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Solar Plans..

How about putting motorized wheels on trailer rather than bike (trike)?
Also, if heavy should have brakes. Those could be controlled with a lever from the bike, or could be "surge brakes" which apply if it tries to overtake you.
The motor control could be a lever on the bike. Or, could be a servo in the hitch (similar idea to surge brakes.) If bike pulls on hitch, it powers its motors to follow and reduce force on hitch.

"Deal on batteries" - many people here get LiFePO4 cells in the 280 Ah range. But other lithium batteries from EV (used) can be even cheaper and less weight for same kWh. To use such batteries you need a BMS that works well with it.
 
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Southern Californnia. At first it will be connected to the house. It's a grid tied inverter. One for house, the other for on the road. I know I need a bunch of stuff for on the road. If I have more wheels they can hold more weight. Just have to figure out the construction and design.
 
Aree Soothsayer said:
Southern Californnia. At first it will be connected to the house. It's a grid tied inverter. One for house, the other for on the road. I know I need a bunch of stuff for on the road. If I have more wheels they can hold more weight. Just have to figure out the construction and design.
Click to expand...
That 12V 2000 watt inverter you linked to on Amazon is Not grid tied.
 
(The non-grid tied 2000W one could work for your trailer. The "grid tied" one would not work for your trailer, only works plugged into utility grid.)

It might in fact work. What is lacking in the ad is any mention of "UL 1741", which is the standard inverters have to meet to connect to the grid in the U.S.

More recently, additional features are required by code. But earlier UL 1741 compliant inverters would work safely, just not help PG&E avoid blackouts due to grid instability.

$179, 1400W. Price is good enough.
What I have bought are 5kW and 6kW new old stock inverters made by SMA, which cost me $500 and $400 respectively. Those I trust to connect to the grid. Craigslist and eBay.
 
Hybrid inverters just cost waay too much. The solar panels are 40 lbs each, about 20 kilos. I literally have no idea what I should be looking for and when I look at the pages of resources my old brain goes ooooh nononono.
 
maybe you could use a small inverter for small loads and then the other one for big loads could be sized smaller?

of course flex panels could save on mass, but usually a bit more money
 
Well this was the lowest priced grid tie inverter with the ul 1741 thingie.

www.ebay.com

Grid-Tied Inverter Delta H6 6000W NEW Battery-less Backup UL1741 Rule 21 2MPPT | eBay

This inverter was originally made for TESLA POWERWALLS! + 6000W Max AC output DO NOT MAX THE INVERTER OUT OVER 6KW, IT DRASTICALLY SHORTENS THE LIFESPAN OF THE INVERTER. We've recently found that this inverter can support up to 6kW of power when used off-grid with no battery bank attached.
www.ebay.com
 
It takes a few years for grid-tied PV to pay back cost of equipment. So unless your horizon is at least 2.5 years, may not be worth doing the grid-tie installation.

Yes, the Delta H6 is quite cheap for what it does. It was created for the Tesla DC battery which never came, so is an orphan now and unsupported.
What it is good for is grid-tie net metering and batteryless backup while the sun shines during grid failures.

Something more like this is what I would get for grid tie (I've used these and still have one running). Shipping bring price closer to the Delta.

www.ebay.com

Sunny Boy Inverter 2500U | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Sunny Boy Inverter 2500U at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

But unless you find a UL1741 inverter local to you for $100 to $200, I doubt doing grid tie is worthwhile. It takes enough watts and years to pay off.
 
You can build something practical and portable for electronic devices. It's just electric power for cooking appliances that is difficult to make light and cheap. Adapters to run your devices off 12V battery without AC inverter would be the way to go.

For cooking, disposable 1 lb propane tank, refillable 20 lb propane, or gasoline stove is economical to buy and operate.
 
Hedges said:
It takes a few years for grid-tied PV to pay back cost of equipment. So unless your horizon is at least 2.5 years, may not be worth doing the grid-tie installation.

Yes, the Delta H6 is quite cheap for what it does. It was created for the Tesla DC battery which never came, so is an orphan now and unsupported.
What it is good for is grid-tie net metering and batteryless backup while the sun shines during grid failures.

Something more like this is what I would get for grid tie (I've used these and still have one running). Shipping bring price closer to the Delta.

www.ebay.com

Sunny Boy Inverter 2500U | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Sunny Boy Inverter 2500U at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

But unless you find a UL1741 inverter local to you for $100 to $200, I doubt doing grid tie is worthwhile. It takes enough watts and years to pay off.
Click to expand...
I just noticed it has a voltage range of 211 to 264
 
Aree Soothsayer said:
I just noticed it has a voltage range of 211 to 264
Click to expand...

Yes, for connection to 240VAC. Most grid-tie inverter are for 240V, maybe also 208V. Some small ones 120V.

