Showing posts with label solar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label solar. Show all posts
Monday, September 16, 2013
10 Amp Solar Charge Controller
The SCC2 is a solar charge controller, its function is to regulate the power flowing from a photovoltaic panel into a rechargeable battery. It features easy setup with one potentiometer for the float voltage adjustment, an equalize function for periodic overcharging, and automatic temperature compensation for better charging over a range of temperatures.
10 Amp Solar Charge Controller Circuit Diagram with Parts List
The goal of the circuit design was to make a charge controller with analog simplicity, high efficiency, and reliability. A medium power solar system can be built with a 12V solar panel up to 10 amps, the SCC2, and a rechargeable battery. The SCC2 works with lead acid, NiCD and NiMH batteries with ratings from less than one to several hundred amp-hours. With the appropriate parts selection, the SCC2 can be operated at 6V, 12V, 24V or other voltages.
Specifications:
The SCC2 acts as a medium power DC current switch between the + terminals of the PV and battery. Diode D1 prevents reverse night time current flow from the battery back to the PV panel.
When the PV voltage is high enough to charge the battery, zener diode D2 conducts and turns on transistor Q2. Q2 switches the power for the rest of the circuit on. The circuit is switched off at night. IC2 provides a 5 volt regulated voltage to power the comparator circuits, it also provides a reference voltage for comparator IC1a.
When the battery voltage is below the desired full voltage and needs charging, comparator IC1a turns on and activates Q1 and Q3, this allows the solar charging current to flow into the battery. Note that Q3 is a P-channel mosfet, this allows the circuit to be wired with a common ground for the solar panel and battery. The solar current loop is drawn in heavy lines on the schematic.
When the battery reaches the full charge point, IC1a operates as a comparator based schmidt trigger oscillator, it switches the solar current off and on. The switching causes the battery voltage to oscillate a few tens of millivolts above and below the desired set point. A rail-to-rail op-amp is required for proper operation, 741 style op-amps will not work in this circuit.
The red/green charging/full LED is driven between the output of IC1a and IC1b. IC1b has an inverted version of the IC1a signal. Pin 5 of IC1b only needs an approximate center point to work as an on-off comparator, it is connected to the varying IC1a pin 2 so that it does not require another reference divider circuit.
The resistors and thermistor on the input side of IC1a form a resistive bridge circuit that is used to compare the battery voltage to a reference voltage coming from IC2/R8/R9. The potentiometer adjusts the voltage point around which the circuit will oscillate on full charge. Resistor R7 adds positive feedback to IC1a for a schmidt trigger characteristic and C6 sets the maximum frequency of oscillation. The thermistor provides thermal compensation, as the temperature goes down, the float voltage setting goes up.
The equalize switch, S1a, forces the circuit on for intentional overcharging. Switch S1b and R1 can be used to select a different float voltage range, you can experiment with this by using different values of R1, typically R1 should be greater than 1M.
Alignment:
Connect the solar panel to the SCC2 solar panel input connectors, connect the battery to the SCC2 output connectors. Put the solar panel in the sun, and watch the battery charge up. Systems where the battery is frequently discharged way down should occasionally be run in equalize mode for a few hours or a full day. It is best to monitor the battery voltage during this operation, disable equalization if the battery voltage goes above 16V (12V version).
10 Amp Solar Charge Controller Circuit Diagram with Parts List
The goal of the circuit design was to make a charge controller with analog simplicity, high efficiency, and reliability. A medium power solar system can be built with a 12V solar panel up to 10 amps, the SCC2, and a rechargeable battery. The SCC2 works with lead acid, NiCD and NiMH batteries with ratings from less than one to several hundred amp-hours. With the appropriate parts selection, the SCC2 can be operated at 6V, 12V, 24V or other voltages.
Specifications:
- Maximum solar panel current: 10 Amps
- Night time battery drain current: approximately 1ma
- Nominal battery voltage: 6V, 12V or 24V.
- See the full SCC2 specifications for more information.
The SCC2 acts as a medium power DC current switch between the + terminals of the PV and battery. Diode D1 prevents reverse night time current flow from the battery back to the PV panel.
When the PV voltage is high enough to charge the battery, zener diode D2 conducts and turns on transistor Q2. Q2 switches the power for the rest of the circuit on. The circuit is switched off at night. IC2 provides a 5 volt regulated voltage to power the comparator circuits, it also provides a reference voltage for comparator IC1a.
