very new, very green.

[Broncabron11]

I run a small aquaponics system. I am interested in running it offline, hopefully with back up(a later project)
My first project is to power a 135w waterpump and a 50w airpump, 24/7.
i tried online calculators, and the numbers coming back were huge;

the renogy page gave me 12250w/min pwm, or 1521.7 w mppt (dont know the difference between pwm and mppt)
the battery options were 10208A/h at 12v or 5104A/h at 24v.
The only thing clear to me so far is that 24v is looking the better option; less batteries.
I would be grateful for some pointers.
I bought your mobile solar power book and the solar power autonomy book. I subscribed to your youtube page and i.m in solar hydroponics redefined.
Learing about aquaponics was hard enough.......

 

[Stupid Monkey]

so you have 185w 24/7 + 20% inverter losses, 222w @ 24hrs = 5.3 kwhrs/day

Firstly the Solar, depends where you are in the world, if you can use grid power for the 3 worst months of the year etc .... but the rule of thumb is array size * 5 = watts/day.

Therefore for your 5.3kw/day you'll need over 1000w panels

And then to battery, that depends on days of autonomy, lets assume 2 days (low) you need then 10kw/hrs.

That's like the 24x150ah cells in my signature - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000146313656.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.eba44c4dl2olJ4

Your batteries will be the same if arranged in 12 or 24v or even 48v - but what changes is the AMPs of the charge controller and APS to the inverter.

1000w of panels needs 80A of charge controller @ 12v, 40A at 24v or 20A at 48V

A 80A controller is 10x the cost of 20A one, thicker wire is also more expensive,

To run on lead acid battery your going to need a lot more batteries and more solar for the charging losses (20%) of FLA compared to Lithium.


I'll confess to being a nOOb, and ready to be corrected by one of the more knowledgeable

 

[JeepHammer]

I run a small aquaponics system. I am interested in running it offline, hopefully with back up(a later project)
My first project is to power a 135w waterpump and a 50w airpump, 24/7.

Aquaponics and not Airponics?

Pumps AC or DC?

Aquaponics check into a bell siphon, easy to make and stops about half your pump time.
So will a timer, 12 to 24 hours full, then circulate water.
Most people don't top off/change water but once a day.

I used a lift tank on pulleys & cables, just back and forth, nothing but a motor to lift the tanks.

 

[louie867]

I'm on the same boat,
100w water pump, 25w air pump. I calculated 3.5wh.
thinking of using 48v system, seen less expensive

 

[MisterSandals]

100w water pump, 25w air pump. I calculated 3.5wh.

3.5kwh
3500wh / 5h = 700w solar
3500w x ((24-5)/24 = 2770wh battery
2770wh / 48v = 58ah
58ah cells x 16

48v seems a bit unnecessary for such a small amp draw. (125/48=2.6a)

12v would be a LOT cheaper in almost every aspect than 48v (not wiring or fuses)
2770wh / 12.8v = 216ah cells x4
700w solar / 12.8v = 55a charger

 

[louie867]

thanks for your input, I like it.
I was thinking of a Growat system

 

[MisterSandals]

You should get your big cheap panels and batteries first with an eye on making sure you can configure the panels to get array voltage to work with a SCC you have your eye on. Then the SCC should be your nearly last purchase to match both the array and battery bank.