curmudgeinn
New Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2022
- Messages
- 4
Hello everyone. I am a retired shipwright that spent most of my life in Florida. I sold everything this past summer and moved to my remote off grid homestead just north of Talkeetna Alaska.
In the past I have installed a lot of solar systems on sailboats both mine and my customers. Everything was always 12v. Now I am in a cold climate and my systems are all 24v. The volts are not an issue. I just do not know which charger/inverters are best.
Let me tell you a little of how I currently have my middle cabin. It was set up for 24v by the original owner back in the 90’s. Everything was run 120v except a few lights. A month after I moved in the inverter/charger what was installed in 1998 died. The only thing I could find locally on a short notice was a Schneider 2500/24 with a midnight sun breaker set up. Purchased it and installed it. Works fine except my generator is only feeding 120v into the system instead of the 220. Currently only getting 32amps of charge vs then 65 I would get with the second 120 leg coming in.
This cabin is now mostly run on 24v. All lights are now set to run normal 120v fixtures but wires to 24v with 12/24v bulbs that fit them. Love it so far each bulb puts out a lot of light and draws .25amp.
I am using 8 6v crown batteries in this cabin. They are 3 months old now. The solar is all older except the epever mppt controller I brought with me. All the panels need replacing. They are all about 25 years old and only 75 watts each.
I intend to leave this cabin as it is for a few years as it’s working. I have a large cabin that the original owner started but never finished. I have installed all wiring and insulation. Waiting to get the Alaskan railroad tundra truck to drop off 100 sheets of plywood to finish the insides.
I want a little advice on this cabin as I have not built the solar or charging system yet. I want to stay 24v as I have a lot of pumps and stuff that are built for that. All lighting except stand alone lights for reading at desk and such are 24v my 120v draw will not be much. I use a weboost cell signal booster out here or I have no cell service at all. That is 120v. I have a 50” tv, kitchen aid mixer and a washing machine for laundry those are all the big draws I will have.
I want to use the server racks Will talks about. I am figuring 2 @24v should do me fine. But what about charger/inverter? I don’t want something that has huge idle draw. The only thing that will really be in 24/7 is the cell signal booster. Would I be better off just running that off a small 150watt inverter? And then switching on the big one when I need the larger draw items?
Battery warmers? Can the server packs be inside the cabin?
Okay I will end this here and see what you all say. Just new to doing all this on land and 24v. I know it’s not much different from 12v but I like to always hear what others think.
In the past I have installed a lot of solar systems on sailboats both mine and my customers. Everything was always 12v. Now I am in a cold climate and my systems are all 24v. The volts are not an issue. I just do not know which charger/inverters are best.
Let me tell you a little of how I currently have my middle cabin. It was set up for 24v by the original owner back in the 90’s. Everything was run 120v except a few lights. A month after I moved in the inverter/charger what was installed in 1998 died. The only thing I could find locally on a short notice was a Schneider 2500/24 with a midnight sun breaker set up. Purchased it and installed it. Works fine except my generator is only feeding 120v into the system instead of the 220. Currently only getting 32amps of charge vs then 65 I would get with the second 120 leg coming in.
This cabin is now mostly run on 24v. All lights are now set to run normal 120v fixtures but wires to 24v with 12/24v bulbs that fit them. Love it so far each bulb puts out a lot of light and draws .25amp.
I am using 8 6v crown batteries in this cabin. They are 3 months old now. The solar is all older except the epever mppt controller I brought with me. All the panels need replacing. They are all about 25 years old and only 75 watts each.
I intend to leave this cabin as it is for a few years as it’s working. I have a large cabin that the original owner started but never finished. I have installed all wiring and insulation. Waiting to get the Alaskan railroad tundra truck to drop off 100 sheets of plywood to finish the insides.
I want a little advice on this cabin as I have not built the solar or charging system yet. I want to stay 24v as I have a lot of pumps and stuff that are built for that. All lighting except stand alone lights for reading at desk and such are 24v my 120v draw will not be much. I use a weboost cell signal booster out here or I have no cell service at all. That is 120v. I have a 50” tv, kitchen aid mixer and a washing machine for laundry those are all the big draws I will have.
I want to use the server racks Will talks about. I am figuring 2 @24v should do me fine. But what about charger/inverter? I don’t want something that has huge idle draw. The only thing that will really be in 24/7 is the cell signal booster. Would I be better off just running that off a small 150watt inverter? And then switching on the big one when I need the larger draw items?
Battery warmers? Can the server packs be inside the cabin?
Okay I will end this here and see what you all say. Just new to doing all this on land and 24v. I know it’s not much different from 12v but I like to always hear what others think.