Today was a Sad Day :(

Yes a sad and awful day indeed... In a couple of month lot of set backs happens in my life... In this month some of my sweet dreams turned into scary nightmares...some of my hopes and wishes washed away... and today was another sad day...

 Alas, my laptop hard disk crashed without any signature... It showed no indication of failure.... All the family photos, my 1 year of research and lot of programming applications, my circuits and all good stuff went into holy grave :(..

Yes.. Today is very sad day ...

Solar Panel Sizing Basis

As i earlier mentioned that i shall install 1260 watt solar panels. Now its the time to show what were the basis of calculations. I have used a smart on-line solar panel system sizing calculator. The link is at the end of this post. Click on the photos to make them bigger.

Here is the stepwise sequence of load calculation activities:

STEP-1:  MONTHLY POWER CONSUMPTION CALCULATION

STEP-2: SOLAR PANEL SIZING

In this step we shall calculate the number of solar panels required based on the energy consumed by the electrical appliances in Step-1.

STEP-3: MPPT SOLAR CHARGER SIZING

I have already purchased 150DC, 45Amp charge controller.

STEP-4: BATTERY BANK SIZING

I have already purchased two batteries 12VDC 220AH.

Here is the link of online calculator:
http://www.sunsoglobal.com/calculator.html#

All in One---

This time no need of too much interconnected module with wiring :).. I have made one and only PCB for complete solar tracking. The optional  20x4 (20 character x 4 rows) LCD with 6 buttons shall help selecting and changing sensitivity, timing etc through a user-friendly Menu driven LCD interface.

The circuit contains embedded DC motor controller. I also added ICSP (In-circuit Serial Programming) interface on the PCB, so now i have no need to remove the IC from the PCB for program uploading ...

Additionally the connections are much simpler now with few spares digital and Analog pins these will be later used for some good purpose...

MPPT at my Door step...

Finally , i fixed one more piece of puzzle in this adventure...The MPPT arrived on 11th June,2012.... The world seems really to be a global village... 10days (including the week-end) from Honk Kong to my Home... Brilliant...

MPPT was in a good packing.. No scratch/dent very shiny and beautiful...Not seems cheap to me..Finned thick high quality aluminum back plate for heat dissipation and a remote meter for debugging and parameter view is an added advantage... The overall plastic body is rigid and free from any defect.. the LCD remote monitor comes with mounting bracket...The manual and Operation booklet is well written and user-friendly...The free shipment of 3.0Kg package through FedEx is another big advantage...

I paid Rs.3,021 in lieu of custom duty, so total cost of the MPPT is now: Rs. 31,033.. Its a one time investment and i think it was pretty right to invest at this time as the things going to be pricier with passing time.... The supplier was good to deal with and has a good repute as i have read the purchaser reviews...Supplier offered me  discount for more items if i purchase from his store including this MPPT in near future.. By the way i shall ask what discount he is going to offer if i purchase the same MPPT from him again:)..

Wow.. With such customer dealings, i think The China has rights to grasp the world eco-trade market....Its my honest opinion and can vary person to person...

The only thing left is now the UPS.... Lets cross the fingers...

MPPT from Hong Kong to Pakistan in 8 Days.

I have ordered the following MPPT from a Chinese supplier through the website Aliexpress (http://www.aliexpress.com).

Ningbo Star Solar Co.,Ltd

China (Mainland) (Zhejiang)

45A Tracer 4215RN EP MPPT Solar Controller with MT-5 Remote Meter, FREE SHIPPING BY DHL

This MPPT cost me around 289 US dollar+ custom duty;).The ordering date was 01-June-2012 and as can be seen in the order tracking it just touched down Lahore today on 8th June, 2012. Wow pretty fast delivery...

Maximum PV input power this MPPT can work on is 24V /1170W. My current solar panels can generate 540W, However, I have ordered this MPPT because in future i want to double the quantity of solar panels with the same MPPT.

45A Tracer MPPT Solar Controller Specification:

Model No	Tracer-4215RN
Nominal System Voltage	12VDC | 24VDC Auto work
Rated Battery Current	45A
Maximum Battery Voltage	32V
Max. Solar Input Voltage	Tracer-4215RN 150VDC
Max. PV input power	12V/ 585W 24V /1170W
Self-consumption*	<10mA(24V)
Charge Circuit Voltage Drop	0.26V
Discharge Circuit Voltage Drop	0.15V
Communication	TTL232 / 8pin RJ45
Environmental parameters	Parameter
Working temperature	-35 to +55 C
Storage temperature	-35 to +80 C
Humidity	10%-90% NC
Enclosure	IP30
Mechanical	Parameter
Dimension	242 x 169 x 91 / mm
Mounting holes	180 x 160 / mm
Mounting hole size	5
Terminal	25mm /2
Weight	2.05kg

Home Sweet home for the sun tracker sensor!!!!

Finally, the sun tracker sensor is mounted in the weather proof glass jar.I have added jack-bolt system that can be approached outside the jar for precise adjustment and fine tuning of the sensor accuracy.

Here is a brief video of how does the adjustment work...

Winding up the wiring!!!

Here is my improved sun-tracker system mounted on Acrylic sheet and soon be enclosed in a panel box. It contains one 20x4 LCD for displaying different parameters of the sun-tracking system. I also added two Knobs for setting the sensitivity of the sensor and sampling time adjustment.

The East and West limit switches are the safety features of this sun-tracker. At 23:59 Hrs the solar panel is programmed to move toward East and stopped by the East limit switch. This will ensure that the solar panel start generating electricity as it receive the first ray of light and start tracking the sun till sunset.