How long do you leave your system unattended?

[pralinebuckets]

I'm in the midst of putting my system together. I'm off grid, and am expecting that for weeks to maybe a month at a time I will be away from home. Obviously it would be useful to leave my system running while I'm out. I could leave some IoT type devices running, leave the freezer running, etc. etc..

But it occurs to me that if something goes wrong with the system while I'm away, it could end in catastrophe. Do the rest of you worry about this, or am I concerning myself with a non-issue?

 

[Mattb4]

I do not like leaving certain things running without someone to check on them periodically. Depends of course on the potential for loss.

 

[blammo585]

I'm in the midst of putting my system together. I'm off grid, and am expecting that for weeks to maybe a month at a time I will be away from home. Obviously it would be useful to leave my system running while I'm out. I could leave some IoT type devices running, leave the freezer running, etc. etc..

But it occurs to me that if something goes wrong with the system while I'm away, it could end in catastrophe. Do the rest of you worry about this, or am I concerning myself with a non-issue?

I've had the same thoughts. I only have a little system I'm putting together in our storage building. I don't worry about leaving stuff going at home, so I guess if it's done right, we really shouldn't worry that much about the solar system either.

 

[alcook62]

I'm in the midst of putting my system together. I'm off grid, and am expecting that for weeks to maybe a month at a time I will be away from home. Obviously it would be useful to leave my system running while I'm out. I could leave some IoT type devices running, leave the freezer running, etc. etc..

But it occurs to me that if something goes wrong with the system while I'm away, it could end in catastrophe. Do the rest of you worry about this, or am I concerning myself with a non-issue?

I've had the same thoughts. I only have a little system I'm putting together in our storage building. I don't worry about leaving stuff going at home, so I guess if it's done right, we really shouldn't worry that much about the solar system either.

Depending on the intricacy of the system, you can monitor it via the internet. My system is not capable of this, however, when I'm gone I just point a Blink camera toward my SCC and the Schneider SCP and check in as I feel I need to.
I'm never gone longer than two weeks and would not want to ever feel like I couldn't leave. I believe that if your system is properly designed and operated within its design parameters, using quality equipment you should not have to worry.
I've been 100% off-grid for five years come June and my system has performed flawlessly during that time. I do monitor it daily.

 

[chrisski]

Really need a good power audit and then decide how many days to go without power, and if you want a backup generator to kick in.

This thread is pretty good at what you need to design the system:

Solar Off-Grid Battery Design - Solar Panels - Solar Panels Forum

Discuss remote solar applications for homes, cabins, RV and boats. If you have a question on equipment for an off grid system, such as charge controllers or inverters, then post your question in this forum.

www.solarpaneltalk.com

For my 1650 watts of panel on the roof and 13 kWh battery bank in my sunny desert area, I would not want to do more than 2 kWh of usage a day, which for me, that comes will be about five bad weather days to the batteries to get low, and then several partly cloudy days to top them off. My system has 1.2 kWh a day of parasitic draw with the inverter turned on and the 12 watts to run the propane fridge with other things like the CO detectors. That only leaves 800 Wh to spend on something else.

There’s a bit of slop in there, like there will be a little charging done on a cloudy day, but that is the cushion I feel comfortable with for my weather conditions at my latitude. With the inverter turned off and the propane fridge off, my the parasitic draw is 400 Wh per day, which would leave 1600 Wh to spend how I want if all the loads were Dc and no refrigeration.

 

[TomC4306]

I use Solar Assistant to monitor when away. Heck, even when not away.
Provided that your design and implementation are sound, the only thing I worry about is device failure. And part of the design has breakers and fuses to accommodate that.

 

[SoakedUp]

I have a small piece of off grid property about 2 hours away from my home in San Diego. My system has 1200 watts of solar, 1 206ah SOK battery, and a small victron 1200va inverter. The system is installed in a shipping container with the panels flat mounted. I run a couple fans on temperature/humidity triggers to vent the container and also directed at the solar equipment to keep cool. I also have a small dorm size mini fridge full of water and beer. That’s all that’s running. I use about 10% of the battery every night and is usually fully charged by 9am depending on if overcast/cloudy. My system can go 2-6 weeks unattended. It’s been in service for 1 year. No problems yet but I’m continuing to add to it. Trying to keep it simple. Photos aren’t completely up to date. I’ve tidied up a lot of the wires.

