Hydro solar combonation

[thirteen]

I wish to instail a small micro hydro system and a small solar system charging the same 12v battery banks only at different times. For three months out of the year in late summer there is not enough water to run the hydro without lowering the flow in the creek to a dribble which would damage the creek. But there is enough sunlight during the summer to operate solar some panels. But during the winter there is not enough sunlight for charging the banks. Maybe 3 hours a day at best. I need to find out what type of controls I would need to look for to balance out both systems. It would be nice for an automatic system but $$$ maybe a maunel switch would be better and more dependable. Will one type of charging system be able to handle both types of systems. I need a place to look. I have not built either system yet and I will need to get things figured out before for next summers work.

[hydrosun]

The simple answer is to connect the solar and hydro to the batteries through a breaker or fuse. And then connect a diversion controller to the battery, which will automatically turn on a load to dissapate any power not needed to fill the battery.

The load needs to be big enough to use all the power of the combined outputs of the solar and hydro.

The more complex answer depends on all the details of your sytem, size of solar array, output of hydro, distance between hydro and batteries, voltage of system, need for 120 volts, funds available, your technical skills, etc.

Chris

[ghurd]

Just a simple dump load controller.

It doesn't have to be expensive (the resistors can end up costing more than the controller).

How big is 'small'?

G-

[ghurd]

I have a feeling you posted your reply to this over in ZooT's post, in case you were wondering where it went.

G-

[thirteen]

yes I saw that to late