Kazetsukai's Build

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

Well, here's a screenshot of the metrics from the charge controller:
Attachment 44412

At peak, they will produce quite close to their rating of 3050W. A couple days ago I clocked a record of 3034W, with a record yield of 13.15kWh for the day. The solid white for the day is bulk, or charging of the batteries while mitigating loads. Everything on top of that is solar keeping up with my loads.

The other days are low because the batteries were already near being full, and I didn't use much energy during the day. The previous night I ran my split AC for heat, which is why the batteries were so depleted.

3000W is my "best case" scenario. I'd be happy with an average of 1500W during the day, but 2200W has been my norm. It isn't my "worst case" for the BMS because the BMSes actually shut off the charge controller if the cells get too far out of balance (and restart charging when back in balance), I don't necessarily have to keep up with balancing so there's no longer any "worst case" threshold really.

Thanks. I'm having a hard time seeing the sun shining directly enough onto the panels to produce that much output. Are you getting any reflected light on the panels?





So, if I understand correctly, then the far right day there was little daytime use (pale blue bar) and the batteries (white bar) did not need much charging either?

[TheArgobus]

Damn you really broke it down in a super easy to understand way with regards to lithium packs and balancing and the importance of a BMS. Have you considered also temperature protection in a BMS? And I may have missed it due to the whiskey, but have you found a BMS that does what you want? Mine only does under/over voltage protection but I really need over/undertemp protection too

[kazetsukai]

Originally Posted by TheArgobus

Have you considered also temperature protection in a BMS? And I may have missed it due to the whiskey, but have you found a BMS that does what you want? Mine only does under/over voltage protection but I really need over/undertemp protection too

The SBMS0 also has a temperature sensor input. Site:
https://electrodacus.com/

The manual in case you're interested
https://electrodacus.com/SBMS0/SBMS0.pdf

It'd work with the temp sensors in my packs, I just haven't hooked up those leads. I'm not too concerned about it because these are rated for such high discharges, and I consider the cabin temp (where the batteries are) dropping to near freezing an unacceptable scenario.

When winter approaches I'll probably introduce thermal management. Not a priority for me right now.

[kazetsukai]

Originally Posted by kidharris

Thanks. I'm having a hard time seeing the sun shining directly enough onto the panels to produce that much output. Are you getting any reflected light on the panels?

It is what it is, man. I'm collecting a ton of data from the MPPT in the database, I could go back through it or share some of that when its ready.

No reflected light, its all flat-mount. Ten, 305W panels in 2S5P config. PV Combiner box is just adjacent to my electrical cabinet. 8 AWG from the panels to the combiner, 2 AWG from the combiner to the MPPT, so I'd say minimal runs of wiring for what I'm doing. 2 AWG from MPPT to bus bars and to the batteries/inverter. 48V system.

And of course, ~3000W is one capture of p-MAX, not p-AVG. Averages I told you were ~2200W, with me consistently limited by batteries being full.

Originally Posted by kidharris

So, if I understand correctly, then the far right day there was little daytime use (pale blue bar) and the batteries (white bar) did not need much charging either?

Yeah. See how the "low generation days", how big the total bars of those are? Compare that to the pale blue bar of the "big day". Its about the same, and if you think about it that makes sense. That's because on the big day, white = charging AND loads. Pale = just loads, keeping batteries topped off.

With the low days, the batteries charge for under an hour and sit topped off. And I don't get over 2200W because the batteries are full long before peak sun- if I didn't run the microwave or coffee maker during the day you'd probably see numbers closer to 1300W pmax.

[kazetsukai]

1/2 Updates:

Got the inverter fan installed and working. Pulls from inverter, puts outside. Vent has a grille on the outside and is designed to repeal moisture. It has quieted down considerably since adding this. Its an awfully fancy fan for its advertised purpose of "indoor gardening", lol. EastCoastCB, looking at you. Fun fun.


Bathroom now has the same locking mechanism as the kitchen, not much to see there.


We're starting on the mini-skoolie construction. Got some wood in there for shelving. Designed to house tools/parts on both sides, and keep my bike in the middle.


