Thread: Solar and Wind
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Old 01-15-2016, 12:27 AM   #10
Peter B
TF Site Team
 
City: Ex-Brisbane, (Australia), now Bribie Island, Qld
Vessel Name: Now boatless - sold 6/2018
Vessel Model: Had a Clipper (CHB) 34
Join Date: Jun 2008
Posts: 10,101
Hi, Janice and Bruce. Actually, it is probably not necessary in the normal situation with reasonably regular running to put anything into the start batt other than when underway. The drain if used for just starting is fairly minimal as it is so brief, but I have a small 10w panel which does not need a controller just to trickle my start batt because we don't go out that often. The other large panel & wind genny are dedicated to the house bank, in my case just 2 x 100 AH AGMs in parallel, and like Bruce there is a blade type fuse in-line between the solar controller, which is just a simple PWM (pulse width modulation) type, and the batteries. The Airbreeze, in the marine set-up, actually has a 20Amp fusible link between the incoming positive feed and the battery anyway, (in line with disconnect switch, and ammeter, if fitted), so needs nothing else.

The only potential cause of a problem can be if there is a bit of a fight between the different sources of current, and that is best addressed by essentially doing what Janice has done, ie the connections are to different batts in the house bank, ie physically separated, although, if the batts are all in parallel, then they are also in parallel, and effectively topping up all the batts in the bank through the one they are connected to, unless each is kept separate and only connected by a selector switch when needed, which would be an unusual arrangement.

Over-regulation can also be managed by the voltage set point, so the Airbreeze is set usually at 14.1v, and likewise a similar figure for the solar regulator, so they will only stop charging if the voltage rises above that. Usually I find that the panels do most of the charging during the day, and the wind genny comes into real effect during the night.

In larger installations, where one has several large solar panels, then they do recommend using a multi-input MPPT (maximum power point tracking) type controller, and you can get those with a dedicated separate wind genny input connection as well.

Hope that helps add to the conversation. As a PS, I can now address a confession I made in my original post re us Queenslanders not taking up solar power generation as much as we should. That picture has changed dramatically since I put that up, and now one in 10 houses in Qld has solar, and we put up a 6kw array (that's 24 x 250w panels through a 5kw inverter) in April 2014, and the power savings are considerable. I love it..!
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