The final solar panel of this particular project has arrived, and is installed. It is testing phase today. The bigger battery is finally on its way. The bms is also here. Everything is here but the battery, and it is on its way.
It was a chore to wire together, as it is somewhat complex. It is a 400 watt, 2s2p arrangement. What this means is that there are two pairs--each pair is wired up as a series of two panels, while these two pairs of two panels each are wired together in parallel. Phew! Altogether, this is a system with 4-100 watt panels thusly arranged.
In order to do this correctly, it was necessary to sketch out a schematic of how the layout was to look. It had to be detailed, so as to obviate any possible confusion of which panel's connections go where. Believe me, it would have been easy to get this screwed up. I'd rather avoid having to do everything all over again because I fried up everything.
The testing phase is going to go slowly, because I need to open the power tote again, and check a few things. While I am at it, I'll do some adjustments that might be the answer to the mysterious shutdowns that I've been experiencing.
As to the shutdowns, the latest theory is that it is too much to handle for the bms. That's what I need to check. I've been looking for some info on that. It seems that the range I seek is not that aggressive. Instead of that problem, I am thinking that it cannot handle charge/discharge functions simultaneously. Either you charge it, or discharge it. But that is a limitation that would make the system impractical to use. To get around any bms issues, the discharge function will be separated out from the charge function. The bms will keep it charged properly, but the inverter will shut down before it can be discharged too deeply. The system is set up to only use 500 watts at any one time. It cannot over-discharge, because the inverter will shut off before it can do that.
The 4 panels thusly described, will generate upwards of 15 amps. The bms should handle that, but I'm not 100% sure yet. It was in February when I bought it, and the dox given didn't specify exactly what it could handle in terms of amps. That would apply to charging AND discharging. Perhaps BOTH. If it's too hot to handle, it could do something like shutting down. At least, that is the theory.
If that theory isn't correct, then perhaps it's still got a loose connection. But it sure acts like it is shutting down due to some other factor-such as heat or load.
So that's where it stands now. Still figuring things out.
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