What Batteries do you use? (Alternate Energy)

[glenn-k]

Yeah - could be problems - that is why I kept my stuff close enough to make it all work together.  One thing to keep in mind is that solar panels barely function on cloudy days and not at all at night.  Wind generators do both.  That is when mine comes in the most handy but it works with the panels a lot too.

[MountainDon]

Yeah - One thing to keep in mind is that solar panels barely function on cloudy days and not at all at night.  Wind generators do both.

Thank you Glenn. I lose track of the fact that not everyone lives in the land of nearly perpetual sunshine   (daylight hours only, of course.) And the wind can blow just about any time it feels like it. I think it's the distance between wind site and home site that is the big problem here for Hal.    

I have a similar problem (distance between solar site and homesite). I'm going the high DC voltage route to reduce cabling size between PV panels and batteries/cabin.

[glenn-k]

I forget if we mentioned this - running out of time lately here, but, possibly the solar panels could be put at the wind site - a small power house made then the 120 or 240 sent out from there - small wire - efficient power transit.

[MountainDon]

I think that was previously mentioned in one of the discussions on this. It would save a lot of copper.

Copper's up so much thieves are ripping wire and pipe out of walls around here for the scrap value.

[hnash53]

OK.  If I am wanting to be as simple as possible, the best thing might be to say goodbye to the wind turbine, buy an extra solar panel or two, mount them close to my batteries (panels will be on the roof), gag on the cost of a good controller to milk all the watts possible and perform sun worship rituals.

Don, in southwest Wyoming, we probably get nearly as much sun as you do in NM.

thanks for all the input guys.

Hal

[MountainDon]

I do think that may be the wiser choice.

Don, in southwest Wyoming, we probably get nearly as much sun as you do in NM.
Hal

Depending just where you are compared to me, we may be just about equal most of the year. Winter's the bigger difference. Info here by zip code or long/lat co-ordinates

http://www.nrel.gov/gis/solar.html

G/L and keepus posted as to how things work.

[hnash53]

Does elevation affect output from solar panels, all other things being equal?

I'm at 8000+ elevation in the Wyoming mountains.  I know that UV intensity is greater at higher elevations but I know that UV isn't what generates electricity.

With less atmosphere for the light from the sun to pass through, wouldn't higher elevations result in increased solar panel output?

[MountainDon]

If there was any increase in output at higher altitude I doubt it would be measurable. That is, unless the lower elevation was under a brown cloud of pollution, or any clouds for that matter. Note that PV panels do perform better in colder temperatures so the higher elevations may give some extra output because of that.

I believe you've stated you're going to go with a 12 VDC system and have the 12 VDC panels all in parallel. Just is case you do want to wire up a series set of panels you should be aware of cold weather performance of PV panels. If panels are in a freezing cold environment and wired in series it is possible to have peak voltages high enough for there to be an early morning spike when the sun first hits the panels that may damage charge controllers.   It is possible to get peak spikes that are higher than the panels rated short circuit voltage (times the number of panels in series). So if series wiring is used it's best to leave a 30% cushion between peak short circuit voltages and the rated input maximum of the charge controller. Or check with your vendor about the specific recommendations for your equipment.

I know the Outback MX60 records voltages in it's internal memory and if the reading show overvoltage conditions the warranty is void. I would expect most if not all of the better units to have something similar builtin them.

[glenn-k]

Cool -- my batteries are currently getting a good charging at night--

The wind generator is pretty steadily producing about 800 watts right now, so I went up and kicked in the equalization mode.  This is the nice little bonus that I sometimes get off of the wind generator.  My dump load kicks the pump on and for some reason the inverters both kicking on at once for 220v throws my DSL modem offline.  A notification feature.

I think moving the phone line away from the power panels and using armored cable may take care of it but that's a whole other project. :-?