New to solar trying to figure out what I need

[flybywire]

I looked into solar about 16 years ago and it was prohibitively expensive, and all the installers seemed to be just selling loans, now with all the DIY stuff out there I have become interested again. I have a 4800 sq ft shop/hangar with 2000sq ft house above, we are out in the country, so we have 3 fridges, but we are all electric. The HVAC system is a 5 ton geo exchange system.
I currently have a 12k diesel gen that will run everything in the house, including the deep well pump.
I am curious, if a 12k gen will run everything, will a 12k solar inverter with batt back up do the same?
I have been researching and seems like LF inverters are better for the surge of well pumps and air compressors.
I would like to do a 12k 48 volt system with 4-6 lifepo4 100ah batts. not sure how many panels, but will probably ground mount
Current avg elec usage is about 15kwh month I am sure that can be reduced some.

I can do all the install myself, just don't know who to ask local. I am also a private pilot and when I do fly in the area the only solar that I see are the solar farms for Georgia Power.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I looked into solar about 16 years ago and it was prohibitively expensive, and all the installers seemed to be just selling loans, now with all the DIY stuff out there I have become interested again. I have a 4800 sq ft shop/hangar with 2000sq ft house above, we are out in the country, so we have 3 fridges, but we are all electric. The HVAC system is a 5 ton geo exchange system.
I currently have a 12k diesel gen that will run everything in the house, including the deep well pump.
I am curious, if a 12k gen will run everything, will a 12k solar inverter with batt back up do the same?
I have been researching and seems like LF inverters are better for the surge of well pumps and air compressors.
I would like to do a 12k 48 volt system with 4-6 lifepo4 100ah batts. not sure how many panels, but will probably ground mount
Current avg elec usage is about 15kwh month I am sure that can be reduced some.

I can do all the install myself, just don't know who to ask local. I am also a private pilot and when I do fly in the area the only solar that I see are the solar farms for Georgia Power.

Thanks for any suggestions.

15kWh is about 50% of the average DAILY American household use.

 

[DerpsyDoodler]

Sounds like the large loads are the well pump, your compressor, and maybe the fans for the air conditioner. You need to know what the surge for starting each of these loads is. In my signature is a link to do an energy audit. It's just a spreadsheet for you to list each of your loads and to write down their energy consumption. At 15kWhs a month, you're likely no where near maxing out that generator, so a 12k inverter would _probably_ do it; but, you're better off writing down the devices and doing the research so you know exactly what you need.

 

[flybywire]

Thanks, I did make a typo, avg monthly is about 1500kwh.. I know that I cannot expect to be totally off grid, but perhaps have the solar run the HVAC, and a few other things, and be a standby for power outages. I thought I would be good with a diesel gen, but with all the craziness going on, the gen would get pretty expensive to operate, even if I could get plenty of fuel.
Thanks for the info I will check it out.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

That's 50kWh/day

about $10K in DIY LFP batteries (50kW)
about $5K in PV panels (10kW)
about $5K in inverters/MPPT
about $1K in misc
?$ in mounting (can be more than the panels)

 

[Rednecktek]

That's 50kWh/day

Which is what, 10 rackmount batteries a day? At $1500ea... ouch!

 

[flybywire]

Thanks! The batteries are the killer for sure.
I guess I need to severely reduce my energy consumption.

 

[DerpsyDoodler]

Thanks! The batteries are the killer for sure.
I guess I need to severely reduce my energy consumption.

Indeed. A good reason to start with an energy audit.

 

[flybywire]

OK Update, this has been a long process when doing it alone, and working full time etc. I got everything mounted and up and running,
20 455 watt panels on the roof facing south, 2 EG4 6548 inverters, and 4 EG4 lifepower batteries. I had to get a soft start for the HVAC, I have been reading everyone else's programing settings for the EG4 and so far everything seems to be working.
I have the inverters in SBU mode and during the day the HVAC has been running off the solar and charging the batteries just fine, at night it is running off the batteries and has not gone into bypass mode yet, but the weather has been mild so not a lot of heat or AC needed right now.

The only thing not working is the LED strip lights on one of the inverters, it worked at first but stopped working by day 2, but the inverter is working just fine. Are these light strip replaceable? I have checked the settings and they are turned up all the way, but cant get them on on low or med either, or any of the other light modes.

I had the house AC running so I plugged in 2 large floor fans, a window unit AC and a microwave, it handled the load just fine at about 50% load.
Thanks for everyones input here on the forum, lots of info that helped me out.