Greetings, I am new to this forum and solar in general. I have been trying to find information on a first time set up for a small property with plans to expand to residential house. I am unsure and am seeking advice. My wife and I were thinking that we would get a set of 10 aptos 370w solar panels with a eg4 3kw inverter with 5kw pv inverter and one eg4 48v 100ah 5kw Lifepower 4 battery. From what I understand is this set up is compatible with each other my question is, is this capable of running an rv fridge? Also what would a 48v 100ah battery be able to run? Is it restricted to just 100ah even though the rv handles things like ac and microwave at 30amp connection? What I wanted to do is use the one battery and expand to maybe a 10kw system eventually with more batteries of course. I was hoping to spend 3k in the beginning and expand. Is this set up able to power a fridge in an rv and hopefully power my house in the future? Can I run 10, 370 watt panels in this 80v system? ( it comes out to I think 77v)?
First time setup.
- Thread starter upsman123
- Start date
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
If you intend to use the eg4 3kW inverter to form the grid for the 5kw PV inverter, it is not capable of AC coupling to a PV inverter.
If "rv fridge" is an absorption fridge capable of running on propane, when run on AC power, a 7.6 cu-ft unit consumes about 5kWh/day.
Residential (compressor) fridges use about 0.1 kWh/day per cubic foot, though they can be notably more efficient than that.
If "rv fridge" is an absorption fridge capable of running on propane, when run on AC power, a 7.6 cu-ft unit consumes about 5kWh/day.
Residential (compressor) fridges use about 0.1 kWh/day per cubic foot, though they can be notably more efficient than that.
DIYrich
Solar Wizard
Not sure why you would get the eg4 3kw AND the 5kw pv inverter. Why not start with the eg4 6000xp? Add battery and panels.
I am not sure either. The system I was looking at was the all in one https://solarsovereign.com/products...pv-input-500-voc-input?variant=45509614108983
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
Ah... you were citing separate specifications for the same unit... it's capable of 5000W PV... Gotcha.
Should work fine for light duty stuff. I you need to start electric motors like a table saw due to their very high surge current, it will be unable to handle that. But for resistive loads it's great. For small motors (0.5hp or smaller), it will probably work.
If A/C or heat pump is desired, consider only a mini-split type unit. They have "inverter" type compressors and have no surge current.
is there a downside to starting with this rather than the 6000xp? total set up and I know I need fuses was for us to have that and a https://solarsovereign.com/products...elling_plan=8839233847&variant=45491574079799 and https://solarsovereign.com/products/aptos-370w-bifacial-solar-panel-black?variant=48617431105847
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
If you plan to expand in the future, the 6000XP already provides 120/240V split phase (only 3000W on each leg of 120V, 6000W total on 240V) and is more robust for surges. When you need more power, you can just parallel additional units.
IMHO, the 6000XP is a far better unit than any of the older EG4 products. It's made by Luxpower. Older stuff is made by or is voltronics-like.
If the 3000 won't meet your future needs, the 6000XP is a bit over-sized right now, but it's a better unit, and you'll grow into it.
IMHO, the 6000XP is a far better unit than any of the older EG4 products. It's made by Luxpower. Older stuff is made by or is voltronics-like.
If the 3000 won't meet your future needs, the 6000XP is a bit over-sized right now, but it's a better unit, and you'll grow into it.
I was trying to integrate into future projects with battery power and inverter setups. As I have stated I plan on buying at first the EG4 life power battery. Again I am new and do not know what I should be buying. We will be living in a rv setup and I would like to convert to a residential power set up. In our rv we do not need much a 2500 watt generator would full fill our needs but in the future is what I do not know.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
Your RV has 30A power?
Is your generator 120V, or 120/240V?
Does your fridge run on propane?
Is your generator 120V, or 120/240V?
Does your fridge run on propane?
Our fridge in out rv says it supports propane and electrical. I do not know what it prioritizes. I believe it prioritizes electrical over propane. What it actually runs I do not know. The generator that we would run the rv is a 2500w but the rv is for a 30a plug in.
sunshine_eggo
Happy Breffast!
It's not about priority, it's about consumption. My point about your fridge is if it can run on propane, it will consume 5kWh of electricity per day if it runs on electricity. That means running the fridge will completely deplete your battery in 24 hours. You should run the fridge on propane. A typical 30# bottle lasts about three weeks.
Generators that output pure DC are very rare compared to those that output 120VAC. If it has plugs similar to residential electrical outlets, it's 120VAC. For units of that size, you should have about 50% more generator than output power to power loads and charge battery. Another consideration is that those EG4 inverters are not tolerant of dirty generator power. If you're not using an inverter generator, you may not get any charging at all.
If it's 120VAC, it can't power the 6000XP as those need 120/240VAC power.
That EG4 3kW unit has high idle consumption meaning that they will consume about 20% of our battery simply being powered on even if not providing loads. Fortunately, 3700W of solar is a fair amount, and you should be able to keep the battery topped off on sunny days.
50ShadesOfDirt
Solar Enthusiast
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Requirements seem to be:
- you have an existing RV (with shore power connections, no solar gear at the moment)
- you really want to move the solar gear to the future home, and build on existing purchases
And I'm further assuming your property is rural, not heavily AHJ'd ...
To accommodate these, I'd say that you should get your site plan done (with all buildings, RV space, etc.) and everything located with respect to one another. With the planning out of the way, then:
1. build a "utility building" first. This has all your solar gear inside, safe, protected from weather. Outside, it has an RV power panel on it, fed by the solar gear (inverter, battery-bank, etc.) inside. Plan on a generator for backup duty, and to power excess loads that your initial solar gear can't/won't handle, until it gets beefed up (more inverters, more battery-bank).
2. install all desired solar gear, ensuring expansion with your selection of gear (for example, get stacking inverter line, so both 120/240 capability is present). Solar gear feeds utility building load panel, which in turn feeds RV panel on outside.
3. Hook your RV up to that via shore power connection.
4. as you get around to building home, it will have it's own load panel, fed by the panels in the utility building. Electricians will help you map all this out, and/or help you design it (if you find the right ones).
In this manner, you never move the gear, you just expand it. But, you do build the utility building first (which is a good thing, from a safety standpoint). Of course, you could do something very simple (a solar gear weather box or enclosure, instead of full-on utility building.
Hope this helps ...
- you have an existing RV (with shore power connections, no solar gear at the moment)
- you really want to move the solar gear to the future home, and build on existing purchases
And I'm further assuming your property is rural, not heavily AHJ'd ...
To accommodate these, I'd say that you should get your site plan done (with all buildings, RV space, etc.) and everything located with respect to one another. With the planning out of the way, then:
1. build a "utility building" first. This has all your solar gear inside, safe, protected from weather. Outside, it has an RV power panel on it, fed by the solar gear (inverter, battery-bank, etc.) inside. Plan on a generator for backup duty, and to power excess loads that your initial solar gear can't/won't handle, until it gets beefed up (more inverters, more battery-bank).
2. install all desired solar gear, ensuring expansion with your selection of gear (for example, get stacking inverter line, so both 120/240 capability is present). Solar gear feeds utility building load panel, which in turn feeds RV panel on outside.
3. Hook your RV up to that via shore power connection.
4. as you get around to building home, it will have it's own load panel, fed by the panels in the utility building. Electricians will help you map all this out, and/or help you design it (if you find the right ones).
In this manner, you never move the gear, you just expand it. But, you do build the utility building first (which is a good thing, from a safety standpoint). Of course, you could do something very simple (a solar gear weather box or enclosure, instead of full-on utility building.
Hope this helps ...
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