paul
New Member
Posts: 2 
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Post by paul on Mar 24, 2015 6:55:25 GMT -8
Starting my due diligence on a small off-grid system to supplement my house power. This company has got great reviews so far and it looks to be the way to go.
What I think I want currently:
600-800 watt system, 3 or 4 batteries, enough to power the wife and daughters hair dryers for that cumulative one hour in the morning.
MPPT charge controller, good ~2000 watt inverter?
Panel to charge controller/batteries would only be ~15 foot run.
From batteries across garage to electric outlet may be upwards of 50 feet.
Would like to start small, 600-800 watts, then if all works well, have the ability to expand to 1200-2000 watts+
Any other good/active DIY solar forums out there to gain knowledge?
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Post by Admin on Mar 24, 2015 8:58:24 GMT -8
Hello paul, Thank you for the compliments we hope to live up to your expectations! I like to use this website. It has a lot of good information. www.solar-electric.com/solar-information-faq-learning-section.html/For a 600W system, using the US average of peak sun hours (4.27hr), this system would, on average, produce about 2.1kWh of usable AC energy. Assuming a 50% depth of discharge, a 200Ah 12V battery bank would be needed. For a 800W system, using the US average of peak sun hours (4.27hr), this system would, on average, produce about 2.9kWh of usable AC energy. Assuming a 50% depth of discharge, a 535Ah 12V battery bank would be needed. One thing to note about choosing an inverter, bigger is not always better! To choose an inverter, you should look at the maximum power you plan to draw at any one instant, then size an inverter to handle this maximum draw. Some people think that they should add up the power of every device they will be using on their inverter and size the inverter based off this. This is not smart because most likely you will never be running all these loads at once. Inverters are most efficient when you use 40% of its rated power or greater. Therefore, the closer the inverter size is to the amount of power you're drawing, the more efficient the inverter will be. Please let me know if anything is not clear or if I can answer any questions for you! Thanks for considering Renogy for your solar needs! Renogy Tech Support SR |
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paul
New Member
Posts: 2
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Post by paul on Mar 24, 2015 9:49:45 GMT -8
Thanks for the knowledge! At this time I'm only in the "dangerous" category with what I know but I plan to learn a lot more about the volts/watts/amp hours etc etc. I was looking at your Premium offgrid kits and had some questions:
1) are they expandable? I was thinking of buying the 600-800 kit as money allows, then if all works well hopefully doubling that in the following year.
2) 250 watt panels / custom kits ? I see more powerful panels are available but not in kits? I'm interested in the more powerful panels. More is better here correct? I've also read many reviews where people are upgrading their charge controller from the ones you sell in the kits.
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Post by Admin on Mar 26, 2015 14:10:48 GMT -8
Paul, Unfortunately, the limit of the 40A MPPT controller that comes with the 600s & 800W kits is 800W. So if you got the 600W kit, you could add two panels in the future, but the 800W kit is at its maximum input. Please be aware that both of these kits are only compatible with a 24V battery bank. The solar input power exceeds the limit for charging a 12V battery bank. If you would like a controller that will be expandable, please check out the MidNite Solar Classics. www.renogy-store.com/MidNite-MPPT-Charge-Controller-Classic-Lite-150-p/classic150lite.htmThis controller can expand up to 1200W on a 12V battery bank. It will continue to charge your batteries as long as the temperature at your location does not go below 15.8 degrees Fahrenheit. The maximum amount of 250W panels you can use on a 40A MPPT controller is 1 for a 12V battery bank and 2 for a 24V battery bank. The limit for a 24V battery bank is because of the maximum voltage that the controller can accept. Again if you'd like to go with a larger system, you are better off using the MidNite Solar Classic controller. Renogy Tech Support SR |
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