Hello everyone, I've asked a few questions on here and have had some very helpful advice and have learned a ton so thank you. As we're starting to finalize our off grid solar design, I wanted to ask for any input as it would be tremendously helpful. We are designing a property that will have two yurts (one for us and one that we will use as a short term rental) and one small campground development (no RV sites, permitted for 12 sites total, will be "glamping" where we provide lights and some minimal electrical connections for each site). We will be starting by building our yurt, a central restroom facility, and 4-6 sites and then developing the rest in the future. We discussed with a solar contractor in our area and he proposed a Radian system that seems to be fairly robust. I'm not sure if it is overkill and I wanted to get any thoughts I could. Realistically, we don't have the budget to put in the system he is proposing. He is also proposing one system for the two yurts (the smaller system attached) and a separate system for the main facility (larger system attached). I'm thinking we can certainly save some money by having one robust system to handle everything but we are having him provide a quote to run electrical from the main facility to the yurts so that is to be determined. Sorry for the long post, just wanted to give all information in case it is useful.
My questions are as follows:
1. When sizing these systems, how can I determine what diversity to use? I've listed out every component I can possibly imagine being plugged in and it seems highly unlikely or impossible that everything will be plugged in and on at the same time.
2. I'm thinking we may have to go with less expensive equipment to minimize costs. 3xMPP 6548 would seem to work well on paper. I understand that these are less expensive and I'm sure the Outback equipment is better but what benefits would we truly be gaining by going that route? $27k vs. $5k is a large difference for these pieces of equipment, we may not have much option due to budget but I want to know if there is anything else that someone would recommend or if there are any major downsides.
3. For batteries, we were recommended to use Crown batteries which we are not necessarily opposed to. I've done quite a bit of research into LiFePO4 and it seems to be a solid chemistry. If we go with EG4 batteries by signature solar, I believe they are cost competitive and may be a good option. I discussed these specifically with him and he was concerned by the recommended 30A recommended discharge and was saying we may need to have more batteries to account for this. He did say that we can certainly go above this but that it may decrease the lifespan. Is this something we should be very concerned about? Again, I'm not sure that we will be really approaching extremely high wattages very often but I definitely don't want to harm the batteries greatly.
4. Is there a real difference between solar panels? The ones that were quoted were significantly more expensive than what we are seeing on signature solar or similar and I can't imagine that there's much of a difference. I'm sure this is just what he's the most comfortable installing and I've asked the question and I'm sure he won't have a problem installing any type. I'm just curious if there's anything we should be keeping away from.
Anyway, long story short, I am suggesting that we put in (3) MPP 6548's, (12) EG4 5kwh batteries (am tempted to do less but this may be realistically what we need), whatever panels we settle on but somewhere on the scale of 12kw and a generator for backup. We're aware that this isn't going to be cheap but having two separate systems as quoted was far higher than we were anticipating. How does all of this sound for the loads we are showing? Oversized, undersized, or a combination of the two? Definitely looking for a shake down so if all of this looks terrible, let me know your suggestions and thanks so much in advance!
My questions are as follows:
1. When sizing these systems, how can I determine what diversity to use? I've listed out every component I can possibly imagine being plugged in and it seems highly unlikely or impossible that everything will be plugged in and on at the same time.
2. I'm thinking we may have to go with less expensive equipment to minimize costs. 3xMPP 6548 would seem to work well on paper. I understand that these are less expensive and I'm sure the Outback equipment is better but what benefits would we truly be gaining by going that route? $27k vs. $5k is a large difference for these pieces of equipment, we may not have much option due to budget but I want to know if there is anything else that someone would recommend or if there are any major downsides.
3. For batteries, we were recommended to use Crown batteries which we are not necessarily opposed to. I've done quite a bit of research into LiFePO4 and it seems to be a solid chemistry. If we go with EG4 batteries by signature solar, I believe they are cost competitive and may be a good option. I discussed these specifically with him and he was concerned by the recommended 30A recommended discharge and was saying we may need to have more batteries to account for this. He did say that we can certainly go above this but that it may decrease the lifespan. Is this something we should be very concerned about? Again, I'm not sure that we will be really approaching extremely high wattages very often but I definitely don't want to harm the batteries greatly.
4. Is there a real difference between solar panels? The ones that were quoted were significantly more expensive than what we are seeing on signature solar or similar and I can't imagine that there's much of a difference. I'm sure this is just what he's the most comfortable installing and I've asked the question and I'm sure he won't have a problem installing any type. I'm just curious if there's anything we should be keeping away from.
Anyway, long story short, I am suggesting that we put in (3) MPP 6548's, (12) EG4 5kwh batteries (am tempted to do less but this may be realistically what we need), whatever panels we settle on but somewhere on the scale of 12kw and a generator for backup. We're aware that this isn't going to be cheap but having two separate systems as quoted was far higher than we were anticipating. How does all of this sound for the loads we are showing? Oversized, undersized, or a combination of the two? Definitely looking for a shake down so if all of this looks terrible, let me know your suggestions and thanks so much in advance!