160 Amp solar Tracker 5

[BobZilla]

Hello Mr. Bedini,

Perhaps you have already said the answer but I have a question about the 3a unit.

Supposing I have a full battery connected and it is just floating during the day time. Could I connect a monopole to that battery as a load and let the tracker supply that until the sun goes down at which time the battery would then supply the monopole? Then by the next day the panel and tracker could charge the battery back up. I know I would have to keep within reasonable draw to allow the battery to come back up but is this conceivable?

I am only talking about a small monopole that draws around 500ma. Any concerns with having the primary of a monopole connected on the charge side of a tracker?

Thank you very much for all you have shared with us. I have built many devices and homemade cells with the knowledge you have passed on to us.

*Edit*
I worded that question kind of awkwardly.

What I am really asking is would it be a bad idea to leave a monopole connected to the battery that the tracker is connected to.

I have ordered a 3a and I will mostly be trying to use it for charging primaries for my machines and I thought why not keep it all connected.

[Chuck Hupp]

Hello Mr. Bedini,

Perhaps you have already said the answer but I have a question about the 3a unit.

Supposing I have a full battery connected and it is just floating during the day time. Could I connect a monopole to that battery as a load and let the tracker supply that until the sun goes down at which time the battery would then supply the monopole? Then by the next day the panel and tracker could charge the battery back up. I know I would have to keep within reasonable draw to allow the battery to come back up but is this conceivable?

I am only talking about a small monopole that draws around 500ma. Any concerns with having the primary of a monopole connected on the charge side of a tracker?

Thank you very much for all you have shared with us. I have built many devices and homemade cells with the knowledge you have passed on to us.

Bobzilla, as with any of the tracker 5 line of solar chargers a load can be pulled during the charging process. It really depends on the amount of radiation getting through the clouds, time of day etc as too how much the overall charge to the battery will get. So yes that would be fine. Also a cell phone or radio or even lights can be used. The tracker 5 linear design allows for that by design. Just remember know your equipment and it's limitations and then the only limits are your imagination...
Chuck Hupp, Energenx inc.

[Chuck Hupp]

@ Bobzilla
You will need the monopole charging a separate battery for that. Not going back to the tracker if that's what you meant.
Chuck Hupp, Energenx inc.

[BobZilla]

Chuck that is not what I mean, I would have the panels to the tracker, to a battery say system A ,,, now system B is monopole to charge other batteries. Could system B use the battery on system A as it's primary.

So what I am really talking about is connecting the monopole up normally to charge batteries but the primary is the one on the charge side of the tracker. The alternative would be no don't do that and just charge batteries with system A to use on system B and not connect the two.

[John_Bedini]

@ All,
First some questions that have been asked about the use of the tracker 5 chargers.

Some have asked if you can run an SSG off the charger ? The answer is NO unless it is completely filtered any spike will short the output amplifier.
These chargers are intended for ""Batteries only"", do not boil water or anything like that, charge batteries only. Take your power from the battery and make sure that the charger is disconnected when you run an SSG, to run the SSG come to the conference and learn about this type of charger. The SSG can be converted in generator mode to use this type of charger to charge batteries with a special circuit to do the conversions.
Please do not do that or you will destroy the unit.
Thank you
John

[John_Koorn]

Bob, I've been doing what you asked for weeks now with no problems at all. I'm able to run my SSG 24/7 in generator mode or at night I run some lights, or an inverter to run a 2A12.

Like Chuck said, you're pretty much only limited by your imagination and the limits of the devices and batteries.

I would recommend that at least once a week you allow the batteries to fully charge with the Tracker 5 until the green light comes on and stays on for a few hours.

John K.

[RS_]

Hi John B,
I am glad you made this post.....
I was planning on using my Solar Tracker 5's, to not only power the intended loads with large 120/240 inverters, but using the 24V Tracker output and the large battery's, to charge other large battery banks, using some variation of your SG or SSG circuits that i have built in the past.........
If you use a High amp diode to isolate the Tracker 5's / batterys from the the SG/SSG circuit. would that be enough...? because it does not sound like it based on this info...

Thanks
RS

[BobZilla]

Thank you Mr. Bedini,,,, That is what I was asking about. I am very happy to have one of these smaller units available. At least now I will use solar to charge up my primaries and I can run my machines all night from the batteries.

John K I appreciate your input too. From what I understand it can be done and you are doing it but as Mr. Bedini says you have to know how to filter the spike and at least for now I am not completely sure I can do that. Maybe put in some nodes with bridges and dump that spike to a cap or something. Anyway thanks for all the help everyone.

[John_Koorn]

Bob, I am doing it a little differently which perhaps why I haven't had issues. I am also very glad John B posted what he did - I would hate to blow up an 80A tracker!

I am charging a large 24V bank, but was only running the SSG at 12V - so just tapping off half of the battery bank. I'm also only pulling 2.5A off that bank which is like C50 for that bank.

I'll be sure to follow John B's advice and find out how to do it properly before trying it again, just in case

John K.

[BobZilla]

I understand John k, I hook all kinds of crazy things up and we all get lucky with tolerances sometimes.

I was looking at some panels for the 3a and I wonder if anyone would share an opinion on what I am looking at.

