really impressive knowledge to show the newbies the limitations of a 100W solar panel!! I was just about to buy a 100W kit to power a greenhouse heater!
I added six 100 watt panels to my brothers Trailer that he lives in off grid in a remote area of Oregon, it seems to work for nine months of the year. I wish I'd been using your channel then
Nice thing about my RV is it also charges the RV storage batteries while I drive. I rarely need to run the generator. They're lead acid batteries, I'll probably replace them with lithium when their time is up.
As much as us RVers want to learn the numbers, most of us still dont get it or dont care. What we want answered is how do we run everything on our RV with no hickups as if we were connected to shore power. Cause at the end of the day all RVers know they can buy a generator, stick it on the back side of the trailer and away we go, everything works. Someone needs to create a video called off grid 30amps.
It would be nice to see something like your earlier multi episode videos of how to set up an off grid system only with the much more up to date type of equipment. I started watching the videos and it is like watching someone explaining personal computers 15 years ago verses what is available now. The tech changes have been incredible and I know it's hard to keep up but it might be time for an overhaul of the series.
Awesome video. Began to answer some basic questions I had for using a 250-watt battery generator with a 50, 60 or 100W solar panel. Thanks so much. I subscribed and will look at your other videos.
You can say that again but corruption runs deep. Here in Nigeria home owners are gradually embracing the concept of renewable energy sources like solar and wind 🍃, can't wait on the government
I was thinking if you got several 24 v batteries and charge up each battery 1 at a time with a 100 watt panel then use those 24v batteries wired in series you could up the wattage maybe.
I am in South Africa. I want a 100 watts solar panel to run a 50 watts Tv for 5 hours,a 10 watts Led light for 5 hours ,13 watts TV box for 5 hours and 5 watts cell phone charging for 4 hours ...I am planning to buy a 100 watts solar panel,20A charge controller,500 watts inverter and 75 AH lead Acid battery. Is the whole set up ok ? Your professional advice will be much appreciated.
Using this tool (www.altestore.com/store/calculators/load_calculator/) it looks like your total daily is about 385Wh. The 75Ah battery has about 450Wh available for use (75Ah x 12V x 50%DoD), which would be plenty for one day of use. You will just want to keep an eye on the battery voltage, and ideally get a full 5-6hrs of sun on your panels.
I wonder if I get (4) 100-Ah Batteries and (8) 300-Watts Renogy Solar Panels. How long would I survive being off grid using a Laptop, Modem, Tablet< LED lights & Cell Phone.
Most inverters will list their efficiency. So when you calculate the battery bank size, you take that into account. For example, if the inverter has 95% efficiency, you divide the battery bank size by .95 to increase it to have more storage for the inverter. I.e. if you need 100Ah, 100Ah / .95 = 105Ah battery.
First of all i am very thankful to you for such informative videos Madam , kindly tell me are these calculations only valid if we have battery to store that amount of power? am i right?
For off-grid, unless you have something that is designed to run directly off the solar panel during the day, like a fan or solar pump, you need a battery to store the power to use when the sun isn't shining, or to connect to an inverter to power AC appliances. For grid tied systems, you do not need batteries, but you do need to have the inverter connected to an active power grid.
@@AltEStore Thank you so much , i want to tell you something , i start watching your videos in 2019 and after watching your videos i passed the interview and now started doing job in solar . this credit goes to you because of your simple and easy way of telling everything. i will watch all videos again and will ask questions from now onward more often . thanks again ( from Pakistan) and stay blessed. Regards Fahad
Amy, I would like to hear your recommendation on what to do in a solar system when the load and the charging rate are not balanced in a battery based solar system. For example, if the solar system is too large, it will fully charge the battery bank and then power will be wasted if the load is too small. Conversely, if the solar system is too small, it will not keep up with the load and will drain the batteries. It is a delicate balancing act. So what is your solution? Would it be a good idea if the battery bank is full to put an extra load on it to run the batteries down in that case, then let the solar top it back off?
What people will often do if the solar fills the battery bank mid-day, is they have a diversion load controller turn on a DC heating element for one of the two elements in their water heater. That way you can use the full day's worth of solar energy, while using the extra to help with the water heating, rather than just have the panels sit idle.
