I am putting together a series of bids for a solar build. Wanna collaborate?

[Supervstech]

Customer approached me.
They have a nice farmhouse with a small barn, and a workshed.
It is already wired for power from the house, and they also have a deck, with 12V LED lighting on the railings powered by a non functioning solar system.
First they just wanted me to fix the deck lighting setup.
A 100W renogy panel tied to a 30A renogy pwm controller with no batteries.
I tied in a single battety to test things and found the controller bad. Then he showed me the other buildings that needed lighting and such. So i suggedted a larger solar setup.

Anyway, i feel a 3000W all in one with a small bank of GC6V SLA's and a rack of panels ground mount would work well.

I want to offer several options.
They have a 22kW generac fueled by propane for standby power when an outage hits, but propane needs to be filled to work, and having a small solar system for simple backup power soothes them.

Bounce plan ideas here.

I welcome them.

 

[Supervstech]

A simple 120V 3kVA all in one would suit all the shed loads, but likely would only power lights or cord connections to the house.
A 6kVA split phase setup would provide more options for the barn, and house, but require more battery, and solar.

Building with magnum or similar likely would offer the lowest standby drain, but increase the cost.

I want to offer multiple options, he will get the ground mount structure built to my specs, and decide between new panels or used…

 

[Pyrofx]

I would steer away from magnum. I have a client with one if their premade dual 4448 inverters.
I have been fighting a stack fault error problem.

6 months of phone calls and emails. Finally got some answers......
Sorry. We dont know what the issue is . Let's warranty one of the inverters.

Ok says.

Oh , were in a restructuring plan now with new owner and move to Mexico. No idea how long to get you a new unit , but you are 68 in line for one.

I guess I'd go blue if I were you.

 

[svetz]

They have a nice farmhouse with a small barn, and a workshed....They have a 22kW generac fueled by propane for standby power when an outage hits

You'd need audit information to know how many kWh. But in general, a standard solar PV system and replace the farm's old tractor with an Electric John Deere tractor, it can be used as the battery backup when the grid is out and possibly hold a couple of days of power.

Update: Just looked at the JD eTractor, the 1000 kWh model is autonymous, but you can get an attachable cabin for it.

 

[OffGridForGood]

And if they have $500,000 for an atonomous tractor, it should be no problem to go solar for the entire property with some spare change?

Back to the OP - without an audit of the possible loads, do you have a budget range to work within?
Couldn't they make a list of Critical Loads and approach the project from that list?

 

[OffGridForGood]

Is there an issue with temperatures that leads you to suggest the SLA over LiFePO4?
IIRC SLA cost using 40% DOD is higher cost than the available Rack type LiFePO4 is it not? even before we count the cycle differences between the two.
Rack 48VDC 100Ah about $1500 USD DOD 90% cycle life 6000(?)
SLA 220Ah x 8 DOD 40% cycle life maybe 2000(?) cost about $3,000 ?
Even just the Space the SLA will require, seems like an issue.

 

[svetz]

...They have a 22kW generac ... a 3000W all in one with a small bank of GC6V SLA's and a rack of panels ground mount would work well.

A 22 kW generator is what they have now, so 3 kW system is a huge stepdown... especially if this is a working farm with a lot of acreage, cows to milk, chickens to be kept warm, etc. If it's a country house on a few acres that never had a real need for a 22 kW generator, that's something else. But that's why I said it's hard to help without an audit, "farmhouse" means different things to different people. Possibly a 100 kWh EV would be more inline if it's not a working farm.

 

[Supervstech]

Is there an issue with temperatures that leads you to suggest the SLA over LiFePO4?
IIRC SLA cost using 40% DOD is higher cost than the available Rack type LiFePO4 is it not? even before we count the cycle differences between the two.
Rack 48VDC 100Ah about $1500 USD DOD 90% cycle life 6000(?)
SLA 220Ah x 8 DOD 40% cycle life maybe 2000(?) cost about $3,000 ?
Even just the Space the SLA will require, seems like an issue.

Yes, it is an unheated barn where the equipment will be situated.

I will also include an estimate for a foam sealed equipment heated area to store LFP and an insulated area to store heated LFP batteries in.

