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5th day of no sun

Zwy

Zwy

Emperor Of Solar
Joined
Jan 3, 2021
Messages
7,181
Location
Timbuktu, IA
Currently on day 5 of no sun, finally turned the heat pump off and turned on the furnace this morning. Battery is currently at 21% and we are using about 1%/hour. I finally turned the AC input on to the inverters, breaker has been off since March.

No laundry, no dryer, no dishwasher ran in the last 4 days. I saw the forecast for at least 4 days of no sun, then it changed to 5 days with snow in the forecast for today. This has been a test to see how long we could go with running the heat pump for heat and fully cloudy days. Only thing I might have changed would have been to turn the furnace on earlier.

Now it is wait until inverters flip to grid power, I've never had to use this function yet. Need to make sure it all works like it should. Not worried. Maybe late today, lowest cells are still at 3.20V. Pretty amazing actually that battery has lasted this long with no sun.
 
Zwy said:
Currently on day 5 of no sun, finally turned the heat pump off and turned on the furnace this morning. Battery is currently at 21% and we are using about 1%/hour. I finally turned the AC input on to the inverters, breaker has been off since March.

No laundry, no dryer, no dishwasher ran in the last 4 days. I saw the forecast for at least 4 days of no sun, then it changed to 5 days with snow in the forecast for today. This has been a test to see how long we could go with running the heat pump for heat and fully cloudy days. Only thing I might have changed would have been to turn the furnace on earlier.

Now it is wait until inverters flip to grid power, I've never had to use this function yet. Need to make sure it all works like it should. Not worried. Maybe late today, lowest cells are still at 3.20V. Pretty amazing actually that battery has lasted this long with no sun.
Click to expand...
Battery size?
 
Guess it is obvious you do not have a some kind of generator. Just wondering why not? Probably cheaper and easier to just flip switch for grid power? Glossed over that part.. Hope the sun shines soon for you..
 
Last edited:
Zwy said:
Currently on day 5 of no sun, finally turned the heat pump off and turned on the furnace this morning. Battery is currently at 21% and we are using about 1%/hour. I finally turned the AC input on to the inverters, breaker has been off since March.

No laundry, no dryer, no dishwasher ran in the last 4 days. I saw the forecast for at least 4 days of no sun, then it changed to 5 days with snow in the forecast for today. This has been a test to see how long we could go with running the heat pump for heat and fully cloudy days. Only thing I might have changed would have been to turn the furnace on earlier.

Now it is wait until inverters flip to grid power, I've never had to use this function yet. Need to make sure it all works like it should. Not worried. Maybe late today, lowest cells are still at 3.20V. Pretty amazing actually that battery has lasted this long with no sun.
Click to expand...
Keep us posted!
 
Overcast weather here too for the last weekish.
Batteries are not more than half charged...
Feeling the grid angst here too...
 
Keith71 said:
Guess it is obvious you do not have a some kind of generator. Just wondering why not? Probably cheaper and easier to just flip switch for grid power? Glossed over that part.. Hope the sun shines soon for you..
Click to expand...
Grid is backup. Most of this was a test to see how many days I could let heat pump run instead of the furnace with endless cloudy days. If I had switched to the furnace earlier, probably would be 30% SOC and sun should come out tomorrow, even if briefly.
 
Supervstech said:
Yeah, winter weather coupled with the increased need for heating really detracts from solar independence
Click to expand...
I have a big stack of wood after cutting 18 trees down (emerald ash borer) and have 4 more left. Some of these are over 4 foot in diameter.

Only problem is I don't own a woodburner.......... :ROFLMAO:

I'm waiting to see how much propane we use this winter to determine my next step. Next door neighbor wants to know what I intend to do with the wood. I've been stringing him along since I started the solar project. First, we needed to dry out the basement and I took the outside 12 inches of concrete out of the basement floor, dug in tile and re-cemented the floor. He asked what I was doing, I told him I was building a bunker in the basement. Then installed the solar array. Bulk fuel truck came and dropped 1200 gallon of diesel and 750 gallon of gasoline. Then I tilled up a garden.

