I was speaking with a guy I sorta/kinda know at a local watering hole this evening, and he was crying into his beer that he had just spent $1700 on a 50 gallon hot water heater. I said, "Well, at least you'll get a good-sized rebate and tax credit for it being a heat pump type." IT WASN'T! This...
Finally got the eight 400W panels mounted to the side of the "barnpartment" yesterday. Too early to tell how they're performing as the weather has been lousy, but I was encouraged by the one hour of sun we got today. And yes, I know the side of that gambrel roof is just screaming to have panels...
We've been living in our new off grid "barnpartment" for about three months now. No real winter yet, but we needed AC during the first month, and we've had temps down to about 20F on several nights, so we're getting a good feel for things. The building was designed for energy efficiency. I'm...
This is a long post. Sorry. The main parts are the last two paragraphs, but I wanted to give both some thank-you's and some context. Anyway...
With once exception that I'll discuss below, I've installed every element of our 100% off grid, 13.6KW, four string, three inverter, five battery (1400...
... Worked perfectly. We had a high of 19F yesterday and a low of -10F (technically, -9.6F) overnight.
It's nice and toasty inside, and yes, we left all the settings where we always leave them, meaning that we did a slight setback in the setpoint temp at 9 PM (temp goes down to 64-65 with a...
This thread/post is about adding more panels and charge controller capacity than you initially think you need, even if you've done careful calculations. It's one of those, "Man, I wish someone had told me that" things, so I thought I'd write it up and post it here for those who stumble on it...
Well, I'll be darn... This off grid thing is working better than expected. Since we got the final 4 KW of panels up and running on 12/22, to get us to 13.6kW total, we haven't needed to even think about running the generator. I'm glad we increased the battery bank to 70 KWH, and I'm glad the...
Here's a "case study" that says conventional wisdom from energy "experts" may be worth reconsidering in some situations.
Conventional wisdom for heat pumps is to set them at a desired temperature and leave them there all the time unless the building will be unoccupied for several days, as that...
We finally got the "main engine" panels mounted on the gambrel roof of the barnpartment and I'm happy to report they're doing pretty darn well. At about an hour before solar noon they're producing just over 90% (~3600W) of their theoretical 4000W maximum now that the snow has melted off.
I...
This thread is for those who are trying to decide which system to buy, and are worried about noise generated by that system. I've now had the pleasure of owning both a "modular" PV system (passively cooled solar charge controller separate from the inverter charger and a fairly "beefy" inverter...
I had a few minutes to spare today, so I turned on just about everything that uses large amounts of power, to see how much energy we'd use at "near max" in the new off grid, no utility as backup, house. The picture tells it all. With the oven preheating to 450F, the heat pump water heater...
We got about 5" of heavy, wet snow last night. This is what the IntegraRack arrays looked like this morning (took picture after clearing one panel). He panels would have cleared themselves within an hour or so, so that's not the issue. But the snow started piling up fast at the bottom as it slid...
I've noticed that every night, in the wee hours of the morning, our Bradford White heat pump water heater (recommended and installed by our plumber as we built the place this past summer) comes on for an hour or two, to keep the water at about 125F. As shown it uses only about 350 -400 watts to...
UPDATE: Edit for anyone else that finds this thread. I had originally assume I'd need to connect each inverter individually. Once I had done that for inverter 1, it wouldn't let me connect the others. I finally disconnected, then selected all the inverters at once, and hit "Connect". That did...
As I get ready to purchase my EG4 system, the only thing I'd really like to change is a dependence on their app/connection to their servers for monitoring. I know I need to use that for firmware updates, but what about just day-to-day monitoring? Is it possible to just avoid connecting to EG4's...
We've used mini-splits as our primary heat source for about four years now, in three different properties, but this is the first time I've been able to directly compare units of different sizes from the same manufacturer, in the same building. What I've noticed for our recent build is that the...
As I plan out our new (hopefully off grid) house, I see that I have room for quite a few strings of panels mounted at various angles and orientations to optimize sun position and season. I want to use either ground mounts or mounts on only the steepest portion of the roofs (e.g. steep angle of...
