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Questions regarding 48v work from home camper setup

Hey there fellow Nevadan,


No, no grid power at all to the parcel. Internet is a dish, it uses line of sight to a nearby mountain antenna.

I need to be able to continue my job, which requires internet. Rather than run a gas generator for 4 months, or rent for 4 more months, I wanted to get on my land and try a bare bones solar setup. To be able to do my job, I truly only need to power the internet dish and my laptop for 8-9 hours M-F. I agree having more time would be ideal, but that's why I think an all in one MPP box would be a perfect solution for my situation. Less for a beginner to mess up.
Thanks for the reply. Makes sense. So, your power requirements for now are relatively small.
What are the specs for the internet dish? How much power @?? How about the laptop? How far from town is your property? I ask because one option may be to go to ‘town’ to charge things in the short term while you get the solar power in line.
 
Yeah, that's the big downside to AIO's. Because they have so many things going on inside and each internal piece is designed to be cheap rather than efficient, each piece uses a bit of standby current. A 3Kw AIO inverter is usually about 60-ish watts per hour to exist and be running. The 6048 version is really just two of their 3048 units (3000w, 48v = 3048 for naming convention) slapped together inside the same box. So, if each unit is pulling 60w an hour to exist, and you've got 2 units, that's 120w per hour just to feed the inverter. In a 24 hour day that's 120 * 24 = 2880 watt hours of battery to exist.

So there are three ways of dealing with this problem:

1: Use a smaller AIO that doesn't draw as much power and limit your usage, like just using the single 3048 for 60w/hr
2: Spend a fortune on Tier-1 Super efficient components that you assemble yourself to save standby power and skip the AIO
3: Spend more money on another battery

The EG4's are about $1500 right now and I think are the best bang for the buck rackmount batteries out there. That's 5Kwh of battery of which you'll lose about half to inverter standby, but you'd have to compare the $1500 for a second battery VS the cost of all the Tier-1 parts that might save you half your standby draw or less.

So here's an idea. Since you're looking at the MPP units anyways, start out with a 3048 alone and a single rackmount battery or two. Have your electrician friend install a 30a AND a 50a plug into the side of the container and either have him do the jumper thing or just get the off-the-shelf adapter. Then, in the future get another 3048 and the communications cable and install it right next to the existing one to give you that 50a 240v socket. Move the plug and be done with it. If you find you need more than the 30a per leg that gives you, you can always add more 3048's in parallel to increase your power availability, but I doubt you're going to need to if you're a bit wise about your power usage.

Or go for the gold and get a second battery and a 6048, park your container so you have a long side facing south, build a frame on top of the container and start loading it up with all the panels you can use up there. With a 40' container and careful panel choice you might be able to squeeze 4Kw worth up on the roof. It's a lot up front BUT that's super simple and should last many, many years of feeding a camper when you rent it out to the in-laws. :LOL:

As to feeding the well pump, that's a whole 'nother can of worms. If it's shallow enough you might be able to feed it from the 6048 you've already got going OR you'll have to set up another smaller system designed to just feed the well pump. It can be done but it's not super cheap because most well pumps have HUGE startup draws and your Low Frequency inverters are pricy! I've looked at building a solar backup for my well pump and I think I can make something that will barely work for about $2000 as long as I don't need to run it for more than an hour a day or so. But then again, my pump is 300ft deep.
Hmm so if I go with one 48v 3048 now, I might be able to sneak by with one battery if I limit my usage because it doesn't draw as much power as the 48v 6048? I'd have to buy two more 12v panels from Rich Solar...I haven't opened any of the three 12v batteries I got from current connected...anyone have experience returning a battery to them? I read in their return policy that I must pay return shipping and a 10% restocking fee...but it might be worth it if it gets me another 48v rack battery...


Dang your pump is at 300 ft? My well is 160 ft deep and the driller suggested putting the pump at 100ft.
 
Thanks for the reply. Makes sense. So, your power requirements for now are relatively small.
What are the specs for the internet dish? How much power @?? How about the laptop? How far from town is your property? I ask because one option may be to go to ‘town’ to charge things in the short term while you get the solar power in line.

The laptop is 65w 100-240v input, 19.5v output, and my internet dish power brick doesn't have any voltage or wattage info. I'll reach out to my ISP to see if they can get me that info.

Property is about 25 miles from main part of town.
 
Yup. You'd lose about 25% of your battery to feeding the inverter but as long as you don't go wild with your power consumption you should be able to manage until you can get another battery.

