Feb 5, 2006 12:31 am
Re: Troubleshooting/HELP!!
First I assume that your system is off-grid with 24V battery bank, if not my following info might not help at all.
When you have a good solar charge controller it will have a display function and maybe even a daily statistic of Amp hours charged this day/week... and a battery status display.
Charge metering for windturbines seems to be difficult, at least I havn't found a meter with daily statistics.
What is the load Ampere (constant 3A) at 24V DC, or inverted to 120V AC or 240V AC ?? When running 24h a day just multiply 24h * 3A * xxx Volt to get KWH. Example for 120VAC : 24h*3A*120V = 8640Watt hours or 8.46 KWH a day.
The PV modules at 4h rated full sunshine equivalent a day could produce 3 KWH average, the Lakota anywhere between 0 KWH (no wind) and 24 KWH (strong gale). External battery charging via generator depends on the DC charge current of your inverter, when it charges 50A for 24V its just 1200W independed how much KW your generator might be producing.
Some inverters have a low voltage alarm contact, which can be programmed and used as generator starter, so only if load is too high or battery empty (low voltage) the generator is started.