Stephenknight
New Member
I have 10 panels a g watt inverter want to do a otf grid system a cut ties with supplier please advise thanks ?
Off grid for home
- Thread starter Stephenknight
- Start date
Bluedog225
Texas
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2019
- Messages
- 2,961
Welcome.
First thing, figure out how many watts you want to use in a day. A little research on how to calculate watts will be needed.
First thing, figure out how many watts you want to use in a day. A little research on how to calculate watts will be needed.
Stephenknight
New Member
Thanks how’s it found out please
BentleyJ
Solar Wizard
Depends on if its an existing house with utility bills and an opportunity to install a simple energy monitoring system to track usage and peak demand vs. a new home with no electrical usage history.
1) Existing home: Should be able to look up your 12 monthly electric bills for the last year and get some seasonal averages and you can install an Emporia Vue 2 energy monitor with 2 CT's for the mains. Cost is $85 not including installation if you need to hire an electrician.
2) New home being built: Need to review the list of electric appliances and their usage specifications. Add it all up, calculate estimated seasonal monthly electrical demand and decide what appliances would need to be running all at the same time to give you peak demand.
1) Existing home: Should be able to look up your 12 monthly electric bills for the last year and get some seasonal averages and you can install an Emporia Vue 2 energy monitor with 2 CT's for the mains. Cost is $85 not including installation if you need to hire an electrician.
2) New home being built: Need to review the list of electric appliances and their usage specifications. Add it all up, calculate estimated seasonal monthly electrical demand and decide what appliances would need to be running all at the same time to give you peak demand.
Hedges
I See Electromagnetic Fields!
- Joined
- Mar 28, 2020
- Messages
- 20,823
Advice: That is usually a bad idea. Electric utility is reliable, powerful, and affordable.
Once you do figure out your loads, time of day and which seasons they operate, and you consider supplier's charges, you can better evaluate such a decision. One might go mostly off-grid while keeping grid as backup.
What state are you in, and is "net metering" available? Best deal ever.
Bluedog225
Texas
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2019
- Messages
- 2,961
Watts=volts multiplied by amps.
Your appliances should have voltage and amperage on the label.
If you have 3 amp lightbulb at 120 volts, you would need 360 watts to run it.
If you run it for an hour, you would need 360 watt hours.
If your refrigerator or microwave only run part of the day, you need to take that into account.
Your appliances should have voltage and amperage on the label.
If you have 3 amp lightbulb at 120 volts, you would need 360 watts to run it.
If you run it for an hour, you would need 360 watt hours.
If your refrigerator or microwave only run part of the day, you need to take that into account.
MichaelK
Solar Wizard
You are making the classic newbie mistakes of buying stuff before you have a plan. Follow the instructions above, then get back to us.
Rednecktek
Solar Wizard
Blurb time!
Well, I'll start the default answer to these questions and we can work from there. Here's you To-Do list:
1: Power audit! This will give you some important information on how big your inverter needs to be as well as how much battery capacity you'll need. There is a link in the FAQ section (I think, or someone here will post it shortly) so fill in the blanks and see what it comes up with. You'll probably need some sort of Kill-A-Watt to get accurate measurements. Are you going to be running a 12v system? 24v system? 48v system? What are the specs on your solar panels? VoC? Vmp? Being as this is a new build, throw together a wish list of what you want and estimate on the high side.
1a: Where do you live? Speccing out a system for Scotland is a LOT different numbers than Arizona due to the amount of light you actually get. Someone here can post the link to the PVwatts.com or JCR Solar Uber-Sun-Hours calculator sites to help figure out how much you'll have to work with. That will be a box in the Power Audit form.
2: Parts list: You don't need a make & model list, just a parts list to start from for reference. You'll need an inverter, a MPPT charge controller, fuses, shunt, buck converter, batteries, wire, etc. Once you have a basic list it can be fine tuned to make & models after that. If you're looking at the All-In-Ones check for correct voltage outputs (120v or 240v Split Phase for North America, 220v Single Phase for European type areas) and make sure it has enough capacity for a little bit of growth and fudge factor.
3: Budget!: Steak is great but doesn't mean anything if your wallet says hamburger.
Figure out what you're able to spend now vs what you'll have to cheap out on now and upgrade later.
4: Tape measure! Figure out where you're going to stick all the stuff you'll need. A dozen 3000AH batteries sounds great until you're sleeping on the floor because there's no room left for a bed. Is there a compartment that can house all this stuff? Will the server rack batteries fit? Are you going to have to make space? Physics can be pretty unforgiving.
5: Pencil out what you think you need and throw it at us so we can tell you what you've missed (because we ALL miss stuff the first go-round ) and help figure out which parts and pieces you're going to want to get.