Also, do you bother to tell people that are considering a PV solar installation that to make it work properly, the installers many times have to trim trees and maybe even remove some? Also how a bad shadow cast across even part of a single panel in a series setup can ruin the current flow? I am waiting about 6 more years to let the technology advance before I ever invest in solar. The technology now is not very impressive and I have never seen any other technology with so many losses.
That is no normally how a water heater works. It normally heats up the water quickly and then just maintains it. This seems to be one of the biggest problems with solar which is how to match the power generated with the power used. Also, what research is there that charging batteries at variable current is ok for them? This is basically what a solar controller will do. However, most research I have read states that batteries "like" constant current in the bulk phase of the charge. So if the solar system is supplying 10A when it is sunny and then it drops to 2A when it is cloudy, perhaps the battery will not like that as much as a constant 10A while in the bulk charge phase. I'd like to know what non constant current bulk charging does to the life of a battery vs. constant current bulk charging.
If their batteries are full mid day, and they have plenty of hot water, and don't need any more energy for anything, then they can just let their charge controller turn off the solar. If it isn't needed, it isn't wasted. If this is the case, either the system was designed to work well in the winter and they have excess energy in the summer, or their system was poorly designed and oversized for no reason. If the latter is true, they should check to make sure the batteries aren't getting charged at too high of a charge rate.
If you live in the far north, you might have very long days with lots of sun in the summer - but if you live in a shadowy place, then it's more difficult.
Gunnar René Øie Hi Gunnar. I live in North East England. I'm considering trying wind power. I wonder if I could connect a wind turbine to the solar. I get good volts but rubbish amps..... Something I don't understand. I wonder how I'm getting 40v but only 0.1 amps.
Bummer, our electric skillet is 1500 Watts. Guess that means I could run it for 15 or so minutes? Long enough to cook some meals, I suppose. Oh well, raw food is generally better for you anyway. Here's to the end times!!!!
I am in grade 7, I have a doubt that if I am in country's like middle and if I want to make a device that help in charging devices like tab ,and other electronics using solar power how much power should the solar have and can you please help me find more math behind it .....
Ok so with 3 solar panels in New Jersey I can basically live off grid with a tv and a PlayStation lol this is interesting I may be homeless soo so this is good to know info
Thank you. I have a hybrid system composed of 03 small wind turbines with maximum power of 500 watt (vertical axis: Savonius) with a photovoltaic module with maximum power of 245 watt. The system is equipped with a MPPT regulator and a controller. However, i cannot see it because is under the wind turbines and even when i tried to remove the cover i could not. I have tried to consult the website of the manufacture of this system about charge controller details. But, without any answer. My question is case of batteries connected to the system are fully charged and at the same time, the wind speed is maximal and knowing that in the system there is no damper loads to absorb this energy and i do not know if there is a risk in the installation because i cannot reach the charge controller and even i do not know if the system considers that case? What can i do in this case to protect the installation?
I suggest you get a dump load controller and a dump load, some sort of DC heater to burn off the extra energy to make more room for the energy from the turbines. Something like a C60 and a water heater; www.altestore.com/store/charge-controllers/solar-charge-controllers/pwm-solar-charge-controllers/xantrex-solar-charge-controllers-pwm/xantrex-c60-charge-controller-60a-1224v-c60-charge-controller-60a-1224v-p2071/ and www.altestore.com/store/charge-controllers/dump-loads-dump-load-controllers/diversion-loadsdump-loads/water-heating-element-for-12v-or-24v-dc-1-npt-male-p2326/
Thank you for your help. Unfortunately, i cannot reach the 03 generators and the internal charge controller because it is well closed. And my system is 48 volt. I have another question please. Is it the same case for photovoltaic system? I mean when there is a plus of energy produced by photovoltaic modules and the batteries are fully charged. Is there a damp load controller for photovoltaic installation?