As for the panels, you're going to want to get away from the 100w panels if you can find higher wattage panels for cheaper. You've got lots of space on the roof of that container for an array so used panels from a house can be your friend. At 40' even if you got old 250w panels for $100ea you can still fit a dozen of them up there angled towards the sun. I find them locally for about $100/panel on craigslist but you've got SignatureSolar and Watts247 fairly close by where you can get 2nd hand panels in the 350w range for the same money if you don't mind picking them up yourself. Shipping starts at about $400 for panels (whether that's 1 panel or a pallet of 25) so a U-haul van and gas is MUCH cheaper if you're already in the neighborhood.

Yeah, 280ft and the lowest end inverter I can find that stands a chance of taking that hit is $1000 for just the inverter, and then the panels and SCC and batteries and and and... it's gonna be a while.
 
Yup. You'd lose about 25% of your battery to feeding the inverter but as long as you don't go wild with your power consumption you should be able to manage until you can get another battery.

As for the panels, you're going to want to get away from the 100w panels if you can find higher wattage panels for cheaper. You've got lots of space on the roof of that container for an array so used panels from a house can be your friend. At 40' even if you got old 250w panels for $100ea you can still fit a dozen of them up there angled towards the sun. I find them locally for about $100/panel on craigslist but you've got SignatureSolar and Watts247 fairly close by where you can get 2nd hand panels in the 350w range for the same money if you don't mind picking them up yourself. Shipping starts at about $400 for panels (whether that's 1 panel or a pallet of 25) so a U-haul van and gas is MUCH cheaper if you're already in the neighborhood.

Yeah, 280ft and the lowest end inverter I can find that stands a chance of taking that hit is $1000 for just the inverter, and then the panels and SCC and batteries and and and... it's gonna be a while.

These are the two 12v 200w panels I already have - https://richsolar.com/products/400-watt-solar-kit?ref=h-cvbzfahsek

Should I just get 2 more of the same, or should I look into possibly used panels that might be a different wattage? Are there any concerns when mixing panels of different brands, voltages and wattages? For example, could I buy one 24v panel of a different brand and use it with my existing two Rich Solar 12v panels to make 48v to use with the MPP 3048?
 
So here's an idea. Since you're looking at the MPP units anyways, start out with a 3048 alone and a single rackmount battery or two. Have your electrician friend install a 30a AND a 50a plug into the side of the container and either have him do the jumper thing or just get the off-the-shelf adapter. Then, in the future get another 3048 and the communications cable and install it right next to the existing one to give you that 50a 240v socket. Move the plug and be done with it. If you find you need more than the 30a per leg that gives you, you can always add more 3048's in parallel to increase your power availability, but I doubt you're going to need to if you're a bit wise about your power usage.

Or go for the gold and get a second battery and a 6048, park your container so you have a long side facing south, build a frame on top of the container and start loading it up with all the panels you can use up there. With a 40' container and careful panel choice you might be able to squeeze 4Kw worth up on the roof. It's a lot up front BUT that's super simple and should last many, many years of feeding a camper when you rent it out to the in-laws. :LOL:

As to feeding the well pump, that's a whole 'nother can of worms. If it's shallow enough you might be able to feed it from the 6048 you've already got going OR you'll have to set up another smaller system designed to just feed the well pump. It can be done but it's not super cheap because most well pumps have HUGE startup draws and your Low Frequency inverters are pricy! I've looked at building a solar backup for my well pump and I think I can make something that will barely work for about $2000 as long as I don't need to run it for more than an hour a day or so. But then again, my pump is 300ft deep.


Is the reason I need two 3048s to get 50a 240v because one only produces 120Vac?

From the item specs:

3kW 120Vac 60Hz Pure Sine inverter output


 
Is the reason I need two 3048s to get 50a 240v because one only produces 120Vac?
Exactly.

Or if you find out that a 3Kw isn't enough juice you can configure them to run in parallel and get 6Kw at 120v. You'll have options.

But yes, if you want to feed a 240v system you'll need 2 120v inverters that can be connected to provide 240v.
 
Exactly.

Or if you find out that a 3Kw isn't enough juice you can configure them to run in parallel and get 6Kw at 120v. You'll have options.

But yes, if you want to feed a 240v system you'll need 2 120v inverters that can be connected to provide 240v.


Thanks! I'm getting ready to buy the necessary 48v components and just want to make sure I understand how it all will connect together.

It looks like the batteries connect to the MPP 3048 with regular battery cables, would you suggest installing the separate DC over current protector between battery and MPP 3048 as advised in the manual?


1666306905737.png
 
There's usually a fuse holder involved and you'll have to track down a 150a but yes, you CAN just bolt it to the battery as long as you've got something supporting it, you don't want the weight of the wire to bend the fuse.
 
There's usually a fuse holder involved and you'll have to track down a 150a but yes, you CAN just bolt it to the battery as long as you've got something supporting it, you don't want the weight of the wire to bend the fuse.

Cool thanks! Am I visualizing this correctly so far?

1666325354892.png
 
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