Next post is less fun for sure.

[kazetsukai]

Rage. That's how I'll describe the feeling I'm having over this one.

Invaders! Evidence:


First problem: Big window in the back. Somehow got opened up a crack, probably from the water bottles being slid back into it.


Fix: Securing that window shut.


Second problem: Water inlet. Since this was leaking, I pulled it out so I could refill until I can fix proper. Mice climbed the hose and made it into the cabin this way.


Fix: Sealing that shut today.

Another potential problem now that the inverter is below, and has an access way to the cabin, was a hole in the corner of the box. Duct seal + a piece of wood to secure it.


Totally my fault, and totally predictable, preventable problem. Feel like an idiot for leaving that spout thing open like that. I also need to do something about the front door, its big enough for mice to get in with a jump as well.


Now I think I've prevented them further access in, I need to deal with whatever mice are still inside. Getting traps and peppermint to spray in the engine compartment + around the underneath. Any other recommendations welcome.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

Rage. That's how I'll describe the feeling I'm having over this one.

Invaders! Evidence:
Attachment 44430Attachment 44431

First problem: Big window in the back. Somehow got opened up a crack, probably from the water bottles being slid back into it.
Attachment 44432

Fix: Securing that window shut.
Attachment 44434

Second problem: Water inlet. Since this was leaking, I pulled it out so I could refill until I can fix proper. Mice climbed the hose and made it into the cabin this way.
Attachment 44433

Fix: Sealing that shut today.

Another potential problem now that the inverter is below, and has an access way to the cabin, was a hole in the corner of the box. Duct seal + a piece of wood to secure it.
Attachment 44435

Totally my fault, and totally predictable, preventable problem. Feel like an idiot for leaving that spout thing open like that. I also need to do something about the front door, its big enough for mice to get in with a jump as well.


Now I think I've prevented them further access in, I need to deal with whatever mice are still inside. Getting traps and peppermint to spray in the engine compartment + around the underneath. Any other recommendations welcome.

Use what was in the package as bait for your traps, at least you know that they like the smell and if you don't get the original culprit, he will be back and bring friends.


Food for thought. Rodents can chew thru most any thing except metal.


Rats can climb metal poles, maybe mice can too?. Rats mix their poo and urine together to make a paste, get it on their feet, and run up the pole. After enough tries they create a "path" that looks like grime going up the pole. If you touch it,it will feel soft and/or tacky enough that their toenails dig into it. I have seen "paths/highways" in excess of 30 feet straight up poles in my shop. Cone shaped collars around the poles will stop them.


Also, it is amazing how high/far that they can jump.

I used to have a shop in a warehouse that had a railroad track running behind it that serviced a Purina animal food production facility. The train cars loaded with various grains would leak and leave a trail of grain down the middle of the tracks. Result - an army of the biggest rats I ever saw. I observed a lot of rat behaviour.


Get a cat or a terrior breed dog. Even a peaceful, lazy ratter will scare off the rodents, they run at first whiff/sight of a predator until they get used to it not chasing. Make sure to let the ratter prowl at night.


Field mice are usually only a problem in the winter. House mice and rats need to be eliminated. Pack rats are a scourge.

[Native]

Bait your traps for a few days WITHOUT setting the trap so they get used to the trap and are not as cautious as they would be if it were a new thing for them.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by Native

Bait your traps for a few days WITHOUT setting the trap so they get used to the trap and are not as cautious as they would be if it were a new thing for them.

never tried that, sounds like it would work, but I usually try to get rid of them before they get too comfortable

[Native]

Originally Posted by kidharris

never tried that, sounds like it would work, but I usually try to get rid of them before they get too comfortable

A friend that is a professional exterminator uses this technique.

[kazetsukai]

More examples of the solar for the day. Its 9AM, sun isn't fully up there yet. Batteries were 30-50% depleted last night I'd like to say.


I think I need to correct myself a bit: The lower days than yesterday, that's a typical DC-only day. AC is on shore. Security system is ~50W constant, 80W including all of automation. That's about 2kWh right there.

