I put in the 2 100-watt Soprays I bought from ebay for $2.50/watt delivered. They are wired with a blocking diode but bypass my MPPT because it's already maxed out.
Even if the new panels put out 200 watts, I have 7 flooded 85 AH deep cycle batteries, so they could handle the full output without burning up. The BZ MPPT has temperature compensated float, so it backs off when the batteries get full.
I hit float just before noon today with the new panels in. This time of year I need to hit float by noon because my neighbors trees shade me partially by then.
The panels look professionally made. The cells don't have chips or obvious flaws. I need to get a set of mc4 connectors. To wire the panels I opened the junction box and screwed down a cable on each panel, then ganged the panels in series with the mc4 cables they came with. The Voc matches the sticker on the back, about 20v each. The sweet spot for current is about 17v each so I'm not going to get full power without an mppt. Using a $3 HF meter I got just under 5 amps at 14.4v with a little shade in the way. I was able to do a load of wash during the peak and still recover by 2 pm.
My grid use was down to 10 kwh for the month, from 19 the month before.
The other pix are the fruit trees in the back yard. After tropical storm Nicole fizzled and the front passed, it dried up and cooled off just a little. It doesn't feel like summer anymore. The bananas all decided to bear fruit at the same time, so in a couple of months I'll have more bananas than I can eat. I have 10 trees bearing now. My coworkers and church members will get some fresh bananas then. The carambola has put out fruit finally. It's been 6 months without bearing. They seem to keep better this year. I can pick them and they don't sour right away.
Callaloo needs feeding, I found out. If I feed it a little, it bears leaves longer while seeding. The east Indian curry trees are doing well in a pot. They both survived the cool weather we had last winter that killed the noni and bread nut.
The key lime tree gave me 3 limes this year. They flavor soda nicely. I have 3 avocados that made it, too. The tomatoes all died in the spring and I didn't replace them.