It depends on the inverter. You need to use an inverter that is designed to be stacked. The sine signals have to synchronize with each other. Also, an inverter that is designed to be stacked will generally be configured in a master/slave configuration, allowing one to be the primary inverter telling the 2nd inverter to turn on and off based on need. If you have an inverter that is designed to be stacked, it will tell you how to stack them in the manual.
Here is an example of a stackable inverter that outputs 230V 50Hz, www.outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/inverter_chargers/fxr_vfxr_e/FXR_E_specsheet.pdf
Converting solar power to electricity to convert it to heat = who on Earth would ever want to do that? :D It's another thing with solar thermal, when You want to keep Yourself warm at night. :)
Sorry about that. You don't need me to tell you that you folks are a fantastic location for solar. With an average of 6 sun hours, you can make about 390Wh a day per 100W of solar. You are right up there with the best locations in the world. Aloha!
@@AltEStore Wow. Thank you very much. I did not expect you to reply. lol I just got 22 Panasonic N330, says it does 330watts. I was not sure if that is watt per hour, or watt per day, or how to do the math on what I could expect. I've learned so much from your videos.
Fantastic! I assume you are going to be grid-tied, so you can expect even more energy than an off-grid system, due to fewer losses. My estimate is with 330W x 22 = 7260W x 6 sun hours x .8 grid tied losses = 35kWh a day x 30 = 1045kWh a month. You should see a really big decrease in your electric bill.
You've got me very curious, what triggered you about this? We made this video based on the hundreds of requests from our other version that had a lot of math, to just provide a list of what, and not do the math for why.
@@AltEStore It's a great video, I already know this but I got caught up watching to see if it was easy for others to understand and it is very well done.
At 7:20, are we consuming 7,500 Wh for 5 hours? it's a bit confusing. Or did you mean 7,500 Wh for 1 hour? not sure what i'm missing. Thanks for a great video, as always
7500Wh in 1 hour and 7500wh in 5 hours is the same power consumption, both is 7500w total consumption and that is why watt hours is so easy to use for these kind of calculations.
Now a days i become addicted to altE solar videos.... My hearty Thanks to you all The TEAM behind this great teaching work.,👍🙏👍
same here
really impressive knowledge to show the newbies the limitations of a 100W solar panel!! I was just about to buy a 100W kit to power a greenhouse heater!
Best explanation I have every seen. Thank you so much. I’ll be watching the original next.
Thank you, they have no idea how much they need to know these basics.
I added six 100 watt panels to my brothers Trailer that he lives in off grid in a remote area of Oregon, it seems to work for nine months of the year. I wish I'd been using your channel then
Nice thing about my RV is it also charges the RV storage batteries while I drive. I rarely need to run the generator. They're lead acid batteries, I'll probably replace them with lithium when their time is up.
Great info for a complete noob. Those charts were spot on.
As much as us RVers want to learn the numbers, most of us still dont get it or dont care. What we want answered is how do we run everything on our RV with no hickups as if we were connected to shore power. Cause at the end of the day all RVers know they can buy a generator, stick it on the back side of the trailer and away we go, everything works. Someone needs to create a video called off grid 30amps.
Great suggestion, I'm on it. It's now on the list.
It would be nice to see something like your earlier multi episode videos of how to set up an off grid system only with the much more up to date type of equipment. I started watching the videos and it is like watching someone explaining personal computers 15 years ago verses what is available now. The tech changes have been incredible and I know it's hard to keep up but it might be time for an overhaul of the series.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to Solar Power International (SPI) next week to make videos on the latest and greatest. Stay tuned.
I enjoy your you tube channel very much. When the time comes we plan on purchasing what we need from you.
Awesome video. Began to answer some basic questions I had for using a 250-watt battery generator with a 50, 60 or 100W solar panel. Thanks so much. I subscribed and will look at your other videos.
Buy a 12v electric blanket...for heat...wrap your self up and be warm...cheers
For few days i have been working on diy 100 watt solar system for my basic need and your videos are very helpful for me thanks you #altE 🙏🙏🙏.
As in all energy-efficient systems, it is pay up front if you can afford it and hope it lasts long enough to reap the benefits in the long run.
I just came to the realization..."What can I power with my 100w Panel?" Answer....very little!
