Guru
Joined: 22/10/2019
Location: AustraliaPosts: 873
| Posted: 11:03am 19 Mar 2024 |
Thanks for that explanantion Peter, I'm slowly learning how it all works.
I do now have three arrays and three mppt's connected. I will add more panels and the fourth mppt soon.
I certainly wasn't suspecting anything wrong with this third mppt ... I was just a little disappointed in the output from the 3kW of panels I put up on the weekend. I did try shutting off the first two to see what this would do on its own ... and I also swapped one of the chokes over as on this third one I fitted a couple extra turns than the earlier ones.
Anyway I PULLED A CLANGER ... just on dusk tonight I thought I'd check my combiner box to see if I'd made some sort of mistake there. Pulled all the fuses down ... and there were TWO FUSES MISSING!!! I hadn't even checked. I knew I was a couple short ... but I thought they were in the last box that hasn't been connected yet.
So if my output was only about 75% of what I was expecting ... THAT'S BECAUSE ONLY 75% WAS CONNECTED!!! Duh!!!
Man, and I had gone through a hundred scenarios as to what I should do ... buy a heap of better panels, pull down the ones I just put up and sell them ... haha, what a dill!
And to add insult to injury, here's a picture of the output from the first two mppt's going strong at one stage today, while the third was lagging behind. Had the camera at the wrong angle, so the third display didn't show. Not sure I should run it this hard ... but it was cloudy and only intermittant.
What's fascinating is that the first two lots of panels are old used 275 watt panels, two lots of 3.3kW ... and for short bursts they were pumping out just over that. I'm impressed. Great design, thanks man.
