[HN Gopher] Controlling 3.6kW of Solar EV Charging with an Ardui...
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Controlling 3.6kW of Solar EV Charging with an Arduino GIGA R1 WiFi
Author : PaulHoule
Score : 25 points
Date : 2024-03-10 19:28 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (blog.arduino.cc)
(TXT) w3m dump (blog.arduino.cc)
| tiahura wrote:
| Why are there so few options for 1kw+ charge controllers and
| inverters?
|
| Everything on Amazon looks like it was designed by the Chinese to
| start the next great Chicago fire.
|
| Or is it better practice to use multiple 20a controllers?
|
| Should the link point to the original source?
| https://www.hackster.io/racingtogreen/solar-powered-ev-charg...
| seany wrote:
| Current for charge controllers scales really nicely with
| horizontal scaling, there isn't a huge reason to do it. With
| that said there can be various reasons to want higher VOC in a
| single string. Managing voltage drop, and value engineering on
| conductor size. The marketing on those is often aimed
| specifically at max input voltage, rather than charge current
| because of this. Victron is probably the prime example of
| higher end stand alone MPPT controllers.
| cyberax wrote:
| These days, I recommend using DC optimizers that are attached
| to each module. They provide MPPT tracking on a module level,
| and make engineering calculations simpler.
|
| They are also much cheaper than microinverters, safer, and
| more reliable.
| PaulKeeble wrote:
| Most of the inverters for this are mostly installed by solar
| companies and so you tend to find them more on specialist
| websites dedicated to solar gear. Its the same with solar
| panels there is a very limited set available in standard retail
| channels especially of the 400W size and output.
| cyberax wrote:
| Probably because you can't generally install them yourself, and
| you need a licensed electrician to do that.
| LM358 wrote:
| Amazon is _definitely_ the wrong place to look for products in
| this category.
| Animats wrote:
| Adding tilt to the panels cost US$200 for a US$100 panel. Would
| have been cheaper to have 25% more stationary panels.
|
| Few installations bother with tilting panels any more. 20 years
| ago, when solar panels were expensive, that was a thing. Not so
| much any more.
|
| That you can get 13KW of new panels for US$6000 is amazing.
| geoffmunn wrote:
| People (usually installers) also get hung up on having the
| correct angle for stationary panels. In winter the solar gain
| difference on 'correctly' angled panels vs just having them
| flat on the roof is basically zero, and in summer you should
| have excess solar gain anyway so again it doesn't matter.
|
| And even if you're losing a small amount due to an inefficient
| angle, just get more panels!
| Retric wrote:
| On a roof it's not worth it, you can even install panels
| facing the wrong way and get useful power out of em compared
| to retail electricity rates.
|
| However, at grid scale a few percent difference in cost or
| output can have dramatic impact on profitability so there's a
| lot of seemingly trivial optimizations going on. Some
| instills go so far as to aim some non tracking panels
| slightly to the east or west because slightly more valuable
| kwh beats slightly more kwh.
| potatochup wrote:
| Do flat panels need regular cleaning though? I'm in a rainy
| location and was told to always have at least some tilt so
| that you don't have to clean them as frequently
| myself248 wrote:
| Having them flat on the wall is even better. You lose
| production in the summer when you'd usually have excess power
| anyway, and you gain snow-shedding in the winter, which can
| be tremendously important.
| Retric wrote:
| If you are charging a battery and space isn't an issue then all
| you want is maximum solar kwh per day and more panels (and
| inverters etc) wins.
|
| However, the duck curve means many grid scale solar
| instillation still use East/West solar tracking to collect
| power when it's more valuable ie mornings and evenings. It's a
| great example where optimizing for profit results in an
| counterintuitive result.
| ansgri wrote:
| Did Arduino recently regain their relevance for serious work? I
| haven't followed this topic for a few years, my previous
| impression was that Arduino products were only for simpler
| educational purposes, and you would buy a cheaper clone anyway.
| More serious hobbyists seemed to have switched to Raspberry
| products at the time, and now they have quite a range of MCU
| boards as well.
|
| But now I see products like MKR, Portenta, even proper industrial
| DIN-mounted controllers that look quite capable. Those in the
| know, what's the current landscape, what ecosystem is worth
| buying into?
| DenseComet wrote:
| The Arduino strategy seems to be similar to the Raspberry one -
| as people who grew up tinkering with Arduinos go into industry
| and are placed in charge of decisions, an upmarket edition of
| Arduino is a natural pick.
| duskwuff wrote:
| > Did Arduino recently regain their relevance for serious work?
|
| IMO: No.
|
| Arduino, as a company, wants that to change, but I have yet to
| see anyone take them seriously. Most of the "industrial"
| Arduino products are unsuitable for purpose; they lack critical
| features which would be required for those applications like
| protected inputs, wide range power input, or field bus
| interfaces.
| PaulKeeble wrote:
| I feel a better way to account for Solar panel costs is to look
| at the cost per KWH over the expected lifetime of 25 years. A
| system might pay itself off in 5-7 years which is fairly typical
| but the other way of looking at it is the power is about 1/4 the
| price of power from the grid. Makes you wonder how it is that
| power from the grid is so ludicrously above its actual capitol
| cost of production, the systems getting that power to places must
| be crazy expensive.
|
| Tilt systems aren't worth the money. They cost too much to make
| and with the same money more panels produces more power.
| Simon_ORourke wrote:
| > Makes you wonder how it is that power from the grid is so
| ludicrously above its actual capitol cost of production, the
| systems getting that power to places must be crazy expensive.
|
| This is my thinking behind delaying getting some panels for my
| own home, if they're getting cheaper AND more efficient, surely
| that's going to have knock-on effects on the suppliers too?
| thelastgallon wrote:
| Utilities are cost + profit. They are a cartel of generation,
| transmission, and distribution companies working together to
| increase costs, which increases profits.
| remus wrote:
| > Makes you wonder how it is that power from the grid is so
| ludicrously above its actual capitol cost of production, the
| systems getting that power to places must be crazy expensive.
|
| It's an apples to oranges comparison. Solar panels don't
| provide power overnight for example, but people place a lot of
| value in being able to use power at night. Likewise the grid
| scales up and down to meet the demands placed on it which a
| basic solar setup (i.e. without batteries) can't do. Then
| there's reliability, transmission etc.
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