Easy to understand, a LOT of good information. Thank you so much.
Thank you Amie, you are the BEST!!
Dear Lord, how did you make this even more confusing? But you did!
Evaporative cooling and heat pumps are so invaluable
Thanks Amy! You're wonderful
I would never in a million years order from any other company and I can’t wait to get my li battery soon!!!!!
thank you, i found this video very helpful.
According to this map we should just cover Africa with solar panels
Lol exactly but you know corruption
That's why I have decided to go off grid in my country because we have enough sun here
You can say that again but corruption runs deep.
Here in Nigeria home owners are gradually embracing the concept of renewable energy sources like solar and wind 🍃, can't wait on the government
IMHO the best way to understand solar is to buy a panel or two and set up a system in your backyard
I was thinking if you got several 24 v batteries and charge up each battery 1 at a time with a 100 watt panel then use those 24v batteries wired in series you could up the wattage maybe.
I am in South Africa. I want a 100 watts solar panel to run a 50 watts Tv for 5 hours,a 10 watts Led light for 5 hours ,13 watts TV box for 5 hours and 5 watts cell phone charging for 4 hours ...I am planning to buy a 100 watts solar panel,20A charge controller,500 watts inverter and 75 AH lead Acid battery. Is the whole set up ok ? Your professional advice will be much appreciated.
Using this tool (www.altestore.com/store/calculators/load_calculator/) it looks like your total daily is about 385Wh. The 75Ah battery has about 450Wh available for use (75Ah x 12V x 50%DoD), which would be plenty for one day of use. You will just want to keep an eye on the battery voltage, and ideally get a full 5-6hrs of sun on your panels.
I found people that didn't like math.. They end up paying someone like me that does..As everything around us requires mathematics skills....
g’day you’re videos are the best thanks very much ❤️❤️❤️
Hi, great work. Hope you will do a video on solar DC system.
Hi , I see a 14 inch by 13 inch 100 wat panel but you see a 30 wat panel with the same size, how could this be ?
But if I just want to run the fridge for just 4 or 5 hours in a day in a emergency of a hurricane with a 100w solar panel and a 12v 36ah battery?
Great video for beginners
That shows a DC fridge using more than an AC fridge. I had always heard DC uses much less power.
I wonder if I get (4) 100-Ah Batteries and (8) 300-Watts Renogy Solar Panels. How long would I survive being off grid using a Laptop, Modem, Tablet< LED lights & Cell Phone.
love your channel. keep it up.
how does these numbers change if I had a two axis tracker?
Hi John. For your area, a 100W solar can generate about 375Wh average with a dual access tracker.
So lithium battery is better for solar system than lead acid batteries
In an off-grid scenario, how do you account for the power consumption of the inverter itself?
Most inverters will list their efficiency. So when you calculate the battery bank size, you take that into account. For example, if the inverter has 95% efficiency, you divide the battery bank size by .95 to increase it to have more storage for the inverter. I.e. if you need 100Ah, 100Ah / .95 = 105Ah battery.
Awesomeness!
Learned a lot, now I know what my system issue is now. Thank you
First of all i am very thankful to you for such informative videos Madam , kindly tell me are these calculations only valid if we have battery to store that amount of power? am i right?
For off-grid, unless you have something that is designed to run directly off the solar panel during the day, like a fan or solar pump, you need a battery to store the power to use when the sun isn't shining, or to connect to an inverter to power AC appliances. For grid tied systems, you do not need batteries, but you do need to have the inverter connected to an active power grid.
@@AltEStore Thank you so much , i want to tell you something , i start watching your videos in 2019 and after watching your videos i passed the interview and now started doing job in solar . this credit goes to you because of your simple and easy way of telling everything. i will watch all videos again and will ask questions from now onward more often . thanks again ( from Pakistan) and stay blessed.
Regards
Fahad
@@AltEStore ❤
@@fahadmukhtar1124 Thank you so much. You made my day happier.
@@amyrbeaudet ❤
Good explanation
Why is the fridge only 12 hrs a day, shouldn't it be 24 hrs. Or is it being turned off to conserve energy??
