farmerc356
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2021
- Messages
- 5
This is being typed on mobile, apologies for any errors.
The wife and I have bought a currently off grid home that has, for us, an undersized solar system. The system works perfectly as intended but does not meet the demands of work from home and a two and a half year old who wants to do what was normal life in the city just a month ago. It has a 24v 4000w magnasine inverter with a FLA battery bank and 800 watts of solar. The well is currently ran of of generator power, which we would like to get away from.
The planned upgrade:
I have in my possession 16 Trina 410 watt panels, and have ordered a 12kw growatt inverter as well as two of the 5kw batteries from signature solar. The lead time is what it is and I can deal with it as we already have a functioning system albeit one that isn’t quite large enough. We’ve began the construction of a new ground mount which will have 9 panels facing south, 3 panels facing southwest and three south east. According to what I believe is the correct math I should be able to make 5 strings of 3 panels and stay within safe limits while considering the potential for very cold temperatures in Michigan. Record low for this area is -40 which happened last year.
I’m currently on the hunt for a combiner box, which I’m leaning towards a pvwatts 8 into 2. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I’m also curious if I can install the panels and then wire them into a combiner box and not put any fuses in until the rest of the equipment shows up. This would be in an effort to have the majority of the outside work completed prior to the weather turning cold.
I’m sure there will be more questions along the way. I’ve tried to do as much research as possible to be able to accomplish the majority of it without any major outside assistance, but I’m mostly trying to double check everything for my own sanity ?. I appreciate all of the knowledge I’ve gained here and hope to continue to learn some more.
The wife and I have bought a currently off grid home that has, for us, an undersized solar system. The system works perfectly as intended but does not meet the demands of work from home and a two and a half year old who wants to do what was normal life in the city just a month ago. It has a 24v 4000w magnasine inverter with a FLA battery bank and 800 watts of solar. The well is currently ran of of generator power, which we would like to get away from.
The planned upgrade:
I have in my possession 16 Trina 410 watt panels, and have ordered a 12kw growatt inverter as well as two of the 5kw batteries from signature solar. The lead time is what it is and I can deal with it as we already have a functioning system albeit one that isn’t quite large enough. We’ve began the construction of a new ground mount which will have 9 panels facing south, 3 panels facing southwest and three south east. According to what I believe is the correct math I should be able to make 5 strings of 3 panels and stay within safe limits while considering the potential for very cold temperatures in Michigan. Record low for this area is -40 which happened last year.
I’m currently on the hunt for a combiner box, which I’m leaning towards a pvwatts 8 into 2. Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated. I’m also curious if I can install the panels and then wire them into a combiner box and not put any fuses in until the rest of the equipment shows up. This would be in an effort to have the majority of the outside work completed prior to the weather turning cold.
I’m sure there will be more questions along the way. I’ve tried to do as much research as possible to be able to accomplish the majority of it without any major outside assistance, but I’m mostly trying to double check everything for my own sanity ?. I appreciate all of the knowledge I’ve gained here and hope to continue to learn some more.