diy solar

diy solar

I'd like to pay someone to design my solar system

S

ssean

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I hope this doesn't violate any forum rules.

I'd like to hire someone knowledgeable (from the forum) to help me design a solar system. I have very little knowledge on the subject.

I live in a rural area of Puerto Rico and we have very few local installers.

I'd like to pay someone to help me design a system. I can then order the parts and use a local installer/electrician to hook everything up.

Thanks in advance.
 
advices are free, but it depends a lot of what you can find locally.
first you need to find a place for the panels.
south oriented , without shading.
then you need to make an idea on how much energy you need and how it is distributed over a full day/night cycle.
when you get the data, you can choose the equipement and granularity.
simple as an all-in one MPPT, or complex like a device for each task (controller, charger, inverter).
if money is an issue, you can start small and build up, but you need to choose a setup allowing upgrade.
 
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I've narrowed it down to two choices:

Schneider Electric or Victron Energy
 
well, it is like if you asked us help choosing for a car and you said you narrowed it to a blue or a red one.
 
Victron stuff is nice. There is Texas Filipino on youtube who has MPP solar stuff and said it was reliable for the price. Being that the Philippines has unreliable power.
 
baymarinesupply.com has an option where they will design you a system for a fee. Might want to check them out if you're looking for professional help.

System Concept Schematic Development - 60 minute

One hour (59:59) of design time to develop custom system concept schematics to customer specification
baymarinesupply.com baymarinesupply.com
 
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If you want to pay for for basic design/consulting or plan review here are some leads:
Pacific Yacht Systems
AM Solar
Bay Marine Supply
Explorist.life
 
There are quite a few blueprints here:
DIY Solar Blueprints

If you find one that is closest to what you want to do and present what would need to be changed to suit your particular situation, we can get you pretty darn far. Price is darn reasonable too.

Have a look, at least you will learn a bit about different types of systems.

Also check out the videos under the "More..." menu item on that site (its the sister-site to this one).
 
MisterSandals said:
There are quite a few blueprints here:
DIY Solar Blueprints

If you find one that is closest to what you want to do and present what would need to be changed to suit your particular situation, we can get you pretty darn far. Price is darn reasonable too.

Have a look, at least you will learn a bit about different types of systems.

Also check out the videos under the "More..." menu item on that site (its the sister-site to this one).
Click to expand...

Thank you
 
ssean said:
How does this setup look?
Click to expand...
It is REALLY hard to pick a solution for you (a correct one anyway) without knowing what your energy needs are and what you are trying to do.
Do you know how many watt hours of energy you use each day?

Here is a good place to figure out your needs. With this info, its fairly straightforward figuring out which products meet your needs.

  1. New to solar and looking to size your system. What do you want to power and for how long? Energy Audit. (shamelessly stolen from snoobler)
 
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MisterSandals said:
It is REALLY hard to pick a solution for you (a correct one anyway) without knowing what your energy needs are and what you are trying to do.
Do you know how many watt hours of energy you use each day?

Here is a good place to figure out your needs. With this info, its fairly straightforward figuring out which products meet your needs.

  1. New to solar and looking to size your system. What do you want to power and for how long? Energy Audit. (shamelessly stolen from snoobler)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link. I will try to calculate my overall usage.

To give you a general idea:

- 4x mini split AC units - each unit pulls approximately 1000 watts continuous when in use.
- Refrigerator
- Washer/Dryer
- Chest freezer
- Oven
- Computers / Server
- Well pump (future upgrade)

I'd like to over-design this, due to the fact that our grid is extremely unreliable.

I currently have 64x 280ah LifePo4 batteries @ 3.2V, which are arranged in 4 banks of 16 cells in series. (48V)

Total storage capacity is approx 53 kWh.
 
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so you got the batteries and nothing to charge or pull the power out of them ?
you don't really want solar power ? you just need a charger/inverter to build an UPS ?
Seeing the list of your load, even 53KWh seems a bit short.
If you release your data bit by bit, it will be a long way...
 
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nosys70 said:
so you got the batteries and nothing to charge or pull the power out of them ?
you don't really want solar power ? you just need a charger/inverter ?
Click to expand...

I definitely need solar power. I'm in the process of acquiring components.
 
ssean said:
I definitely need solar power. I'm in the process of acquiring components.
Click to expand...
Do you want to think about redundancy on the equipment since you will be running so many batteries? Are the two apartments closed to each other or far away on the property?
 
ssean said:
Thanks for the link. I will try to calculate my overall usage.

To give you a general idea:

- 4x mini split AC units - each unit pulls approximately 1500 watts continuous when in use.
- Refrigerator
- Washer/Dryer
- Chest freezer
- Oven
- Computers / Server
- Well pump (future upgrade)

I'd like to over-design this, due to the fact that our grid is extremely unreliable.

I currently have 64x 280ah LifePo4 batteries @ 3.2V, which are arranged in 4 banks of 16 cells in series. (48V)

Total storage capacity is approx 53 kWh.
Click to expand...
My 12K btu mini-splits don't draw anywhere near that kind of wattage. More like 800w max
 
It's a three story home, setup as a triplex. Only one of the units, other then my own, are currently occupied. My main concern is my unit.
 
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