Samuel Jaißle

I'm another one that hasn't received the digital download tokens yet, checked my spamfolder, too. It didn't work the first time with the first 4 DVDs for me too. Paul had to have me send them another time and it worked, but seems to be another problem this time, as there are more people that don't receive them...

This time it worked, I got the email. Thank you so much!

Thanks a lot!

I didn't get any email concerning the DVD download either. I got the first email for the other candy, bot not for the DVDs. I also checked my spam folder. Did I fall through the hole on your list, Paul?
I send an email to Ian on Tuesday but didn't hear from him yet. Could you please look into the matter?

Steve Harvey wrote:I think he said that the charger is charging through the generator and not the solar panels, so there is power going through

As I understand this

Darren Carson wrote:batteries will charge through inverter/ charger powered via generator but not through solar

the batteries a charged from AC side, but not from DC side. There are two different devices at work here, and the regulator on the solar (DC) side seems not to let any power through.

Steve Harvey wrote:It is possible that the charger will not charge the batteries until it reaches the required input voltage to operate?

Yes, that is one possible problem. That's exactly why I asked for more specs or the name of the panels and regulator.

Steve Harvey wrote:He said that he is using 5 panels wired in parallel meaning they are producing 24 volts.

You can't always assume that, only cause they’re rated for 24 V. This rating tells you the MPP voltage at standard radiation (1000 W/m²) and standard temp (23°C, if I remember right). Seems he had a open circuit voltage of 42 V. This is again why I asked for the name of the panels.

Steve Harvey wrote:would charging batteries in a series/parallel circuit, where lead acid batteries spent a few days to a week below being fully charged cause a build up of sulfate inside?

I'm not an expert on lead acid batteries, my knowledge is focused more on lithium batteries. But according to my researches about two years ago, the one point, that speeds up aging of acid batteries the most, is discharging to a low level. It is recommended to use only about 60% of the capacity of a lead acid battery. Witch means, you should not discharge them below 40%. This does more harm than charging them slowly. So it is better to have batteries with higher capacity and only using part of it, that have smaller batteries and using more of the capacity (discharging them to a lower level) and charging them at standard rate.

And then finally to correct the schematics, this is how the batteries really are connected:

Steve Harvey wrote:If you scrapped the complex battery circuit and charged the 2 12 volt batteries in series with separate chargers your charging time will be cut in half.

No it isn't. You have a certain amount of power [W] your panels put out. And with that amount of power you get a certain amount of energy in one hour [Wh]. The time it takes to charge your battery depends on the power output [W] and on the capacity [Wh] of your battery. Now in the setup referred to here, the charger usually is able to pass the full output of the panels on to the battery. Another charger doesn't add any power output to the panels. To cut charging time in half, you have to double the power you're charging with and to do that, you can't just split your battery and add another charger, you have to double your panels, too.

Besides, that is not on the topic, since the problem isn't that the batteries are charged to slow, but that the charger doesn't even charge the battery at all. It seems to pass nothing of the energy available on to the battery. And that can't have to do anything with to small charging currents.

Hi,

I just registered to help cleaning up the mess that start to unfold here. I agree with Scott, Steves reasoning doesn't make much sense to me either.
Steve, you're mixing serial and parallel connections, talking of one and drawing up the other. The battery bank has a voltage of 24 V and a capacity of 400 Ah. So it can be charged with Darren's setup, though it would take around two to three sunny days to fully charge it from empty.

Darren, your regulator is a bit undersized, but that cannot be the problem. It only means that you might loose some of the output of your panels, when they could provide more than they're rated for, witch can happen under certain conditions. Assuming the 24 V to be Vmpp, the 10 A must be the short circuit rating, so your current rating at mpp is below that value and you even got some reserve with the 50 A of your regulator.

Does the regulator display its input voltage? What are the input specs of the regulator? Are the 25.2 V an input spec? What is the 50 V rating exactly saying? The regulator has a minimum start up voltage and a maximum input voltage. If the minimum value is above the measured 42 V, that is the reason it doesn't start. If the maximum value is below the 42 V, it's probably grilled.
If you give me the names of the panels and the regulator and I can find specs online, I should be able to give you step by step guidance to find the problem.