The other parameter to look for is PV MPPT voltage, in this case 235 to 550 VDC. It is for a high-voltage series string of PV panels. A "24V" panel typically produces 35 Vmp, so 10 panels connected in series for 350 Vmp could be a good fit.

This particular inverter is heavy (75 lbs.) because it has a transformer. Transformerless grid-tie inverters were approved for grid use later. Inverters like this one have been running for 10 to 20 years in systems. New models put out more power for the same size and weight because they don't have transformers. What I've bought are the big brother to these, 150 lbs. and 5kW.
 
Aree Soothsayer said:
So it'll work in america?
Click to expand...

Yes, SWR 2500U works fine for US 120/240V 60 Hz split-phase. It connects with 2 wires to a 15A 2-pole breaker plus ground wire.

The one in the picture, I can see through its window there is no display included; the PCB components are visible.
Some were delivered with a display (which lets you read PV voltage and AC power, along with warning and status messages.)
Some were delivered with no display. All you get are the 3 LED which report running, waiting, fault.
Probably this inverter came with display and that was swapped out for a serial port.
It can be operated with just the LED, but that is less convenient, doesn't give much information.

Here is another of the same old model, but says "new open box"

www.ebay.com

SMA SWR2500U 2500W Sunny Boy Grid-Tie Inverter for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for SMA SWR2500U 2500W Sunny Boy Grid-Tie Inverter at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

And another slightly larger model

www.ebay.com

SMA Sunny Boy Sb3000us Solar Inverter for sale online | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for SMA Sunny Boy Sb3000us Solar Inverter at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com

This is just one brand SMA that I've used. There are a number of other grid-tie UL1741 listed brands available.

But again, hooking up a grid-tie system is only worthwhile if you have enough watts of PV connected for enough years to see the payback for your investment. I estimate 2.5 years just to break even, using my utility rates.
 
Grid tie isn't worth it for such a small system, the repayment window is atleast a few years on large multi kilowatt cost-optimised system.
Also forgoing your microwave requirement will make things MUCH cheaper inverter and battery wise, let alone being able to harvest the energy from the sun to run it for a few minutes a day.
 
Aaron_85 said:
Grid tie isn't worth it for such a small system, the repayment window is atleast a few years on large multi kilowatt cost-optimised system.
Also forgoing your microwave requirement will make things MUCH cheaper inverter and battery wise, let alone being able to harvest the energy from the sun to run it for a few minutes a day.
Click to expand...
I set that aside for later with all the requirements a while back.
This is a home setup. I'm getting 2000w of solar panels, probably get 1600-1800w out of them.
 
In that case a 2500W inverter would be a decent fit.
I would put 4000W of panels on it - a string of 2000W aimed at 9:00 AM sun and 2000W at 3:00 PM sun. It would peak around 2500W and maintain that for hours.

You might get away with a bootleg hookup, but maybe not. If you have a smart meter that is ready multiple times in the day, utility company might observe you are backfeeding. They would require permits. Permits might require a newer model inverter, to meet recent codes by implementing additional features. If mounted on rooftop there are additional code requirements.

SanTan has some inverters:

Inverters | SanTan Solar

store.santansolar.com store.santansolar.com

I see the Enphase IQ7. That is grid-tie micro inverter. I'm not sure if that works standalone or needs another box to manage it; the manual or other members could address that.
 
Hedges said:
In that case a 2500W inverter would be a decent fit.
I would put 4000W of panels on it - a string of 2000W aimed at 9:00 AM sun and 2000W at 3:00 PM sun. It would peak around 2500W and maintain that for hours.

You might get away with a bootleg hookup, but maybe not. If you have a smart meter that is ready multiple times in the day, utility company might observe you are backfeeding. They would require permits. Permits might require a newer model inverter, to meet recent codes by implementing additional features. If mounted on rooftop there are additional code requirements.

SanTan has some inverters:

Inverters | SanTan Solar

store.santansolar.com store.santansolar.com

I see the Enphase IQ7. That is grid-tie micro inverter. I'm not sure if that works standalone or needs another box to manage it; the manual or other members could address that.
Click to expand...
I would love 4000w of panels. I only have 1400 to work with. I'll probably need it for those permits and possibly "Professional Installation" so just 2000. Fyi, it would take me 2 years to save up 1400 myself, if nothing came along and ate it.
 
Well I learned just this morning that the polititians are pussy footing around. So my plans for the solar for the house is up in smoke.

*sigh* I hate politics.
 
Aree Soothsayer said:
Fyi, it would take me 2 years to save up 1400 myself, if nothing came along and ate it.
Click to expand...

Cash is king. You're probably better off saving it for something more important.
Those of us doing grid-tie have a few $thousand to play with, and our investment in a house is far greater.
If you have a house, then generating income from it would be higher payback. Roommate or ADU, for instance.

A cost-effective portable PV system to handle device charging and lights, I can see would be worthwhile for your application.
 
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