diy solar

diy solar

Finally posting Pics of my system.. 17500 total panels,12kw inv 1200ah batts(60+kwh)

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Transam

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Oct 21, 2019
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So Ive finally got around to posting some of my pics....
2 arrays.... 17500 watts total panels....
4 midnite solar classic 150 chargers.
all midnite solar breakers-panels/breakers (for solar).
12 eg4 48v batts.../racks.
aims 12kw inverter.
custom software written for me to 'poll' each midnite solar classic 150 charger once a second. (screens included).



on a summer day running two BIG window AC units i bring in appx 60-70kwh (useage plus charging up batts to full).
 

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I had a little help on suggestions from people here n there and a few here on this board... ;)
I DO consume a LOT of electric.... so had to go this route...

a few summers ago I was approaching about 1600kwh/mo (so arounf 50-60kwh a day... fridge,deep freezer,microwave, a few dvr's, NVR, pc on 24/7 window ac's LOTS of networking stuff (NAS's etc).some things just suck power like starlink @ 90watts 24/7... and dont get me started on my stereo system/stereo's that are connected to TV's....(lol)

And well the electric company will NEVER lower rates in the future this was better to do this... im glad MOST of my spending is done :)
Only think NOT on the above system is desktop and 1 small window ac unit... for which ill put in a 15 panel system and appx 4 batteries and prolly a eg4 all in once charger / inverter for that :)

ALL totally done by MYSELF cept for putting panels on the racks..
 
hahahah yea the 12.... def NOT cheap ;( ;( but that runs everything overnight :) and fully charges nxt day.... im in so cal so generally lotsa sun :)
 
1200Ah
Twelve-Hundred Amp Hours of Storage...over 61kW. (about the same as an EV!).
Those 12 server racks cost more than my entire system.
(is electricity expensive in So-Cal?)
 
OffGridForGood said:
1200Ah
Twelve-Hundred Amp Hours of Storage...over 61kW. (about the same as an EV!).
Those 12 server racks cost more than my entire system.
(is electricity expensive in So-Cal?)
Click to expand...
hahahah OMG you have no idea last time I checked or heard it was .45 cents a kwh.... and that is the NON peak... so Ive got no idea what peak is (I think peak is somewhere around 4p-9m or something)....

Eventually ill have a logging written in as html to my solar chargers.... Only thing im missing (mega buxs) is a natural gas generator (as ther eis some days ther eisnt a LOT of sun... like today I only brought in 38kwh off panels (cloudy half day).. and it only brought my batts up to 70% SOC which will make it through the night.... otherwise right now when it goes to zaero the inverter switches to grid to charge batts ;(
 
Transam said:
heard it was .45 cents a kwh.... and that is the NON peak.
Click to expand...
YIKES!
{okay I guess I got nothing to complain about!}
Sucks to have a system THAT big and still not generate enough power some days.
On a cloudy day, less PV comes in, but do you also have less need for AC on cloudy days, so it kind of balances out?
 
somewhat... in the winter we dont need AC at all,,,, about 65-70 daytime and about 50ish (right now...) at night..
I googled it... If you use UP to BASELINE (I dont know what thier so called baseline kwh is capped at...) but up to 130% of baseline.... say 600 kwh/month... its 39 cents per kilowatt hour and going over that 130% of baseline its .49cents per kwh.. utility here is investor owned... so its a scam... ;(
 
Dang, the only thing holding me back from investing in solar for my house is I only pay 11 cents per KWH. If I paid 45 cents I would be all in also.
 
wow & damn... nice rate !.... Im ONLY guessing here as I DID NOT Pay attention to what all Ive spent.... but have probably around $30-$35k into the above system..... but when your bill hits (2 years ago..) 600 for a month.... and for me best of all... in all the pics above that stuff is fully paid for no loans of any kind to no one :)
 
Transam said:
somewhat... in the winter we dont need AC at all,,,, about 65-70 daytime and about 50ish (right now...) at night..
Click to expand...
Well that works out then, less power generated when less is needed.
I can't say north of the 49th works that way! it would be better to have more sun during winter heating season, instead of less. At least the PV work better in winter, as far as efficiency, too bad it is not enough to compensate for the shorter days. Still, with 7kW on my roof, I collect enough to keep 12kW daily on average coming in, which are the winter loads on the system. I have 39kW of storage (about 3 days). If we get more than three/four poor days in a row, we charge up off peak -7pm to 7am we pay 8.1cents/kW, and yeah that is CAD$ so would be about 5 cents/kW in USD. On peak we pay 19 cents a few hours per day, I set up my system that it can't charge from utility on-peak, unless I manually let it.
 
Transam said:
wow & damn... nice rate !.... Im ONLY guessing here as I DID NOT Pay attention to what all Ive spent.... but have probably around $30-$35k into the above system..... but when your bill hits (2 years ago..) 600 for a month.... and for me best of all... in all the pics above that stuff is fully paid for no loans of any kind to no one :)
Click to expand...
I live in central Tn and have a 2700 sq ft house that is all electric. I use 18,000 KWH for the year, so any savings from solar would take many years before I ever broke even. The grid is also very stable here. But I still spend many many hours here on the forum.
 
your totally correct.... WAY better to have more power coming in for winter as its darker earlier.... a friend said ther eis the same daylight hours per day in winter.... (where I am) which is true cept loosing a minute a day till winter solstice... but with TIME Change we are NOW inside a hour earlier per day..... so more use on batts... althou sun also comes up a hour earlier to haha... in summer when batts are full i turn on almost all AC units... as basically all the power they consume basically comes all from panels :) I also bought one of them power monitors... so I monitor each leg outta the inverter... and I constantly am always pulling about 1.6kw and usually up to 2.0 kw from the inverter... and that is 24/7 Im at a 32 degree tilt as I recall on all panels.... you can see it in the pics :) when I was learning I was told to angle my panels at whatever my latitude is :) which will be in the middle for winter and summer :) and so far so good its perfect :)
 
Loadtoad said:
I live in central Tn and have a 2700 sq ft house that is all electric. I use 18,000 KWH for the year, so any savings from solar would take many years before I ever broke even. The grid is also very stable here. But I still spend many many hours here on the forum.
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wow... as you prolly know... we pay for the weather other 'ways' here in southern california ;( ahha
Just a few mos ago i was hearing gas... expensive in midwest... $4.xx.... nah cheapest here was $6/gal ;(
 
Loadtoad said:
I use 18,000 KWH for the year, so any savings from solar would take many years before I ever broke even.
Click to expand...
18,000kWh x say 10.79cents/kWh (google told me) =$1,942/yr
18,000kWh/ 365 days per year = 49kWh/day Avg.
Tennessee is about 35.5 degrees north lat.
35 degrees North Lat shortest day of the year Dec 21st, 10 hours = say five good hours per day avg.
10kW array x 5 good hours per day = 50kWh (less losses) better allow for 12kW array
12kW of used solar panels at $0.39/W = $4680
Racking and equipment another $3500 (say!)
Total of $8,180
8,180/1,942 pay back in 4.2 years. At least in back of the envelope calculations.
You could build a pretty sizable grid tie system for 10k budget and likely hit the break even earlier, since cost of electricity will increase over time (generally) while the cost of the sun will remain as is.
{Edit: i say grid tie meaning, reduce cost by not requiring batteries, which in most systems are the most expensive, least economical part}
 
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lol sounds about right hahahah, not only that ive seen the moon go outta orbit at the same time...... I was wondering why that was happening now I guess I know why..
 
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