Cruisers Forum
 


Reply
  This discussion is proudly sponsored by:
Please support our sponsors and let them know you heard about their products on Cruisers Forums. Advertise Here
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread Rate Thread Display Modes
Old 13-12-2019, 11:02   #31
Registered User

Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: West Sussex, United Kingdom
Boat: Tradewind 33, 33 foot, Parker 27 , 26 foot
Posts: 496
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

Quote:
Originally Posted by john61ct View Post
dupe dupe
Childish and unhelpful comment JOHN61ct, if you don't have anything constructive or even amusing to add - don't! I'm surprised the moderators have not stepped in here.
Martkimwat is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2019, 11:20   #32
cruiser

Join Date: Jan 2017
Boat: Retired from CF
Posts: 13,317
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

I have no idea what meaning you inferred from the word dupe.

As already noted, I was just correcting a duplicate post, since the forum software does not allow deletions.

And it does not allow too short a post, requured more characters.

Hanlon's razor is a pretty good default to assume in any online discussion, and definitely applies here, so, no worries mate
john61ct is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2019, 11:25   #33
Registered User
 
thomm225's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Lower Chesapeake Bay Area
Boat: Bristol 27
Posts: 10,451
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

Quote:
Originally Posted by john61ct View Post
I have no idea what meaning you inferred from the word dupe.

As already noted, I was just correcting a duplicate post, since the forum software does not allow deletions.

And it does not allow too short a post, requured more characters.

Hanlon's razor is a pretty good default to assume in any online discussion, and definitely applies here, so, no worries mate
You can do deletions as long as you catch it soon enough....within like 30 minutes
thomm225 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2019, 11:45   #34
Registered User
 
Chotu's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2018
Boat: 50ft Custom Fast Catamaran
Posts: 11,832
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

Might as well toss my system in for a critique.

2 x 350 watt panel, adding 2 more.

Single Outback FlexMax 80 controller.

2 350 watt panels wired in series to the Outback. Wanted to add the other 2 as well to the same controller, just to keep costs down for now, but it says the outback 80 is only good for 1kw of solar. I'm looking at 1.4kw.

I'm guessing I have to buy a second controller?
Chotu is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2019, 11:57   #35
Registered User
 
thomm225's Avatar

Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Lower Chesapeake Bay Area
Boat: Bristol 27
Posts: 10,451
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

My system with all panels hooked up is a 65 watt panel and a 20 watt panel connetced in parallel to the 75/15 Victron MPPT Controller.

A 50 watt panel connected to a 20 Amp PWM controller.

One 20 watt panel connected directly to the batteries........

This time of year at the dock it's just the 65 watt panel connected through the Victron 75/15 with the 20 watt panel still connected but stored

The other panels are disconnected and stored below.
thomm225 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2019, 13:24   #36
Registered User
 
Sailshabby's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Oriental, NC
Boat: Baba 40
Posts: 503
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

Maybe a system schematic would help.
Sailshabby is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 13-12-2019, 23:12   #37
Registered User

Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Simons Town
Boat: Dix 38
Posts: 31
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

Thanks for all the replies. I learned a lot - and I have contacted the shop and asked them for prices for 100/30 controllers. This forum has prevented me from making what would have been a mistake and I might have spent the rest of my life complaining about how poorly my panels performed. Thats why I posted here - love it!

John - I didn't get the 'dupe dupe' referred to duplicates. Next time I shall be more awake... Nevertheless thanks for your comments.

I had no objection to others asking about their system as they were on point and relevant to the discussion.

Victrons MPPT calculator - I had found another calculator that I couldn't make work. (Seemed to be aimed at installers or at any rate more savvy than myself.) But it seems 100/30 controllers will do the job.