I've got my three 6000XP inverters and three Powerpro batteries installed except for the solar connections (just got my racks yesterday) and all seems to be working well. Everything communicates as it should and the "primary" XP is talking to the EG4 cloud system via the dongle. I'd like to get...
Hi Folks. Hoping our battery gurus can shed some light on this situation. The system is comprised of six 210W panels (1260 watts max total, 3S2P) feeding a Victron MPPT 150/45. Inverter is a Victron 24V single phase (120V) 3000 KVA Multiplus. A Victron SmartShunt monitors charge/discharge and...
I am getting ready to set up an office in a 10'x16' (160 SF) "shed" building, and am trying to decide whether I should attempt to (primarily) heat it with an EG4 9K BTU mini-split, in midcoast Maine (zone 6). Thoughts and ideas welcome. Here are the relevant details:
Building will have 3"...
Wondering if the solar brain trust can please provide commentary/advice on my proposed design for adding two additional PowerPro batteries and an additional Chargeverter, to my current system of three PowerPros and one Chargeverter.
Here's the current layout, which parallel the PowerPros as...
I have three 6000XPs at our new off grid barn with apartment, each connected to a Powerpro battery and all paralleled together. Our panels are not up yet as we're waiting for the builder to finish, but we've been using the system to power the place and recharging via generator - Chargeverter...
We're building a new home in Maine this year, in the middle of a blueberry field. NOT likely to do net metering because I don't want to deal with the hassle. MAY bring grid power to the house as "added convenience", but just as likely to remain off-grid (still need to chat more with the power...
Hi Everyone. To get right to the point, I'm wondering if it helps LIfePO4 battery longevity to charge them only up to about 85% capacity each day, which is what I'm currently doing, rather than top them up all the way, or even up to about 95%. I rarely run them below 50%. So, that's the basic...
I have four, old 12V marine-type 100 AH batteries I bought from Walmart 10 years ago that amazingly seem to still be serviceable. They've been stored in the heated garage for the past four years, and I periodically recharge them 2-3 x/ year. I even used them to power my solar setup for a few...
Hello Solar Braintrust,
I currently have a small (1.26 KW) all-Victron system and monitor it using Victron's VRM and a Raspberry Pi running Venus OS. Works amazingly well. Planning an off-grid home and barn with construction starting this spring, and trying to decide between Victron or EG4, but...
Well, this one has me stumped. 24V 3000 KVA Multiplus powering three sheds. Works perfectly, but with one weird thing. LED lights controlled by Lutron Caseta dimmers. When on solar/batteries, no issues at all. I ran an AC line from the garage to the shed with the solar equipment this past summer...
Hi all,
I've been a Victron fan since day one, and am still happy that I bought it for my small (1.26 KW) "shed" system. But I was surprised (OK, disappointed) to find that my 3000 KVA Multiplus wimped out today as I tried to use it with a small (5-ton) electric (hydraulic) log splitter. The...
We're slowly building a new house in rural Maine (probably habitable late 2024). It will be our retirement home and I hope to make it net zero (double stud R40 walls, R60 ceiling, R20 floors) and I'd like to avoid using fossil fuels except for the backup generator if possible. I'll also have a...
DIY mini-splits (Mr Cool or EG4) both have ~16 foot line sets as standard when they ship. I just installed an EG4 In a location that needed only about 8 feet of line, and of course now I have all that mess coiled up behind it. I know I can't cut that, but in thinking about future mini-splits I...
We're slowly building another house about 7 miles from our current home in the middle of a blueberry barren (field) in rural Maine, where we get only about 3-3.5 hours of usable sun in the darkest days of winter, and where it snows (sometimes a LOT). This will be our retirement home, so we're...
Hi Everyone. I've been lurking on the site and learning, and really appreciate both the knowledge and friendly attitudes of people on the forum. My question today is about how to size and connect the wiring from the solar panels to the charge controller, which I'll get into in a moment. I think...