EcoSolar by Irvin TM Billboard LED Solar System STOP! THIS IS IMPORTANT Take a moment to familiarize yourself with the polarity of the wires included in your solar system. Make sure you connect positive wires to positive terminals and negative wires to negative terminals. Do not reverse the polarity as this may cause permanent damage. The connection order is very important of the main components. Make sure you connect the batteries and power on the controller before connecting the solar panel. If you do not understand how to properly connect your system components after reading these instructions, please call us at 1-800-474-7846 for further clarification.
1. Mount the Battery Enclosure: Install the battery enclosure in a suitable location. Avoid placing it too far from the solar panel and light fi xtures, causing the wires to be too short. Make sure your battery box is not more than 50 feet from your solar panels. Any distance past this will result in a power drop and will reduce the performance of the system. The battery enclosure supplied is a dynamic design, suitable for pole mount, vertical surface mount, and horizontal surface mount applications. When using back fl ange mounts (typically when pole and vertical mounting) be sure to use rubber washers on the six bolts to prevent ingression. If the back fl anges are not required, use the bolts with rubber washers to seal the holes. The fl ange mounts include slots for mounting Bolts, Lag Bolts, or U-bolts up to 4.75. Stainless Steel Banding (of various size) can also be used to mount the enclosure to just about anything. Installation specifi c hardware is not included with EcoSolar by Irvin. 2. Position the Solar Panel: Mount the solar panel(s) facing south where they will receive full unobstructed sun all day long. The mounting hardware provided can be used to mount the panel to a horizontal or vertical surface such as the billboard support structure or a post. Pole mount hardware may be available separately for side pole mount or top pole mount applications. Please contact your sales representative to purchase pole mount hardware if required. The hardware allows the angle of the solar panel to be adjusted; angle the panel 10-15 degrees plus latitude. For example if located at a latitude of 30 degrees north, angle the panel at about 40-45 degrees. You may need to drill new holes in the solar panel frame to suite your installation. Take great care not to hit the glass with the drill bit when drilling the frame. Solar Panel Facts Solar Panels must be angled south in the northern hemisphere, and north in the southern hemisphere. This is so the panel will catch sunlight from sunrise to sunset. The tilt angle is determined by your latitude and is ideally optimized for winter conditions which require 10-15 degrees plus the latitude. Clouds can drastically lower the power output of the solar panel, but shade can render the panel useless. Clouds are translucent and still allow visible light to pass through. Shade from trees, buildings, etc. can prevent the solar panel from producing any usable current. Keep your solar panel away from shade, for even a small portion of the panel being covered will signifi cantly decrease power output. It may be necessary to occasionally clean the surface of the solar panel, this is especially necessary for locations with high dust load and infrequent rain events. 2
3. Wiring for Lamps & Solar Panel: Wiring and Assembling Lamps Disconnect the connectors attached to the lamp wires and feed the cord through the lamp arm and mounting plate. The mounting plate is designed to mount to a Heavy-Duty Round Weatherproof Junction Box or a strong fl at surface. Hardware may be required to do so. If mounting to a fl at surface you must drill a hole for the wire to pass through. Connect up to the long power supply wires supplied with the system to the lamp wires. Make a waterproof connection using a junction box (not included). Quick connectors are supplied, lift the orange tab completely and slide the wire in. Connect the positive red wire to the red or brown wire and the negative black wire to the black or blue wire and rout the wires from the lights to the battery enclosure. Wiring for Solar Panel One or more individually framed solar panels are supplied with these systems. Connect the cable from solar panel A to solar panel B. Make sure the waterproof connection is securely fastened. Disregard this step if supplied with one large framed solar panel. The two remaining wires will need to be connected to the long power supply wires using the appropriate plug. Rout these power supply wires back to the battery enclosure. 3
4. Install Batteries & Making Connection: WARNING! It is very important that the battery wiring is done properly. If the batteries are wired improperly, permanent damage to the Light Fixture, Batteries, or Programmable Control Module may occur. Possible injury may occur if batteries are short circuited. Please take care to prevent injury and damage when preforming this step. Battery Information: Two 12V deep cycle sealed lead acid batteries are included in your system. The sealed lead acid batteries are typically an AGM style VRLA battery, but Gel is also available at an additional charge. These batteries are completely maintenance free and can be used in almost any orientation. Before making any connections to the MPPT Control Module, please read installations steps 4 & 5 completely. Connection order is very important to insure proper configuration of the controller. 24V Battery Connection Install the batteries into the battery enclosure and locate the battery connection wires. Three wires are included, a red positive wire with one battery ring terminal, a black negative wire with one battery ring terminal, and a jumper wire with two battery ring terminals. This is a 24V lighting system. The two 12V batteries supplied must be connected in a series to complete a 24V confi guration. Take reference from the battery wiring schematic (Figure 3.01). Connect the negative black wire to the negative black terminal on one of the batteries, then connect the negative black wire into the negative battery terminal on the control module (BATT -). Use the jumper wire to connect the positive terminal to the negative terminal on the other battery. Finally, connect the positive red wire to the positive terminal on the remaining battery, but do not install into the control module at this time. Connecting the battery to the control module will be done during the fi nal connection. If possible, test the connections across the red and black wires for 24V with a multi-meter. Each battery should read fully charged at 12.8V, a fully charged system should read greater than 25V. Before making any connections to the MPPT Control Module, please read installations step 5 completely. Connection order is very important to insure proper configuration of the controller. Allow for approximately two weeks for the system to finalize settings and sunrise/sunset times once running. 4 Your partner for everything outdoor.
