I live off grid in Texas and thought I'd throw this out for beginners. I'm happy with my system but I'm expanding my amount of solar panels. I think a good rule of thumb is 3x the power you think you'll consume at peak energy demand. For instance, if you expect your demand to be 2,500 watts during the day in mid August, install 7,500 watts of PV minimum. 2,500 watts to power your house while you're charging, 2,500 to recharge your batteries, and the 2500 you used during the night.
Solar Panel Design For Beginners
- Thread starter Birdog
- Start date
Watt hours.
Heck my rule of thumb is to add up all the loads for a daily watt-hour amount. Put up enough solar panels that an average day should supply it. Go back in few weeks when it doesn't and add more panels/SCC's. Keep repeating this until I have way more potential power than needed on sunny days and only fall behind on cloudy ones.
Batteries are pretty much the same. Figure out what you should need to cover the loads. Add more when it doesn't. Check that the installed PV can handle the increased amount of batteries.
Heck my rule of thumb is to add up all the loads for a daily watt-hour amount. Put up enough solar panels that an average day should supply it. Go back in few weeks when it doesn't and add more panels/SCC's. Keep repeating this until I have way more potential power than needed on sunny days and only fall behind on cloudy ones.
Batteries are pretty much the same. Figure out what you should need to cover the loads. Add more when it doesn't. Check that the installed PV can handle the increased amount of batteries.
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