He asked one day if I was prepping for something and if I was doing anything else? I said yes, I bought enough ammo to completely fill in the space under my bed.

Now the wood is driving him nuts, he must think I'll be on Doomsday Preppers next. :ROFLMAO:
 
Zwy said:
I have a big stack of wood after cutting 18 trees down (emerald ash borer) and have 4 more left. Some of these are over 4 foot in diameter.

Only problem is I don't own a woodburner.......... :ROFLMAO:

I'm waiting to see how much propane we use this winter to determine my next step. Next door neighbor wants to know what I intend to do with the wood. I've been stringing him along since I started the solar project. First, we needed to dry out the basement and I took the outside 12 inches of concrete out of the basement floor, dug in tile and re-cemented the floor. He asked what I was doing, I told him I was building a bunker in the basement. Then installed the solar array. Bulk fuel truck came and dropped 1200 gallon of diesel and 750 gallon of gasoline. Then I tilled up a garden.

He asked one day if I was prepping for something and if I was doing anything else? I said yes, I bought enough ammo to completely fill in the space under my bed.

Now the wood is driving him nuts, he must think I'll be on Doomsday Preppers next. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
ROTFLMAO!!! Excellent!
 
If you’re providing your own power with solar and off grid sub panel with batteries and use grid every once in a while would the power company have any issues if they discovered all of that? I mean it’s not illegal to be power self sufficient is it?
I’m currently just lurking here and designing a small off grid system with grid as a backup.
 
Tripplett said:
If you’re providing your own power with solar and off grid sub panel with batteries and use grid every once in a while would the power company have any issues if they discovered all of that? I mean it’s not illegal to be power self sufficient is it?
I’m currently just lurking here and designing a small off grid system with grid as a backup.
Click to expand...
Permits, inspections, code, etc...
 
Kenny_ said:
Permits, inspections, code, etc...
Click to expand...
Ugh. Well I have a nema 14-50 for an EV. Maybe I should just build a “cart” with my AIO inverter and batteries, Will style, and run some stuff off of extension cords. Then charge off a 50a pigtail if ever needed.

Its annoying that all that isn’t as neat and (arguably) as safe as a stand alone panel yet we’d be pushed that route as a DIY’er that just wants to dabble a little into solar to start - following code 100%. Unless of course I want to permit/inspect too.
 
Tripplett said:
Ugh. Well I have a nema 14-50 for an EV. Maybe I should just build a “cart” with my AIO inverter and batteries, Will style, and run some stuff off of extension cords. Then charge off a 50a pigtail if ever needed.

Its annoying that all that isn’t as neat and (arguably) as safe as a stand alone panel yet we’d be pushed that route as a DIY’er that just wants to dabble a little into solar to start - following code 100%. Unless of course I want to permit/inspect too.
Click to expand...
Well I'm hoping to go full legal at some point....right now just getting everything tested, working, etc. Once I'm satisfied I'll go full boat and get it all certified/inspected/etc.
 
Update- Energizer bunny must be lurking in the basement as it is still going. There was some PV from the ambient light during the day that covered light loads and actually saw a few hundred watts charging the batteries. I'll be lucky if it was 1.5 Kwh of PV for the day.

I've been watching cell balance down here at the low end, certainly interesting which cells are lower in voltage down here. Not the ones I see that are lower at the high end. Battery at 50.8V (around 16%), inverters are set to switch to grid at 48V. I might even drop down to 46V to see how things go.

We have been running everything we normally would, just not doing laundry.
 
Tripplett said:
If you’re providing your own power with solar and off grid sub panel with batteries and use grid every once in a while would the power company have any issues if they discovered all of that? I mean it’s not illegal to be power self sufficient is it?
I’m currently just lurking here and designing a small off grid system with grid as a backup.
Click to expand...
The tech didn't pay attention to the solar panels. He just wanted to test the meter and be on his way.
 
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