Trying to do a very inexpensive off grid system with used equipment I picked up cheap to be used to work on cars.

[pfalgoust]

My current setup is a single 100w - 12v solar panel with a charge controller, connected to 10 - 12v 157ah deep cycle batteries wired parallel and connected to a 1500w 12v inverter. It's enough to turn the lights on when I need to. but I want to really have usable off grid power.
I just purchased 50 used 36v 185watt solar panels, 13 used solar edge OP250-LV charge controllers and 1 solar edge SE5000A 5000watt inverter. Now I'm trying to figure out how to best configure some or all of this equipment, or to get something additional if needed. A 24v battery system would be optimal because I could do 2s5p with my 10 batteries. Just looking for options. Thanks all, in advance.

 

[Mattb4]

Sounds like you have some fun ahead.

First off your current setup has way too low of solar power to adequately charge so many lead acid batteries in parallel. It is likely too low to charge 1 battery. A 100w solar panel likely only outputs from 75-80 watts at peak sunlight. That is only a max of ~6amps (6a X 14.5v = 87w). Normally a battery wants at least .1C to charge. Thus a 157ah battery would want 15.7a. Too low of charging current will lead to a damaged battery.

Next up is your new (to you) solar edge inverter. Is it a 24 volts model you want to setup your system for?

Generally speaking when you decide to create a power system you start from your loads. Once you know that you can plan how to supply them.

 

[Doggydogworld]

.... but I want to really have usable off grid power.
....and 1 solar edge SE5000A 5000watt inverter.

SE-5000A is a grid-tie inverter.

I just purchased 50 used 36v 185watt solar panels, 13 used solar edge OP250-LV charge controllers

OP250-LV is an optimizer, not a charge controller. Your current 12V controller is designed to charge a battery with (among other things) safeguards to prevent panels from overcharging the battery during the day or discharging the battery at night. OP250s don't do that. They are specialized equipment designed to work together with the grid-tie SE5000A on long strings.

Now I'm trying to figure out how to best configure some or all of this equipment, or to get something additional if needed. A 24v battery system would be optimal because I could do 2s5p with my 10 batteries. Just looking for options. Thanks all, in advance.

There might be a clever way to trick the inverter and optimizers to work without the grid and with a battery in the loop. Someone much smarter than me will have to chime in on that.

Absent that, you have 50 * 185W = 9250W of panels and a 5000W inverter. You also have 13 optimizers. These numbers don't match up. Maybe you can set up a 4810W grid-tie system with 26 panels in a 13S2P configuration. This assumes each optimizer can pair with two panels in parallel. I don't know if that's possible, but it's something to look into. Getting all that working won't be trivial. I'd want advice from an electrician or solar installer with SE5000A + optimizer experience. Get that working and you can either use it or maybe sell it for a few grand.

That leaves 24 panels for a 4440W off-grid system. Before buying anything else I'd test each panel's output under full sun. Same with the batteries, unless they're brand new. Then I'd do a power audit -- what loads do you want to power and for how long each day? Generally speaking an off-grid All-in-One unit with MPPT that can handle 24 of your panels, charge your batteries and provide 5 kW or so of AC power will cost close to $1000. More if you go for Victron, etc. A separate MPPT controller and inverter might save a few bucks, but you need to know what you have and what you need before making those decisions.

 

[schmism]

I dont see anyone making grid tie inverters work off grid that doesn't include a $8k solark inverter.

Sell all the solar edge crap and buy a 2 AIO units. My vote is 2x SPF 3000TL LVM growatts. you can get 6kw @120v and will support 8kw of solar. You can overpannel and make use of most of your panels. you could likely squeek out 4S6P for an array for each inverter.
Add 2 more batteries and put 4 in parallel and 4 of those sets in series for 48v. Expect weekly battery maintance. Without it your looking at +- 1 year for life.

you also didnt mention racking, if your lucky enough to not need inspections (unlikely but possible) you could get away with unistrut directly on a south faceing roof. If you need inspections that plan is out the window and your best bet is $7k worth of APA racking.