We are a small family business providing solar power consulting and installation as well as managing a private airstrip (Charlton Strip, 05FL on the Miami Sectional chart), a cattle ranch, gardening and fruit tree cultivation. It keeps us busy. The solar power consulting and installation is my (John) interest as well as application of engineering,… Continue reading Mission
Category: Solar Power
Battery Use Overnight
This figure shows the cycle of one day using battery overnight. Starting at midnight on the left, shows the battery at about 60% after powering the house for from about 1730 to midnight. The power use overnight includes AC, well pumps and hot water heaters. At about 0730 the battery charge reaches a minimum of… Continue reading Battery Use Overnight
Choosing an installer and options
I recommend getting at least two bids from contractors before deciding on a solar power installation or finding an installer that you can trust and who can stand behind their installation. I recommend Stilwell Solar for the Fort Myers area and I am using their design system and installation now because I am not a… Continue reading Choosing an installer and options
Battery Energy Storage
We have 8 Sol-Ark PCC230 Lead-Acid AGM batteries. As stated in a previous blog post on this site, I recommend Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries for new installations. The PCC230 has a maximum of 230 Ah charge storage when discharged over a 24 hr period to 10.5 Volts. We have our 8 batteries configured in 2… Continue reading Battery Energy Storage
Off Grid Battery Operation
The above screenshot was taken to show the overnight battery depletion and solar panel recharge. The trace labeled SOC is the stored energy (battery) percent. The low point after operating overnight was 42% at 8:00 AM before sunrise and the solar power began to recharge the batteries. Shortly after sunrise we turned on the AC… Continue reading Off Grid Battery Operation
Solar Power Demand
The screen shot shows a typical August day in Florida solar and power demand variation. The green is the solar power input, yellow is the grid power and red is the load. When solar power is not available the grid matches the power demand so the red power demand and yellow grid power become an… Continue reading Solar Power Demand
Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries
Since choosing the AGM (lead acid) batteries, I have learned that Lithium Iron Phosphate technology has significant advantages over lead acid and Lithium-Ion technologies for solar power energy storage. Lithium-Ion store a higher density of power than Lithium Iron Phosphate but Lithium iron Phosphate is stable and not prone to fire or explosion. The potential… Continue reading Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries
Operating on Power Grid
The above diagram shows the fully functioning grid sell PV inverter operation for one full day (11-1-21). This was a sunny day so there is not much up/down fluctuation during the day. The small orange blips are when a well pump comes on. The well pumps are powered only by the solar inverter. Everything else… Continue reading Operating on Power Grid
Rails are up and PV panel wiring completed
We finished putting the PV panel mounting rails up last week and now have 12 panels mounted. The 30 panels will be configured in 3 strings of 10 panels in each row. The panels are in series (strings) so the voltages add. Typical voltage for these panels is 28 to 35 volts so in series… Continue reading Rails are up and PV panel wiring completed
Batteries and Inverter
We installed the batteries and inverter in our shop. The 8 Sol-Ark PCC 230 Ah batteries are on the lower right and the Sol-Ark 12k inverter upper left. The gray conduit under the inverter carries the two 2/0 battery cables to the 48 volt battery banks and the vertical black and red buss-bars on each… Continue reading Batteries and Inverter