Generator banks/Solar panels/Battery Banks should power the next device on the line, not the devices requiring power down the line

[HeadhunterU23]

OK, my first post, I hope this topic hasn't been already discussed (it probably was already), I made a search but couldn't find anything like it.

 

Problem:

Power connections tested example:

Test1: generator bank generating 300W -> Battery bank 200W -> Electric Wire Relay -> a few lamps. RESULT: all devices are covered when the generator is ON, and only 200W are provided when only the battery bank is Active, perfectly logic

Test2: Solar panel replaces the generator bank and generates 180W - Battery bank 200W -> Electric Wire Relay -> a few lamps. RESULT: only 180W are provided to the devices, this is not logic. The power provided should be equal to what the battery bank can provide until the batteries are all emptied.

We should be able to daisy chain battery banks, they should be able to provide full power (up to the max power the battery bank with the best batteries can provide) during the night and be recharged even by a single solar bank during the way longer day time.

Example:

 

Day time:

beginning of the line: solar bank 180W -> Battery Bank 1 220W -> Battery Bank 2 260W -> Battery Bank 3 240W -> powered on devices should be powered by the Battery bank with the biggest power, if all devices are powered off or if the electrical needs are lower than the Solar Bank then the whole battery chain should be able to recharge one after each other. In this case, the devices should have 260W available as long as this battery bank is not empty, then 240W then 220W.

Night time:

beginning of the line: solar bank 0W -> Battery Bank 1 220W -> Battery Bank 2 260W -> Battery Bank 3 240W -> powered devices required power 280W, devices should be able to be powered up to 260W, etc..
 

Right now, if I have a battery bank with 300W fully loaded hooked to a 180W solar panel, the devices have only 180W available. This is not logic.

 

I'm pretty sure this topic has already been discussed but I couldn't find any post specifically talking about that.

 

 

[Boidster]

I would prefer that it is additive - so a 220W bank and a 260W bank allow 480W of powered devices. If a solar array or generator is part of the mix, it is drawn from last with any excess power going to charge up any battery banks in the system. (For ease of coding, perhaps the 'closest' power source is drawn from first, and the 'farthest' is drawn from last - so you'd want to put your solar array as the very first source in the chain.) So if you have

 

Solar 180W -> Battery 220W -> devices 320W

 

During the day there would be 80W excess power from the solar array which would keep the batteries topped off. At night, only 220W of devices would work.

 

Maybe they need to add a 'load balancer' component that can accept several power sources on its Input side, and gives total available wattage on its Output side. And then battery banks on the Input side can siphon off excess power for charging.

[charliebrownau]

Didn't they remove Solar and Batteries without explaining why

 

I am surprised for a Survival  game

 

No one has embraced

 

Water pipes + plumbing

artificial canals

Water Power (Hydro)

along with Wind Power

 

along with artificial fish farming

 

or even sugar > ethanol for Fuel

instead of petrol oil drums

 

or is moving outside Western mainstream energy sector unthinkable in Survival/SHTF situation

 

 

Heck , why not use one of these wood gasifier to generate gas and power

eg

 

homemade gasifier uses wood pellets to run generator (JR M) [censortube] -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6e3CprVTi8

https://www.instructables.com/id/A-Homemade-Wood-Gasifier-To-Keep-You-With-Power-Af/

https://www.instructables.com/id/Gamify-Your-Apocalypse-Preparedness-Training/

Wood Burning > Wood Gas > Powers Petrol Generator > AC power

#off-grid #SHTF #renewable #alt-energy #generator

 

[redneckraccoon]

Batteries are considered a draw while the parent source (generator or solar panel) is active, provider when it's off, but depending on how they are wired is how much potential they give. The batteries only charge with what is excess after everything else is on. So, if your draw is bigger than the parent source, your batteries would never charge and eventually deplete permanently if they didn't have that auto logic built into them. If you have a parent source that is as powerful as the battery and draw combined, the battery charge is fast, but if only a little power is excess, it charges the battery slower. That charge rate is split with the more battery banks you have. Depending on how and if you have more than 1 battery wired into the system, your wattage from them is different. Batteries one after another in the wire system will combine the wattage they provide,  while batteries branched of to the side will only provide the max of the weakest one so that the draw from them is all at the same time. I would like to suggest looking up simple circuits and how they work in a search engine for more detailed and maybe easier to understand explanation. Hope this helps