diy solar

diy solar

New to this and looking to build off grid here in northern Minnesota

Nativeo

New Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2021
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6
Hello,

We recently moved to northern Minnesota to an Amish off grid ranch (4200sqft home, 4000sqft non insulated shop, 800sqft insulated shop). We are currently running a generator for our freezers and fridge along with any other appliances. We are looking to add the entire package. We want PV panels (4500sqft of south facing roof availability), battery storage (many days worth of availability) and generator if needed. I will be doing everything myself. I am good to go mechanically. The heat is all wood stoves. The well has a gas powered pump. In all actuality the previous family lived there with 0 power though I would like this done before the winter. I will want to run a washing machine, large shop tools eventually along with powered well pump and electric water heater (current is wood fired heater).

I have been reading and watching everything I can but I would love to hear what the experts or experienced off gridders would suggest I do.

Should I put together my own battery packs?
Should I go with all in one inverter/controller?
How important are the most expensive components?
I am am thinking 48v for sure.


Eventually I want the home wired like we have always had when on grid.

Any advice is very welcome.

Oh and we have 90+ acres and getting livestock across the board.

Thanks
 
Welcome to the Forums!

Should I put together my own battery packs?
Will has a number of videos on doing your own battery packs, easy to do and saves $$. There's a forum to ask questions on them and a Show & Tell forum to see what others have done to give you some ideas.


Any advice is very welcome.
I'd start with an Energy Audit to figure out what I need in terms of power, it'll help answer your questions.

From there I recommend:
There's a lot more in the FAQ section.

Should I go with all in one inverter/controller?
Depends on your energy audit. For example, if you need a lot of power you might need inverters with a parallel feature so they can work together.

How important are the most expensive components?
The most common mistake is a lack of planning and impulse-buys that strand people with gear that's not good for their situation.
After that it's just a matter of shopping around for the quality you can afford to get the power you need.

You might also like Comparing Solar Panels

Hope that helps!
 
Last edited:
Should I put together my own battery packs?
1. YES ... its very easy to do -- and will save you 50% over someone doing it for you. You need to doan energy audit to determine what size inverter, draw, cables, and batteries Ah you are going to need ...

Should I go with all in one inverter/controller?
1. Many thoughts on this.. If you lose one single thing on the all in one then you lose the entire system -- everything ...Some of the all in ones that I am using on various projects are from MPP Solar and GROWATT .. both very good although I lean toward MPP solar more ... its good - its inexpensive ... its reliable -- and their customer service speaks good English and they answer emails ...

BUT say that I have a fault in one of the components in the system - maybe just a loose wire -- then I loose everything ... IF you are putting things together separately then you can easily troubleshoot and replace ...

How important are the most expensive components?
1. Not sure what you mean but i think I do ... let me ask yu this -- what's the difference between 16 oz of water from Walmart at 0.50 cent and 16 ounces of water in a fancy plastic bottle with a fancy label at Whole Foods for $2.50...???.

BUT with that said - YOU are going to be running a tremendous amount of voltage and wattage through this system -- SOOO YES I would make sure that you do the best research you can and get several ppl's opinion .... There is a ton of info on this website -- and hell half the people will help you design the system - THEY WON'T do it for you but they will help guide you the right direction ... but there are already numerous blueprints on here basically answering what you are asking ....

There are excellent resource on this board by the name of @Steve_S @Dzl @Hedges and @Supervstech @svetz .... THEY WON'T DESIGN IT FOR YOU BUT THEY ARE GREAT TO BOUNCE QUESTIONS OFF OF .... my specialty is really just batteries and catching things on fire ... they may be able to point you to some already existing things on the site --i don't visit this side of the forum very much so I am no help ....

Personally NOT a big fan of roof mounting anything BUT love those ground mounts .... but YES roof is easier and cheaper ... but your poor roof suffers ...


I am am thinking 48v for sure:
1. Agree .....


Eventually I want the home wired like we have always had when on grid.
 
Welcome to the Forums!


Will has a number of videos on doing your own battery packs, easy to do and saves $$. There's a forum to ask questions on them and a Show & Tell forum to see what others have done to give you some ideas.



I'd start with an Energy Audit to figure out what I need in terms of power, it'll help answer your questions.

From there I recommend:
There's a lot more in the FAQ section.