Amy, I would like to hear your recommendation on what to do in a solar system when the load and the charging rate are not balanced in a battery based solar system. For example, if the solar system is too large, it will fully charge the battery bank and then power will be wasted if the load is too small. Conversely, if the solar system is too small, it will not keep up with the load and will drain the batteries. It is a delicate balancing act. So what is your solution? Would it be a good idea if the battery bank is full to put an extra load on it to run the batteries down in that case, then let the solar top it back off?
What people will often do if the solar fills the battery bank mid-day, is they have a diversion load controller turn on a DC heating element for one of the two elements in their water heater. That way you can use the full day's worth of solar energy, while using the extra to help with the water heating, rather than just have the panels sit idle.
What if the water is already hot and doesn't need heating?
Also, do you bother to tell people that are considering a PV solar installation that to make it work properly, the installers many times have to trim trees and maybe even remove some? Also how a bad shadow cast across even part of a single panel in a series setup can ruin the current flow?
I am waiting about 6 more years to let the technology advance before I ever invest in solar. The technology now is not very impressive and I have never seen any other technology with so many losses.
That is no normally how a water heater works. It normally heats up the water quickly and then just maintains it. This seems to be one of the biggest problems with solar which is how to match the power generated with the power used.
Also, what research is there that charging batteries at variable current is ok for them? This is basically what a solar controller will do. However, most research I have read states that batteries "like" constant current in the bulk phase of the charge. So if the solar system is supplying 10A when it is sunny and then it drops to 2A when it is cloudy, perhaps the battery will not like that as much as a constant 10A while in the bulk charge phase. I'd like to know what non constant current bulk charging does to the life of a battery vs. constant current bulk charging.
If their batteries are full mid day, and they have plenty of hot water, and don't need any more energy for anything, then they can just let their charge controller turn off the solar. If it isn't needed, it isn't wasted. If this is the case, either the system was designed to work well in the winter and they have excess energy in the summer, or their system was poorly designed and oversized for no reason. If the latter is true, they should check to make sure the batteries aren't getting charged at too high of a charge rate.
So, does it mean it's ok to charge a 200AH battery using a 200W solar panel?
yes it is
wow. thank you
Trust me to live in the crappiest place for solar
After I spent all my money on it
If you live in the far north, you might have very long days with lots of sun in the summer - but if you live in a shadowy place, then it's more difficult.
Gunnar René Øie Hi Gunnar. I live in North East England. I'm considering trying wind power. I wonder if I could connect a wind turbine to the solar. I get good volts but rubbish amps..... Something I don't understand.
I wonder how I'm getting 40v but only 0.1 amps.
Craig Nevermind it’s just how the shit works.. lol my panels do the same shit on cloudy days
Maybe it could run a small heater fan like they have for cars
Good video!
Bummer, our electric skillet is 1500 Watts. Guess that means I could run it for 15 or so minutes? Long enough to cook some meals, I suppose. Oh well, raw food is generally better for you anyway. Here's to the end times!!!!
Have a barbecue!
@@AltEStore yeah, our apt complex won't allow for that. We'll probably have to cook over at a relatives house. Thanks though.
wait i dont understand. a 300w solar panel can power a 1000w per day device?
Don't confuse watts (W) and watt hours (Wh). A 300W panel can generate 1000Wh a day.
I am in grade 7, I have a doubt that if I am in country's like middle and if I want to make a device that help in charging devices like tab ,and other electronics using solar power how much power should the solar have and can you please help me find more math behind it .....
This video has a lot more of the math that is needed to size a solar system. I hope it helps you. ruclips.net/video/gP3dhz6VSg4/видео.html
Thank you so much
Can you explain this to my 6 year old. Hes not getting it.
i will need a 100 amper battery
What about solar panel calculator . Big up from Scotland
well done
Ok so with 3 solar panels in New Jersey I can basically live off grid with a tv and a PlayStation lol this is interesting I may be homeless soo so this is good to know info
Very useful
I have a question related to wind energy. Could i ask it?
Sure. I'll try to answer.