5. Final Connections & System Testing: When making the fi nal connections for the system it s important that the order of connection is load, battery, then solar panel (PV). Connecting Load (Lights) Connect up the load (lighting) power wire directly to the control module. Make sure correct polarity is achieved by connecting the power wires into the corresponding terminals. Brown or red should be positive (+) and blue or black should be negative (-). Strip back the appropriate wires, (for multiple lights twist all the same polarity together) place them into the appropriate terminal (Load), and then tighten down the terminal screw to secure the wires. Be sure that all the wire strands are in the terminal and that nothing can short out. Connecting Batt & PV (Batteries & Solar Panel) Please read this completely before making these connections. It is important to make these connections quickly so that the system does not activate incorrectly. To prepare for the fi nal connection, connect the negative solar panel wire to the control module. Locate the negative solar panel wire, it should be all black. The positive solar panel wire is usually indicated with a red band toward the end of the wire. If the positive and negative solar panel wires are not easily distinguishable, use a DC Multimeter to confi rm the polarity and check for PV supply voltage. The open circuit voltage from the solar panel may vary but should be more than 30V DC for one solar panel or more than 60V DC for two solar panels in series. Cut the negative solar panel wire to the ideal length, strip and secure it into the negative solar panel terminal (PV -) on the control module. At this point you should have two remaining wires to connect to the control module, the battery positive wire (Batt +) and the solar panel positive wire (PV +). Cut the positive solar panel wire to the ideal length and strip it back so that it is ready to connect to the control module. The battery positive wire (Batt +) will need to be connected to the control module before the solar panel positive wire (PV +). If the remaining solar panel wire is not connected quickly enough, the lights may turn on during the day and may not turn off until the next day, depending on programming. This will discharge the batteries and will result in about a week or two of unpredictable performance while the system tries to restabilize and acclimate to the installation location. The battery positive wire (Batt +) and the solar panel positive wire (PV +) must be connected within 30-60 seconds of one another. You can now make the fi nal two connections. If the light fi xtures activate and do not turn off, then the fi nal connection must be re-attempted. Disconnect the solar panel positive wire (PV +) then the battery positive wire (Batt +), and reconnect the wires quicker to prevent the controller from activating the load. To guarantee the system gets off to a good starting point, it s best to leave the positive load wire(s) out of the controller for at least one to two days (ie. keep the lights disconnected). This will allow the system to charge up the batteries and calibrate without impact from the lights. The next morning the system should be ready for use and the lights can be reconnected. This step is not required but is suggested, especially for installations that are installed during the winter. Also note that if the MPPT controller is programed to anything other than dusk to dawn, it will go through a week long learning phase while it is acclimating to the installation location; performance may be unpredictable during this period. It can take the system up to 2 weeks to learn and acclimate to the installation environment. 5
Mounting the solar panel correctly is one of the most important aspects of installation. Your system is 100% dependent on the power provided by the solar panels. If the solar panels are installed improperly your system will not function reliably, this doesn t define the system as defective. A solar panel designed for 24V or 12V off-grid applications is supplied with your system. Solar panels are incredibly reliable, and have a typical useable life span of about 25+ years. There are four main considerations when installing solar panels: Geographic Location (Solar Insolation), Shading, Azimuth Angle (Direction), and Tilt Angle. Geographic Location Solar panels require sun to create energy. The intensity and duration of sun light varies drastically throughout the world and the year. The measurement of sun intensity over a period of time is called solar insolation. Figure 4.01 is a generalized solar insolation map, and displays the different zones of intensity within the United States. In general, all of our systems are typically designed to run in zones 1-3 and southern zone 4 (as high as OK, AR, TN, NC) perfectly fi ne without any modifi cation. Anything in higher zones could require increased panel wattage or reduced running time to achieve desired performance. Azimuth Angle or Solar Panel