diy solar

diy solar

New here but not knew to solar.

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.
 

Attachments

  • 5AA7F4B6-AE10-4645-A617-DB0758CC0FC2.jpeg
    5AA7F4B6-AE10-4645-A617-DB0758CC0FC2.jpeg
    424.3 KB · Views: 12
I'll just give you my take, shall I. It probably won't apply much to Alaska's climate - which I can't quite imagine, but...
If you've lived on sailboats - and from what you write - you're already "energy-conscious". You know when to turn lights off, and that sort of stuff :·)
24V... I love it. I don't draw much, don't need 48, it's very useable as DC itself. Like lights, you don't even need to get 24V ones. I use 12Vs, 3W, in pairs. I just wire them in series ;·)

Now, your cell phone booster. I have one too. Antenna on the roof. Wouldn't have phone or internet without it. You can power that directly from the battery. Just make/buy a step-down. It uses (I'm sure) very little power.
Personally, I don't even bother. I have the (3kW) inverter on all the time. I really have enough power storage. (220Ah lithium).

Which brings us to the core of the system: the battery. I'm (obviously) not sure what "the server racks Will talks about" are.
I'll assume you're planning on much the same as what I have - 200Ah lithium. If you can keep them reasonably charged, they should be plenty for your needs. Except maybe the washing machine - more about that further on.

Now, to keep that reasonably charged... easy enough down here - panels are reasonably cheap. In Alaska... maybe not so much.
Still, if you can get 30+A from the generator, that's not too bad, is it. A bit of panels and a bit of that... you'll have to work that out, but that's the easy part, the hard/important/expensive one is the storage.

The washing machine: I have one. I just do cold cycles. Really hard to wash stuff I take to the laundromat every few months.
Actually my cold cycles are not cold at all, I use it when the sun is out, I have some 20 metres of black pipe in the sun.
Which might not apply to Alaska, but a proper solar heat collector might.
In my experience, cold wash cycles will just tickle you batteries, hot ones will torture them.
-
 
I'll just give you my take, shall I. It probably won't apply much to Alaska's climate - which I can't quite imagine, but...
If you've lived on sailboats - and from what you write - you're already "energy-conscious". You know when to turn lights off, and that sort of stuff :·)
24V... I love it. I don't draw much, don't need 48, it's very useable as DC itself. Like lights, you don't even need to get 24V ones. I use 12Vs, 3W, in pairs. I just wire them in series ;·)

Now, your cell phone booster. I have one too. Antenna on the roof. Wouldn't have phone or internet without it. You can power that directly from the battery. Just make/buy a step-down. It uses (I'm sure) very little power.
Personally, I don't even bother. I have the (3kW) inverter on all the time. I really have enough power storage. (220Ah lithium).

Which brings us to the core of the system: the battery. I'm (obviously) not sure what "the server racks Will talks about" are.
I'll assume you're planning on much the same as what I have - 200Ah lithium. If you can keep them reasonably charged, they should be plenty for your needs. Except maybe the washing machine - more about that further on.

Now, to keep that reasonably charged... easy enough down here - panels are reasonably cheap. In Alaska... maybe not so much.
Still, if you can get 30+A from the generator, that's not too bad, is it. A bit of panels and a bit of that... you'll have to work that out, but that's the easy part, the hard/important/expensive one is the storage.

The washing machine: I have one. I just do cold cycles. Really hard to wash stuff I take to the laundromat every few months.
Actually my cold cycles are not cold at all, I use it when the sun is out, I have some 20 metres of black pipe in the sun.
Which might not apply to Alaska, but a proper solar heat collector might.
In my experience, cold wash cycles will just tickle you batteries, hot ones will torture them.
-
Solar is great here for 6 months out of the year. I am up on a hill but I need to take down some trees to make it real good. From December to early January the sun hardly breaks the hill line. It’s just now hitting my panels again. But only for a short time as the new house is shadowing the panels.

My area does not get the -30 or lower all the time like other parts of the state. Lowest I have seen this year was -25 for one day. -4 to -10 for a few days in a row.

