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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2019 7:23:23 GMT
Wow I'm even more confused than I was earlier! Watt? ETA if you look at wind turbine ratings they are in watts not amps. There is a reason for this.
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Post by Telemachus on Dec 9, 2019 8:00:24 GMT
Wow I'm even more confused than I was earlier! Well that’s because you asked the wrong question! A better question would have been “I have a very thin wire between my wind turbine and the batteries, will this reduced the rate the wind turbine charges the batteries? Answer: Yes. Power is lost in the thin wire, so less power remains to go into the batteries.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2019 8:23:51 GMT
Wow I'm even more confused than I was earlier! Well that’s because you asked the wrong question! A better question would have been “I have a very thin wire between my wind turbine and the batteries, will this reduced the rate the wind turbine charges the batteries? Answer: Yes. Power is lost in the thin wire, so less power remains to go into the batteries. Vive la résistance!
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Post by JohnV on Dec 9, 2019 9:27:11 GMT
Watt made Milli amp ohmless ..... the bastard
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2019 9:32:35 GMT
Shocking.
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Post by JohnV on Dec 9, 2019 9:42:30 GMT
well ..... that's the current theory
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Post by bodger on Dec 9, 2019 10:12:19 GMT
Wow I'm even more confused than I was earlier! what you need to do is apply fuzzy logic, secure it with 25mm polyhemp and never mind the buzzcocks.
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Post by phil70 on Dec 9, 2019 10:50:16 GMT
I've been unhamstered for a while ever since Tilly the Teeth popped her clogs Phil
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Post by Deleted on Dec 9, 2019 13:43:08 GMT
So we would use nice fat wires to reduce resistance to a minimum. Adding a meter of some sort to measure output from the generator of whatever kind would be good. I'm lost as to what the meter should be measuring - volts or watts? Or is it amps? Also, here's a handy wiring diagram and some wise-sounding words. Do the experts approve? I really like the DIY junction box concept.
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Post by IainS on Dec 10, 2019 14:36:40 GMT
Bit risky having switches bypassing the controllers, I'd have thought. Too easy to leave them on and cook batteries when the sun comes out! Also, blocking diodes on the alternator feed to the batteries may not be the best way, unless you have a battery sensed alternator, which will compensate for the volt drop across the diodes.
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Post by peterboat on Dec 10, 2019 15:04:38 GMT
Bit risky having switches bypassing the controllers, I'd have thought. Too easy to leave them on and cook batteries when the sun comes out! Also, blocking diodes on the alternator feed to the batteries may not be the best way, unless you have a battery sensed alternator, which will compensate for the volt drop across the diodes. My panels are running at 160volts! that by pass switch sounds like a right good idea....................for an insurance claim when my boat goes up in flames!!!
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Post by Telemachus on Dec 10, 2019 16:04:03 GMT
So we would use nice fat wires to reduce resistance to a minimum. Adding a meter of some sort to measure output from the generator of whatever kind would be good. I'm lost as to what the meter should be measuring - volts or watts? Or is it amps? Also, here's a handy wiring diagram and some wise-sounding words. Do the experts approve? I really like the DIY junction box concept. You can only sensibly measure current. Measuring watts/power is pretty useless as a certain wattage into the batteries doesn’t have a very predictable effect on SoC. This is why we talk about amp-hour counters, not watt-hour counters. Yes your leccy meter at home is a wattmeter but that is only measuring power one way. You might also want to know voltage as a check that everything is working as expected, which is why amp-hour counters also tell you the instantaneous voltage. As to the diagram, no it is dodgy for a number of reasons already said by others. Diodes are bad. Controller bypass switches are bad, unless your panels are quite small and total only 18v or open circuit. The sort you would feed into a PWM controller, not an MPPT controller. Solar controllers will draw a tiny bit of power from the batteries at night, to keep the memory alive. With diodes and hence with zero power at night, they will be dead. And the diodes drop voltage which equals lost power.
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Post by bodger on Dec 10, 2019 16:23:16 GMT
Solar controllers will draw a tiny bit of power from the batteries at night, to keep the memory alive. that's news to me - why is that different from installing the controller when it is new - or is it just about remembering the 12v battery voltage setting?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2019 17:55:42 GMT
Ok, diodes bad, controller bypass switches bad. Whats that about 'battery equalisation'? If two batts are in parallel then are they not in an equal state of charge (assuming identical health)? Also, sorry to bash on but the diagram shows a readout device which should be displaying...what?
I appreciate all this stuff, I really don't understand much about electrics so it might be elementary to you lot but I find it fascinating.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 10, 2019 18:27:48 GMT
I reckon the meter showing 2.33 is displaying the amps. You can get DC watt meters they use them all the time on remote control planes. Including data logging DC wattmeters. They have watts, volts and amps on a sequential display. And cumulative input calculation which is quite handy as it would give you total power in since connected. As these three things are mathematically linked with the W=VA triangle you only have to know two to work out the third one. I don't know which two they actually measure but i suspect it is amps and volts then the microprocessor works out the watts. Of course the amps are measured by the voltage drop across a known resistance so it's possible that it's all about volts and resistance then the rest is elementary. Example of a DC watt meter: www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150A-Digital-LCD-Volt-Amp-Watt-Meter-Power-Analyser-Solar-Caravan-Plug-WILLKEY-/352793368517I'm not convinced they are rated for full time installation but quite interesting devices and only a tenner. Cheap generic clones of the original "Watts up" meter I believe.
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