I have ten 170amp hr batteries 12v. and want to know what to get to power a small home. that has a 220v well pump and a 120v water heater ,computer, and lights (comp and lights would be less than 200w ) i dont know anything at all and im not sure what to buy. and i CANNOT waste anymore money
HELP
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chrisski
Solar Boondocker
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Really need to do an energy audit.
The electric water heater adds a huge expense to the system, and the different voltage for 220 V tells me that is a 2000 watt+ pump. Based off that I see solar power costing thousands of dollars.
Computers have a widely different daw also. A small laptop can be 100 watts, but you ought to plan for 250 watts for a laptop, and a desktop is more.
I recommend getting a kilawatt meter and start measuring usage for these devices. You want to get an energy requirement based off watt hours per day.
Atthe top of the page is a blueprint link which will take you to some things to get your thinking in the right direction.
You did come to the right place and welcome.
The electric water heater adds a huge expense to the system, and the different voltage for 220 V tells me that is a 2000 watt+ pump. Based off that I see solar power costing thousands of dollars.
Computers have a widely different daw also. A small laptop can be 100 watts, but you ought to plan for 250 watts for a laptop, and a desktop is more.
I recommend getting a kilawatt meter and start measuring usage for these devices. You want to get an energy requirement based off watt hours per day.
Atthe top of the page is a blueprint link which will take you to some things to get your thinking in the right direction.
You did come to the right place and welcome.
Ok, you don’t say what kind of batteries, so, I will guess lead acid, so 50% max depth of discharge, leaves 880Ah or 10,000ish Wh… it is far easier to work from Wh…
that is your total storage capability, so your evening and cloudy loads cannot be over 10KWh per day… any you need to have enough solar to handle the load during the day, and recharge the bank’s nighttime depletion.
Now, after you have completed your energy audit, you will have an idea what you are starting with, and know if you have enough.
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so what pieces do i need to have a running system . we run a 120v water heater 15 gals. this doesnt run all the time it holds heat after its been on. then the pump is 220v . as for watts. no idea it was here longer than us, but it has a pressure tank. meaning it also doesnt run all the time. What would be is our new HP pavillion at 125 w and the fridge 125w daily and maybe in extreme cases 125w hr of lighting. Thats it. no electric stove. thats gone replaced by an alcohol stove from a ships galley. we use less than the average person alone.( wife and I) we run the clothes washer dryer from a generator. and also any work tools requiring electricity .
You need to determine the watt hour load, and the max startup watts. The water heater is simple resistance, you can look at the element, it will be labeled. Most likely, 1500W. The pump is trickier. Can you see the pump? Or is it submerged? If above ground, it is a jet pump, and the data plate will be on the motor.
If submerged, you will need a meter and need to measure running amps and convert to watts to make sure the inverter you choose can handle the pump.
If submerged, you will need a meter and need to measure running amps and convert to watts to make sure the inverter you choose can handle the pump.
It could be anything.
It needs to be measured.
It needs to be measured.
And, if you manage to do so, run a capacity test to see where these cells are at this moment.
Based on the specs, they seem quality cells, with still 1000 cycles at 65% discharge (1500@50%) but they are also 6 years old.
Temperature is a huge factor in their total life. For regular lead-acid cells, 6 year is already almost end of life...
You eventually have to replace the batteries. Its always good to know when to expect this, especially if your budget doesn't allow instant buy of new cells when shit hits the fan.
Based on the specs, they seem quality cells, with still 1000 cycles at 65% discharge (1500@50%) but they are also 6 years old.
Temperature is a huge factor in their total life. For regular lead-acid cells, 6 year is already almost end of life...
You eventually have to replace the batteries. Its always good to know when to expect this, especially if your budget doesn't allow instant buy of new cells when shit hits the fan.
765KWh per month you mean.
Divided by 30 is 25.5 KWh per day. I would round up to 30.
that is a fairly large setup, but not outrageous. You currently have about 10… so, to match the current usage, you will need more storage. However, during the sun hours, the KWh can come from the sun. So, 5ish of the 24 hours, or about 6KWh on top of needed solar charging can reduce the pack slightly, so possibly only 20KWh storage needed… depends on when the usage is greatest… day, or night.
let’s say we need 30KWh solar per day, divide that by sun hours average, and we get 6000W solar… add another 1000 to cover daily use, and you should be over your requirements with a little cushion.
Poverty Pony
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If your main goal is to save money, plugging into the grid is hard to beat (especially if you already have power wired to your house, remote mountain top cabins are a different animal...) What are you trying to achieve? maybe you can use what you have on hand to reduce your grid usage. It might make more sense to convert your hot water to propane or something.
I'm thinking if you could tell more about what you're ultimately trying to do there would be a lot of good suggestions to follow...
I'm thinking if you could tell more about what you're ultimately trying to do there would be a lot of good suggestions to follow...
12VoltInstalls
life passes by too quickly to not live in freedom
that is a really good plan imho; then you can plan to pump periodically with a short generator runtime and avoid the high cost of solaring a high-watt pump. A 6A12V pump would/could maintain system pressure under cistern water use.
While true they don’t sound grid connected cuz the questions wouldn’t be as urgent sounding; I could be wrong?
Horsefly
Solar Wizard
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