planning to get one soon. I will equip it with the ability to be easily lowered when I'm underway to avoid shading/wind drag issues and then raised again at night when I need the auxillary input. Thus hopefully just about putting my Honda EU2000 and QuickCharger out of business most of the time. And , since my solar charge controller is pretty much maxed out right now, I'll have to add a separate charge controller for that anyway. But I'm pretty sure I could just feed it into the FM 80 if it had any latent capacity left. Although this would only be an issue if I had it generating when the sun was out.

Although the industry has been trending away from DC centric systems with batteries and charge controllers for some time now, and the new micro inverters are quickly replacing series wired arrays because of the partial shade issues, it is not a "do all" for "everything" replacement. DC centricity is still hands down the way to go for "off grid" applications, which a boat clearly is, and series wired array, grid tie systems are still a good alternative for installations where partial shading is not an issue because you only have one big inverter to worry about, instead of dozens of little ones.

Did I miss anything?

Carter

http://www.archemedesproject.blogspot.com/

From: Kevin Pemberton <pembertonkevin@gmail.com>
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Thursday, July 25, 2013 12:30 PM
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Multiple source charge controller?

Glad to know you have not had problems. You are not getting the best out of any of them.

The move is to individual controllers like micro inverter/ controllers that are installed on each panel in an array.

Wind controllers work under different conditions. Fuel type generators are feed into your high dollar charger. What. Did I miss? Oh yes, all solar panels into one controller produce at the lowest watt.panel. one shaded panel and the output is close to zero. What is the advantage to that kind of system?

Kevin

On Jul 24, 2013 10:02 PM, "Carter Quillen" <twowheelinguy@yahoo.com> wrote:

I disagreee. I've seen several charge controllers that would take multiple inputs and I'm guessing most of them will. I don't think they care where the electrons are coming from. Might be some issues if you have wildly varying voltages from the different devices and I'd keep the nominal inputs consistent. I know I have several different panels from different manufacturers all feeding into one Flexmax 80 without any problems and I've seen many schematics before that show solar panels, wind turbines and microhydro all feeding into the same charge controller but they where all going to one battery bank. Be careful not to exceed the capacity of the charge controller though.

However, I've never seen a charge controller that would charge multiple battery banks and I studied a lot of different models from different manufacturers before I decided to go with the Outback FM80 for the Arc. Since the charge controller takes its cues for what mode to be in from the battery, you'll need a separate controller for each bank. That's the way every system I've ever seen was set up.

But you can feed a controller from different sources for sure.

Carter

http://www.archemedesproject.blogspot.com/

From: Kevin Pemberton <pembertonkevin@gmail.com>
To: electricboats@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2013 2:11 PM
Subject: Re: [Electric Boats] Multiple source charge controller?

I don't think you will find one controller for all devices. What you need is a controller for each source. They will work together so no problem.

Kevin

On Jul 24, 2013 6:06 PM, "qgold77" <qgold.77@gmail.com> wrote:

Hello - an old lurker here, but have a quest I'm sure a wise person in this group can help with. I'm looking for device that will take inputs from multiple power sources such as wind/water/solar/shore power/on board generator etc and control the the charging of a couple of battery banks. Can anyone give me a lead?

Thanks - Nick