Depends on your energy audit. For example, if you need a lot of power you might need inverters with a parallel feature so they can work together.


The most common mistake is a lack of planning and impulse-buys that strand people with gear that's not good for their situation.
After that it's just a matter of shopping around for the quality you can afford to get the power you need.

You might also like Comparing Solar Panels


You'll want a grid-tied inverter system then. Microinverters are very common for grid-tied system and often are the best in terms of scalability and flexibility (usually reliability and price too) ... but they have special needs around battery hookups which can increase the $$.

Hope that helps!

I don' think there is AC on his property - since he is running a generator 24/7 for the freezer .... BUT hopefully the generator is an battery start so his BMS can fire it up when the batteries are not charging at a rate required ...
 
I don' think there is AC on his property - since he is running a generator 24/7 for the freezer .... BUT hopefully the generator is an battery start so his BMS can fire it up when the batteries are not charging at a rate required ...
Thanks! Misread the bit about the grid...edited that bit out of my post.
 
I will also echo an important sentiment, Research, Make a Plan, double/triple check it, revise it, then stick to it. A lack of planning is planning to fail. And until you have a plan do not buy anything, there are no "once in a lifetime" deals out there !

There's a few other bits of information you will need to figure this out.
The roof Pitch(s) ?
The precise facing direction, not a guess, use a compass/gps
Type of roof, metal/shingle, Rafters & Purlins or sheathed.
! The snow loads etc are affected when adding solar panels, this can lead to having to add added support.

Off your quick description, I would be oriented to 48V stacked 12,000W ->240VAC Inverter/Charger systems & Paralleled High Quality Solar Charge Controllers or Tier-1 All in Ones like Victron system stuff, for something like this and it's stackable & all interoperable, even down to Battery BMS' if wanted (DIY or Victron $$ ones). Because of the shop, it will have to be a good solid hard working system to deliver power to the machinery of any sort, including freezers etc. All Soft-Start motors are better for any solar/battery system, many motors can be retro-fitted to accommodate it.

Another Prime Rule: Conservation is Cheaper than Generation & Storage !
You would be quite surprised what a few well chosen Energy Efficient Appliances and devices (like well pumps) can do to cut power usage down and keep it there.

Hope it helps a bit.
Steve

Some Quick & Dirty info Source: http://www.solarelectricityhandbook.com/solar-calculator.html
the Pitch is 11.19 in 12 which is 43° for optimal year round.
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I've had pretty good experience with my SolArk 12k. There's a built-in generator input to make everything managed by the one box. Tech support in Texas has been very good, called them a couple times. I has free cloud-based web interface and historical data, a very cool benefit. I even had some issues with faults and alarms that resulted in tech support reaching out to me as a result of them monitoring alarms, not the normal way of me reaching out to them. That's almost unheard of in today's culture.

I'd suggest looking at a ground-mount panel system, with ability to change the vertical angle through the seasons. The steep winter-angle will also shed the snow/ice, which is a problem to deal with in northern latitudes. Mine in central Iowa were tilted at 60 degrees, i.e. 30 degree elevation, and shed snow very well. I think last winter the longest time snow stayed on the panels was 2 days. At a 20-degree elevation/tilt, the snow will shed even better.

I built my own battery, roughly 3-5 days of storage with no sun. Bought the cells via Michael Caro in the group-buy section of this formum, 80 cells of 272AH, 1 string of 3 in parallel, 1 string of 2 in parallel. Got two JK active balancers (2A was enough) and 2 JBD BMS from Ebay and Amazon. I just used the 40A BMS and used the output to drive an isolation relay. Got the isolation relay from Electric Car Parts on line. Fuse blocks and fuses from Amazon.

FYI, you can count on roughly 10-30% solar output on an overcast day, depending on cloud density, inlcuding light snow. If it's heavy snowing or heavy clouds ready to rain, count on practically no output.

My system went mostly active at the end of 2020, with the big battery system installed in March. Happy so far, and wanting to see how the winter usage/load profile and solar output change.
 
Nativeo-Putting a 48v system will save you on wiring. doing a 12v to 24v system, the wiring will be more expensive ,( thicker wires), but with a 48v system, you can use thinner wiring from solar panels back to your Charge controller. More copper, more cost. Hope that helps.
 
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