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Hi all, I still have the situation that the 6 x 105 Ahr batterries does not keep the fridge /freezer on through the night and it only draws a max of 4.5 amps with current ambient temperatures! Is my calculation correct that if the 6 batteries are fully charged that they should be able to keep the fridge running at 4.5A and nothing else drawing current, for 140 hrs?

Hi Mike, Are you using the provista controller you bought continuously or just for recreational purposes? I have one on a 12volt totally off the grid domestic system with 6 x 105Ahr batteries...no inverter because all appliances 12volt... it allways shows that the bulk voltage is 14 .6 volts and float voltage approx 13.7volts the highest amps i have ever seen it show at midday is 10 amps to the batteries..how many more pv panels of what size do i need to add to charge the 6x 105Ahr batteries sufficiently to keep my 12 volt fridge/freezer on all night it draws an average of approx 5 amps... it is currently activating the low voltage cut out on its own at about 10hr00 max ... or to be safe if im similtaneously charging laptops or phones say we work on 8 amps for 15 hours of night? something Ive noted it does is if i switch everything off at about midday the readout shows its putting less than 1amp to the batteries but if i then switch the fridge/freezer on and it is drawing 7 startup amps the controller imediately starts pushing up to 8amps to the batteries... does this not mean that at midday the battery bank is fully charged? is there any adjust ment to push more current to the batteries at midday? assistance from anyone who is familiar with these controllers will be appreciated... thanks

Hi All, i have recently determined that the charge controller supplied with the system i described above is a 30A provista ICS 3040 MPPT unit and also that the6 batteries i have connected in parralel are 105Ahr batterries... is anybody familiar with these controllers? i have noticed a few things that this instrument does and i wondered if there are any adjustments that can be made to make sure that the optimal charge from the pv panels is used to fully charge the 6 batteries.

Hi thank you for your replies. Most useful thanks!

Hi thanks Wetkit, Do you not think that the type of operating cycle the motor would be subjected to in a spa bath would tax a drill motor quite heavily... when the spa was on 220 the filter circulating and jet pumps were .75kw pump motors

I have been completely off the grid for about a year now and have more urgent issues that need addressing regarding capacity for running my 12 volt appliances... but a project l wish to tackle in the near future is the converting of my conventional spa bath into a wood fire heated solar power circulated/filtered hot tub. It is a standard 4 seater tub ... I am in search of a supplief of 12v dc pumps and motors to replace the circulating and jet pumps. Does anybody have contact details of a cost effective supplier that is not going to cause me to abandon the project for unreasonably high priced pumps or motors... l have been shopping around online and most dc motor / pump suppliers pricing is prohibitive. Then the question must be asked has anybody adapted any other type of dc motor to run a circulating pump that might do the job? Thank you David

Hi, How does one go about determining by measurement what is the power output of PV panels if one does not have the specifications of panels? Following on from that how is the amph rating of a deep cycle battery determined if you have no information on the system?

Hi Wolfgang, Thank you for your most informative reply. That information is very useful. Im not even sure if the batteries which were supplied with the system are 110 amph batteries... because they do not have any labeling on them. The appliance markings still state the electrical data of when it was a 220 volt appliance. And l cant be sure what the nominal power usage is iether because there is no information on the makers plate either... is there any way that with use of a multimeter l can determine what size the solar panels are... if l disconnect the solar panel output cables and measure the voltage it reads between 35 and 38 volts... once it has been through the controller it gives bulk voltage of 14.4 v and float of 13.5v ... how does one determine the nominal amph capacity of the batteries? Is there a means of measuring it? From day one the 4 batteries could not keep the fridge on right through the night... so l installed 2 more 110 amph batteries... that helped a bit in that it allowed the fridge to stay on for a further 2 hours...how does one determine the state of health of the batteries. Thanks David

Hi,, At Midday the controller says there is 10 amps being coming into the controller. The controller has the ability to furnish : Bulk Voltage Float Voltage Amps in Amps drawn Volts in and out I can by switching the appliances on individually see their actual amps drawn but do not have any nominal values. thanks

Hi, Thank you for your reply. The system is a totally12v dc system. When you purchase their system you get the following ... 2 solar panels ( do notknow the specifications) An Ixocel charge controller ( never received and operating manual or tech specs for it) 4 x 110ah sealed batterries installed in parallel All appliNces have been altered to operate on 12 v dc. No inverter. Appliances: Fridge freezer Flat screen tv Dstv decoder Dvd player Free standing fan 10 x led lights None of these appliances have the tech specs after their convertion to 12volt Hence my predicament... I have no useful information. The challenges l face is that with nothing else on the refrigerator freezer draws suffeciant power from the battery bank in about 4 hrs (at night) to cause the controller to switch the fridge off to avoid they batteries being drained below 12 volts. I hope this information is of all useful? Can one calculate the capacity of the solar panels? Can one calculate from the amps being drawn by the fridge how much more batterries will be required to carry the fridge draw off? Regard David The charge controller read out says the bulk

Good evening all, Please tell me... has anybody on this forum ever had anything to do with a company called Ixocel? Has anybody bought one of their. 12 volt dc solar powered systems? I have had one of their systems for almost 1 year now and am now starting to experience some challenging difficulties with components and appliances which form part of the system. The major challenge, however, is that l am unable to contact them at all so l am receiving absolutely no after sales service from them. I have tried to contact them on numerous occasions through several avenues now but receive no response to my requests for assistance. If there is anyone one who has one of these Ixocel (or as they also call themselves... Vusisiswe holdings ) systems and have some operating manuals or technical specifications of the individual components of the system l will be most appreciative if l was to be assusted with a copy of any information on the system that l could lay my hands on... For more information of what is included in the system please do not hesitate to ask it is quite extensive so will supply info on request... Thank you in advance david