diy solar

diy solar

About to spend a lot of money tomorrow on this system (am I making a mistake?)

What I mean is it generates simple 230VAC@50hz and we want 120/230VAC@60hz split phase for distribution and consumption.
Victron makes inverters that support 120/240VAC@60hz for the North American market.
I very glad I asked, this will remove a lot of jiggery-pokery from the system even if we go with transformers.
We really should have started here.

Do you have a power budget for each of the buildings?
By that I mean peak instantaneous power in kilo-watts and kilo-watt hours per day?
Can you make an itemized list of the 120 and 240 loads?
Ah, I would have thought my Victron dealer would have brought this up. I don't understand the Hz differences but thanks for bringing that to my attention.

Working on a power budget now and will post when we get that up...
 
What I mean is it generates simple 230VAC@50hz and we want 120/230VAC@60hz split phase for distribution and consumption.

Can be configured for 240VAC/60Hz.

Victron makes inverters that support 120/240VAC@60hz for the North American market.

Only the Quattro offers 120VAC in 4000W+ in 48V. Need 2X in parallel to make split phase.

I very glad I asked, this will remove a lot of jiggery-pokery from the system even if we go with transformers.
We really should have started here.

EU Victron inverter + autotransformer is a very common solution for 120/240VAC.
 
I'm seeing this same thing was discussed over here:

 
So the Multiplus 2 model we're poised to buy can give out 8KW of power or so. If we bought another one and ran them together could we double the power we get to the cabin (so long as we plan for that with wire size)?
 
Your equipment is presumably designed for the North American market which runs on 240 Volt 60 Hz. The European standard is 230 V 50 Hz.
Got ya. Yeah, it's a dealer in North America selling it to us. I guess I should confirm with him though.
 
Does it care about hz?
It cares about brown bears. Outside of that, it hasn't gotten to the point of caring about hz. The interior walls aren't even done, we're still building it and powering stuff off a Goal Zero and a Honda generator.

We are planning for that ClimateMaster GSHP and I'm not sure if it cares about hz or not. I'm going to hopefully talk to a dealer on Monday to get some of my electrical questions answered.
 
So the Multiplus 2 model we're poised to buy can give out 8KW of power or so. If we bought another one and ran them together could we double the power we get to the cabin (so long as we plan for that with wire size)?

Yes, but it sounds like the only thing this would do for you is:
  1. Lighten your wallet: 1) second inverter, 2) even beefier wires to handle 2X the current.
  2. Increase your idle power consumption.
 
It cares about brown bears. Outside of that, it hasn't gotten to the point of caring about hz. The interior walls aren't even done, we're still building it and powering stuff off a Goal Zero and a Honda generator.

We are planning for that ClimateMaster GSHP and I'm not sure if it cares about hz or not. I'm going to hopefully talk to a dealer on Monday to get some of my electrical questions answered.

It does. It explicitly states 60 on the already-linked info.

Additionally, every other 120VAC item you will buy will care too.

Again, MP II can be configured for 240VAC/60Hz.
 
Yes, but it sounds like the only thing this would do for you is:
  1. Lighten your wallet: 1) second inverter, 2) even beefier wires to handle 2X the current.
  2. Increase your idle power consumption.
Why would that be the only things it would do for me? Wouldn't it also allow us to use more power?
 
Why would that be the only things it would do for me? Wouldn't it also allow us to use more power?

You have yet to demonstrate a strong need for even 8000W. The 2500W you will have left over when the heat pump is running at max is enough for most folks. The heat pump will typically not run anywhere near that max power when it's just maintaining a temperature.

Since you're planning on doubling your power, are you also planning to double your array and double your battery?
 
We're looking at the rainwater collection system we have yet to design and yet to build to try to figure out what power we'll need for water pump(s) to deliver water ten feet up to the cabin and the wife is looking at all the kitchen gadgets she's going to want in the future so we should have an idea of what kind of power we think we need before too long.

I'll deal with other structures later for power, I'm dropping them from this project and will deal with them later. This has gotten far too cosmic for me.

I think I will also move all the equipment to the cabin and just run a DC wire the distance. I've had enough of juggling ten things I know nothing about with a bankrupting price tag behind it.
 
You have yet to demonstrate a strong need for even 8000W. The 2500W you will have left over when the heat pump is running at max is enough for most folks. The heat pump will typically not run anywhere near that max power when it's just maintaining a temperature.

Since you're planning on doubling your power, are you also planning to double your array and double your battery?
The GSHP alone can use up to 3KW/hr just for heating.
 
It does. It explicitly states 60 on the already-linked info.

Additionally, every other 120VAC item you will buy will care too.

Again, MP II can be configured for 240VAC/60Hz.
Cool in that case you could run the auto-transformer local to the heat pump and isolate the complexity.
 
You have yet to demonstrate a strong need for even 8000W. The 2500W you will have left over when the heat pump is running at max is enough for most folks. The heat pump will typically not run anywhere near that max power when it's just maintaining a temperature.

Since you're planning on doubling your power, are you also planning to double your array and double your battery?
I was just asking a question, I wasn't planning anything. I'm asking those questions in order to size wires to help me future proof.
 
We're looking at the rainwater collection system we have yet to design and yet to build to try to figure out what power we'll need for water pump(s) to deliver water ten feet up to the cabin and the wife is looking at all the kitchen gadgets she's going to want in the future so we should have an idea of what kind of power we think we need before too long.

I'll deal with other structures later for power, I'm dropping them from this project and will deal with them later. This has gotten far too cosmic for me.

I think I will also move all the equipment to the cabin and just run a DC wire the distance. I've had enough of juggling ten things I know nothing about with a bankrupting price tag behind it.
Your new plan is not clear to me.
Which structures are you dropping?
Where is the dc going at what voltage and amperage?
 
Your new plan is not clear to me.
Which structures are you dropping?
Where is the dc going at what voltage and amperage?
I'm only concerned now with the PV location in the sunny spot, and our cabin 500 feet away. I don't want to deal with 12 wires for 14 split phases in 8 dimensions for 500 feet of trenching to the cabin.

One DC wire carrying the PV to the cabin/inverter/MPPT/etc and then I'll hire an electrician to pick whatever gold plated, zinc infused, Auto Transforming Flux Capacitor he wants to make the GSHP and the cabin circuits work. Since it will be a small distance.

The PV is 22KW.
 
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