New garage time!

[fatjay]

Got some benches made, separated into 2 banks, and got the top balance chargers on.

 

[fatjay]

Talk about busy work. I'm debating hooking one up to the inverter and charging from that to 80%, then breaking it down again and top balancing from there.

I guess I can't configure the bms from the inverter even with coms. I guess my next adventure is in figuring out how to configure bms's.

 

[fatjay]

I got lucky. I ran ethernet from the bms port on the inverter, and hooked up a pack with bms, and boom. first protocol worked. Now the inverter knows the voltage.

Problem is I don't know how to tell the bms how big it's pack size is. It does not have bluetooth.

 

[airbiscuit]

So, not exactly plug and play?

 

[airbiscuit]

 

[fatjay]

So, not exactly plug and play?

Not quite. But it’s not terrible. Just lots of wires and figuring out where they go.

 

[fatjay]

So I'm at 97% battery and charging has slowed considerably. I set it to 55.5v for back2ac. The charger basically topped out at 56.1v for the battery. There is a 0.5v drop between the battery and the inverter.

All settings are on the inverter, nothing with SA automation.

It should have switched back by now. But it hasn't.

 

[fatjay]

As I hit submit, I heard a beep indicating that it was switching priority. Battery is a go!

 

[fatjay]

Now with battery hooked up I can see what the panels are actually pushing out. Looks like 3600w of panels at 18 degrees on the winter solstice where 44 degrees is optimal can do 2500w. It's currently 21f, which is probably helping some.

This is 15x panels where I have 45x to put up, so I should be able to get 7500w out of it next winter during the shortest day.

 

[fatjay]

Just finished top balancing pack 3, hooked everything up and all the cells are dead on, except cell 1, which is a bit lower. I'm wondering if it's the draw of powering the bms that's lowering that specific cell. I don't recall this happening on the previous packs.

 

[fatjay]

So I went to the pack and checked it with multimeter and it is checking at 3.63v, so something is wrong with the bms or crimped end or ring terminal that's creating resistance. I'm going to take it off and redo it.

 

[fatjay]

3 packs totaling 45kwh are in opperation, and the 4th pack is built and just about ready to start charging.

I have space for 2 more packs at the top, but I'm going to see how this does me for now. Once it's done, I'll start working on getting the other inverters online.

 

[fatjay]

Now that 3 batteries are online, and a 4th top balancing, I can take some time to get more inverters hooked up. Got 2 more inverters nearly done. Cables run, ends crimped, heat shrink on. It almost looks professional.

I hate how the negative lug is behind the pv wires though.

 

[fatjay]

Aww yes...

So I can't quite figure out how to get SA to change the order of inverters, or be able to label them. It does what it wants. But I can infer which ones are which by looking at load.

Everything is online, split phase, cables wired properly, current sharing, 18kw total, 9k per leg.

Tomorrow, more battery work.

 

[fatjay]

Well I cranked out 14.5kwh today from 15 panels, and there were some dips.

I have 24 panels up in a 6x4 grid, but I'm running 15 panels per inverter. Which means I had 9 up and doing nothing.

So I decided to put one more up, and wire them up in a 5s2p instead of 5s3p.

This is a very temporary setup. I rigged it in a way that it would not interfere with me putting up the rest of the racking for the second set of 24 panels. I need to drop the back end by about an inch.

All I am missing is some bus bars so I couldn't wire them into the combiner box. I'll pick them up tomorrow then hook up some wires and I'll increase my generation by 66%.

 

[fatjay]

I filed plans with the township to get approval and the zoning was approved, but the one guy is looking for a structural engineer signoff. I called 3 SE's and none will touch anything they didn't design themselves. Which is really irritating.

 

[sodamo]

I filed plans with the township to get approval and the zoning was approved, but the one guy is looking for a structural engineer signoff. I called 3 SE's and none will touch anything they didn't design themselves. Which is really irritating.

Could be a challenge. Best of luck.

 

[hayden]

I filed plans with the township to get approval and the zoning was approved, but the one guy is looking for a structural engineer signoff. I called 3 SE's and none will touch anything they didn't design themselves. Which is really irritating.

Is this for the solar array structure, or for the barn/shop/garage? Or both?

 

[fatjay]

Is this for the solar array structure, or for the barn/shop/garage? Or both?

The solar array structure over my patio since it's a "roof" for my patio.

 

[fatjay]

TSC chicks are $6.99 and $9.99 for premium. Still no chicks at TSC.

As such, i've decided to breed what I have.

I'm building a new coop at the other end of the run, and I'm going to isolate my rooster, 6 egger hens, and 4 RiR's. Once isolated they'll spend 2 weeks together then I'll assume the eggs are fertilized. I'll start setting them aside then.

I have a 30 egg incubator that was a nightmare to find. But it's done.

Word has gotten out, people are asking me for fertilized eggs.

So here I have my new coop. Some assembly required.

New coop will double as brooder once the chicks hatch, so that'll be nice.