I am looking for the best setting for my set-up , currently I have 2 6v AGM is series with 2- 12v 100w panels in parallel . I will be adding another 12v 170w panel in parallel. I have the smartsolar 100/30 controller set to the default setting.
thanks for the help and advise.
Steve
Hi Steve,
you don't say what the battery capacity is and that is the most important data item for design. Your existing controller will support a battery system up to 180Ah. Right now, the design you have supports a battery capacity around the 100Ah.
There are many assumptions in those figures, the main ones being you have a batteyr correectly sized to your use; are in a area with at least 6 hours solid sunlight on the panels daily and you want your battery to recover each day. So, likely, the values are optimistic.
Cheers.
It is normally advised to not mix different types of panels on the one controller.
Can you supply more information about the current panels and the new panel (Voc, Isc, Vmp and Imp). If the panels are not correctly matched you could end up with considerably less total output than expected.
The brand and/or specifications for your batteries would also be helpful.
After doing some searching I found the specs on the existing panels on my camper, which were installed at the factory.
Zebra ZBR-100P
vmp 17.8v
imp 5.62a
voc 21.2v
isc 6.0a
The batteries are HB - DTA6224 224ah, also from the factory
The panel that I am looking to add to the system is a BougeRv 170w
vmp 19.01v
imp 8.91a
voc 22.5v
ics 9.44a
I just upgraded the controller from a pwm to the victron to maximize charging. The new panel hasn't been ordered yet so I can order the best option for my setup. I don't have much room left on the roof so I was looking at the 170w panel to get the most out of the space that I have.
thanks for the help
Steve
Looking at those specifications, personally I would remove the original panels and put two of the 170w panels on your camper. (Personally I would series connect them, but that depends a lot on where you camp and a lot of other variables)
I don’t have any experience with mixing panels but I would expect that the mixed combination would work, but the maximum output would only be around 300-350w. If you decide to run multiple parallel panels you should individually fuse each one (Approximately 7.5A on the 100w panels and 10-15A on the 170w).
The charge controller should have the following battery settings,
Absorption voltage 14.6v
Float voltage 13.7v
Those settings are from a data sheet that I found with that part number, please double check for your batteries.
Unsure what the defaults are but for best battery life with AGM you should follow the manufacturer’s charge settings.
With the The batteries HB - DTA6224 224ah I am unsure which charge profile to use, I have it set to default but with 2 other options which is the best
Thanks Steve
