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Hawaii Condo Living

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nakad1@808

New Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2024
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Hawaii
Aloha,

I am a total newbie to all of this and am inquiring about information on what setup I can configure to be able to run a 18 cu/ft fridge and 4.5 cu/ft front load washer for an extended time of about a week ? Local electric company has been having numerous outages statewide and are planning emergency rolling blackouts should high risk situations present themself. The Maui disaster has brought about changes and some implementation, but they recently had an extended power outage for 3 days in the downtown business area which caused major losses for food service businesses.

Condo space is limited though the balcony would have some space available. My thoughts though would be to place the solar panels there from 1pm - 5pm as the morning sun is not accessible to our side of the building during that time.

Any thoughts and information you could share would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks !

Mahalo,
Dean
 
Your fridge likely has a yellow energy sticker on it. That gives you the annual kWh usage. It's likely about 1.5kWh/day.

Can't comment on the front load washer, but they typically don't use much as long as they're not heating the water, and you wash with cold. Our old primitive top loader only uses something like 0.2kWh/load.

Unfortunately, only 4 hours of evening PV exposure (with no shading whatsoever) is going to demand a pretty substantial amount of solar. I would guess that you would need 500-600W of PV ideally positioned (as perpendicular to the sun as possible) to ensure you could get 1.5kWh/day.

A ~1000W pure sine wave inverter should be more than enough to handle the compressor surge. You'll probably want 2-3kWh of battery.
 
sunshine_eggo said:
Your fridge likely has a yellow energy sticker on it. That gives you the annual kWh usage. It's likely about 1.5kWh/day.

Can't comment on the front load washer, but they typically don't use much as long as they're not heating the water, and you wash with cold. Our old primitive top loader only uses something like 0.2kWh/load.

Unfortunately, only 4 hours of evening PV exposure (with no shading whatsoever) is going to demand a pretty substantial amount of solar. I would guess that you would need 500-600W of PV ideally positioned (as perpendicular to the sun as possible) to ensure you could get 1.5kWh/day.

A ~1000W pure sine wave inverter should be more than enough to handle the compressor surge. You'll probably want 2-3kWh of battery.
Click to expand...
Thank you sunshine for your response ! It doesn't sound like to complex a setup to accomplish what we need. I also appreciate the "Spoiler" link to get me pointed in the right direction. I'll go through the process laid out there to get a better grasp on things.

Mahalo for your help!
 
ScropusGobbleBottom said:
That is terrible!
Turning into California is wretched.
Click to expand...
Lol ! Yeah "Paradise" is a very expensive place to dwell ! Our infrastructure is very old, especially the plumbing where we have a water main break
everyday somewhere on the island. Traffic gets rerouted and is backed up for hours depending on the location. Our roads were rated second worst in the US where only Rhode Island was rated worst.
 
nakad1@808 said:
Aloha,

I am a total newbie to all of this and am inquiring about information on what setup I can configure to be able to run a 18 cu/ft fridge and 4.5 cu/ft front load washer for an extended time of about a week ? Local electric company has been having numerous outages statewide and are planning emergency rolling blackouts should high risk situations present themself. The Maui disaster has brought about changes and some implementation, but they recently had an extended power outage for 3 days in the downtown business area which caused major losses for food service businesses.

Condo space is limited though the balcony would have some space available. My thoughts though would be to place the solar panels there from 1pm - 5pm as the morning sun is not accessible to our side of the building during that time.

Any thoughts and information you could share would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks !

Mahalo,
Dean
Click to expand...
Based on what I'm using, I'd suggest a Victron 1200VA pheonix inverter.

I have the 48V version, and it runs my LG inverter front load washer no problem. Generally a couple hundred watts when washing, can ramp up to about 600W during spin cycle if you have it set to fastest. also runs main fridge freezer and two other freezers in the basement.

It can also start my LG propane drier and that one is a very big starting load for the little fella but it can do it as long as wash load isn't too massive.

Does Amazon ship batteries to Hawaii? If so something like this is pretty solid bang for buck, 3.5kWh for $509. Add additional in parallel if you need more runtime.

 
Which island and city? Those rails on the balcony are going to cast a shadow that may really hurt production.
 
You are grid-tied, and in a constrained area (condo, HOA, etc.) for solar panels, if I'm understanding everything correctly. Your big issue is recurring and potentially long-running outages.

A very reasonable solution is to start with an inverter/charger & battery-bank, sized to carry your critical loads through outages. This will be recharged from the grid when it comes back up, or from a fuel gen if outages are long-running. This is basically a UPS for your house loads, for when grid is down.

Later on, you can add in solar panels, either mobile or permanently attached, once you finish calculations and determine if panels become feasible. Regardless, the rest of the solution is still giving you coverage during an outage.

Really no different than a "solar generator", although you've gotten twice the capacity for half the cost, if you DIY ...

Hope this helps ...
 