Well that's the thing about solar systems, there is no 1-Size-Fits-All answer. Your system will need to be designed to fit YOUR needs. When you design and built the system, it's not going to be the perfect system for me, or Will or 12vInstall or anyone else, but it Will be the right system for You and that's the goal.
As for where to get started, let me throw my standard blurb in here to help point you in the right direction. There's going to be a lot of math and research involved, but that's going to be a LOT cheaper than just buying parts off of someone's list and finding out that it doesn't do what you need.
Don't panic on the Power Audit, you'll actually be doing that a few times. When you do the first pass put in ALL the Things that you might want. AirCon? Sure. Jacuzzi? Why not. MargaritaMaster-9000? Go for it.
The second pass will be the "I Absolutely Need This To Survive" list that isn't going to have much on there.
The third pass will be the "This is what is realistic" audit that you'll use to design the rest of the system.
The Power Audit is going to tell you 3 primary things: 1: How big does your inverter need to be to power your loads? 2: How much battery bank do you need to last $N number of days with krappy weather? and 3: How much solar panel will I need to install to refill those batteries in a 4 hour day (the average usable sun hours rule-of-thumb).
Once you know what you Want and what you Need and what your budget can Afford there will be somewhere in that Venn diagram where those three things meet.
After that, THEN you can start looking at parts.
Yes, it's a long drawn out process, but it's worth it in the end. Not every house has the exact same floorplan, not every vehicle is the same make & model, and not every solar system is designed the same.
Well, I'll start the default answer to these questions and we can work from there. Here's you To-Do list:
1: Power audit! This will give you some important information on how big your inverter needs to be as well as how much battery capacity you'll need. There is a link in the FAQ section (I think, or someone here will post it shortly) so fill in the blanks and see what it comes up with. You'll probably need some sort of Kill-A-Watt to get accurate measurements. Are you going to be running a 12v system? 24v system? 48v system? What are the specs on your solar panels? VoC? Vmp? Being as this is a new build, throw together a wish list of what you want and estimate on the high side.
1a: Where do you live? Speccing out a system for Scotland is a LOT different numbers than Arizona due to the amount of light you actually get. Someone here can post the link to the PVwatts.com or JCR Solar Uber-Sun-Hours calculator sites to help figure out how much you'll have to work with. That will be a box in the Power Audit form.
2: Parts list: You don't need a make & model list, just a parts list to start from for reference. You'll need an inverter, a MPPT charge controller, fuses, shunt, buck converter, batteries, wire, etc. Once you have a basic list it can be fine tuned to make & models after that. If you're looking at the All-In-Ones check for correct voltage outputs (120v or 240v Split Phase for North America, 220v Single Phase for European type areas) and make sure it has enough capacity for a little bit of growth and fudge factor.
3: Budget!: Steak is great but doesn't mean anything if your wallet says hamburger.
Figure out what you're able to spend now vs what you'll have to cheap out on now and upgrade later.4: Tape measure! Figure out where you're going to stick all the stuff you'll need. A dozen 3000AH batteries sounds great until you're sleeping on the floor because there's no room left for a bed. Is there a compartment that can house all this stuff? Will the server rack batteries fit? Are you going to have to make space? Physics can be pretty unforgiving.
5: Pencil out what you think you need and throw it at us so we can tell you what you've missed (because we ALL miss stuff the first go-round
) and help figure out which parts and pieces you're going to want to get.Well that's the thing about solar systems, there is no 1-Size-Fits-All answer. Your system will need to be designed to fit YOUR needs. When you design and built the system, it's not going to be the perfect system for me, or Will or 12vInstall or anyone else, but it Will be the right system for You and that's the goal.
As for where to get started, let me throw my standard blurb in here to help point you in the right direction. There's going to be a lot of math and research involved, but that's going to be a LOT cheaper than just buying parts off of someone's list and finding out that it doesn't do what you need.
Don't panic on the Power Audit, you'll actually be doing that a few times. When you do the first pass put in ALL the Things that you might want. AirCon? Sure. Jacuzzi? Why not. MargaritaMaster-9000? Go for it.
The second pass will be the "I Absolutely Need This To Survive" list that isn't going to have much on there.
The third pass will be the "This is what is realistic" audit that you'll use to design the rest of the system.
The Power Audit is going to tell you 3 primary things: 1: How big does your inverter need to be to power your loads? 2: How much battery bank do you need to last $N number of days with krappy weather? and 3: How much solar panel will I need to install to refill those batteries in a 4 hour day (the average usable sun hours rule-of-thumb).
Once you know what you Want and what you Need and what your budget can Afford there will be somewhere in that Venn diagram where those three things meet.
After that, THEN you can start looking at parts.
Yes, it's a long drawn out process, but it's worth it in the end. Not every house has the exact same floorplan, not every vehicle is the same make & model, and not every solar system is designed the same.
