Solar Diverter Project

Project Description

This project was done at an offgrid location in New Zealand. The owner of the off grid plot of land needed the ability to automate load shedding for large loads when the voltage of a battery bank and generation of PV and hydrogeneration could not cover the homes power draw. This project used an Arduino UNO, relays, and the Arduino IDE. This project started as just monitoring and then as it progressed, code was added to switch the relay's connected to high power draw appliances throughout the home.

Arduino UNO and relay circuit.

Twisted pair shown is from the battery bank, breadboard circuit is shown in the upper right.

Box with connection to line voltage of the home is shown. A switch was added for safety.

Relay bank is shown to the right and connection to breadboard is also shown. LED lights were wired into the breadboard circuit in order to further convey which relay was shedded and which was open.

Arduino IDE shown, monitoring the homes KVA draw and indicating voltage of the DC battery bank. Thresholds were set to load shed based on appliances.

Connection to the Arduino circuit and relay depicted. It was not the most ideal work environment but the overall outcome was a success!