First Post - Hello

[Yessir]

Greetings!

From Sacramento CA. Actually live a ways out from Sac and bought 5 acres in the foothills overlooking the valley. Which brings me here.
I wanted to build a shop/garage on the property prior to house. 2150sq ft. 125amp sub panel but no electricity yet. Drywall is up and should start mudding later this week. Have 15 and 20 amp circuits through. Just like a house. There’s a pole on each side but still expect it to cost about 25G to bring in power. If I choose that route when I build house. I have my 34’ rv on property and 3 generators and it’s not bad but want to use solar for shop.
About the only options I’ve decided on is the MPP 5048 split phase. Would like to go with higher voltage panels. Have not decided on batteries.
A couple assumptions.
- I can back feed my sub panel with split inverter so both bars on my panel are hot.
- I’m going to need a lot of panels or also use generator to charge bats.
I think I’ll stop there as not sure if I should be posting all of this here.
Apologies in advance if posting too much or wrong forum.
So hello and look forward to reading learning and watching more of Will on YouTube.

 

[MisterSandals]

Welcome!
There are quite a few off grid videos on the sister site here:

Mobile Solar Power: Made Easy! DIY Off-grid Solar Power!

Building a vehicle mounted solar power system? Let me help.

www.mobile-solarpower.com

Look under the "more..." menu, videos. There are quite a few there to teach you most of what you are asking.

And, you should start with an energy audit ... how much power do you need?
Then figure out how much power you need to store (for when the sun is not shining) ... this will tell you how big your battery bank needs to be.
Then you get an array of panels big enough to recharge what you use in your batteries on a daily basis as well as provide what you use while the sun is shining.
Then you get a solar charge controller that accepts what the panels provide and provides the energy to the battery bank.
You get power from the battery bank, preferably in DC to avoid the losses from conversion. For the AC power, you will need inverters sized to your needs.

Hope this helps.

 

[Yessir]

Thanks!
My demand is going to grow over time. I may need to run a well pump, etc.

Could I buy the all-in-one MPP 5048 and start with 2 24v bats and add batteries as my need increases?

I could start with 4- 300watt panels and also increase as need grows?

initially I would like to run a small window as 7 amps in the evening and a efficient small tv and a small fan.

edit... I guess my point is I don’t want to buy separate components (charge controller, inverter) only to outgrow it in the future. I’d hoped the batteries and panels would be scalable as need increases but my MPP 5048 would handle the increase as needed.

 

[MisterSandals]

start with 2 24v bats and add batteries as my need increases?

You cannot add lead acid batteries of different age, type or size to a battery bank. They tend to cannibalize the weak.
LiFePO4 and other long life battery type are more forgiving.

For panels, there are a lot of big cheap panels out there. I pointed someone to some big new panels for cheap on craigslist in Modesto recently.
Adding panels to an existing array also requires some matching but not as strictly as lead acid batteries.

 

[Yessir]

Thanks. No plans to use lead acid at all.
Interesting on matching panels. Have to go read up on that. Not saying I’ll understand but I’ll go read anyway.

 

[MisterSandals]

Interesting on matching panels.

Just be aware of how combining panels/strings of different voltages and amps work. They should all "work" but its a matter of how well they work together.