Hi,
I’ve got an island 24V solar system with a battery and like to also charge the battery from mains (as I have solar power there too) in order to attach more consumers than the panels can produce for.
It’s controlled by a simple MPPT solar controller that loads the battery and ensures it’s not overloaded as well.
Could I attach a 24V power supply to the battery with a diode and switch it on only when the battery voltage is below a certain voltage?
Hi Peter
Change the word “load” to “charge” and would make more sense.
I think a lot more detail required.
At a minimum: Battery type and size.
Solar capacity.
Expected consumer load.
Present charge and discharge rate.
This is a bit confusing. Do you mean you have solar powered mains voltage available on site with a separate solar system. If so is this system capable of providing the extra load.
Not quite as simple as that. Depending on the type of battery the charging voltage will be 28V or more so a 24V power supply will go nowhere near it.
A fully charged 24V battery could be about 27.6V. Once again depending on battery type it should not be discharged below 22V or 20.6V or you will damage it. Expensive…
Cheers Bob
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Hi @Robert93820, many thanks for your quick reply. Totally, I changed it to “charge”, I don’t know how that could happen…
Exactly right, I have an other solar system with micro inverters which supply 230V.
The two batteries are of this type:
And the simple solar controller is such a one (100A):
It controls charging the battery and it should also disconnect the load if the battery discharges too low.
Yes you are right, I will certainly need a higher voltage than 24V. Does Core-Electronics have such power supplies with a relatively high wattage?
Cheers, Pete
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Hi Pete,
We’re focussed on makers and STEM education, so while we have a couple of small solar controllers they are only suitable for running electronics projects and not in the scale of what you’ll need.
A dedicated solar supplier or a more industrial distributor should have a power supply that’s more appropriate and will be able to charge that battery setup in a timely manner.
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