I plan on going with the all in one 48v equipment package that Will put in his trailer. I would appreciate some advise on batteries and panels needed to get started. I need to be able to keep two home refrigerators and a small chest freezer running as well as a home water well pump occasionally for short periods. This is a survival situation post hurricane, EMP, SHTF etc. I am in south east Florida. Though I'm no millionaire, cost is not the primary deciding factor, quality dependability and availability are. I just found Will, this site and you guys. I have been here reading and on YouTube watching videos for days now and you guys are awsome, four or five days ago I had never heard of a LiFePO4 battery. If I can figure out how to put this together it would be huge for our family, hurricane season is just around the corner and full time gasoline generators are not the answer for many reasons. Thanks in advance for any and all help!
Need Advise
- Thread starter Tuckles
- Start date
Welcome to the forum.
Link #5 in my signature to determine your available solar (this establishes what you have to work with).
Link #1 in my signature to conduct an energy audit and determine your items, their power and how long you want to run them daily (this establishes what you actually need).
Once the above two are complete, identifying a system is almost trivial.
Trying to deploy a useful system without matching needs and resources is a great way to produce a system that doesn't work, or costs way too much $.
Of particular note is your well pump.
How deep is your well?
What is the running current/voltage of your pump?
What is the surge current or locked rotor amps (LRA) rating?
A high power motor may completely prohibit use of a MPP Solar or Growatt all-in-one due to their poor surge capability.
Link #5 in my signature to determine your available solar (this establishes what you have to work with).
Link #1 in my signature to conduct an energy audit and determine your items, their power and how long you want to run them daily (this establishes what you actually need).
Once the above two are complete, identifying a system is almost trivial.
Trying to deploy a useful system without matching needs and resources is a great way to produce a system that doesn't work, or costs way too much $.
Of particular note is your well pump.
How deep is your well?
What is the running current/voltage of your pump?
What is the surge current or locked rotor amps (LRA) rating?
A high power motor may completely prohibit use of a MPP Solar or Growatt all-in-one due to their poor surge capability.
Thank you for your reply your great advise and for creating such an amazing self calculating audit tool for us all. I am going today to get the proper meter to begin the energy audit, is there a resource where I can learn the proper auditing process such as how long to monitor different types of appliances? As to the well, it is pretty shallow I believe, it was here when I bought the place, but its a 120v pump (which suprised me) and not very large at that. I am also going to research "soft start" technologies I have read about here
If money is not a huge factor and you're only looking at emergency power, my advice is to look into natural gas generators. If you have natural gas.
As far as EMPs go, an EMP or a Carrington event will fry all your electronics permanently. You'd need huge Faraday cage to store all your electronics in.
If I still lived in Florida I'd probably build a solar system that I used every day and try to wean myself off the grid altogether.
As far as EMPs go, an EMP or a Carrington event will fry all your electronics permanently. You'd need huge Faraday cage to store all your electronics in.
If I still lived in Florida I'd probably build a solar system that I used every day and try to wean myself off the grid altogether.
I created none of the resources.
Monitoring a device or circuit for 24 hours is a good idea. When you have a bunch of items, that can be tedious. You really need it for things that cycle on and off like fridges, etc.
For simple things like lights, or a 1000W microwave, you can just guesstimate that you'll use it 10 minutes per day. They are incredibly inefficient. A 1000W microwave uses 1600W of incoming power. 10min/60min/hr * 1600W = 267Wh/day. 5 13W light bulbs for 2 hours each = 5 * 2h * 13W = 130Wh/day.
Shallow wells can get away with 120VAC. Important to know the run and locked rotor amps. It's likely on a data plate on the pump motor.
chrisski
Solar Boondocker
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I do recommend an energy audit, quickly to temper expectations.
I wanted something similar, but after finding out the cost in money and space it would cost to run these high wattage appliances, I dropped that path, and stuck to gas generators for high wattage stuff, and when that’s not needed, on comes a small solar generator for lights and cell phones.
Reducing energy needs was far better for me. Most wells in Florida are probably shallow, so even a hand pump could make the situation easier.
I wanted something similar, but after finding out the cost in money and space it would cost to run these high wattage appliances, I dropped that path, and stuck to gas generators for high wattage stuff, and when that’s not needed, on comes a small solar generator for lights and cell phones.
Reducing energy needs was far better for me. Most wells in Florida are probably shallow, so even a hand pump could make the situation easier.
The problem is not gas generators, those I have, gasoline for the generator in the second week of an outage is the problem. Also, by then we need to be in silent/odor free/blacked out running mode. If we have a prolonged interuption in the power system here I predict things could get pretty dicy around here pretty quickly
But I do appriciate your concern for my expectations. I think they are becoming more realistic by the moment with the help of all yall. My expectaion is that its going to take some serious system auditing followed by more rearch to allow for proper equipment procurment decisions and then I'm gonna spend a big wad o cash...........such is life, I have a large family to care for.
Well then thank you for making the resources available. I will go out and look at the pump in the morning and thanks for the usage calculations!
chrisski
Solar Boondocker
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What is your faraday setup like?
Used to think a faraday cage was a metal box, but if my cell phone can still receive in a metal box, then what would this do for an EMP?
No, in fact, I dont want to deploy the solar panels until after a hurricane or other event that takes down the grid
The easiest is a large old school metal garbage can and lid, its amazing how much stuff you can pack into one, then seal the lid to the can first with aluminum foil molded tightly and then with aluminum tape over that, with a ground lead from the can out to a ground rod. We have extra cell phones stored, not the ones we use daily. Have some larger items in a large metal box as well.
I've heard my father in law say, "If you're going to throw money out the window let me know which one it is so I can stand under it with a basket."
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I get your point, but the battery and other components of the system inside the concrete house wont be of much good if a hurricane or an accompanying tornado rip your solar array off the roof and send it to another county
chrisski
Solar Boondocker
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I bet that ground rod is key, not just a metal box. let the current go the. Shortest easiest route.
Are the contents inside insulated from the container, like in rubber.
We put in a large heavy duty yard debris type black trash bag in the can, load the can and then take a couple of them and put on top and tuck down all around between the can and the bottom bag. As the current will build and travel on the surface of the metal container and then flow to ground I think (pray) this will work. Its the best we could do with what we have or can get readily, if it fails at least we tried and I continue to research this topic and urge you to as well if you have an interest. I am certainly no electrical engineer, just a guy trying to be prepared for certain very possible bad news scenarios such as another Carrington event which can be either natural events or man made.
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
Well Pump? In this video DavidPoz tries to start a miter saw (at 13:45) with the LV5048 from MPP and it was a no go. So u might need another low frequency inverter for such loads.
MrM1
I'm Here, But I'm Not All There
I run my deep well pump 1hp off my 4000w Schneider Conext SW4024 inverter no problem. The led lights blink when it comes on (regular bulbs do not) but it runs just fine. I converted it from 120 volt to 240 volt to help balance the load. The sw4024 is a split phase inverter
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