neighbors sharing PV charge [RE-wrenches]

[William Korthof]

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I would definitely prefer the 1-system approach, but if  you need two
systems with a connection for redundancy, how about tying the two
battery packs together (48 volts) through a connection circuit,
perhaps 60 amp C/B on both ends. You'd want to make sure the
linking wires are large enough for the circuit breakers (ie #6 awg
minimum for 60 amps), and large enough to have the right level of
voltage drop (ie, with a difference of 10 volts between the packs, you
might want the link current to be at 60 amps). Voltage drop should
be low enough to allow useful power flow and also low enough that
a short circuit would definitely trip the breaker, but not so low that
you're buying excess wire.

wk

At 05:14 PM 8/18/03 -0700, you wrote:

>Howdy wrenches,
>
>Does anyone have any experience with using a single PV array to charge two 
>somewhat distantly separated battery banks?  We built a system for a 
>weekend cabin up here last year and now the guy's neighbor wants to 
>install his own battery and inverter system but tie in to the existing 
>array for charging.  There is room on the rack to expand to cover both 
>their needs and it would be difficult to site a new array for neighbor 
>#2.  They are good friends and want to share resources.
>
>I thought about using the C-40 in load control mode to float battery #1 
>and then dump the charging current to another C-40 at battery #2.  But it 
>seems like there might be a better solution.
>
>Its a 48V system and the distances are reasonable, so voltage drop should 
>not be a concern.
>
>Any suggestions?  Thanks,
>
>Eric Youngren
>
>[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
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