When the battery voltage is below the desired full voltage and needs charging, comparator IC1a turns on and activates Q1 and Q3, this allows the solar charging current to flow into the battery. Note that Q3 is a P-channel mosfet, this allows the circuit to be wired with a common ground for the solar panel and battery. The solar current loop is drawn in heavy lines on the schematic.
When the battery reaches the full charge point, IC1a operates as a comparator based schmidt trigger oscillator, it switches the solar current off and on. The switching causes the battery voltage to oscillate a few tens of millivolts above and below the desired set point. A rail-to-rail op-amp is required for proper operation, 741 style op-amps will not work in this circuit.
The red/green charging/full LED is driven between the output of IC1a and IC1b. IC1b has an inverted version of the IC1a signal. Pin 5 of IC1b only needs an approximate center point to work as an on-off comparator, it is connected to the varying IC1a pin 2 so that it does not require another reference divider circuit.
The resistors and thermistor on the input side of IC1a form a resistive bridge circuit that is used to compare the battery voltage to a reference voltage coming from IC2/R8/R9. The potentiometer adjusts the voltage point around which the circuit will oscillate on full charge. Resistor R7 adds positive feedback to IC1a for a schmidt trigger characteristic and C6 sets the maximum frequency of oscillation. The thermistor provides thermal compensation, as the temperature goes down, the float voltage setting goes up.
The equalize switch, S1a, forces the circuit on for intentional overcharging. Switch S1b and R1 can be used to select a different float voltage range, you can experiment with this by using different values of R1, typically R1 should be greater than 1M.
Alignment:
- Start with a charged battery, connect the solar panel directly to the battery until the battery voltage is at or above the desired full setting, this also that the panel is capable of charging the battery.
- While measuring the battery voltage, adjust VR1 clockwise to align the float voltage set point. If the LED turns red before it reaches the desired float voltage, the battery will need to charge for a while.
- When the battery is fully charged, it should be at the float voltage and the led should show alternating colors.
- The float voltage should be set when the board and battery are at room temperature. Typical 12V set points are 13.8V for a gell cell and 14.5V for a wet cell. For 6V, divide those by two, for 24V, multiply by 2.
- Follow your battery manufacturers recommendations for the best settings.
- Readjust the float voltage after the battery has reached a full charge.
- The float voltage should be set when the circuit is at room temperature.
Connect the solar panel to the SCC2 solar panel input connectors, connect the battery to the SCC2 output connectors. Put the solar panel in the sun, and watch the battery charge up. Systems where the battery is frequently discharged way down should occasionally be run in equalize mode for a few hours or a full day. It is best to monitor the battery voltage during this operation, disable equalization if the battery voltage goes above 16V (12V version).
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Digital Clock with Timer and Solar Panel Regulator
This is a combination digital clock timer and solar panel charge controller used to maintain a deep cycle battery from a solar panel. The timer output is used to control a 12 volt load for a 32 minute time interval each day. Start time is set using 9 dip switches and ends 32 minutes later. The 32 minute duration is set by selecting the 5th bit (2^5 = 32) of a 4040 binary counter (pin 2). The timer also has a manual toggle switch so the load can be manually switched on or off and automatically shuts off after 32 minutes. The time duration can be longer or shorter (8,16,32,64,128,256 minutes etc.) by selecting the appropriate bit of the counter. The timer circuit is shown in the lower schematic just above the regulator.
Basic Clock Circuit diagram
The basic clock circuit (top schematic below) is similar to the binary clock (on another page) and uses 7 ICs to produce the 20 digital bits for 12 hour time, plus AM and PM. A standard watch crystal oscillator (32,768) is used as the time base and is divided down to 1/2 half second by the 4020 binary counter. One half of a 4013 data latch is used to divide the 1/2 second signal by 2 and produce a one second pulse that drives the seconds counter (74HC390 colored purple). The minutes are advanced by decoding 60 seconds (40 + 20) and then resetting the seconds counter to 0 and at the same time advancing the minutes counter. The same procedure is used to advance the hours. The second half of the 4013 latch is used to indicate AM or PM and is toggled by decoding 13 hours and resetting the hours to 0 and then advancing the hours to "one".
Clock Display Circuit diagram
The clock display circuit is shown in the second drawing below and uses 6 more ICs to decode the binary data and drive four seven segment LED displays. The 10s of hours digit is driven with a single 3904 transistor. Two multiplexer circuits (4053) are used to manually select either minutes or seconds for the right two display digits. The two switches shown between the 4053s and below the left 4053 are both part of one DPDT switch which selects either seconds or minutes for the 1X and 10X digits. This switch is shown in the seconds position and the hours digits are blanked with a low signal on pin 4 of the 4511.
