Its done, my remaining batteries are sitting in the yard draining. I will try flushing with pressurised water, let them dry out for a few days, filter the old acid and refill.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
My weakest point in my systems has proven to be my pressure pump. I switched from a 240 volt one somewhere back in 2005, to a 120 volt model, a very good industrial quality pressure pump that draws little power when running, but man the start up current is one hell of a killer to my system. Even with all the tweaks I have made to handle motor start up loads this pump is now crashing my power system if it tries to kick on when the sun isn't out. Its not a problem as the pressure tank still holds pressure to supply my water needs during the evening but I have to unplug it so it doesn't try to kick on in the evening. I am glad I am discovering the weak points now. Going forward I am going to replace this pressure pump, retire it and set it aside as a back up. In its place I am going to find a fractional hp, 120 volt brushed universal motor to use. This last year has been a real good test of my power systems. I have made improvements, found weak points, I am going to be much stronger power wise in the future.
Edit....the pump giving me grief is a motor using a separate start winding, with a centrifical switch to remove the start windings when the motor is up to speed. So for those planning ahead, don't use these type.
To stop powering up for naught during evenings, would a simple seven day timer not work for You? The other thing is, perhaps wire some of even the daytime power hogs to kill switch so when you leave for the day and lock the door, you flip the kill switch.?
would a simple seven day timer not work for You? The other thing is, perhaps wire some of even the daytime power hogs to kill switch so when you leave for the day and lock the door, you flip the kill switch.?
A seven day timer would work if I had 24/7 power, but with my batteries so bad this last month I have had to switch off the inverter at bed time killing house power until I get up in the morning. I would be having to reset the timer each day and its just as easy to unplug the pump.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
I didn't anticipate this, smoke so thick I cant find the sun, and at a time when I have no batteries hooked up, usually not a problem but today the panels are only putting out enough power to run computers/ lights and I have to choose either a freezer or a fridge, cant run both today. I picked the freezer. I hope this dosnt last..I better get those batteries refilled.
Edit, I noticed this last year when the smoke from BC blew in, and now today I confirmed it again, the only panels putting out any power are my 30 volt ones. 12 volt panels are putting out 0 amps, but because I have some 30 volt panels I am able to get a little power. Interesting.
Its like the apocalypse out side, even darker at my place than in Edmonton, by the way the pictures look. https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/edmonton-weather-air-quality-advisory-in-effect-as-wildfire-smoke-blankets-city
Screw it, I am just going to fire up a generator, that's what I have them for..
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Time to bring this experiment to a conclusion, learning vs pain in the ass balance has changed. This weekend I will order in some lithium batteries, hopefully before the great orange Cheeto, praise be upon him, drives the price up!
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
And when that great Cheeto in the sky smiles upon us, we will know consumerism is still alive by your yearly donation to him. Praise be to you o' Cheeto in the sky with diamonds.
I have to look up more on this, but I just heard Nova Scotia passed a law making it illegal to completely power your house with solar? Very strange. We have a weird province, but I need to look this up and read the exact wording. It doesn't sound right.
Don't Agonize, Organize.
I didn't anticipate this, smoke so thick I cant find the sun, and at a time when I have no batteries hooked up, usually not a problem but today the panels are only putting out enough power to run computers/ lights and I have to choose either a freezer or a fridge, cant run both today. I picked the freezer. I hope this dosnt last..I better get those batteries refilled.
Edit, I noticed this last year when the smoke from BC blew in, and now today I confirmed it again, the only panels putting out any power are my 30 volt ones. 12 volt panels are putting out 0 amps, but because I have some 30 volt panels I am able to get a little power. Interesting.
Its like the apocalypse out side, even darker at my place than in Edmonton, by the way the pictures look. https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/edmonton-weather-air-quality-advisory-in-effect-as-wildfire-smoke-blankets-city
Screw it, I am just going to fire up a generator, that's what I have them for..
Kinda looks like a light sandstorm I used to experience many moons ago in distant lands. bloody sand particles would even get into good HP calculators, when it rained, your short became brown with sand. weirdest thing
generators are wonderful!
And when that great Cheeto in the sky smiles upon us, we will know consumerism is still alive by your yearly donation to him. Praise be to you o' Cheeto in the sky with diamonds.