50ShadesOfDirt said:
You are grid-tied, and in a constrained area (condo, HOA, etc.) for solar panels, if I'm understanding everything correctly. Your big issue is recurring and potentially long-running outages.

A very reasonable solution is to start with an inverter/charger & battery-bank, sized to carry your critical loads through outages. This will be recharged from the grid when it comes back up, or from a fuel gen if outages are long-running. This is basically a UPS for your house loads, for when grid is down.

Later on, you can add in solar panels, either mobile or permanently attached, once you finish calculations and determine if panels become feasible. Regardless, the rest of the solution is still giving you coverage during an outage.

Really no different than a "solar generator", although you've gotten twice the capacity for half the cost, if you DIY ...

Hope this helps ...
Click to expand...
This is the answer.

Funny name for the Hawai utility. Helco.
 
I'm with @50ShadesOfDirt on this one.
Basically build a UPS for your place. Instead of spending money on solar, spend money on battery capacity that will get you through to outages and then use the grid to charge the system.
This way the power is there from the moment you need it. Also relying on large loose panels that you have to move and store sounds like a pain. Plus, what if the power is out because of some nasty storm where you can't collect much solar and you have loose panels in high winds? Uggg.
 
What island are you on? We’re on the big island and heard nothing about this. When did the blackout take place?
I’ve read about Hellco’s plans to pull the plug depending on weather conditions starting July 1, 2024. Did this happen recently? Perhaps each island has its own rules (?).
 
Brucey said:
Based on what I'm using, I'd suggest a Victron 1200VA pheonix inverter.

I have the 48V version, and it runs my LG inverter front load washer no problem. Generally a couple hundred watts when washing, can ramp up to about 600W during spin cycle if you have it set to fastest. also runs main fridge freezer and two other freezers in the basement.

It can also start my LG propane drier and that one is a very big starting load for the little fella but it can do it as long as wash load isn't too massive.

Does Amazon ship batteries to Hawaii? If so something like this is pretty solid bang for buck, 3.5kWh for $509. Add additional in parallel if you need more runtime.

Click to expand...
That sounds like a affordable solution Brucey ! Unfortunately, Amazon does not ship lithium batteries to Hawaii. Your experience provides me with some valuable insight though and it's much appreciated ! Mahalo !
 
Bluedog225 said:
Which island and city? Those rails on the balcony are going to cast a shadow that may really hurt production.
Click to expand...
We're smack dab in Honolulu Bluedog on the island of Oahu. Gee, never thought of that .... raise them above the railings maybe during the hours we have sun access ? Thank you for responding !
 
DIYrich said:
You might have rights to some space on the roof.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately DIYrich, we're located on the 3rd floor of an 18 story building. Restrictive HOA's would probably not allow it and there's already a Verizon tower at the top also which the HOA receives funds for. Mahalo for your input !
 
nakad1@808 said:
We're smack dab in Honolulu Bluedog on the island of Oahu. Gee, never thought of that .... raise them above the railings maybe during the hours we have sun access ? Thank you for responding !
Click to expand...
May be able to hang them in front of the railings, so they aren't shadowed.
 
50ShadesOfDirt said:
You are grid-tied, and in a constrained area (condo, HOA, etc.) for solar panels, if I'm understanding everything correctly. Your big issue is recurring and potentially long-running outages.

A very reasonable solution is to start with an inverter/charger & battery-bank, sized to carry your critical loads through outages. This will be recharged from the grid when it comes back up, or from a fuel gen if outages are long-running. This is basically a UPS for your house loads, for when grid is down.

Later on, you can add in solar panels, either mobile or permanently attached, once you finish calculations and determine if panels become feasible. Regardless, the rest of the solution is still giving you coverage during an outage.

Really no different than a "solar generator", although you've gotten twice the capacity for half the cost, if you DIY ...

Hope this helps ...
Click to expand...
Sounds like great advice and describes how I should move forward acting upon this. Thank you 505ShadesOffDirt !
Your description of the issue I'm most concerned about is spot on and the advice favorable as 2 other members "liked" your response. We
appreciate your insight and simplifying a system I need to bring together that will meet our emergency needs. Much appreciated and thank you
again !
 
nakad1@808 said:
Unfortunately DIYrich, we're located on the 3rd floor of an 18 story building. Restrictive HOA's would probably not allow it and there's already a Verizon tower at the top also which the HOA receives funds for. Mahalo for your input !
Click to expand...
Sigh. Might want to search on Balcony Solar, which is popular in europe.
 
Gwelo said:
What island are you on? We’re on the big island and heard nothing about this. When did the blackout take place?
I’ve read about Hellco’s plans to pull the plug depending on weather conditions starting July 1, 2024. Did this happen recently? Perhaps each island has its own rules (?).
Click to expand...
This one Gwelo:

https://www.khon2.com/local-news/he...-heco-outage-has-set-our-business-back-years/

Are they called Hellco now ? Or is that what the Plaintiff's are calling them .... ?
They've been known as HECO as long as I can remember ....
 
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