We've had some pretty fierce winds lately. I like to watch, learn and tweak things.
We were getting good steady winds in the afternoon on Saturday. I've found that when the batteries are getting up, or we have a combination of wind and PV, that I can sometimes harvest more production by increasing the differential of the diversion. We are using a function on the Classic's called "Waste-Not"; in this case Waste-Not High. The idea is that you choose an offset relative to your charge points. Here you can see we're getting ~2.3 kW and the batteries are at 58.7V. I have the off-set at about -3V. The temp-compensate setting is ~60.3V, so at 58.3V we are putting near full "On" power to the water heater - not much but it is another 1,200 watts or so. Diversion is on Aux 2 on the right-hand controller.
This is all well and good. I can hear the controller's PWM buzzing as the wind fluctuates higher, and the elements are loaded more and more. Then, I start to hear what has become a recognizable sound – I know you all too would recognize – it's the freight-train/jet engine cross, when the wind really reaches apex; and stays there. This all happens remarkably fast, but I tried to capture it.
Here, the controller on the left is just coming out of "current limit"; that is the amber light you see. It does not allow this controller to normally take more than 40A, or about 2.5 kW, at which point it shares any above that with the second unit.
I missed the peak slightly, but notice too that both Aux 2 (diversion), and Aux 1 (red LED) are on. This is because we just crossed 121V into the controller for ~3-seconds. Aux 1 has initiated the tail furling.
The logs capture the peaks
The amber light is the second Aux 2, it connects the 3-ph output to our resistor load bank, adding braking.
The winds are forecast to be notably
higher tonight. We're well charged, and will sit this one out.
