My project....

[BIGFOOT]

My PV system started more as a science project to have a 110v outlet on my grill pergola which is detached from the house and has growned to a real project as a back up power supply to run a refrigerator, acouple led lights and small fans during the day if we're without power.
I live in south Florida so we already had a portable generator, which is noisy..... I figured normally after a hurricane the days are hot and sunny.. and may as well tap into some solar power to keep a few things going in side the house during the day.
The components I have are 4x100w panels, combiner, 40amp MPPT, 3000w inverter and 2x 12v 200 agm batterys.
I'm in the process of putting everything thing together now. Looking forward to learn from the more experienced user here. Thanks in advance!

 

[MichaelK]

Will this be a 24V system? For your size battery, I'd say you need to double the amount of solar panels. I'd consider 400W inadequate for running a refrigerator. Besides the frig itself, you also need to account for the power the inverter itself consumes just being turned on. At my own cabin on days when I am not there, and the only thing running is the refrigerator, I'm finding my total consumption is ~2.5kWh (summer).

Don't buy any more 12V panels! You are really wasting you money buying those. You get far more watts/$ when buying grid-tie panels. What I would is buy two 72 cell grid-tie panels in the 240-260W range. Those will put out ~36VDC. Two in series would be 72V. If you wire your four 100W panels in series, they will also be putting out ~72VDC. Parallel the two strings into the charge controller. Once transformed down to ~25V charging, the controller will be charging at a theoretical max of 36A.

 

[BIGFOOT]

Will this be a 24V system? For your size battery, I'd say you need to double the amount of solar panels. I'd consider 400W inadequate for running a refrigerator. Besides the frig itself, you also need to account for the power the inverter itself consumes just being turned on. At my own cabin on days when I am not there, and the only thing running is the refrigerator, I'm finding my total consumption is ~2.5kWh (summer).

Don't buy any more 12V panels! You are really wasting you money buying those. You get far more watts/$ when buying grid-tie panels. What I would is buy two 72 cell grid-tie panels in the 240-260W range. Those will put out ~36VDC. Two in series would be 72V. If you wire your four 100W panels in series, they will also be putting out ~72VDC. Parallel the two strings into the charge controller. Once transformed down to ~25V charging, the controller will be charging at a theoretical max of 36A.

12v system, more of a backup for power outage after a hurricane during the day... to complement a portable gas generator.
Mostly will be use as a 110v outlet for my grill pergola to run a rotisserie, fan, light, etc...
For a long time I wanted to do something with solar as it always intrigued me.