I think the weboost uses something like 5v. I would just need to find a plug and then cut it to use as you said. I have seen the step downs in the past. I will have to look at the plug and then look for one.

The washer is a small one and is pretty efficient. I run it off the inverter every time. Then I start the gen to top everything off.

The server racks are 24v 200 ah. I believe EG4 is name.
 
I think the weboost uses something like 5v

Well, if it does, 24V USB adapters are cheap and common. I have a couple. They make 5V.
But whatever the voltage, the amperage will be low, so it will be cheap and easy to convert 24V to whatever it wants.

The batteries can certainly go inside the house. It's where I keep them - Pylontech 24V. No smell, no noise, no heat, no problem.

pytch.jpg
-
 
Well, if it does, 24V USB adapters are cheap and common. I have a couple. They make 5V.
But whatever the voltage, the amperage will be low, so it will be cheap and easy to convert 24V to whatever it wants.

The batteries can certainly go inside the house. It's where I keep them - Pylontech 24V. No smell, no noise, no heat, no problem.

View attachment 80161
-
Been a busy winter. Currently I have a growatt 3000w combo set up. On my Honda 2000 nock off I can charge some agm batteries at 45 amps an hour. If I hook up the bigger gen I can go to 60. Solar when I get more panels can handle up to 2000 watts or 80 amps. I picked up half a dozen used AGM from UAF for cheap just to put power into the houses lights.

Tell me about those batteries you have. I am very interested. The AGM are ok but with a fridge on and a few other things I have to charge every other day. Not enough storage I think.
 
As I said, they're Pylontech LFP, 24V, 110Ah each. Expensive, but, IMO, worth it.
If you can get Eg4s, they're much the same, and probably cheaper.

If you're comfortable with electrics, you could build (assemble) your own with 8 cells (for 24V) and a BMS from China, for roughly half the price.
A lot of information on how to do that on this forum, and related Youtube channels.
Some vendors like Shenzhen Luyuan have stocks in the US.
The stocks are probably dwindling fast - and prices likely going up - though, do if you want to go that route I'd get a quote soon.
-
 
Solar is great here for 6 months out of the year. I am up on a hill but I need to take down some trees to make it real good. From December to early January the sun hardly breaks the hill line. It’s just now hitting my panels again. But only for a short time as the new house is shadowing the panels.

My area does not get the -30 or lower all the time like other parts of the state. Lowest I have seen this year was -25 for one day. -4 to -10 for a few days in a row.



You may want to wait on cutting down trees until you know more about the weather patterns and harvesting solar in your area. The months of Oct. > Feb. the sun is so low above the horizon cutting trees down may not make a difference. There also the problem of snow covering the panels. Adjusting the panels from 44* to 14* will help, or doubled the size of panels is also recommended by local dealers. I wonder why??

It all about local weather. Most years in Anchorage we get into a weather cycle of 3-5 days of clouds/rains 1-2 days of clear skis that can last most of the summer. Not saying it would be the same for you, but it could be.

None of what I said is not a reason to not have solar, I just don’t like seeing $$ wasted because of lack of information.
 
You may want to wait on cutting down trees until you know more about the weather patterns and harvesting solar in your area. The months of Oct. > Feb. the sun is so low above the horizon cutting trees down may not make a difference. There also the problem of snow covering the panels. Adjusting the panels from 44* to 14* will help, or doubled the size of panels is also recommended by local dealers. I wonder why??

It all about local weather. Most years in Anchorage we get into a weather cycle of 3-5 days of clouds/rains 1-2 days of clear skis that can last most of the summer. Not saying it would be the same for you, but it could be.

None of what I said is not a reason to not have solar, I just don’t like seeing $$ wasted because of lack of information.
Nice first post MacGyver. Welcome to the party.
 
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.
Don't scrimp on your inverter. I have a 4000 watt inverter that only pulls 6 or 7 watts on idle so you will have room to grow.
 
Back
Top