Direction In the northern hemisphere (North America Included), the sun is always in the southern sky. Therefore, solar panels should face due south to get the most out of the sun s energy throughout the day. In the southern hemisphere, solar panels should face north. Solar panels that are faced east or west will suffer greater than a 15% reduction in charging power, and solar panels facing north can suffer more than a 50% reduction in power. Never face the solar panel north, north east, or north west. Systems with panels that are not facing south may experience problems such as shorter illumination times, and you may need to reposition the panel to improve performance. Systems not preforming properly due to improper positioning are not defective. Solar Panel Tilt Finding the optimum fi xed tilt for your solar panels is fairly important, and is dependent on your latitude location. For our solar lighting systems we suggest to optimize the mounting angel for winter. If the hardware allows the angle to be adjusted, angle the panel 10-15 degrees plus latitude. The further north your location is from the equator, the more important the tilt angle becomes. Mounting a solar panel fl at is not recommended. Effects of Shade on a Solar Panel Direct shading from trees, buildings, etc. is very bad for a solar panel; even a minor amount of shade on part of the array can cause major reductions in performance. Avoid placing your panel in a location that could be shaded throughout the day, particularly between the peak hours of 10 a.m. 4 p.m. Shading from clouds is less signifi cant. For best performance avoid shading whenever possible. 6
General Understanding A general understanding on solar lighting and how it works will better help you plan your installation, and allow your system to perform more effi ciently. Please take time to familiarize yourself with the technology. Our lighting systems typically consist of three major components: lighting (load), batteries, and a solar panel. Other components allow for mounting, controlling, and activating the system. The system works by collecting energy from the sun during the day using the solar panel. It stores the energy in the batteries, then uses the energy to power the light(s) at night time. A charge controller is included to monitor the charging and discharging of the battery, and to activate the light fi xture(s) at night time. Other Components The system or light may include other components that are essential for proper operation. The battery enclosure is used to securely house the batteries, and protect them from nature and vandals. Our battery enclosures are typically made of steel and include a lockable hasp. All solar lighting systems include a charge controller. The charge controller serves many purposes, but is mainly used to monitor, control, and protect the batteries during charging and discharging. Most of our charge controllers also activate the light fi xture when it gets dark. Lights will come on in the evening and shut off when the sun rises, or after a select number of hours. Some control modules also have dual timer capability, allowing the light to come on at dusk, run for a set number of hours and turn off, then automatically turn back on for a set number of hours before dawn. The programming of the control module is typically done at the factory. Reprogramming the control module must be done by the manufacture, please consult your sales representative for details. Additional accessories may be available to allow the system to perform to your requirements. Additional solar panels, time clocks, pole mounting kits, poles, junction boxes, and extension cords, are just a few accessories we have available. Ultra fast Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) For optimum performance and reliability we offer some of our products with Maximum Power Point Tracking technology. In case of a clouded sky, when light intensity is changing continuously, an ultra fast MPPT controller will improve energy harvest by up to 30% compared to PWM charge controllers. Fully programmable, offering a variety of custom illumination time controls, light dimming control, and advanced battery protection. Battery Life: Intelligent Battery Management When a solar charge controller is not able to recharge the battery to its full capacity within one day, the result is often that the battery will be continually cycled between a partially charged state and the end of discharge state. This mode of operation (without a regular full recharge) will destroy a lead-acid battery within weeks or months. The Battery Life algorithm will monitor the state of charge of the battery and, if needed, will day by day slightly increase the load disconnect level (i. e. disconnect the load earlier) until the harvested solar energy is suffi cient to recharge the battery to nearly the full 100%. From that point onwards the load disconnect level will be modulated so that a nearly 100% recharge is achieved about once every week. 7