The original system installed in 2016 was: _________________________________________ 1 - 48v/2490ahr HUP Solar One battery bank 24 - 280watt Solar World PV mods. 2 - Wattson trackers (I live in a SW x NE canyon; sun rises late, 9:30-10:00 in winter & sets at 4:00) It’s a narrow window hence the addition of trackers has been the ticket, also due to zoning regs & the entire property at a 14* slope I did not have the space to that much of a ground mount 1 - 8048 Radian prewired board with 2 - FM80 Charge controllers
The upgrade is replacing 2-CC & the 24-PV mods: _______________________________________ 2 - FM100 as I am going over 4320w per CC & at -25*F as could be 5,180+/-w per CC. 24 - 360watt REC PV mods. _______________________________________________________________________________________ The system has worked flawlessly since 2016 including finishing original construction on home, shop, greenhouse, & garage and only 4-6 hours of backup generator for the entire winter season. The upgrade is precipitated by strong possibility that my wonderful but seriously failing 87-year old mother in law may be joining us for the final countdown of her life. On Sunday I added the negative wire to the PV input & took the FM100 out of Global Coordination per Mavericks suggestion. The day was filled with lots of small cumulus so not a great charging day, but the system appeared to have straightened out & I was getting significantly more [900-1000 w] out of the system than with the FM80 CCs (interesting). Perhaps, this was due to the cooling effect of shaded & then in the sun & back again though at 4:00 I finally had a solid sun & 6.2KW coming in at 85*F which is much higher than with the FM 80 CC at same temps. Typically the input would have been 5.4KW at 85*F. Or was this adding the negative wire to the PV input? Can anyone provide clarity on the taking the FM100s out of Global Coordination? Would this allow Tapering the final charge off better? Today is clear & forecast for full sun. I will report back as I will come back from a new project we are doing around the corner for lunch. _________________________________________________________ Dana Orzel GREAT SOLAR WORKS! C – 208.721.7003 E – d...@solarwork.com W - www. greatsolarworks.com www.solarwork.com “Responsible Technologies for Responsible People since 1988!” -----Original Message----- From: Dana Orzel <d...@solarwork.com> Sent: Monday, September 9, 2024 6:43 AM To: Dana Orzel <d...@solarwork.com> Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Fm100’s stuck at full charge Dana Orzel - d...@solarwork.com - 208.721.7003 > On Sep 8, 2024, at 10:53 PM, Bill Battagin via RE-wrenches > <re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org> wrote: > > Dana, > > You must have quite a bit of PV to switch out to 2 FM100's. You > didn't mention what is the size of your battery and its chemistry, what's you > C-rate? If you're charging a large Lead acid battery and maybe it was > discharged pretty deep and/or you have substantial loads once you hit absorb, > once its reached absorb it may continue to process pretty high amps to hold > that voltage as it works on finish charging a large pack up to 100%. How long > is it putting out 2800 watts per CC? > > Obviously this doesn't apply with L-ion > > Bill > > Feather River Solar Electric > Bill Battagin, owner > 4291 Nelson St. (Shipping) > 5575 Genesee Rd. (USPS, UPS) > Taylorsville, CA 95983 > 530-284-7849, 258-1641(cell) > CA. C10 Lic # 874049 > Solar Powered since 1982 > Home of the Sunny Side Up > >> On 9/7/2024 3:49 PM, Dana Orzel via RE-wrenches wrote: >> OK, you wise guys. >> I am upgrading my home off grid system from two FM 80s to two FM 100s. >> The FM 80s were able to share the negative wire so you didn’t have to pull a >> second negative wire. >> I wired the FM 100 typical of how my FM 80s were wired with a number four >> battery negative assuming and yes, I know what happens when I assume, that >> the PV negative on the battery negative are common and I could just pull one >> number four since going through those double 1” - 90° is a bitch. Currently >> I have two # fours for output to battery, the number eight ground and 1 # >> six PV input. >> I got this all together and it’s charging just fine but once the battery got >> full charge controllers continued to produce full output. The battery >> dropped to a float and I had 2800W on each charge controller continuing to >> be produced at which was turning into heat so the FM 100s were getting very >> warm. The fans had not turned on, but the heat sinks were definitely very >> very warm to the touch. The battery voltage is fine. >> I Read the manual it doesn’t talk about being able to use one negative so I >> am assuming that my problem is that the PV needs a negative and they do not >> share the negative. >> Has anybody else seen this or done the same wiring maneuver. >> thanks in advance >> >> Dana Orzel - d...@solarwork.com - 208.721.7003 >> _______________________________________________ >> List sponsored by Redwood Alliance >> >> Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org >> >> List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org >> >> Change listserver email address & settings: >> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >> >> There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the >> other: >> https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ >> http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org >> >> List rules & etiquette: >> http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm >> >> Check out or update participant bios: >> http://www.members.re-wrenches.org >> > > -- > This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. > www.avast.com > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the > other: > https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List rules & etiquette: > http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > http://www.members.re-wrenches.org > _______________________________________________ List sponsored by Redwood Alliance Pay optional member dues here: http://re-wrenches.org List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org Change listserver email address & settings: http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org There are two list archives for searching. When one doesn't work, try the other: https://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/ http://lists.re-wrenches.org/pipermail/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org List rules & etiquette: http://www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm Check out or update participant bios: http://www.members.re-wrenches.org
