Have had the solar setup running for a few days. It happens to be the first cloudy and rainy days in months, but that is a good thing. I get to see how things perform in various conditions. As I said this is really mostly a toy for learning purposes. I can’t say I have a good feel for things just yet but here are some early observations and notes.

• Victron software: very nice stuff. Has a dashboard that connects via Bluetooth. I’ve accessed it probably a hundred times in the last few days. Gives a good view of the instantaneous state with some timeline graphing of two selected parameters.
• Power generation: I assumed there would be some measure of potential power being generated, but maybe this isn’t realistic. There is a power consumed, but this depends on the load and the state of the battery, not some theoretical available power.
• System bottlenecks: all systems have bottlenecks. In this sort of arrangement they seem to be current based. My battery, for instance, can take something like a 40A charge current. But the controller can only deliver 15A. And I’ve seldom seen it past 3A. Since I have two 100W panels, this is maybe 20A peak. I’m starting to think viewing everything in Watts makes the most sense. I’m sure the pros do more serious analysis than I do and probably have better results.
• Panel output: I didn’t expect to see peak output but it is more elusive than I expected. My inverter is oversized at about 500W but I would have to have a large load, bright sun overhead and probably a low battery on bulk charge to see it. Angle of sun and clouds have a big effect. Bright clouds cuts output more or less in half and heavy clouds half again. Not unexpected.
• Battery charging: interesting to see how the controller shuttles current from load to battery depending on the panel output. If course that is the whole point of the controller but it has been useful to watch it in various situations (low battery, cloudy skies).
• Victron Data: the Victron software let’s you download data. But as best I can tell it is only daily averages. I’m thinking I want maybe minute by minute voltage and current of panel, load and battery. Looking at the Raspberry Pi solution. Probably my next step.

Decided to mount the panels on the east side of the house in a little utility area between two fences that has the air conditioning units and the pool pump. The panels will even shade pool pump a bit. Bought two eight foot long pieces of heavy duty aluminum angle iron. Over $100 at the local big box store. More than I wanted to spend but it seemed to be a nice simple solution and an easy material to work with.

Now I need to figure out how to route the wire from the panels into the nearby garage where the controller and battery are. After than I suppose I need a better load. Thinking about a small drink fridge. Also am impressed with the Victron software. Will probably play around with Raspberry Pi support. Not exactly sure what it does but something to play around with.

Its a cloudy day, maybe the first one in months. That’s ok. Made up my own cable with some bulk 10 AWG two conductor wire and connectors. I thought the connectors wouldn’t require crimping, but they do. And you probably need a proper crimping tool to do it right. After botching my first few tries I decided to solder the connectors. My soldering skills aren’t great but these connectors should do.

Put the panels out on the deck, connected the battery and the panels, flipped the switch for the panels and checked the Victron app. A few amps going in to charge the battery. Plugged in the utility light into the inverter as a load and watched the current go negative. It’s a shady day so not getting much out of the panels. But a few tens of watts. Can’t wait to see how they do in bright sun.

i would say if I had it to do over I would buy cables with connectors. Now to figure out how to mount the panels.

My LiFeP04 battery came in a few days ago. I was waiting for some other parts (mostly wire and a crimping tool and some nice copper lugs) to do the first test. I found an old incandescent light in the shed to use for a load. Maybe 50W. 10 AWG wire seems a bit too big for the Victron Controller but I did as best as I could.

Decided to do the first test outside, far from the house, just in case. Test started well but after maybe a minute everything stops. Dang. Got out the volt meter. Battery ok. Nothing feels hot. No smoke or burning smell. Looked at the Victron app. Hmmm. I guess default was 24V. My battery is more like 12V. Not really, but closer than 24V. Also set up for LiFeP04, which is what I am actually using. Flipped the switch and all seems good. Need a bit more wire to connect up the panels. Maybe tomorrow of the next day. Also need mounting hardware. Probably using some aluminum angle iron to attach the two panels to the fence.