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Post by triggerfish on Sept 16, 2018 7:49:10 GMT -8
Hi,
To make myself less reliant on the sun during testing, I hooked up an external lab-power supply to the SunAir. For some reason I it will not draw more than about 100mA, which is not enough for charging according to the docs. My electronics is a bit rusty, but do I remember correctly that placing something like 1 ohm resistance in series, will force a draw of about 500mA at a current of 5V?
Or is that something I should not do anyway?
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Post by SDL on Sept 18, 2018 7:25:24 GMT -8
100ma where? from the cells? Into the battery? To the load?
Give us all of your measurements. SunAirPlus is great at giving us all of that!
BP
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Post by triggerfish on Sept 18, 2018 11:57:30 GMT -8
100ma where? from the cells? Into the battery? To the load? Give us all of your measurements. SunAirPlus is great at giving us all of that! BP The last two entries where:
SunAirPlus Currents / Voltage
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LIPO_Battery Bus Voltage: 4.21 V
LIPO_Battery Shunt Voltage: 0.20 mV
LIPO_Battery Load Voltage: 4.21 V
LIPO_Battery Current 1: 2.00 mA
Battery Power 1: 0.01 W
Solar Cell Bus Voltage 2: 4.98 V
Solar Cell Shunt Voltage 2: -22.40 mV
Solar Cell Load Voltage 2: 4.95 V
Solar Cell Current 2: 224.00 mA
Solar Cell Power 2: 1.11 W
Output Bus Voltage 3: 4.97 V
Output Shunt Voltage 3: 18.00 mV
Output Load Voltage 3: 4.97 V
Output Current 3: 180.00 mA
Output Power 3: 0.89 W
--
SunAirPlus Currents / Voltage
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LIPO_Battery Bus Voltage: 4.21 V
LIPO_Battery Shunt Voltage: 0.16 mV
LIPO_Battery Load Voltage: 4.21 V
LIPO_Battery Current 1: 1.60 mA
Battery Power 1: 0.01 W
Solar Cell Bus Voltage 2: 4.98 V
Solar Cell Shunt Voltage 2: -22.68 mV
Solar Cell Load Voltage 2: 4.95 V
Solar Cell Current 2: 226.80 mA
Solar Cell Power 2: 1.12 W
Output Bus Voltage 3: 4.97 V
Output Shunt Voltage 3: 18.36 mV
Output Load Voltage 3: 4.97 V
Output Current 3: 183.60 mA
Output Power 3: 0.91 W
With the external power supply acting as solar panel. That displays a current of 0.18Amps
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Post by SDL on Sept 19, 2018 17:16:31 GMT -8
Peter,
OK. I see. Take the voltage on the panels up to about 6V. Then it will be rocking. Solar Panels generate little current until the voltage gets higher and you are seeing the charge controller limiting the current for Maximum Power Transfer.
BP
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Post by triggerfish on Sept 29, 2018 1:29:37 GMT -8
Hi,
When I look in the logging for the SunAir values, I see this:
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SunAirPlus Currents / Voltage
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LIPO_Battery Bus Voltage: 4.20 V
LIPO_Battery Shunt Voltage: -2.12 mV
LIPO_Battery Load Voltage: 4.20 V
LIPO_Battery Current 1: -21.20 mA
Battery Power 1: -0.09 W
Solar Cell Bus Voltage 2: 5.34 V
Solar Cell Shunt Voltage 2: -24.08 mV
Solar Cell Load Voltage 2: 5.31 V
Solar Cell Current 2: 240.80 mA
Solar Cell Power 2: 1.28 W
Output Bus Voltage 3: 4.95 V
Output Shunt Voltage 3: 24.68 mV
Output Load Voltage 3: 4.95 V
Output Current 3: 246.80 mA
Output Power 3: 1.22 W
------------------------------What values do I need for the Solar panels to actually charge the battery? I can not make much of all these values. I just do not knwo waht they all mean. Tried looking through the SunAir documentation, but I can not find any specific description of them. They may be obvious if you are more in to electronics, but for me it's a bit blurry. |
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Post by SDL on Sept 29, 2018 14:19:06 GMT -8
You are charging the battery! It's just that the battery is almost fully charged, so it won't take any more current. The solar power controller is really smart about this so it won't damage the batteries. Everything looks really good up there!
BP
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Post by SDL on Sept 29, 2018 14:19:11 GMT -8
You are charging the battery! It's just that the battery is almost fully charged, so it won't take any more current. The solar power controller is really smart about this so it won't damage the batteries. Everything looks really good up there!
BP
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Post by triggerfish on Oct 5, 2018 6:28:52 GMT -8
Since we are going into the dark area now, Can I just add solar panels to get more surface to get charge? Is there a limit?
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Post by SDL on Oct 6, 2018 9:12:28 GMT -8
yes, you can add solar panels to get more charge. At some point, depending on the panel type however, when they are all in the sun, there is a chance that they will blow the charger when the battery is fully charged.
To fix this, stick some 6.2V Zener diodes on the output of the panels. This will ensure that this never happens.
BP
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Post by triggerfish on Oct 6, 2018 10:04:19 GMT -8
I find different setups for this. Basically they mention protection diodes between + and - per panel or shottky diodes in the + output per panel. Which do I need to apply? Or maybe both? I have the left, parallel setup for panels.  |
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Post by SDL on Oct 6, 2018 11:44:55 GMT -8
Close but not quite. They should be Diode Plus to "+" on the panel and the other end to Ground. The idea is if the solar panel voltage goes above 6.2V, the current is shunted to ground. This is for 6V panels, not the 17 and 34V panels you have in your diagrams. Check out the blog for the Repair of Project Curacao2 for more info. www.switchdoc.com/2018/07/project-curacao2-results-five-months-paradise-2/BP |
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Post by triggerfish on Oct 6, 2018 13:04:48 GMT -8
So if I understand, it's the protective diode from the left image I posted, but the other way around... An do I need the 20 from the project curacao??? The blog states it is overkill, but what would be wise?
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Post by triggerfish on Oct 7, 2018 1:07:33 GMT -8
Trying to do my homework on this... Adding panels adds some problems also. As BP stated with full sun and a full battery, the charger may fry... Adding zeners will make sure that will not happen... Right  I started finding out how... I came upon another possible problem being partial shadow. Although they are just the small 6v 330mA panels SDL sells, they will in the end of the day get shadow one at the time at my location. I came up with this setup to cope with both shadow and over power issues:  I am a bit anxious in connecting things "the wrong way" like the zeners, but apparently this should do the trick, although I am not sure about the right side zener... So... If you all finished laughing Let me know what is the way to go |
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Post by triggerfish on Oct 7, 2018 7:14:26 GMT -8
Man, the more I dig into this, the more I get the feeling I have ,misunderstood things... To start with, the right zener in my drawing should be the other way around. And all the others I made up to compensate for shadow on panels, should be the other way around also, but are only useful for serial connected panels?
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Post by triggerfish on Oct 7, 2018 10:08:18 GMT -8
Would these do the job: 1N4735 ZENER DIODE 1.3W 6.2V
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I started finding out how... I came upon another possible problem being partial shadow. Although they are just the small 6v 330mA panels SDL sells, they will in the end of the day get shadow one at the time at my location. I came up with this setup to cope with both shadow and over power issues: