Hi, newbie and beginner from Brazil

Long time lurker on this forum after watching hours of Will´s videos.
I´m English, raised in The Netherlands and have been living in Brazil for 10 years now.
Despite being a country with HOURS of sun a day, solar power generation is still pretty uncommon.
Because we often have power outages, I have been trying to gather some information on how to try and make my own little ´backup-off-grid´ system. It seems a shame not to use the energy which is readily available, and at the same time maybe lower the monthly electricity bill a little.
Preferably I´d like to be able to power six 5watt/12 volt LED´s for 5 hours a night, run a 400 Watt water pump for 6 hours a day and be able to charge a couple of Ipads. If possible, like the system to be ready to add a few more panels should I want to later.
If anyone has any ideas and/or pointers on what kind of setup they would suggest, any help would be more than welcome.
Thank you in advance.

Will water pump run during day only or at random times. Seems like you can get along with 2 12v 100ah batteries or 1 24v 100ah battery. I recommend a 24 volt system just so you can make a larger system down the road.

Craig said:

Will water pump run during day only or at random times. Seems like you can get along with 2 12v 100ah batteries or 1 24v 100ah battery. I recommend a 24 volt system just so you can make a larger system down the road.

Click to expand...

Thank you for replying.
The water pump will be running during the day only. I was thinking 24v too, just not sure about which panels to get: a few lower wattage ones or already splash out for a couple of good ones around 350W.

I would get bigger panels but they are easily had around here. For you just find your best value per kilowatt. I'm thinking 600-700 watts should be plenty to run pump and keep batteries charged

Pls get all your materials new, don't get fairly used one so as to last longer, and you will have rest of mind at the long run

Topmaike007 said:

Pls get all your materials new, don't get fairly used one so as to last longer, and you will have rest of mind at the long run

Click to expand...

Good idea. Although it’ll be pretty difficult to find used gear here anyway as solar power is still very much a new thing here.

Why not get your gear from directly from China? I’m sure it would be a pain in customs, but may be worth it.

Nef003 said:

Why not get your gear from directly from China? I’m sure it would be a pain in customs, but may be worth it.

Click to expand...

Thanks for replying.
Thankfully, it’s not too difficult to find equipment here. However, as it’s still quite a new concept here, there is really not much of a second hand market(yet).
Unfortunately importing is not an option here at all: We have to pay an absurd 60% tax on imported goods.

Your biggest draw will be that pump and you can't stress an inverter with a constant load so you have to size accordingly. You didn't say type & use so I'll assume a fairly standard type which would likely have a 3x surge on start meaning a 1200W kick to get going. Of course that all depends on voltage etc... devil is in the details. 24V battery bank 100AH or better, 1000-1500w 24v Inverter, or Inverter / Charger combo, some even have MPPT Solar Controllers built in or dedicated solar in ports for external controllers. A couple of 60 Cell 300= watt panels and your likely good to go.

It all depends on what you have access to which isn't outrageously priced (60% duty = insanity !) and of course your working budget. There are some really good Chinese Inverter/Charger's with MPPT Solar Controllers built in at quite reasonable pricing. They are "not" as feature filled or capable as first tier products but they do the job they are designed to do. A Good "Value" system can be built with such components. Then of course the Battery issue which everyone struggles with, if you can get LifePO that would be great as their prices are getting closer (about 30% more $) to the same as FLA (well where I am anyways).

Good Luck,
Hope it helps.