I noticed that the smaller controllers are well priced - and buying three is fairly comparable with buying one large one. I like that about Victron - also like the redundancy.
Pole is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2019, 00:28   #38
Moderator
 
noelex 77's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Jul 2007
Boat: Bestevaer.
Posts: 14,678
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pole View Post
I like that about Victron - also like the redundancy.
When installing the wiring it is worth leaving the input wires long enough that any two panels can easily be connected to one controller in the event of a problem.

If any one of the three controllers fails (and for some reason MPPT solar controllers are not the most reliable electronic devices) then any two panels can be connected in parallel to one Victron 100/30 controller (leaving the third panel wired to a single controller). This will not damage the controller. The output will not be as good as when all three controllers are working, but it will be significantly better than disconnecting one panel completely.
noelex 77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 14-12-2019, 13:54   #39
cruiser

Join Date: Jan 2017
Boat: Retired from CF
Posts: 13,317
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

I would advise buying your Victron products from a Victron-experienced dealer that will give excellent first-line support.

Bruce @OceanPlanet and Alan @Bay-Marine are two the come to mind.

Not something to just try to save a few bucks on
john61ct is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2019, 08:17   #40
Registered User
 
dcruz99801's Avatar

Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: LA Paz, BCS, Mexico
Boat: Horstman Tri-Star45 trimaran
Posts: 65
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

JohnCT41 (?) seems pretty sharp on these issues. I currently have a wind/water DC generator on a PWM shunt-relay-type regulator, and had to add a second relay for my 3x130w panels. I just purchased two 100w panels at a great price, and an MPPT controller that is enough for them but not all five.


When I added the wind/water generator I discovered that MPPT and relay PWM regulators do not play well together. Does anyone have a solution for this, or is it simply a question of

a) charging separate battery banks with each type of power -- I set the DC gen to my reefer and 1 battery, or

b) switching between the DC gen and solar to suit situations, i.e., underway vs. stationary, cloudy/windy vs sunny, etc. or

c) has someone found a way to mesh them together?
__________________
Life would be great if it didn't end so badly, what with getting old, dying and all.
dcruz99801 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2019, 08:54   #41
Registered User

Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Oakland, CA
Boat: Herreshoff, Marco Polo, 55
Posts: 9
Send a message via Skype™ to MarcoPoloMark
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

Pole,
I've not seen any responses asking what kind of batteries you are charging. If you are charging Sealed Lead Acid (SLA, AGM, VRLA, GELL... anything where you can't add more distilled water) be careful about multiple chargers feeding nearly full batteries. Each charger is likely designed to Pulse Width Modulate and/or current taper the last 20% of battery charging. This is to avoid bubbling the electrolyte. Each bubble formation takes time, so each charge controller is programmed to individually avoid making bubbles. If three chargers are working, they can't coordinate with each other, other than sensing target battery voltage, and the electrolyte can easily boil. Bubbles turn the H2O portion of the electrolyte into Hydrogen and Oxygen gas, which can escape the battery if the bubble formation builds enough internal pressure (exceeds the battery's internal gas recombination catalyst system). On SLAs, if you hear the batteries burping, or fratzing, or raspberrying in very short occasional bursts, they are losing precious water (AHr capacity).
This would be a question to the manufacturer: can multiples of [this particular] charge controller gang up on a battery without damaging the battery? Can the final charge profile be multiplied?
MPPT on each PV panel is great.
Redundant and reconfigurable systems are great.
Harvesting sunlight is great.
Just avoid battery burps.
Mark
MarcoPoloMark is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2019, 09:10   #42
Registered User

Join Date: Dec 2019
Posts: 14
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

I just Upgraded my solar panels. bought from Arizona wind and solar. they recommended to install panels in series and use 1 mppt. I think I used a 150/75 but not sure. I did install 3 320 watt panels. there is a breaker before the controller and one for the load side also. Works very well, more then powers my ice maker and all the other stuff. batteries will be charged by about 9:30 on a good sunny day. Hope this helps.
endeavour55 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2019, 09:12   #43
Marine Service Provider

Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: San Diego CA
Posts: 10
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

Multiple Victron MPPTs can indeed be paralleled to a single battery bank without causing harm to the batteries. I strongly recommend the SmartSolar MPPTs (with bluetooth built in) as opposed to the BlueSolar models, as the charge profiles of the Smart controllers can be far more easily set to the particular needs of your battery bank using the VictronConnect app over bluetooth than possible with the Blue models; furthermore bluetooth makes updating the device firmware much easier (also done through the app) which you'll want to do because the recent SmartSolar MPPT firmware version 1.47 enables synchronized charging between multiple Smart MPPTs to maximize charge efficiency when multiple controllers are charging a single bank.

I concur with other comments that 75/15s are far too small for the panels posted; it's not that the panels would harm the controller, it's just that you'd be wasting up to 8A of potential solar harvest from each panel. The 100/30s would be ideal since you could be seeing up to ~23A of charge into a 12v nominal battery bank but, realistically speaking, those numbers would rely upon absolutely *ideal* conditions and in reality you'll likely be seeing closer to ~19A from each controller... in which case the 100/20 would be perfectly acceptable and around $75.00 cheaper per unit than the 100/30.

I concur with other comments that for this particular application, multiple small controllers will deliver more overall charge efficiency than a single larger controller.
__________________
Technical Services Manager at Bay Marine Supply
Victron Product Expert
Victron Community Moderator
Justin Cook is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2019, 09:39   #44
Marine Service Provider

Join Date: May 2018
Location: Sisters Oregon
Boat: Pacific Seacraft Orion MK II
Posts: 224
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

As you have heard multiple times you got misinformation from the shop. That is kind of surprising because Victron publishes the exact max panel wattage allowed with each controller. So no need to calculate or think about it just read the specs Victron puts out!

My system is 2, 200 watt panels with 2, Victron 75/15 controllers and 1 50 watt panel with a separate PWM controller. Because my 200 watt panels are mounted on Port and Starboard mid boat rails, in almost all conditions 1 panel will be shaded. So much more efficient to have the 2 controllers. Plus in a pinch if one controller breaks I can swap panel outputs to 1 working controller. The cost advantage of the larger controller instead of 2 smaller ones is very modest so little motivation to not have the redundancy.

Good luck,
Ben S/V Dawn
Americanrancher is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 20-12-2019, 09:51   #45
Moderator
 
noelex 77's Avatar

Cruisers Forum Supporter

Join Date: Jul 2007
Boat: Bestevaer.
Posts: 14,678
Re: 3 panels and 3 MPPT controllers?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Justin Cook View Post
SmartSolar MPPT firmware version 1.47 enables synchronized charging between multiple Smart MPPTs to maximize charge efficiency when multiple controllers are charging a single bank.
Welcome to the forum, Justin.

Can you elaborate on how 1.47 allows multiple MPPT controllers to work together? Is this only with optional equipment or can the controllers communicate between themselves?

I have 1.46 on my controllers that Apple still shows as the latest firmware available, but I assume 1.47 will be available shortly.

1.42 was a major change that has significantly helped the accuracy of these controllers, so Victron are certainly to be congratulated for continuing to improve the product .
noelex 77 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
grass, mppt, panels

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Solar Controllers MPPT 24v - 12v Panels? grrr_evans Marine Electronics 0 09-02-2018 22:03
MPPT Controllers JusDreaming Electrical: Batteries, Generators & Solar 20 02-01-2010 15:26
MPPT Controllers for solar Fishspearit Electrical: Batteries, Generators & Solar 26 19-10-2008 17:27
MPPT solar charge controllers Phil Electrical: Batteries, Generators & Solar 1 01-02-2006 22:11

Advertise Here


All times are GMT -7. The time now is 03:18.


Google+
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Social Knowledge Networks
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 1
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.

ShowCase vBulletin Plugins by Drive Thru Online, Inc.