Chickeys solar playhouse. (With Mini DIY powerwall)

Chickey

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Joined
Oct 8, 2016
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30
I built my Twins and six year old a playhouse in the garden and made it so that i could have two panels hidden on the back south facing side to capture the sun. In hindsight i wish i'd done the roof design different so i could have covered the whole roof and gotten 600 or 800 watts on it but everything is always easier on reflection :)

I've went with two panels of 100watt each and that way i can have them in parallel or series for a 12 or 24 system. I've got them in 12v currently using my existing lead acid setup charging up the cells of my new lithium 7s packs one by one so that when it goes into commission they are fully charged and hopefully fairly balanced.

I'm using a EPever Tracer A series 30A MPPT solar charge controller http://www.epsolarpv.com/en/index.php/Product/pro_content/id/654/am_id/136 which is total overkill in all honesty but i also have a smaller PWM model from EPEver the landstar LS1024B http://www.epsolarpv.com/en/index.php/Product/pro_content/id/478/am_id/136 which i'll probably place in their instead and use the 30A controller for putting panels on my garage roof.

I've went with these controllers as you can customise the battery configurations to fit better in with lithium setups and i'm hoping stop any kind of float charge.

For my packs i've went with 23p and 7 in series. I've used Paul Kennets excellent design and also his din rail mount design which i think looks great and gets them out of the way of the kids too :) I've kept the cells in pairs when removed from the laptop batteries so that there is less stress on the batteries when soldering and also less fusing to do. The logic is that they have lived in the laptop battery as a pair since being made so why not keep them as a pair still. The buss bar is nickel strip which is folder over a 4mm banana plug that is soldered together and i've used 0.2mm wire that i tested as blowing at a 5A so feel it's protected.

I'm looking at adding more and more of these packs in parallel with the current setup although if i add any more i'll have to make a cabinet for them and house them outside of the playhouse as i can't risk the kids tinkering with them. I have a bobby basic el cheapo BMS that i plan to link up to the first pack, not sure if i can get away with the same BMS if i start linking packs in parallel or if i need a BMS per 7s pack.

Can't wait to put it all in to action and hopefully won't burn the playhouse down :)

Some pics of the playhouse and the setup. should have one with it in full operation soon.


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Interesting read and nice to see pictures also.

Thanks for mentioning EPEVER brand, the EPsolar LandStar LS is just what I need!
 
Great little project
 
Well the battery part of the project is nearly finished, i now have all my packs built and installed. It's a 7s 96p pack. At the moment it's only fed by a 10A charge controller and two 100w panels in series, i do plan an extension for the playhouse so can then fit another two panels to give 400w in total. At the moment is really only charging my Lawnmower which is a worx robot mower.

I think in total i'm just over 4KwH of batteries now.

The battery is fused to the controller as is the output and the solar input. At the moment i've 16A fuses with a 10A fuse on the output.

I've switched to the smaller charge controller i have for space reasons and i was also hoping to recoup some cash from the larger 30A controller as i've ordered a 40A one from Electrodacus which should monitor the 7s pack correctly and keep it balanced etc.


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I'm seeing you can get 2 or 3 more panels on that roof the way it is. Over hang them off the back and sides.
 
The front of the playhouse is north facing so wouldn't be great for panels, also that is the side which faces the house, i prefer the nicely hidden panels on the south facing rear and my neighbours can look on them :)
 
Excellent work!
 
Chickey said:
i've ordered a 40A one from Electrodacus which should monitor the 7s pack correctly and keep it balanced etc.

Seems like a solid upgrade to me. I've never used one of his controllers but I've communicated with him on occasionand have been monitoring the project(s). IMO, that guy is pure genius.

Perhaps a cement skirting would be nice insurance for the batt box.

Your system is looking great!
 
Cheers Guys

I've got it setup with grafana now which is monitoring the voltage and power output etc, working really well. I documented how i did the installation and script so if people are interested i can do a writeup and possibly a youtube video showing the installation. I've attached a grab showing the output you can get from the epsolar/epever controller into grafana.
Col


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Link?
 
Link to youtube. I know what grafana is since work with it daily and have also done videos about it :)
 
Chickey said:
Cheers Guys

I've got it setup with grafana now which is monitoring the voltage and power output etc, working really well. I documented how i did the installation and script so if people are interested i can do a writeup and possibly a youtube video showing the installation. I've attached a grab showing the output you can get from the epsolar/epever controller into grafana.
Col


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Hi I am really interested to see how you did this, I have a very similar system and would love to be able to monitor it like you have. The script would be great to see

Cheers

Ali
 
AlistairClark said:
Chickey said:
Cheers Guys

I've got it setup with grafana now which is monitoring the voltage and power output etc, working really well. I documented how i did the installation and script so if people are interested i can do a writeup and possibly a youtube video showing the installation. I've attached a grab showing the output you can get from the epsolar/epever controller into grafana.
Col


image_zatlhr.jpg

Hi I am really interested to see how you did this, I have a very similar system and would love to be able to monitor it like you have. The script would be great to see

Cheers

Ali


Ive also expanded on my bms slightly lately, slowly getting there
 
Chickey said:
AlistairClark said:
Chickey said:
Cheers Guys

I've got it setup with grafana now which is monitoring the voltage and power output etc, working really well. I documented how i did the installation and script so if people are interested i can do a writeup and possibly a youtube video showing the installation. I've attached a grab showing the output you can get from the epsolar/epever controller into grafana.
Col


image_zatlhr.jpg

Hi I am really interested to see how you did this, I have a very similar system and would love to be able to monitor it like you have. The script would be great to see

Cheers

Ali


Ive also expanded on my bms slightly lately, slowly getting there
Great Thank you so much

I now have it up and working :)
Is there a way to remotely view it online when not on the local network?

Cheers

Ali
 
Been a long time since i updated the thread. I've now moved my powerwall into the garage as i'd like to start better using the power so have purchased a GTIL2 1000wSun inverter which shall feed back into the house to offset the power usage a bit. My resting usage is quite low during the day so on a good sunny day it should be able to cover most of my usage and then into the night as well. I've also added in a 3D printed 50w wind turbine from thingiverse.Anything helps really.


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Everything is being reported to an influxdb database and visualised in grafana including a diyBMS.


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Your diyBMS seems to be pretty neat. Where did you have the PCBs made? I like that you can get all the info in grafana.
 
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