diy solar

diy solar

Help with planning a 60 kw setup noob to solar

Hill billy bob

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Feb 13, 2022
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I need 60 kw Sunpower panels, and 325 kw lifepo4 battery storage.

I'm just unsure of how to group the banks of batteries at 48 volts in series or parallel according to whatever charger controller I need preferably one with temperature compensation because I only see 100 amp controllers.
Also need a good inverter any recommendations?
 
Welcome to the forum!

Wow.

Planning at this scale likely needs an architect or an engineer to lay it all out.

You are planning to do all this DIY?


Let’s start out with a needs chart. Calculate, or itemize everything you use… having a few years of power bills help here.
 
I need 60 kw Sunpower panels, and 325 kw lifepo4 battery storage.

I'm just unsure of how to group the banks of batteries at 48 volts in series or parallel according to whatever charger controller I need preferably one with temperature compensation because I only see 100 amp controllers.
Also need a good inverter any recommendations?
That is 6372Ah of LFP…

Is this 60KW of panels, or 60KWh of energy daily used? Big difference.
 
Mine is a little over a third that size and in construction now. 121 kWh bank- 9 ea batteries. It is a lot of work, especially working a regular job too. Plan on $180K+ if you DIY.

Spend a couple of weeks just learning all you can. It’s overwhelming at first. Ask questions on here and don’t purchase anything until you get it all planned out. Adam at AltE was very helpful. All he needed was my location and kWh per month used.
 
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Assuming you mean 325kWh of batteries the using a 220Ah 48V rack battery (Will just reviewed one yesterday) you would need 325000Wh / 51.2V = 6348Ah / 220Ah = 29 batteries. Putting 29 batteries in parallel is a bit much. At $3400 each you are looking at just under $100k just for the batteries.

A nice generator may be a better approach for when the power goes out.
 
Newbie myself, but whoa. You might want to give a little background because it’s hard for me to imagine someone that has to ask this question wanting to go that big as a first build.

Hell, I feel like I’m pushing myself with my 4s 304ah pack!
 
Well my 40 kw diesel gen died on me. It was a pain in rear end to keep it up always had problems and with the cost of fuel, oil and filters, I was hoping I could save money in the long run by going solar.

Should I just buy another genset?
 
Solar is very reliable, and batteries are a stable, reliable power source, but a generator is less money and easier to setup. I would get a new generator, or have yours repaired, as well as beginning the solar.

Can we get some background on what you are powering?

Something this size likely can better be handled by ordering a build. Powerwall like.

60KW solar can output 300KWh an average day. So, if the bank is sized to cover low output days, the solar is oversized. The math needs to be solar sized for average usage on average day. Enough to cover use, plus enough to cover add to the bank storage.
Say the bank is sized to handle zero solar three days, then 375 KWh is to cover a 125KWh daily load, so 150KWh or 25KW solar should be enough to manage daily plus bank.

More details needed.
 
Amps, kW and kWh are easy to confuse at the start of this journey.
Tell us more about your load requirements.
Remember that panels will still generate some power even under cloudy conditions but conversly they also need to supply load and charge battery at the same time.
If the amount of power is as large as you first implied, then a generator is the best choice.
 
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Well my 40 kw diesel gen died on me.
Sorry, but I also gotta toss in a :oops: here. What are you feeding that calls for a 40KW generator???

Well, I'll start the default answer to these questions and we can work from there. Here's you To-Do list:

1: Power audit! This will give you some important information on how big your inverter needs to be as well as how much battery capacity you'll need. There is a link in the FAQ section (I think, or someone here will post it shortly) so fill in the blanks and see what it comes up with. You'll probably need some sort of Kill-A-Watt to get accurate measurements. Are you going to be running a 12v system? 24v system? 48v system? What are the specs on your solar panels? VoC? Vmp? Being as this is a new build, throw together a wish list of what you want and estimate on the high side.

1a: Where do you live? Speccing out a system for Scotland is a LOT different numbers than Arizona due to the amount of light you actually get. Someone here can post the link to the JRC Uber-Sun-Hours calculator and PVWatts.com sites to help figure out how much you'll have to work with. That will be a box in the Power Audit form.

2: Parts list: You don't need a make & model list, just a parts list to start from for reference. You'll need an inverter, a MPPT charge controller, fuses, shunt, buck converter, batteries, wire, etc. Once you have a basic list it can be fine tuned to make & models after that.

3: Budget!: Steak is great but doesn't mean anything if your wallet says hamburger. :) Figure out what you're able to spend now vs what you'll have to cheap out on now and upgrade later.

4: Tape measure! Figure out where you're going to stick all the stuff you'll need. A dozen 3000AH batteries sounds great until you're sleeping on the floor because there's no room left for a bed. Is there a compartment that can house all this stuff? Will the server rack batteries fit? Are you going to have to make space? Physics can be pretty unforgiving.

5: Pencil out what you think you need and throw it at us so we can tell you what you've missed (because we ALL miss stuff the first go-round :) ) and help figure out which parts and pieces you're going to want to get.
 
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