From Mr. Bedini's recommendations it has a pretty high Open circuit voltage (22.1) and is rated for 3.1A output but of course I will never have perfect conditions to drive it that well.

Here are the electric specs for the panel:

ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTICS


Power at STC: 55 Watt

Maximum Power Voltage (Vpm): 18.18 Volt

Maximum Power Current (Ipm): 3.1 Amp

Open Circuit Voltage (Voc): 22.1 Volt

Short Circuit Current (Isc): 3.31 Amp

Tolerance: ±5%

Standard Test Conditions: Temperature 25° C, Irradiance 1000W/M², AM=1.5

Maximum System Voltage: 1000V DC

Series Fuse Rating: 12 Amp

Temperature Coefficient Isc: 0.06%/K, Voc: -0.36%/K, Pmax: -0.5%/K

Operating Temperature: -40° C to +85° C

Storage Humidity: 90%

Type of Output Terminal: Junction Box


And the page for them:
http://www.ul-solar.com/Solar_Panel_..._p/stp055p.htm

[Tom C]

thanks JB we had talked about this a while back, this is going to work perfect for a project I am doing for a tiny hydroponics setup.

available here:
http://www.teslagenx.com/chargers/tx...egory=chargers

Tom C

[John_Bedini]

Information

John K and all.
The solar Tracker 5 you must look at it like a current amplifier that has a voltage gain but only in the limits of the regulation within the devices. The first thing to go would be the indicator for the batteries since it's an amplifier also. The tracker 5, 40 Amp up to 160 amp is desecrate so it would be possible to repair it.
The real problem is once the board is removed it may not go back the same way and then you would crack the devices when installing them. The regulators must be matched and adjusted. We glue the pot for that adjustment as it must be set not to boil your batteries away. You have said it well it's like a bottle of pop. To much and the battery will just boil away to little and no reserve. The Tracker 5 10 Amp to the 30 Amp are potted for good reasons you can not repair these units. If they fail you can just crap can these modules. The fan is going to be the only thing useable, but you can put another module in and make the proper adjustments. It is possible to stack them except then it just a slave unit. some of the 10 amp chargers are auto controlled as they were ordered that way. The SSG produces spikes on the input and the output and requires series pass circuits and inductors to filter all this out. once you do that you change the way the SSG works and may not have the same charging effect. I look at it this way, you have bought the unit your free to do what you want, but I would not take that chance.
When using Linear Charge Amplifiers on the output of the SSG you must convert the wave shape three different ways, in the end the signal must be pure DC. I have talked about the transformations before in all the old posts. You can look at this like a current amp as it works just like a power amplifier in an audio amp, you would not go out of your way to shock the wires on the speakers, the fly back diodes are not fast enough to protect the output devices and emitter breakdown takes place, you can junk the amp after that. I'm not saying that it cant be done, it can with allot of work. We always allow time with the battery here even when it is floating. The Tracker 5's go through a burn in process because the adjustment is critical. The Tracker 5 is a very rugged device and can take allot. when pushing a battery. The regulators that control bias, the red light when the sun is down. Bias must be stabilized as you do not want drift in the circuit. Hope this answers some more questions.
John B

[John_Koorn]

John B,

Thanks, that does answer a lot of questions. I was talking to Erik about it earlier today. The Tracker 5 is very much like an audio power amplifier - you have a variable voltage on the input (the solar panels), and a variable voltage on the output (the battery). The output needs to be limited just like a speaker, or you will blow it out.

Doesn't matter if the Tracker 5 is just charging the battery or running the load - it just sees it as a load, with protection.

Also, like an audio amp the bias on the devices has to maintained or the switching will be compromised.

I think what you are saying if you have an SSG as a load, it's like noise or distortion to the Tracker 5. This can upset the biasing of the devices which may lead to a device failure. Yes, you could build circuits into it to handle that noise - but as you say it's a fair bit of work.

Given what I've heard of your audio amps - which are amazing and the best I've ever heard - I think it's pretty safe to assume that you've put those types of circuits into the Tracker 5. That would make the Tracker 5 the best solar charger I've ever used

The other thing that makes your work stand out is the commitment to quality. Anyone could through a bunch of cheap Chinese parts onto a board, slap it in a box and call it good. But you don't. Only the best quality proven parts are used. That means that the Tracker 5 will not only outlast the warranty period - but will most likely outlast the solar panels.

John K.

[jelloir]

How does stacking Solar Trackers work? Will it only the rely on the slave tracker/s if the master cannot support the load or is the load shared amongst them all? I ordered a 10A Solar Tracker so I can test using the technology before I buy a larger unit later this year which will likely be a 160A unit. Once I have a 160A was going to have the 10A as a standby and perhaps use it for charging another battery bank for my garden shed and outside lights. But if I can stack the 160A and 10A that might be a better option.

James

[BobZilla]

I just wanted to say thanks again to Mr. Bedini for taking the time to shoot those videos and answer all the questions so thoroughly.

I am aware of the primary side on the monopole containing spikes and that was really where I was going with the question, I wanted to know for sure if it would interfere with the circuitry of the tracker. I have been trying to use that primary side in various ways, most people do not look closely enough at the primary and tend to just think of it as a the supply but it does have pulses. That is not the topic of our discussion here but I should have known; and now I have been given the answer and explanation.