Batteries and inverters and generator and solar panels. Where is Bruce when I need him?

I just need someone to bounce some ideas off. I miss Bruce more than ever when it comes to this stuff. I have a basic knowledge and can wire the batteries in series or parallel…… but it looks to me like Bruce did a combination of these???? After the power house fire a few years back I am trying to figure out how to run my system efficiently. I have a small 2.6kw inverter that was in the garage at the time of the fire, thank goodness! I have 10 L16’s right now 4 at one cabin and 6 at the other. I want to bring down more batteries to where I have decided to live most of the time. I have Starlink and can get on the internet! But, it uses a lot of power and I need to get a good system going. I have too much work to do just fixing up things after being away, taking care of Bruce and my son Jeremy until they died. Now the widow Gordon is trying to make a go of it on her own. All help is welcomed even referrals to books that I might get from the library in their mail service.UPDATE!!

 

It sounds like you have a plan.

Bring all L16 batteries to the same location and you should be fine.

 

Will my current solar panel array keep them charged while I’m away getting supplies from the states? I have 2 more panels up at the other cabin and I could bring those down also and figure out how to wire all 4 together. I am afraid of making a mistake and frying stuff. Social Security is what I’m trying to live on. I don’t want to move back to the city so I can work (RN, no patients here) (at least the paying kind)

 

Thank you so much! Life is getting back to my (new) normal now that ‘I’m back on the monkey. OK I need to turn off starlink right now but I will be back.(I hope you heard that in the terminator voice!) lol

 

im sorry for your loss. i was a lurker for years and enjoyed bt's posts. i have had a battery b/u in the bus using 1 8d batt and 1800 wat inverter charger. it runs the toyo and tv/computer about three days. i built another for my van using 2 8d and a 2.5 inverter/charger. it will run my van mounted starlink 2-3 days depending on how cold it is. it uses more to melt snow and i need to test it by turning that option off when its not snowing, just cold. both my setups charge by land line and i have not setup my crappy solar panels,,, yet. the master power switch in the van adds the van batts and will charge the 2 8d when i drive it. im sure smarter simians then me can help with solar,, maybe i can learn how also. the van setup cost about 1300$ and iv used this type of rig since 2008.
great post thanks.

 

Alaskachick, help us out here to better understand what you have. We need the Solar panel voltage and current, and the inverter wattage and input voltage. It seems I remember Bruce talking about generator runs to top off the batteries and run things like the washing machine.
We all will help here, you know that.

 

Thank you for the kind words and advice.

 

Thank you and I will gather info and pictures. I think I also need to offer to pay airfare for anyone who wants to come help. :0

 

Im in also , As Tempstar posted , pictures as well of stickers on the back of panels plus charge controllers, good Midnite controllers can do many voltages , but the inverters sets the base voltage , then we wire the batterys up to match what the inverter is needing
Sloth

 

I have touched base with a cell phone connection to transfer pix and info Folks . Were all into this helping Alaskachick, request , I'll post up any pictures that are sent for all to help , much easier than a star-link drain for now.
and if you need more info , let us know on this thread.
Sloth

 

I went to get the stored distilled water for the batteries from my storage van and 2 winters were not kind to them. I’m making distilled water now.

 

Some of the files are to large to post up .12 volt systems all and are using 6 Vdc battery in series -parallel wiring.
I'll see if i can reduce the file size to post the rest

 

The L 16’s are AGM batteries so I can’t get the

caps off. My car type regular battery does have removable caps and needed more water….. distilled of course

 

Thank you for posting these. I just learned that my L16’s are AGM batteries so no distilled water needed. The regular car battery did need it and I scraped enough water together from the broken jugs to fill it.

 

L-16s are good and tough batteries. Visually inspect each one for any freeze damage like split cases. Sadly, these are usually rated for 400 cycles or so, with Trojans sometimes making 1000 cycles, but this is still only 3 years of constant daily full discharge. You should have 2 thousand watts per pair at 12 volts, with 6 batteries giving around 6 thousand watts per day. Lets start by adding up the total watts of solar panels you have and see how close we come to 6kw per day.
I wish I remember more of what Bruce said in relation to running his beloved Onan generators, but I do recall him saying that he needed to run them to top up the batteries, I just don't remember how often. The good news is we all have a summer to get this running.

 

I have work (and math) to do. I removed my 12 volt car battery from my system because it needed about 2 cups of water! And I finally understand it was dragging my system down the way I had it wired in.

 

I finished uploading all the sent pix. the Trace U2624SB is a 2.6 Kw inverter but is for a 24 Vdc battery bank , i don't think it is hooked in or one of the bank of batterys is wire for 24Vdc. the green battery connection are not good either . And mixing different types of batterys in the same bank is also very bad for the weak battery , plus the charge controller is set to AGM or FLA (flooded lead acid/car battery).
seeing the panel labels tells me we have two charge controllers maybe on the same bank . panels of the same type normally use the one controller , mixing panels with different ratings is not good for the weak panel or controller.
Sloth