Cost of solar
- Thread starter corn18
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OffGridForGood
Catch, make or grow everything you can.
There’s no fallin for nothing..my wife wouldn't fall for that.
I say - "that solar stuff belongs to the company dear, paid with before-tax dollars and all written off anyway."
…swear ….I just found 20 Canadian Solar 390 watt panels over by the cat food section at Dollar General on close out..( no returns / no refunds,) for $1.50 each..
45 lbs each or whatever… a pain to lift and load..
….( now I can show her this thread …) …if it’s on the internet it must be true…
Again.... there is a ton of trash talk about AIOs that are indeed all made in China. Now can we discuss where Victron is made? Oh , hey, China, Malaysia and India.... So AIO are cheap junk and Victron is perfect.?? My point is that there is a TON of trash talk that AIOs are junk, but I have seen nothing substantial to back up the claim.
..and to clarify... Victron is good stuff, but it isn't feasible for all due to the cost. I didn't have more than what I spent, and I had to spend over a year saving up to put it all together. I appreciate that Victron is good stuff, but I also believe that AIOs can work for far less money and they have not been proven to be untrustworthy.
@Will Prowse I would love to see some long term tests on the 3000-6000w AIOs.... maybe even setup on vibration tables with heat extremes... etc
Because you don't live in an RV and do not understand consumption options therein? I suck up around 3500 watt hours a day, and that excludes A/C.
I have lived in an RV for the last 2 years…
I even used zero propane this winter, yes still when it was -5 outside
See my previous comment of using 3500 watt hours a day.
justinm001
Solar Addict
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It's not about where they're assembled but where they're designed and Who designs them. You can get a steak at Applebee's or at Ruth Chris's.
My 5kw inverters have a idle consumption of 40w each. Yeah there's search and aes or whatever modes to get that down under 10w but there's not much reason to even mess with it.
Victron is 5year warranty by default and you can get them with a 10yr. They're built and designed to last forever, with like a 50 year proven record.
Victron doesn't cost that much, they don't nickel and dime you and are constantly enhancing their products. They also don't keep refreshing their models like others they add skus to enhance the market. All their specs and efficiency rating charts are posted so you know exactly how to create the most efficient solution.
I've yet to see an AIO with low idle consumption and one that posted their efficiencies on a chart with consumption.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
My 5+5=10kVA Quattros idle at 27 ea.
The MP-II is almost an unfair comparison... they were engineered deliberately for very low idle consumption.
The MP-II is almost an unfair comparison... they were engineered deliberately for very low idle consumption.
Brucey
Solar Wizard
Too much premium on those "fancy" 200W panels, here's the sweet spot that I could find:Just to update everyone, I saw BogueRV had their 200W mono panels on sale on Amazon for $172. Couldn't resist, so I bought two. N+1 is the answer
corn18
Village Idiot
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I don't want 2x100 no matter how cheap they are.
Mine was designed by the Germans..... so that refutes that one....
My system sucks about 70watts at idle, but considering the size and consumption of my system, it is a drop in the bucket and inconsequential... Oh and my system is running 24/7 so there is no idle time..... next!
..and there you do have me.... I am my warranty.... I will mention that if I smoke my BMS for ANY REASON, the mfg will replace, no questions asked. I also used grade A cells....
So are mine...
Look... all of the above is you clamoring about how great Victron is, but you present nothing to say that AIOs are a bad choice. You are doing nothing but fear mongering... as for prices... Victron is not just a little more....
AIOs get a bad rap, but no one seems to have any real world experience with them going bad.....
justinm001
Solar Addict
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Which AIO do you have? I'd love to compare the efficiency specs but never found an AIO with real data.
70watts is about the consumption of my 10kw system including mppts, cerbogx, screen and usb devices/sensors. Idle consumption is added on top of efficiency usually so if you have a 70w idle consumption and are inverting 1000w at 90% you're burning 170w so really 83%.
I'm a vehicle setup every watt matters. If you're 50w more then that's 1200wh per day, or need a 200w panel just to keep up with additional consumption.
Brucey
Solar Wizard
The generation before the 6000XP would seem to answer this question?
I.e. warranty trade in deals, trade in discounts as they fail like popcorn all over the place.
Partimewages
Solar Addict
There are plenty of threads about issues with AOIs. There are others that have had success.
Tulex
Solar Wizard
I think it's more accurate to say issues with some brands of AIOs. Many people are running Sol-Arks and the 18k (sorry Tim) with no issue.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
AiO trends:
Made by/design derived from Voltronics/Voltronics-like = hit or miss.
Made by/design derived from Luxpower/DEYE = much better.
Made by/design derived from Voltronics/Voltronics-like = hit or miss.
Made by/design derived from Luxpower/DEYE = much better.
I think cheapest equivalent RV solar system will be 3x 400W $156 panels, $468 total. Run 9x LF304K cells in series for 30.6V charging voltage direct from panels wired in parallel and without MPPT but via simple DC contactor controlled by battery voltage detector to protect cells from overcharging. That would get you within 94% of MPPT in full sun without the expense. For the price of 24V 50A MPPT you could add another 400W panel and capture ~20% more energy vs. 3x panels + MPPT. Most 24V inverters should handle 31.5V input at 3.5V/cell. Nice thing about staying at 29V nominal vs. 51V is stepping down to 12V via buck DC-DC converters is much more efficient. Also there are 24V truck air conditioners that would be more efficient running from DC directly.
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sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
Dayum... you've gone old school... I think you'd need to experiment with 30.6V as it may take awhile to get cells fully or even nearly fully charged at 3.4V/cell. I needed 5.5 hours of absorption on a 7.5 hour total charge to get to full @ 3.4V/cell.
I like it cheap and simple (and efficient)
rustythorn
New Member
the OP was about solar vs gas geny costs. gas generator produces about 4-7 kwh per gallon, smaller gens are less efficient. the last pic i saw showed they had 1200 watts of solar, depending on location that will yield an average of 6-6.6 kwh per day so likely more than what one gallon will produce with that generator, however, it is unlikely they will use every photon every day so lets just say that solar system equals one gallon of gas per day. right now average price is 3.63 and rising but based on where you are the price is around 3-5 dollars. it is unlikely they will be camping everyday so lets just use 300 days. that will be $900-$1500 per year in gas so in a few years the solar will be cheaper.
Brucey
Solar Wizard
I was looking at a Victron document regarding applications for hybrid generator designs, I think claim was each battery kWh saved a liter of fuel in the generator based on not having to run full time.
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