AC and DC loads combined tend to be 3kWh -> 5kWh per day sans AC/split. Fridge, water pump, microwave, you name it, its all in there. Its genuinely hard to tell since I can't (yet) measure 110V AC loads separately from 220V AC loads, and I run the split most days. I already know I'm at the bottom 10-15% of my batteries after a sunny day + running the split at night, so I can't do that.

Aside from the past ~4 days I've been switching to shore at night, then back to solar in the morning. Its annoying that all the clocks get reset so I stopped that for a bit but I'll go back to swapping since I need to gather more metrics to plan things out.

Running the split during the day, and into ~11PM is free. I'd still have at least another 24h buffer with no generation.

[kazetsukai]

Maybe I ruined my future chances to catch them but I did set traps last night... 3-5 stickies and two finger-snappers. Stickies aren't much to look at and didn't catch anything.

The finger snappers, I mounted to a board:


I made this for the leftmost drawer.


It goes in the back and provides a small opening.


Loaded with peanut butter, it produced two dead ones this morning.



Could be the only two mice remaining since the others didn't catch anything, we'll see if I keep catching them. _All_ the other food went into buckets to keep the rodents out of it.

[Native]

Two in one night (out of two traps) ... almost as good at a cat. Perhaps fewer entrails this way.

[kazetsukai]

VERY Busy around here right now. CODE. Dump runs, emptying stuff out of the house, demolishing structures, cleaning up the yard. Bus. Real estate agents...

I decided the unfinished driver's area was through being unfinished. Seems like a distraction to be honest... It started with the cats getting into the places I had stuffed insulation into. We closed off the front under the defroster:


Made a nice little area to put stuff. But then it spread to under the driver seat and opposing wall...


After evening out the floor with several layers we put down luxury vinyl.


Looks way better. No longer does the floor "buckle" as people walk over sheet metal. Its quiet and solid.

It has gotten quite hot around here. Feels like air is not circulating as well as we'd like, probably need a ceiling fan or two installed. The split takes about 20 minutes and then it is ice cold in the front, but still warm in the back.

I've been looking for 12V RV/marine fans to install. We bought a couple small battery powered fans to hold us over... WOW! These things rock! 6-10 hours of runtime, can be set on a desk or clamped anywhere. Both USB-C and Micro for charging/running off laptops or the wall. Seems like a Japanese product from the manual. I have another three on the way, I would _absolutely_ recommend these to anyone, 5/5 stars.




Code: The built in database I was using for recording MPPT data couldn't handle the volume, so I had to switch technologies. MariaDB it is for now. There was a particular set of graphs I wanted.


"Controller Time" was my most wanted graph. I'll update the image of that later today- basically goes like this:

• For the given day (since midnight):
• Find the first time we measure 20W from the solar in the day.
• From that point on, record what mode the MPPT controller is in.
• Display how much time the controller spent in each mode, for the day.

In the picture above all you see is "Bulk". There will also be "Absorption" and "Float" later on, but the most important metric, the one I was after and Victron currently has no visualization for- was OFF time + OFF_REASON.

The reason this metric matters is that the BMS will veto charging even if the batteries are below maximum. I want to track how much time is spent in these OFF modes so that I can tune the BMS to better keep the batteries near full towards the end of the day.

Also, if autonomy is to veto the BMS and force charging, I need it to have good data.

• Its 6PM.
• BMS stops charging at 48V.
• Batteries begin to deplete.
• BMS will kick back on at 45V. But what if this threshold happens near 8PM when solar will not be able to recharge completely?
• Autonomy looks at historical PV input to see when PV power trends down and vetos the BMS before that trend at 7PM- making the MPPT maintain the batteries near peak towards the end of the day.

In the above cases, the MPPT will never charge above 48V even when forced on my Autonomy, it will only float- which is fine for just during the end of the day.

Charging needs to be smarter, its going to take a while more before I can get there.

[ol trunt]

Fine work though I had to laugh a little. The REAL reason you wanted a bus was to give you a platform on which to practice your solar prowess! Your ongoing discussion of your solar setup has helped me begin to understand what it is all about.

