Vaaljapie

@chris hobson, thanks, I have had a look there already

@pilotfish, is the Sonx RA12 200A battery, as an example, what you are referring to?

@pilotfish, I will try and put figures to your suggestion to see what the total cost is going to be and also find out about the products itself. Thanks for the advice. Any suppliers that will have competitve pricing? Bear in mind that I am in Northern Cape. @plonkster, the 24v was used as an example only. I will try and set it up as a 48v system for the various advantages. This unit will only work if I change batteries with lower charge settings or that is not sensitive to specific charge requirements?

It will be great if I dont have to buy an external charger. However, the external charge controller is used only because as far as I know the Axpert cannot set bulk (29.6v on 24v system) to the level Dixon requires and it does not have a parameter for Equilization charge which is specified as e.g. 30.4v on 24v system. See attached file. This is important as test were done by a friend of mine on these batteries and if these charge levels are not achieved then they dont get the expected nr of cycles.

Plonkster, Thanks for this inside view (pun intended) of the WRND unit. i would love to have a Victron but the prices swung me away from them and I know there is a premium on quality. Who can I contact to get prices and specs on the unit? Other requirements above the normal is that it must be able to set bulk, float and equilization charge volts (29.6, 26.4 and 30.4 for a 24 volt system). I will search now to see if there is a manaul available.

I went through the manual for the axpert 2k an 3k Plus again but by the looks of it there is no parameter to set for equilization charge, am I missing it or is it a set value?

Hi all, @ TTT, You are right, they are not but it is merely bying some time as the cash flow is a bit strained at the moment. Hopefully they will make 2-3 years. I also managed to get them through a fiend at a very good price @ Paulf007, it is small but the expected occupancy will be less than 80 days each per year. We are in Northern Cape so it is not like Knysna. The only time that we might have back to back bookings is in August and generally there are days in between that the units are not occupied and people are only using it as overnight facility. Anything between 3-5 hours utilization per day is what we have found with the existing unit. I am considering a 2a breaker but will test it once done to make sure that it will be sufficient. @ pilotfish, are you a pilot by any chance (your avatar)? The reasoning behind the WRND is because as far as I know on the Axpert one can only set bulk and float charge voltages. With the dixeons we have to do an equilization charge of 15.2v which is pretty high. The other charge rates are also very high and for longevity it is impaotant to be able to achieve the settings as per battery requirements. The WRND allow me to set all three modes. I also know that some controllers does not allow some settings to go that high. The PV array was decided upon based on lowish utilization (as per reply to Paulf007). It might be worth looking into more panels but then I need to make sure the charge volts for the 3 modes can be achieved to sacrifice the WRND. If you look at the battery spec sheet on www.dixonbatteries.co.za (pdf document if you look on the 105dt battry page) you will find the requirements. Who is the most knowledgable supplier of Axpert (Mecer ....) inverters? Some guys have lost me when I tried to find out about it. So far so good no incoming artillary ...... Thanks guys for the info and advice. Pieter

Good day, I am new to Power forum and only became aware of it over the weekend. I have done some solar work on my farm in Northern Cape and have paid a lot of school fees so far (and hope to limit it in the future), so I am extremely glad that I found a forum that can share experience. I am about to build a system for to small guest units that will only be solar powered with generator as backup. So far I have two 310W Enersol panels, considering a WRND 30A controller, Axpert 3Kva Plus and 8 Dixon 105 batteries for the system to feed both units from. Now keep in mind that I have a tight budget. The consumption per unit will be a small 90w fridge, 40w of lights (max) and a wall socket to charge cellphone and laptops with a 3 amp circuit breaker on it. I have seen very little comment on WRND units but I have one in use and favor the ability to set Bulk, float and equalization charge values on it. The concern was however the high voltage of the panels so I figured that I will connect them in parallel for the odd chance that I will use the charger of the Inverter. I have my hardhat on , please advice as to mistakes or better ways of doing. Glad to be on this forum. Thanks Pieter