Specifications

84
power consumption is to create a resistive load that will dissipate approximately 600W.
This can be done by hooking 3 100W light bulbs in parallel and then connecting them all
to one of the 120VAC power outlets, and the hooking another 3 to the other 120VAC
power outlets. This is done to make sure that the current drawn on a single outlet is not
too much. To verify that a total of 600W is in fact being consumed, an AC power meter
can be placed on both outlets that a light bulb array is plugged into and then adding the
two measurements together. During the process of this test, it should also be ensured
that the temperature of the battery does not get above 125°F (51.7°C) and the power
inverter stays below its temperature protection threshold.
Another aspect of the power storage system to test is its recharge rate. In order to do
this the battery should be drained to 10.5V and then connected to the charging system,
which should include the solar cell array and the wind turbine. Once connected, the
battery should be fully recharged to 13.1V in 6 hours or less. This will show that the
designed solar cell array combined with the wind turbine generates enough power to
adequately charge the chosen 38Ah battery from a completely empty state in a
reasonable amount of time. As with the battery drain test, temperatures should again be
closely monitored. Like before, the battery temperature should stay below 125°F
(51.7°C). In reality, this is the same test that was to be performed in 7.2.3, and can be
done simultaneously. The only difference is here we are looking at the size of the
battery chosen, rather than the level of the output power of the generators. If the battery
is not fully recharged in 6 hours, then a decision must be made on whether the
generators need to be larger, or the battery needs to be smaller.
Optima D51 Yellow Top Battery
+ -
120 VAC Power
Inverter
+
-
60A Fuse
12 VDC
120 VAC
Outlets
120 VAC “Hot”
120 VAC “Neutral”
120 VAC “Hot”
120 VAC “Neutral”
3 Parallel 100W
Light Bulbs
3 Parallel 100W
Light Bulbs
120 VAC “Hot”
120 VAC “Neutral”
120 VAC “Hot”
120 VAC “Neutral”
Ground
Figure 71 - Schematic for Testing Power Storage System
Permission Pending
7.4 Power Output Testing
To test the power input we will need a multimeter which we will use to measure the
outputs coming out of the DC terminals. Measuring the 12-volt output to see if we are
getting 12 volts will do this. The USB ports will measure the a output voltage around 5
volts. We will have to use a oscilloscope to measure the output of the standard wall plug