The kit I purchased comes with 4 100W monocyrstalline panels, a 40A MMPT Rover charge controller, BT-1 bluetooth module, mounting brackets, adaptor kit, and a set of cables for $639.00 thru Amazon because of their non-hassle return policy. When I priced out the individual pieces, it cost more than the kit, and most of what I read indicated not to mix and match. Renogy also has a 25-year warranty on the panels, and 10 year on the other pieces.
My main AC panel is 30A, my DC side is rated for 55A. Replaced recently with the WF-9855 by WFCO.
So, now comes the difficult part. I need to create a battery bank,purchase inverter, and possibly the auto transfer TS-30 since I am connected for the most part to shore power, but am sick of the bill and want to save money by running off solar in sunny Florida. We have sun a zillion hours per day, and why not go clean? I only want to use shore power when my batteries / sun aren't producing enough power.
Renogy claims that the 40A MMPT charge controller can handle the built in power converter with charger, charging while the solar charges the battery bank as well.
From what I read about the TS-30 auto-transfer, it can handle 30AMP shore power and 30AMP inverter / generator power at the same time. Inverter / gen power is given priority, and it only switches over to shore power when those are not available. This information was posted to the Amazon page. So, unlike the video about the TS-30, it does not seem I need to disable the built-in converter / charger in my AC/DC panel. I also just replaced the AC distribution converter or inverter of whatever it is built into the main AC / DC (DC side) box inside to one that reduces regular and "electrical noise" and has two 30A inline fuses. That was a $150 upgrade about 2 months ago. The specific model number is WF-9855 3-way by WFCO. The old one was humming and making a lot of heat.
For the AC side, I also purchased new circuit breakers. I installed one because one kept over heating and tripping.
Right now I have one house battery. It's a deep cycle duracell, but it appears at one time, there was a battery bank wired in series because the wires were left behind in one of the compartments near main battery.
I have explored all the videos about batteries, and I was going to buy the LiFe04's but now the price has increased drastically, and I'm completely confused about how many batteries I would need in my bank at all. Options are all over the place. Some batteries have built in temperature monitoring, so the BSS wouldn't be necessary I believe.
The kit is on it's way. I've been looking at this information for over 2 weeks, and I'm still no closer in figuring out what batteries I will need. I don't want to pay $1000 or even $500 for a battery / battery bank when the kit self is $400 less. Even if I could buy 3 more of the deep cycle Duracells with a 3 year warranty, that would only be $300 total, and at least I could wire them all together in one bank and have a total of four batteries, or even just buy two more and have a 3 battery bank. So I'm not that worried about space for the batteries.
My panel has AC circuits for:
30/15
30 Main
15 GFI / Kitchen / Door Side
15/20
15 Bedroom Norcold Refrigrator
20 Electrical Heater (no longer exists)/ AC
15/20
15 Microwave (Intermittantly used)
20 Water Heater (not in use because of propane, and it sparked when it went to turn it on months ago)
What I have running:
I have a smart digital wireless thermostat (RadioThermostat), so it only kicks on the AC above 79 degrees
Central fan (controlled by AC circuit) when I usually run most of the time uses 3A - which is better to run one centrally ducted fan than 3 separate turbos. Just replaced the AC fan motor to a newer high efficiency one with less electrical noise for $95.00
Ceiling fan for circulation <1A
AC when running, runs at 10A
Norcold refrigerator runs off AC and propane, I use AC because it seems to suck down a lot of propane
Haier mini drink refrigerator
42 - 55 inch LED TVs in econo mode (1 or 2 depending on if I'm using one as a monitor)
microwave as needed (separate circuit)
all in one washer / dryer by LG - 10A while in use on door side circuit
countertop dishwasher in the morning as needed (likely on door side circuit)
laptop <.5A
shark cordless vaccuum <.5A while charging
2 routers <.5A
brother printer kept off until in use
water heater is electric and propane, but I run it on propane and i only ignite it when I know I need hot water
Any and all cost effective recommendations are welcome. I'm also going to probably need some ideas on where to mount most of this stuff, so I'll go walk the dogs and post some pics of where everything comes in and the possibilities for mounting shortly.