 

[Rednecktek]

Usually unattended for 6-7 months, have gone as long as 13mo before. I disconnect all the loads but leave the SCC on to keep the batteries topped up all the time.

Granted I'm using flooded lead acid to deal with the months below freezing up there.

In fact all my systems are that way.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

I've kept my system up and running for the past years now, whether someone is home or not. We've been away for several months at a time on multiple occasions.

 

[pralinebuckets]

Thanks all - that makes me feel better!

 

[OffGridInTheCity]

My system is off-grid -> ATSs with grid assist and APC UPSs to smooth the ATS transitions from grid to inverter and back. For the last several years, I didn't give it a second thought because the BMS will shunt-trip the battery and all worked smoothly for over 4 years.

THEN, this year, one of my AIMS 12,000w inverters went 'wild' with intermittent voltage drops (or spikes?) every few seconds which played havoc with my APC UPSs and to a lesser degree with my ATS. My APC UPSs started switching between inverter and grid every 5 secs - e.g. A LOT of switching that likely would have caused damage if I wasn't home for several days. This also caused the ATSs to switch every 20sec (or so) and they're not designed for this.

So now - I'm shy to leave the inverter part of the system active while I'm away more than a couple of days unless I have a backup plan (like a home sitter I can tell what to turn off) as I don't have a defense against crazy inverter output (yet) and not sure why it occurred or how likely it is to occur again. **Also, I'm running 24,000w of inverting - it's a significant amount of power to potentially run amok.

 

[400bird]

Well, I'm about to leave for a week long work trip with the wife and kids at home.
The wife has no interest in learning anything about the set up, kids are too young.

Wish them luck! The system operates fine without any intervention from me, but I still stare at the screen all day while working.

 

[RV10flyer]

For the last year: My two SolArk 12k’s don’t communicate with 2800aH LFP, I have no monitoring, I haven’t had to do anything but adjust charge voltages for summer and winter and replace a bad DOA dongle. My JK BMS and LCD’s work perfect. I go in the power shed morning and night. No power outages. No generator needed. They just work.

 

[toms]

You eventually get used to leaving it alone. My system is in a sealed (with tape) enclosure, i often go many years without looking at it. I have a remote display in my house and will usually look at it when i walk past. We often go away for a few weeks at a time - i don’t worry about the power, but i do turn off my water pump.

 

[Shimmy]

Aside from flooded batteries in an enclosed space there should be limited risk, but some monitoring and remote control capabilities are nice for a sense of peace. If you have an RSD you can put that on a smart plug, and just have a 100W panel with separate charger to trickle charge the system. Or, just adjust your threshold voltages to reduce max charge.

For flooded batteries the risk of a temperature compensation failure or just a charger malfunction boiling off a lot of H2 is a real risk. But you need a very large bank before you have enough hydrogen to be a problem.

 

[pvdude]

I water the FLA's once a month, that is the only attention required.
When traveling, I use the Schneider "Insight" app to check status.

 

[pralinebuckets]

Biggest risk for me then is likely a tree falling and taking my electrical shack out since I'm in a mature doug fir forest. Time to build a bunker...

 

[JRH]

I have left my system run for a week with no supervision…it has been running for a year with no hiccups or weird things at all…..when I’m here I may goose it or tweak it or add something , but other than occasionally adjusting charge settings, I dont mess with it…

With that said I don’t like the idea of being gone too long… a tree can fall …a burglar might help himself to my stuff, a Forest fire can happen where I live…a possum or rat could gnaw on somthing and short it…lightning could blow the whole thing to pieces..or some new age kid might want a selfie of himself getting shocked by licking on my PV array……yes, today that’s possible ….!

Sometimes stuff happens …so I just sorta stay near the land most of the time ….

J.

 

[Rednecktek]

some new age kid might want a selfie of himself getting shocked by licking on my PV array……yes, today that’s possible ….!

Sadly you're not wrong, and it'll be YOUR fault for letting it happen.

 

[JRH]

Sadly you're not wrong, and it'll be YOUR fault for letting it happen.

Good analysis… very true…