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diy solar

NewB check-in :-)

Pickuptrck

NV owner builder
Joined
Nov 7, 2020
Messages
32
Location
Winnemucca NV
Hello!

As in my signature, looking to retire after 21.5 yrs of active duty (not that I've been counting this last couple years! ?).

We purchased 10acres in northern NV, with a pair of older 14x60-ish manufactured homes and rather than initially pay to connect to the grid, I'd much rather stay with off grid initially while I gut/rebuild. I'll build the dream home in a couple years, just need a decent base camp for now.

Youtube, fine folks like Will Prowse and David Poz have given me a good nudge toward a 48v 200ah or 24v 200ah prismatic cell pack with a small HF gas generator. Looking to budget under $10k (est cost to grid tie), $5k would be great and I'll have all the time I need. Power only during the day and maybe a small camp fridge for the first few build weeks is fine.

Our power bill for an similar Mobile on full electric was 980kwh/month. I'm looking to move to a Camplux 10L propane water heater, and propane furnace which should reduce battery need considerably.

That's the plan. I'll be out in April. Any advice is welcome!

-Chris.
 
Thank you for your service.

A full energy audit via link #1 in my signature is really the best place to start. Link #5 in my signature gives you your available solar for your location, panel orientation and tilt.

The two of those will allow you to properly size your system to meet your anticipated needs.

To give you an idea of scale, my ENE AZ system is about 30kWh/day capable. 6kW of solar panels, 10kW of split phase 240V power and 39kWh of battery storage ran me around $12K.

If you're considering DIY LFP batteries, the 280Ah cells offer the best value. A 48V 43kWh battery made from 280Ah cells would run you about $5500-6000.
 
Thanks Snoobler!

I've seen and downloaded the audit, tough to guess what is going to be in the home. I'm learning more and more each day on how to cut things I've been used to in the US like 5 ton central HVAC heat pumps in favor of the things I've seen deployed like mini-splits. Tankless water heaters and diy solar trackers using (4) 5v mini solar boards are all marvels I'm looking to integrate.
 
Welcome, I first looked for an opportunity to mock you for your grammar (traditional initiation rite), but found none.

Small HF generator may be the bargain way to go up front. Electric start and propane would work well with your plan for propane, and let a smaller PV system weather cloudy times. Then the little one can be used for portable work on the property. CHP (combined heat and power) would be nice, capturing waste heat to use for water and home. If a simple air-cooled generator, then maybe it's cooling air ducted over a radiator, followed by heat exchanger around exhaust pipe?

As Snoobler indicated, a significant size PV system isn't terribly expensive. But it's dominated by things other than PV panels - we can buy 6kW of panels for around $1500, about 12% of his total. So other items are where you can save money. Half the cost for batteries? That's where automatic generator can help out; battery can be as small as one night's usage.
 
Grammar mocking eh? Well, every forum has it's quirks :).

I've always heard to never have a generator indoors even if it's breathing and expelling using outside air so I had not considered heat recovery while different, the concepts are somewhat closely related. Recovery makes sense as it's done all over in Europe on the shower drains pre-heating the incoming cold water line but those are separated systems sharing a transfer fluid of sorts. With a fan I initially have worries of Co2 leaks being funneled in, I'll have to do some more research on that one. So many ideas, so little funding =) Thank you for the warm intro, I'll move into the normal forum and start finding solutions or posing questions on a few other topics.
 
Well, a couple of victims. They said something funny or had thin skin :^)

Not generator indoors, which could be an issue with exhaust leaks. Some RV type generators have a fan which exhausts air rather than blowing over the engine, ensuring negative pressure in generator compartment.

The idea is an internal combustion engine (or fuel cell) which has waste heat from liquid cooling system used for domestic heat. Some deliver grid-tied AC. For off-grid, obviously the captured heat plus dumping excess electric production as heat could be used for the house, as well as keeping batteries charged and supporting loads. Yanmar had small 5kW and 10kW units that were sold to the off-grid market for a while.


These days PV is cheaper than fuel, so in mild climates pure PV electric could be the way to go. I know Nevada can be cold but has limited snow, don't know to what extent you'll have surplus electricity in the winter. Got earth-temperature water? Makes A/C more efficient and heat-pump possible. But if you burn propane for heat in the winter and are short on electricity, then CHP could be attractive. If you had a water cooled generator, it could initially just power electric heat, later make use of captured waste heat. Diesel may be cheaper fuel than propane. Of course propane/natural gas are nice, clean, low maintenance for heating. But the tradeoffs are latitude and site specific. Just throwing out ideas, have fun!
 
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