Solar exceeding ratings, more than usual

[FlyingScot]

My solar panels were exceeding rating again yesterday. I've seen them go over by 10-30 watts before, but this time they were 40-60+ over. I was impressed.

LG Neon 360w panels x 4 = 1440 watts. Victron SmartSolar 100/30 x 4.

404w + 407w + 420w + 424w = 1665 watts (15.6%). The lower two were on the wrong side of the boat relative to the sun bringing the average down. The two southern facing ones were over 17% above rating. Any more I'll need larger Controllers.

Typical overage condition includes sun with clouds nearby.

Pics were taken moments apart. I didn't capture a pic, but my BMV-712 was reading above 100 amps (@12v) charging above my normal house loads. That was my boat's new personal best.

What have others experienced?

[nebster]

I hit 1700W on 1600 rated watts for about a half hour last week! Cold weather, bright sun, clouds nearby playing at being mirrors.

[LoudMusic]

During July of last year while moored in St Augustine our pair of 350w were showing around 715w on our Victron 100/50. We now have three sets of these for 2100w. Already this year I've seen as much as 125A going into our batteries in addition to our ~15-20A house load. We're currently in Sea of Abaco. On a typical day when I'm paying attention I routinely see >600w per controller, which means we're regularly hitting 85% production this early in the year. I'm looking forward to what we'll be getting in the next couple months. I might need to get a soft start for the aircon just to use up all the extra power.

[Dsanduril]

That’s awesome. Great setup.

And now, because it’s the internet and we can, a couple of minor quibbles:

Why is #2 starboard aft showing the battery voltage fully 0.5V higher than the other three? Is it connected to a different battery? Or closer? Just curious as it would affect charging as the controller changes modes.

I sure wish Victron (and all the others) would display solar input power, battery output power, and efficiency (they display the data to get there, just not the calculated values). In all cases power loss is 10-12W, to be expected, giving >97% conversion efficiency - also very nice. I know they don’t want to advertise the losses (even if they are small) but having that metric would allow the user to monitor them and maybe identify a controller not performing properly. Could be as simple as a dirty heatsink (which you might be able to do something about). Hello Victron?

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by Dsanduril

That’s awesome. Great setup.

And now, because it’s the internet and we can, a couple of minor quibbles:

Why is #2 starboard aft showing the battery voltage fully 0.5V higher than the other three? Is it connected to a different battery? Or closer? Just curious as it would affect charging as the controller changes modes.

I sure wish Victron (and all the others) would display solar input power, battery output power, and efficiency (they display the data to get there, just not the calculated values). In all cases power loss is 10-12W, to be expected, giving >97% conversion efficiency - also very nice. I know they don’t want to advertise the losses (even if they are small) but having that metric would allow the user to monitor them and maybe identify a controller not performing properly. Could be as simple as a dirty heatsink (which you might be able to do something about). Hello Victron?

It's all the same battery bank (Firefly Oasis 4v x 3 in series). All 4 Controllers are located within inches of each other. All 4 controllers feed the same bus bar. BMV-712 is sharing battery temp/voltage across the Victron Bluetooth network. The voltage must not have updated in time for the pic. Or the controller sometimes overshoot the voltage if the sun gets bright quickly, like coming out from behind a cloud. This is why I have to keep my SC settings at 14.25v and normal high voltage for the day will be 14.4 - 14.45v. My BMV-712 is within 0.01v of a $500 certified Fluke as measured on the battery. I rarely have enough iOS devices to see all 5 items at the same time. I normally keep two older iPhone 6s as pictured reading solar, or barometer, or multiple temperatures using (Sensor Push) sensors. And I have iPad Mini 4 showing the BMV-712 data.

[basssears]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

I rarely have enough iOS devices to see all 5 items at the same time. I normally keep two older iPhone 6s as pictured reading solar, or barometer, or multiple temperatures using (Sensor Push) sensors. And I have iPad Mini 4 showing the BMV-712 data.

Have you looked into the Victron Venus?


https://www.victronenergy.com/panel-...oring/venus-gx


I am building out an off grid cabin solar setup and plan to use that to have all of my data (Victron Quattro inverter/charger, MPPT controller, BMV-712 monitor) in one place.


I don't have it yet so can't say for sure if it would work in your setup (seems like most everything has to be hardwired to it, it can't just connect via Bluetooth to each of the MPPTs unfortunately).


-- Bass

[masonc]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

My solar panels were exceeding rating again yesterday. I've seen them go over by 10-30 watts before, but this time they were 40-60+ over. I was impressed.

LG Neon 360w panels x 4 = 1440 watts. Victron SmartSolar 100/30 x 4.

What was the temperature at noon on this day?

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by basssears

Have you looked into the Victron Venus?


https://www.victronenergy.com/panel-...oring/venus-gx


I am building out an off grid cabin solar setup and plan to use that to have all of my data (Victron Quattro inverter/charger, MPPT controller, BMV-712 monitor) in one place.


I don't have it yet so can't say for sure if it would work in your setup (seems like most everything has to be hardwired to it, it can't just connect via Bluetooth to each of the MPPTs unfortunately).


-- Bass

Thank you for bringing this up. I have and the issue I have is that most of these require a lot of cables and adapters, to hook all things up. The new Octo GX has more direct connections. If/when I upgrade to a Multiplus 12/3000/120, I'll likely buy one of their monitoring devices too.

Originally Posted by masonc

What was the temperature at noon on this day?

Basically the same everyday. Somewhere around 80F (27C). I'm in Curacao.

[basssears]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

Thank you for bringing this up. I have and the issue I have is that most of these require a lot of cables and adapters, to hook all things up. The new Octo GX has more direct connections. If/when I upgrade to a Multiplus 12/3000/120, I'll likely buy one of their monitoring devices too.

I wish they would make these monitoring hubs more wirelessly connected so we're not limited on number of ports.


I wasn't familiar with the Octo, will have to research that before I decide what to buy. Not a cheap little bit of kit though...

[FlyingScot]

Originally Posted by basssears

I wish they would make these monitoring hubs more wirelessly connected so we're not limited on number of ports.


I wasn't familiar with the Octo, will have to research that before I decide what to buy. Not a cheap little bit of kit though...

Very true on both points. Especially when you need multiple cables. Or especially if you need cables and adapters.
I wish they would update the Color Control GX. I might buy that to have a nice integrated display.