James Anspaugh's posts

  James from alt-e I hope you read this, I asked questions in the past and here are the results of the power produced by 6 208watt sharp panels facing south on a 30 degree angle and 3 208watt sharp facing west at 50 degrees going into the same combiner box and using the same charge controller outback 60
 the date was 4/11/09 in northern Wisconsin.these are average at the times because it fluctuated.
   10:14 am  all 9 panels on  1010 watts.
 only 6 south facing on  988 watts.
    11:00 am  all 9 on  1213 watts.
 only 6 south facing on 1114 watts.
    12:10 pm  all 9 on 1450 watts.
 only 6 south facing on 1230 watts.
   1:40pm  all 9 on 1650 watts.
   3:20 pm all 9 on 1102 watts.
 only 6 facing south on 1088 watts.
 only 3 facing west on 541 watts.
    5:20 pm all 9 on 812 watts.
 only 6 facing south on 302 watts.
 only 3 facing west on 612 watts.

  This tells me its not optimum for all the panel power but
 it helps still and in the evening when I use more it charges the batteries nicer. Also the snow melted off the steep west ones first about 1.5 months ago. but snow still was on all them through the winter. I thought you would appreciate the info.   Jim A.

I would plug in anything that needed charging. In my off-grid cabin I always charge the cell phones, batteries for the electric motor, by plugging in a charger.Or laptop computer.
 Good luck, Jim

films you can't take off, for the winter and they look tacky after awhile.  you can get vertical blinds, they work great but are expensive.I like vertical for large windows because they don't need dusting. you can get solid ones or ones that let some light through.



Jim

you are awesome in answering so quickly and your knowledge, thanks again Jim A.

  My father-in-law an electrical engineer and I were wondering
since the electricity generated can't back up into the other series of panels, how can you loose some efficiency on the ones in the sun?    thank you jim

 thanks guys , I am off grid with a 48v system would this work with the 3 panels in series and a separate outback. I might add more later on the steep roof then.   thanks again

I have 9 208watt sharp panels. 6 face east on the garage roof and 3 face south because I have a steep roof there so it keeps the snow off in the winter, and they do get sun in the afternoon to evening. My question is because they are all in the same combiner box running to the outback controller will the 3 effect the 6 for efficiency in the summer.  Thanks,  Jim A.

   my air x doesnt shut down untill they are about at 49 volts
I have 16 batteries and they charge from solar up to 52 volts on my 48 v system. I do have the air x connected at the opposite ends of the battery connections as the outback controller is connected to.   Jim.

Steve,  The short answer is yes. I have an off-grid system
with an Air x which is connected to a meter then directly to the batteries because the Air x has an internal controller that shuts down when the batteries are charged.  Good luck Jim

  If you go to gsaauctions.gov and then to miscellanious
it looks like there are some ge brand turbins for sale right now 1,000 dollars and a couple days left to view. the weight is 36000 lbs. must be big.

  Thanks for the educational reading. Jim

 I am using 2 sw5548 power panels or its called xantrex sw5548/d except I use the outback mx60 controller recomended because its better than the xantrex controller 11000w. This runs my generator kohler16kw when needed in winter{no transfer switch needed in generator if you have one in power panel. and converts my electric to 110v and 220 v . I spent around 20k for everything
16- 245 amp gel batteries for 47,040 watts of storage hooked up for 48v.  6 sharp 208watt pv modules and an airx wind generator. I have enough storage for 3 days of use with no sun or wind before the generator kicks in to charge the batteries.The wind is useless where my house/cabin sits so the solar works best.I have everything a house needs for normal except an air conditioner those suck power mucho. I set my generator to turn off after 1 hr of charging and it only is needed when my solar is covered with the snow. good luck and hav fun learning, Jim

 I take it your off grid. I am using 2 xantrex power panels that regulate when the generator needs to charge the batteries
and convert to 120v.
 I use 2 so I can have 220v also. The pv panels are seperate and use an outback controller to charge the same batteries and
will feed them when they require it. Hope this, helps, Jim

 If the government would get out of the way and give everyone who pays taxes a year of no taxes if you use that money for alternative energy I could have enough solar panels for myself and my neighbors.

thank you much, Jim

 My battery bank is 48v and 47000 watts.The charge controller is an outback mx60. The combiner box is about 5 ft above the controller which is in the basement.I am using 2 sw5548 power panels. thanks for your response. Jim

can I have a different series set of pv panels combined in  parallel in the combiner box. I have 2 --3 panel sets of 208w sharp panels at 80.3v in the box and would like to add 2 216w
sharps in series then to combiner box but it is only 36.8v together and it doesnt work? thanks for any input. Jim A

  I cut the plugs off. The next time I ordered 1 wire twice the length needed then cut it in half and had a male and female on each line with the bare wires on the other. Jim A.

I understand that unless you have batteries that can expell gas they shouldn't be enclosed inside, like the basement without ventilation to the outdoors.I have AGM batteries and put them within 3' of my 2 power panels.    good luck, Jim A.