My main AC panel is 30A, my DC side is rated for 55A. Replaced recently with the WF-9855 by WFCO.
So, now comes the difficult part. I need to create a battery bank,purchase inverter, and possibly the auto transfer TS-30 since I am connected for the most part to shore power, but am sick of the bill and want to save money by running off solar in sunny Florida. We have sun a zillion hours per day, and why not go clean? I only want to use shore power when my batteries / sun aren't producing enough power.
Renogy claims that the 40A MMPT charge controller can handle the built in power converter with charger, charging while the solar charges the battery bank as well.
From what I read about the TS-30 auto-transfer, it can handle 30AMP shore power and 30AMP inverter / generator power at the same time. Inverter / gen power is given priority, and it only switches over to shore power when those are not available. This information was posted to the Amazon page. So, unlike the video about the TS-30, it does not seem I need to disable the built-in converter / charger in my AC/DC panel. I also just replaced the AC distribution converter or inverter of whatever it is built into the main AC / DC (DC side) box inside to one that reduces regular and "electrical noise" and has two 30A inline fuses. That was a $150 upgrade about 2 months ago. The specific model number is WF-9855 3-way by WFCO. The old one was humming and making a lot of heat.
For the AC side, I also purchased new circuit breakers. I installed one because one kept over heating and tripping.
Right now I have one house battery. It's a deep cycle duracell, but it appears at one time, there was a battery bank wired in series because the wires were left behind in one of the compartments near main battery.
I have explored all the videos about batteries, and I was going to buy the LiFe04's but now the price has increased drastically, and I'm completely confused about how many batteries I would need in my bank at all. Options are all over the place. Some batteries have built in temperature monitoring, so the BSS wouldn't be necessary I believe.
The kit is on it's way. I've been looking at this information for over 2 weeks, and I'm still no closer in figuring out what batteries I will need. I don't want to pay $1000 or even $500 for a battery / battery bank when the kit self is $400 less. Even if I could buy 3 more of the deep cycle Duracells with a 3 year warranty, that would only be $300 total, and at least I could wire them all together in one bank and have a total of four batteries, or even just buy two more and have a 3 battery bank. So I'm not that worried about space for the batteries.
My panel has AC circuits for:
30/15
30 Main
15 GFI / Kitchen / Door Side
15/20
15 Bedroom Norcold Refrigrator
20 Electrical Heater (no longer exists)/ AC
15/20
15 Microwave (Intermittantly used)
20 Water Heater (not in use because of propane, and it sparked when it went to turn it on months ago)
What I have running:
I have a smart digital wireless thermostat (RadioThermostat), so it only kicks on the AC above 79 degrees
Central fan (controlled by AC circuit) when I usually run most of the time uses 3A - which is better to run one centrally ducted fan than 3 separate turbos. Just replaced the AC fan motor to a newer high efficiency one with less electrical noise for $95.00
Ceiling fan for circulation <1A
AC when running, runs at 10A
Norcold refrigerator runs off AC and propane, I use AC because it seems to suck down a lot of propane
Haier mini drink refrigerator
42 - 55 inch LED TVs in econo mode (1 or 2 depending on if I'm using one as a monitor)
microwave as needed (separate circuit)
all in one washer / dryer by LG - 10A while in use on door side circuit
countertop dishwasher in the morning as needed (likely on door side circuit)
laptop <.5A
shark cordless vaccuum <.5A while charging
2 routers <.5A
brother printer kept off until in use
water heater is electric and propane, but I run it on propane and i only ignite it when I know I need hot water
Any and all cost effective recommendations are welcome. I'm also going to probably need some ideas on where to mount most of this stuff, so I'll go walk the dogs and post some pics of where everything comes in and the possibilities for mounting shortly.
Last edited:
