Posted February 14, 20223 yr Good morning all I have a Mecer 2400VA Inverter Trolley with 2x 100AH gel batteries in Serie. I recently installed a 300W solar panel with a Mecer (EXT-SCC-2400LBKS) charge controller. Charge controller output connected to batteries where inverter is connected. Got 26V from panel when measured on controller connection from panel). Panel north facing. I tested the setup by switching of AC to inverter and ran with a moderate load (Thumbsuck - not more than 600 to 700W). The batteries dropped to 50% still after about an hour (I know the Mecer indicator are not very accurate, but still, significant drop in batteries). How can I make the system a bit stronger? Do I need another panel. Any good suggestions would be appreciated (I am not very clued up when it comes to this...)
February 14, 20223 yr 15 hours ago, smithcza said: Good morning all I have a Mecer 2400VA Inverter Trolley with 2x 100AH gel batteries in Serie. I recently installed a 300W solar panel with a Mecer (EXT-SCC-2400LBKS) charge controller. Charge controller output connected to batteries where inverter is connected. Got 26V from panel when measured on controller connection from panel). Panel north facing. I tested the setup by switching of AC to inverter and ran with a moderate load (Thumbsuck - not more than 600 to 700W). The batteries dropped to 50% still after about an hour (I know the Mecer indicator are not very accurate, but still, significant drop in batteries). How can I make the system a bit stronger? Do I need another panel. Any good suggestions would be appreciated (I am not very clued up when it comes to this...) In order to charge your batteries from PV you need more than about 28V from the panel. Get a similar panel and connect them in series provided your charge controller can accept the combined series voltage from the 2 panels. The 600W load will discharge the batteries as the current panel will give only about 240W output. Edited February 14, 20223 yr by Scorp007
February 14, 20223 yr Author Hi Scorp007 Many thanks for this answer. I will attempt to find out if the EXT-SCC-2400LBKS can accept this load. Cheers
February 16, 20223 yr 12 hours ago, stok said: the max voltage of this solar controller is 50v. The voc for 2 300w panels in series will surely be way more than 50v, your controller also have a 50 amp max rating, so rather connect a second panel (which closely matches or is identical in specs to your one) in parallel, or n third one even. if the panels ISC is lower that 10a you can even max the controller out by using 5 panels. I used to run one of these mecer/ellies/crystal power 2400va inverters with a 50a pwm scc and 4 x 275w 60cell panels in parallel and it worked very well. just be mindful of the wire cross section area as 4 panels in parallel can generate quite a lot of amps in ideal conditions, and even 6mm2 cables got very hot. Normally one would not charge the 2x100Ah batteries in series on a daily basis with 50A current. For daily use a 10A charging current would be ideal otherwise those batteries will not last. Ah/10. Unfortunately due to the high 600W load one will have to do it and pay the price for short useful life.
February 17, 20223 yr Author 11 hours ago, Scorp007 said: Normally one would not charge the 2x100Ah batteries in series on a daily basis with 50A current. For daily use a 10A charging current would be ideal otherwise those batteries will not last. Ah/10. Unfortunately due to the high 600W load one will have to do it and pay the price for short useful life. Hi So, do you recommend I get a better solar controller to keep the A down? Or am I stuck with a high A (and short battery life)? Excuse my possibly stupid questions as I have NO experience with this kind of thing... Also, would you recommend this setup with Li batteries? (I am considering replacing my batteries with Li batteries when they die one day). Cheers
February 17, 20223 yr 7 hours ago, smithcza said: Hi So, do you recommend I get a better solar controller to keep the A down? Or am I stuck with a high A (and short battery life)? Excuse my possibly stupid questions as I have NO experience with this kind of thing... Also, would you recommend this setup with Li batteries? (I am considering replacing my batteries with Li batteries when they die one day). Cheers No the reply was meant for @stok Charging at 50A. I don't know what your controller maximum amps is.
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