 

[Supervstech]

A 22 kW generator is what they have now, so 3 kW system is a huge stepdown... especially if this is a working farm with a lot of acreage, cows to milk, chickens to be kept warm, etc. If it's a country house on a few acres that never had a real need for a 22 kW generator, that's something else. But that's why I said it's hard to help without an audit, "farmhouse" means different things to different people. Possibly a 100 kWh EV would be more inline if it's not a working farm.

No, nothing like that.
It is a small lawnmower shed, with a fence for a pet pig, and a few chickens.
Maybe 800 square feet barn, and a small shed.
Just three LED shop lights in the barn, and a single light in the shed.
I want to offer the ability to connect their refrigerator, and some lights to the barn if they are out of propane.
Certainly not planning to replace the 22KW generator.

 

[Supervstech]

We installed the generator for the previous homeowner so they could run the ac and cook and not be inconvenienced by the frequent power outages… they were rich.
The new homeowners just have a gator and a lawnmower, and they wanted the porch setup to be more useful.

 

[OffGridForGood]

They should consider selling that 22kW generator, to pay for a smaller suitable system and new smaller generator!

 

[Supervstech]

They should consider selling that 22kW generator, to pay for a smaller suitable system and new smaller generator!

Heh… used generac setups don’t fetch much…

 

[Supervstech]

I would steer away from magnum. I have a client with one if their premade dual 4448 inverters.
I have been fighting a stack fault error problem.

6 months of phone calls and emails. Finally got some answers......
Sorry. We dont know what the issue is . Let's warranty one of the inverters.

Ok says.

Oh , were in a restructuring plan now with new owner and move to Mexico. No idea how long to get you a new unit , but you are 68 in line for one.

I guess I'd go blue if I were you.

Blue? Ya mean victron?

 

[Supervstech]

I would steer away from magnum. I have a client with one if their premade dual 4448 inverters.
I have been fighting a stack fault error problem.

6 months of phone calls and emails. Finally got some answers......
Sorry. We dont know what the issue is . Let's warranty one of the inverters.

Ok says.

Oh , were in a restructuring plan now with new owner and move to Mexico. No idea how long to get you a new unit , but you are 68 in line for one.

I guess I'd go blue if I were you.

I’m considering the sigsolar Schneider system as well…
Might be a tough sell, but should cover a large portion of their needs if they want it.

 

[OffGridForGood]

Considering they called about getting some LED's to work on a porch, you may want to have some lower cost options on the table.
If they do camping or other activities around the property (away from the sources of power) just a Bluetti and a couple of panels may works for them, with an add on battery they could run a fridge to get through a short power outage. Bigger/Longer power outage and they start up the 22kW.

 

[Supervstech]

Considering they called about getting some LED's to work on a porch, you may want to have some lower cost options on the table.
If they do camping or other activities around the property (away from the sources of power) just a Bluetti and a couple of panels may works for them, with an add on battery they could run a fridge to get through a short power outage. Bigger/Longer power outage and they start up the 22kW.

Exactly.
I’m writing up several options.

 

[OffGridForGood]

Entry level:
PWM controller couple of AGM batteries and a few PV Panels, could be 12 or 24VDC depending what they want it to run.
Mid level:
Small MPP or Growatt all in one, 3kW or so, batteries and PV to suit.
Larger and expandable in the future level:
Larger inverter equipment, more batteries more PV runs a separate electrical panel, grid available or gen-set charging on MTS, CLP tied in for the house fridge freezers, furnace fan well pump...
{Oh Wait, this is MY system. Sorry.}

 

[Supervstech]

Heh, I am recommending a 3600W array, with 25kWh battery bank and the 6kW Schneider setup for the bigger setup.
A 1.2kW array of used panels for a midsize build with a 12kWh bank, and a 6kW growatt split phase
For the bargain setup, a low buck 3kW all in one, and 800W of panels

 

[Pyrofx]

Blue? Ya mean victron?

Yessir

 

[Quattrohead]

For such a small load, you should consider an inverter with low stand by current, otherwise you are using more power to keep the inverter warm than powering the loads.