superchachi
New Member
Hi all,
been lurking here for a while, watching and re-watching every solar video on YouTube, etc.
I am trying to wrap my head around how to get to the finish line and start spending a bunch of money on solar equipment.
We have an existing 400a service that we paid to put in a couple of years ago. The impetus was two-fold: 1) remove the existing overhead service that landed out in the middle of our yard (low WAF) and increase the available power for the eventual 50x50 man cave aka "the garage." The "ranch panel," a Siemens MC0816B1400RTLM is rated at 400a, but 320a continuous. The meter has dual lugs which feeds two 200a main breakers. We are on over 5ac and have a well which has two pumps...one in the ground pumping into a large water storage tank and another pump to pressurize our water.
One of the 200a feeders runs to the house (approx 150ft) and the other 200a feeds a line that runs about 100' to the well side of the property (90 degrees from the panel).
The goal is to be independent of the grid if we want to be, but still be tied (at least until the "off grid" capability is tried and tested). We live in the hill country west of Austin, TX. So, we get plenty of sun. In the cool months, which I think there are about two of, we use around 60kwh/day. Currently, we are around 130kwh/day as the house we live in, while relatively new, is an air sieve. The spray foam crew is blasting my attic right now with 6" of open cell foam...we will see if that helps.
I have some toys and a number of them like electricity. The shop will have a 25a/240v lift, a number of welders, 5hp air compressor, etc...so, while I don't plan on using 400a...or even 320a, I would like to have it available if possible. Because of this, and the SA15k's "pass through" capability of 200a each I figured they would be my best bet. That, and that I can stack them in odd configurations rather than having to buy two of something else should I need more current available. I was looking at the Victron Quattro 15k, but it only appears to do 100a pass-through.
I am planning on building a small equipment shed, with cooling, to house this whole setup about 10-15 feet away from the service panel.
After reading through a lot of threads here I started wondering how well the "pass through" actually works. Has anyone actually run loads north of 60-70 amps and had no issues? It seems that I am hung up on the 400a service and pass-through capabilities...if I don't have that, I am wondering if I even need to deal with all of that and go with a more traditional AC coupled style setup that just backfeeds in to a panel?
Pretty much talked myself around in circles at this point.
-Jason
been lurking here for a while, watching and re-watching every solar video on YouTube, etc.
I am trying to wrap my head around how to get to the finish line and start spending a bunch of money on solar equipment.
We have an existing 400a service that we paid to put in a couple of years ago. The impetus was two-fold: 1) remove the existing overhead service that landed out in the middle of our yard (low WAF) and increase the available power for the eventual 50x50 man cave aka "the garage." The "ranch panel," a Siemens MC0816B1400RTLM is rated at 400a, but 320a continuous. The meter has dual lugs which feeds two 200a main breakers. We are on over 5ac and have a well which has two pumps...one in the ground pumping into a large water storage tank and another pump to pressurize our water.
One of the 200a feeders runs to the house (approx 150ft) and the other 200a feeds a line that runs about 100' to the well side of the property (90 degrees from the panel).
The goal is to be independent of the grid if we want to be, but still be tied (at least until the "off grid" capability is tried and tested). We live in the hill country west of Austin, TX. So, we get plenty of sun. In the cool months, which I think there are about two of, we use around 60kwh/day. Currently, we are around 130kwh/day as the house we live in, while relatively new, is an air sieve. The spray foam crew is blasting my attic right now with 6" of open cell foam...we will see if that helps.
I have some toys and a number of them like electricity. The shop will have a 25a/240v lift, a number of welders, 5hp air compressor, etc...so, while I don't plan on using 400a...or even 320a, I would like to have it available if possible. Because of this, and the SA15k's "pass through" capability of 200a each I figured they would be my best bet. That, and that I can stack them in odd configurations rather than having to buy two of something else should I need more current available. I was looking at the Victron Quattro 15k, but it only appears to do 100a pass-through.
I am planning on building a small equipment shed, with cooling, to house this whole setup about 10-15 feet away from the service panel.
After reading through a lot of threads here I started wondering how well the "pass through" actually works. Has anyone actually run loads north of 60-70 amps and had no issues? It seems that I am hung up on the 400a service and pass-through capabilities...if I don't have that, I am wondering if I even need to deal with all of that and go with a more traditional AC coupled style setup that just backfeeds in to a panel?
Pretty much talked myself around in circles at this point.
-Jason