The display can also be toggled on and off (totally blank) using a set/reset latch made from a couple 74HC00 NAND gates. A momentary DPDT switch is used to control the latch and toggle the display on or off. The second pole of this switch is used on the upper drawing (connected to the run/stop switch) to set the hours and minutes. Thus this same switch performs both functions of blanking the display and setting the time. The run/stop switch is shown in the normal running mode and supplies a low signal to a NAND gate which prevents accidental setting the time while the clock is running.
Clock Timer Circuit diagram
The run/stop switch also turns on the display (through the diode D2) when in the stop position. The procedure for setting the clock would be to set the (run/stop) switch the stop position and the (seconds/minutes) switch to the minutes position. Then toggle the momentary switch to set minutes and hours of the current time plus one minute. The clock can then be started with the run/stop switch at precisely the right time (+/- 0.5 seconds).
Voltage Regulator (13.6 volts)
The voltage regulator in the lower drawing maintains the battery at 13.6 volts and also supplies the clock and timer circuits with 4.3 volts. The charge LED indicator only comes on when the regulator is supplying max charge to the battery. When the battery voltage reaches 13.6 the regulator reduces the current to whatever is necessary to maintain the voltage and the charge indicator will turn off. The unit I built also included a battery condition indicator (voltmeter using 4 LEDs) to indicate the battery condition so that a failure of the regulator would be indicated by the charge indicator LED turned off and less than 4 LEDs lit on the voltmeter.
Basic Clock Circuit diagram
 |
The basic clock circuit (top schematic below) is similar to the binary clock (on another page) and uses 7 ICs to produce the 20 digital bits for 12 hour time, plus AM and PM. A standard watch crystal oscillator (32,768) is used as the time base and is divided down to 1/2 half second by the 4020 binary counter. One half of a 4013 data latch is used to divide the 1/2 second signal by 2 and produce a one second pulse that drives the seconds counter (74HC390 colored purple). The minutes are advanced by decoding 60 seconds (40 + 20) and then resetting the seconds counter to 0 and at the same time advancing the minutes counter. The same procedure is used to advance the hours. The second half of the 4013 latch is used to indicate AM or PM and is toggled by decoding 13 hours and resetting the hours to 0 and then advancing the hours to "one".
Clock Display Circuit diagram
 |
The clock display circuit is shown in the second drawing below and uses 6 more ICs to decode the binary data and drive four seven segment LED displays. The 10s of hours digit is driven with a single 3904 transistor. Two multiplexer circuits (4053) are used to manually select either minutes or seconds for the right two display digits. The two switches shown between the 4053s and below the left 4053 are both part of one DPDT switch which selects either seconds or minutes for the 1X and 10X digits. This switch is shown in the seconds position and the hours digits are blanked with a low signal on pin 4 of the 4511.
The display can also be toggled on and off (totally blank) using a set/reset latch made from a couple 74HC00 NAND gates. A momentary DPDT switch is used to control the latch and toggle the display on or off. The second pole of this switch is used on the upper drawing (connected to the run/stop switch) to set the hours and minutes. Thus this same switch performs both functions of blanking the display and setting the time. The run/stop switch is shown in the normal running mode and supplies a low signal to a NAND gate which prevents accidental setting the time while the clock is running.
Clock Timer Circuit diagram
 |
The run/stop switch also turns on the display (through the diode D2) when in the stop position. The procedure for setting the clock would be to set the (run/stop) switch the stop position and the (seconds/minutes) switch to the minutes position. Then toggle the momentary switch to set minutes and hours of the current time plus one minute. The clock can then be started with the run/stop switch at precisely the right time (+/- 0.5 seconds).
Voltage Regulator (13.6 volts)
 |
The voltage regulator in the lower drawing maintains the battery at 13.6 volts and also supplies the clock and timer circuits with 4.3 volts. The charge LED indicator only comes on when the regulator is supplying max charge to the battery. When the battery voltage reaches 13.6 the regulator reduces the current to whatever is necessary to maintain the voltage and the charge indicator will turn off. The unit I built also included a battery condition indicator (voltmeter using 4 LEDs) to indicate the battery condition so that a failure of the regulator would be indicated by the charge indicator LED turned off and less than 4 LEDs lit on the voltmeter.
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