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On my wind powered boat (off grid), the radio and lights are my only draw, yet I have a 55W Kyocera fancy panel and twin deep cycles. You can imagine, just sitting in the sun for a short time is enough to power a radio while recharging an entire nights worth of lighting. So my panel sits in UV, degrading without producing. My hope, is finding a use for 100% of the solar energy.
Yes, I have the first step completed by possessing a charge controller with Load Dump settings. LD isn't well explained, other than to keep an older wind-turbine without over-RPM safety from spinning freely when the batteries are charged. The suggestion is an electric water heater resistive element.
It's a Xantrex C60. Solar forum posts don't have a good answer. If there is a pump OK to run on variable amp inputs? I wouldn't mind a water feature (fountain) on this yacht.
Again, I want to consume the full 55W from the panel both during the 2/3's when sun is shining and the batteries are full, and also during the variable volts/amps during actual recharging.
I meant it's a sailboat, 12V comes from the solar panel. I just want to use all the energy produced by the panel once the batteries are charged. I'd like a tip on using the load dump controller.
It's common to set up the LDC to divert power to an electric water heater when the batteries are maxed out. Excess power is then stored as hot water so you don't have to waste power or fuel heating it for dishes or bathing. 12v DC water heater elements should work fine as a diversion load on your (relatively) small system, a single 100w element would probably do the job (drawing 20 amps), but you could use 2 in series (drawing 40 amps) if you think you'd be producing that much surplus.
This diagram shows a turbine, but the power source isn't really important.
Alternatively, if you want to have the "surplus" stored as usable electricity, then your best bet would be to add batteries to your bank. have a larger primary bank is the best option, but you could set up an auxillary bank with charge controller on the other side of the LDC and they would only charge when the primary bank was full. Your auxillary bank could then be wired to power non-essential equipment (laptop, fishfinder, etc) without worrying about depleting your primary bank.
There are low wattage 12v submersible fountain pumps and fans available, so you should be able to rig one up in place of the water heater in that diagram no problem. Just check the local marine and RV suppliers.
I think most people off-grid are running at or near deficit rather than at a surplus. It's just too expensive to oversive your system, and there is usually something useful you can do with a few extra watts of power if you're lucky enough to get it.
Only a few folks have scenarios where they are overgenerating (at least part of the year). Like us... if we size for winter (almost no day) we would be overgenerating on a massive scale during the summer (no night), so we size for spring/fall and divert (or use) the surplus in summer and deal with the deficit in winter.
On my wind powered boat (off grid), the radio and lights are my only draw, yet I have a 55W Kyocera fancy panel and twin deep cycles. You can imagine, just sitting in the sun for a short time is enough to power a radio while recharging an entire nights worth of lighting. So my panel sits in UV, degrading without producing. My hope, is finding a use for 100% of the solar energy.
Yes, I have the first step completed by possessing a charge controller with Load Dump settings. LD isn't well explained, other than to keep an older wind-turbine without over-RPM safety from spinning freely when the batteries are charged. The suggestion is an electric water heater resistive element.
It's a Xantrex C60. Solar forum posts don't have a good answer. If there is a pump OK to run on variable amp inputs? I wouldn't mind a water feature (fountain) on this yacht.
Again, I want to consume the full 55W from the panel both during the 2/3's when sun is shining and the batteries are full, and also during the variable volts/amps during actual recharging.
Wait, your complaint is your panel is supplying too much energy??? LOL.
I hope I have that problem when I get my solar system.
Yes, the complaint is when you're off grid, you perform a balancing act through panel sizing, creating a system that either undercharges and sulfates batteries or accepting some days your generation potential isn't used, all the while the semiconductor panels sit in the same destroying UV and and heat environment whether producing full max or producing nothing.
Not a lot of renewable energy charge controllers have my capability. That is, installation connects the RE generation source directly to the batteries, then connecting the this controller to the batteries just like any other load. The controller then draws off excess power to maintain a proper charge profile, dumping excess production into a dump load.
The instruction manual and posters suggested purely resistive dump loads, but I'm still hoping for an out of the box answer that will help me with design. Like, does the diversion controller output a PWM signal, and in what form CV or CC and will the controller safely respond to not-purely restive loads? Until then, rather than blowing out a pump or the controller circuitry experimenting, I daily lose 55W solar potential on a fully charged battery. With as little production my panel creates, I'd be happy with a water fountain on the bow. Dump load is key, though, I don't want to risk excess cycling of an expensive lead acid to prove a point.
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