Having four cats myself, 2 indoor and 2 outdoor there are times when I'd like to board 'em all up in the wall and use them for insulation-Ha.
Jack

[kazetsukai]

Originally Posted by ol trunt

The REAL reason you wanted a bus was to give you a platform on which to practice your solar prowess! Your ongoing discussion of your solar setup has helped me begin to understand what it is all about.

The current problem I'm facing is that the batteries are significantly depleted before the end of the day. This is because the BMS is stopping charging for a while after reaching full to preserve the lifespan of the batteries.



This is fine, and nothing else considered the right thing to do. But when you're getting near the end of the day you really want to keep batteries topped off until the sun goes down.



I will admit, energy management is a fun problem from an engineering perspective.

Originally Posted by ol trunt

Having four cats myself, 2 indoor and 2 outdoor there are times when I'd like to board 'em all up in the wall and use them for insulation-Ha.
Jack

They were getting into places I couldn't reach, which is bad. Hoping to patch those all up today.

[musigenesis]

Driver's area looks good. I'm fighting the urge to put too much effort into prettifying it myself (and my cab isn't even going to be part of my living space).

One thing I hadn't considered before is that my elderly mother refuses to go in my bus because there's no handrail. The original handrail was on the left and attached to the face-smasher which is no longer there, and my new seat means I can't put anything else on that side. And the right side doesn't have much in the way of solid metal to attach something like a rail to.

[BamaBus]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

VERY Busy around here right now. CODE. Dump runs, emptying stuff out of the house, demolishing structures, cleaning up the yard. Bus. Real estate agents...

I decided the unfinished driver's area was through being unfinished. Seems like a distraction to be honest... It started with the cats getting into the places I had stuffed insulation into. We closed off the front under the defroster:
Attachment 45100

Made a nice little area to put stuff. But then it spread to under the driver seat and opposing wall...
Attachment 45098Attachment 45099

After evening out the floor with several layers we put down luxury vinyl.
Attachment 45106Attachment 45101

I hate to sideline this, but I would love for you to give a brief tutorial for me on how you are attaching photos. I would like to know how you are inserting the photos within your commentary and it look as clean as it does.

[kidharris]

Originally Posted by BamaBus

I hate to sideline this, but I would love for you to give a brief tutorial for me on how you are attaching photos. I would like to know how you are inserting the photos within your commentary and it look as clean as it does.

me 2

[kazetsukai]

Originally Posted by BamaBus

I hate to sideline this, but I would love for you to give a brief tutorial for me on how you are attaching photos. I would like to know how you are inserting the photos within your commentary and it look as clean as it does.

Sure. First, start your reply with the full editor- using Quote/Multi-Quote on the post:


Or alternatively, Post Reply at the bottom:


The key here is to get the full editor. If you start a quick reply, use Go Advanced:


The full editor looks like this:


Once you're there, click the Paper clip icon and then Manage Attachments to attach files to your post:


This will pop up the Manage Attachments Window, showing any pictures you've uploaded for the post already if any. You can return here as many times as you need.


To upload a file, click any one of the Browse buttons:


A file selection dialog will pop up, which may look differently depending on your OS. Browse to the file you wish to upload and select it.


Then use the confirm button ("Open" in my case, depends on your OS what this is labelled!) to set the image.


Repeat this (Browse -> Dialog -> Select -> confirm) as many times as images you want to upload. Once you have all the images you want to upload (you can do up to 8 at once), your Manage Attachments window will look like this:


Click Upload to upload the set of images.


Once done, the Manage Attachments window will show all of the images you have uploaded. It is safe to close this window to return to your post, or minimize it.


Then once you are ready to place an image inline, put your type cursor where you want the image.


Then click the Paper clip icon again to show images you have available.


Then click the image you want to place in that position.


The ATTACH tag for that image will appear in your quote, this refers to the image you have uploaded by a numeric identifier. You can move the image around by moving this ATTACH tag to your desired location.


Now you can Preview Post to see what it looks like, or Submit Reply to send your reply.