I have to look up more on this, but I just heard Nova Scotia passed a law making it illegal to completely power your house with solar? Very strange. We have a weird province, but I need to look this up and read the exact wording. It doesn't sound right.
hypocritical cities and towns.
city of Ottawa in effort to "help the environment" increased water costs. So people cut back ( good) but then the pimps in the city realised they were raking in less money so increased fees. towns don't want people off the grid either. its all a flipping con game same for tiny homes. oops, less taxes! no power or sewage connection means no utilities fees and lower tax valuation. hilarious but we need to save the environment and reduce, just don't reduce to much and screw up cash flow
Its done, some lithium iron is on its way and after a summer of testing it and making sure it plays nice with my system I will add to it.
Now I have to learn a new voltage profile for a new battery composition.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
So I have been pondering what the effects of switching to a new battery type will be, I can only ponder as my batteries are on a slow truck, and from my previous experiments in storing charge up on the H bridge, I learned how the H bridge voltage tracks the input. Looking at the voltage profile of these Lithium iron batteries I will be operating above 13 volts, through the full amp capacity that I will use, likely not lower than 13.1. This will be almost a full volt more than a lead acid bank, and should bump my H bridge voltage up by nearly 10 volts, well into the 160+ voltage range. So my inverter should be operating more efficiently, starting motor loads even better! Cant wait to find out.
Thinking further on this...as I type... I just realized I will be gaining in kwhrs of storage do to this greater voltage, not a lot but every bit helps. I am thinking that I should build my new bank up to maybe 600 amphrs in size that would give me (600x 13.1volts) nearly 8kwhrs of useable battery storage. I only had 400 amphrs of useable storage (only discharging 25%) with my lead acid bank (even though it had 1600 amphrs of total storage) and I lived just fine on that.(400x12= 4.8kwhrs) This may be the last battery bank I will need to buy as my life may run out before these new batteries do.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
I may have found a cheap off the shelf solution for the type of load scheduling management that I want run with new batteries. I have a few of these on order to try out https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07HCQKRRY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 The outputs are individually controlled thus allowing me to toggle devices and program dead times.Even have battery back up. With the addition of one of these current sensing modules to one of the above timers I can lock out the pressure pump if either the fridge or freezer is running. https://www.amazon.ca/Current-Sensing-SZC23-NO-AL-CH-Normally-Adjustable/dp/B07QZZVHXJ/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3I86RWPAHSMED&keywords=load+sensing+switch&qid=1560121054&s=gateway&sprefix=load+sensing%2Celectronics%2C200&sr=8-3
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
I had told the Canadian supplier that I was going to buy more, but not unit fall, they just got back to me saying new pricing is in effect and now it will be 150.00 per 100 amphrs more for the same battery (as it comes through the US. The orange Cheeto has driven the price up already. I will find a Canadian distributer that orders direct from China for my next purchase.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Peppercorn....how's the start to your garden going?
Mine is horrible!
Lost everything but what can regrow to extreme hail!
Damages to roofs/shelters/barn...
Will be insurance claims.
Oh well hey! Life...🙄👽💩
Peppercorn....how's the start to your garden going?
Real bad Dakota, lost a 40x40 foot garden to frost. Some of it may come back but I am on track for a lousy year gardening wise. What has your rainfall been like??
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.
Dual channel, battery backed up timers have arrived.
First I should say I spent 2.5 hour trying to get the programing on these things set, was becoming convinced that I would not be able to, instruction were not clear. took a break for a day then came back at it,but this time after about 3 hrs of trying I figured out how to get every thing working nice. I was almost ready to throw it against the wall but patience paid off. The independent clock on these models looks to be bang on. I cant determine even a second off over 24 hrs. These are going to determine when my septic pump can come on, when my fridge and freezer will cycle ( alternately), and when the pressure pump cycles. All these things on at once could draw 100 amp. Not a draw you want to have happen at night when that 100 amps is coming right off your batteries. From now on they will only come on during daylight hours, and consecutively (reducing peak load) so they consume sun power rather than battery power.
Give a man a gun, and he can rob a bank. Give a man a bank, and he can rob the world.