I'm still not able to progress with my build right now but I picked this up from a friend of a friend doing a commercial installation. I plan to use it on my 136" wired into a Kisae B2B. It's 82" x 40.5". I have a forward placed Max fan.
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Opinions on this 430 watt panel I bought?
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Hi,
The panel looks good to me. I like the one big panel approach.
Check on the compatibility of your kisae charge controller with the panel. The panel has a pretty high max voltage. The max voltage should be within the range of the controller.
I have the Kisae DMT1250, and it has a max PV panel voltage of 50 volts. This is pretty close to your panel open circuit voltage of 49.3 volts, and in cold weather it will probably exceed the 50 volts. If this is your combination, I'd ask Kisae about it - they have good tech support. I think the big question is does the Kisae just stop working when the voltage goes over 50 V, and the comes back on line when the voltage drops, or is it damaged. I'm guessing its OK as the max power point voltage of the panel is well below 50V.
Note that the Kisae website specs on the charge controller are wrong - look in the manual, not the website specs.
Gary
The panel looks good to me. I like the one big panel approach.
Check on the compatibility of your kisae charge controller with the panel. The panel has a pretty high max voltage. The max voltage should be within the range of the controller.
I have the Kisae DMT1250, and it has a max PV panel voltage of 50 volts. This is pretty close to your panel open circuit voltage of 49.3 volts, and in cold weather it will probably exceed the 50 volts. If this is your combination, I'd ask Kisae about it - they have good tech support. I think the big question is does the Kisae just stop working when the voltage goes over 50 V, and the comes back on line when the voltage drops, or is it damaged. I'm guessing its OK as the max power point voltage of the panel is well below 50V.
Note that the Kisae website specs on the charge controller are wrong - look in the manual, not the website specs.
Gary
IIRC “Ricardo” was originally @83Grumman contact for the Kisae ,,, at least that is what I remember prior to contacting him with my questions
Do you like your DMT1250 ?
Hi RV,
To the limited extent I've used the DMT1250, I like it.
It seems well engineered and well built.
I bought the 50 amp unit even though the 30 amp would have met my needs. I'm limiting the charging rate to less than 50 amps on the idea that this may lead to a longer life.
Gary
Thanks Gary,
What I have setup in my van works pretty well for us, but the DMT1250 is on my list & if I needed a DC2DC or if I converted over to lithium at this point it would be the one I would buy.
Having read thru the manual, I think I like the way it is setup & the user programming capability.
I'd guess a 50V max has some margin for error.
In structural engineering, we like to keep things well below the code prescribed safety factors, but sometimes end up having something at 105% capacity. Not a big deal usually - the load factors are pretty high. Depends on the situation.
My charge controller is 100V max but only 40A. I've seen just over 600 watts (~45A at 13.4V?) a couple times and the controller is still working. Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite me.
In structural engineering, we like to keep things well below the code prescribed safety factors, but sometimes end up having something at 105% capacity. Not a big deal usually - the load factors are pretty high. Depends on the situation.
My charge controller is 100V max but only 40A. I've seen just over 600 watts (~45A at 13.4V?) a couple times and the controller is still working. Hopefully this doesn't come back to bite me.
My experience with this unit (as B2B only for now) echoes Gary's. I have limited charging current to 35A but have run it at 50A, no problem. I do notice that without an ignition signal it can stay charging from the starter battery for a bit of time, but until I can wire one up I simply keep it off when not needed (or shore-charging). Saw a post complaining about this on a Transit forum (😲) where a few folks said they rewired the power switch to the dashboard, but I feel like that's overkill.
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