diy solar

diy solar

400 watt solar + Victron 1200 watt inverter + Victron 30 amp Charge Controller + Smart Shunt + SOK 206 ah battery

erictstahl

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Joined
Apr 25, 2021
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27
My first solar project, thanks to Will Prowse! I put this on my home roof/garage as emergency back up power. Works great. Feedback is welcome.
 

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Nice work, and all top-shelf gear too! You might think you're finished...but I'm afraid it's just the beginning? You'll find yourself wanting to use the "emergency backup" system for more and more stuff. By this time next year (or sooner) you'll be wanting bigger panels, bigger SCC, bigger battery, bigger inverter...it's an addiction!!?

Love the Victron stuff, I've got a SCC and inverter from them, but went "cheap" with a Renogy shunt/monitor (it's does fine though).
 
Ha! You are 100% right. I would like to add more panels,,, and another battery… it is addicting. This rig is literally next to my home service panel. I wish here was an easy way to power a few of my home circuits from it… like the refrigerator. Right now it’s powering stuff that I could easily plug into it, like the garage door opener, my wifi router and my ebike, but I’m hardly using it.
 
Yup, that's EXACTLY how I progressed. First my garage and e-bike, then tried to run my fridge for a few days (but cloudy days would spoil it). So...had to up-size everything! I ended up installing several new plug/outlets in strategic locations around my house then wiring them back to my inverter. So I can easily swap plugs (fridge, AC, etc) from normal grid power to solar power.

I'm *not* recommending you do this, unless you're very savvy with electrical stuff or know someone who is...but, I also used a pair of these to make one of my normal house circuits "dual use" - connected to my normal AC service panel, or, disconnected from that and instead connected to inverter. Totally not to code, very shady, but served my purposes well.

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I don't know how to do it, but my ideal would be to build a small system that shaves the peak times. At $.50/kwh it wouldn't be a very long payback.
 

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I know this is an old post but, in your diagram, you specify 1 x SOK 206Ah battery. Since max discharge on that battery is 100A, too low for your inverter 1200VA inverter, do you simply stay well below max wattage?
 
I know this is an old post but, in your diagram, you specify 1 x SOK 206Ah battery. Since max discharge on that battery is 100A, too low for your inverter 1200VA inverter, do you simply stay well below max wattage?
100a x 11.2(SOK rec. low voltage cut off)= 1120w

The 12/1200 pheonix has a 1200va rating and 1000w max rating at 25C. I have the same battery and same inverter and have pushed 900-1000w for over an hour with no issue. Inverter was definitely warm but it worked fine.
 
Oh nice! I have the same battery and thought I was limited to the 800VA.
 
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