Thank you. I have a hybrid system composed of 03 small wind turbines with maximum power of 500 watt (vertical axis: Savonius) with a photovoltaic module with maximum power of 245 watt. The system is equipped with a MPPT regulator and a controller. However, i cannot see it because is under the wind turbines and even when i tried to remove the cover i could not. I have tried to consult the website of the manufacture of this system about charge controller details. But, without any answer.
My question is case of batteries connected to the system are fully charged and at the same time, the wind speed is maximal and knowing that in the system there is no damper loads to absorb this energy and i do not know if there is a risk in the installation because i cannot reach the charge controller and even i do not know if the system considers that case? What can i do in this case to protect the installation?
I suggest you get a dump load controller and a dump load, some sort of DC heater to burn off the extra energy to make more room for the energy from the turbines. Something like a C60 and a water heater; www.altestore.com/store/charge-controllers/solar-charge-controllers/pwm-solar-charge-controllers/xantrex-solar-charge-controllers-pwm/xantrex-c60-charge-controller-60a-1224v-c60-charge-controller-60a-1224v-p2071/ and www.altestore.com/store/charge-controllers/dump-loads-dump-load-controllers/diversion-loadsdump-loads/water-heating-element-for-12v-or-24v-dc-1-npt-male-p2326/
Thank you for your help.
Unfortunately, i cannot reach the 03 generators and the internal charge controller because it is well closed. And my system is 48 volt.
I have another question please. Is it the same case for photovoltaic system?
I mean when there is a plus of energy produced by photovoltaic modules and the batteries are fully charged. Is there a damp load controller for photovoltaic installation?
@@halledwardb what do you mean by RV?
i am very satisfy thanks a lot
With one 100w panel nothing really, just small stuff such as radio, small tv, maybe 2_3 led lights, recharge batteries...etc.
hi I would like to know how to connect 2 inverter in parallel for more watts power.can somebody explain me how to do that
It depends on the inverter. You need to use an inverter that is designed to be stacked. The sine signals have to synchronize with each other. Also, an inverter that is designed to be stacked will generally be configured in a master/slave configuration, allowing one to be the primary inverter telling the 2nd inverter to turn on and off based on need. If you have an inverter that is designed to be stacked, it will tell you how to stack them in the manual.
okey thank you so much but here in my country I don't think we have those inverters
Here is an example of a stackable inverter that outputs 230V 50Hz, www.outbackpower.com/downloads/documents/inverter_chargers/fxr_vfxr_e/FXR_E_specsheet.pdf
@@AltEStore help me under stand
In my 'off the grid' folder
Hello mam
Plz make structure installation,o&m video
I love you
Better explanation
Converting solar power to electricity to convert it to heat = who on Earth would ever want to do that? :D
It's another thing with solar thermal, when You want to keep Yourself warm at night. :)
Hawaii getting blocked by the heat index key... :-(
Sorry about that. You don't need me to tell you that you folks are a fantastic location for solar. With an average of 6 sun hours, you can make about 390Wh a day per 100W of solar. You are right up there with the best locations in the world. Aloha!
@@AltEStore Wow. Thank you very much. I did not expect you to reply. lol
I just got 22 Panasonic N330, says it does 330watts. I was not sure if that is watt per hour, or watt per day, or how to do the math on what I could expect.
I've learned so much from your videos.
Fantastic! I assume you are going to be grid-tied, so you can expect even more energy than an off-grid system, due to fewer losses. My estimate is with 330W x 22 = 7260W x 6 sun hours x .8 grid tied losses = 35kWh a day x 30 = 1045kWh a month. You should see a really big decrease in your electric bill.
As I recall from living in HI, you might benefit from wind-power as well.
What can you run?
I guess the answer is...... Not much
still many fancy words.
A calculator.
Too technical for me.
Not much. That took 2 seconds to say.
one of the most triggering videos online. Won't be buying from these guys
You've got me very curious, what triggered you about this? We made this video based on the hundreds of requests from our other version that had a lot of math, to just provide a list of what, and not do the math for why.
@@AltEStore It's a great video, I already know this but I got caught up watching to see if it was easy for others to understand and it is very well done.
😩👍💗💎
At 7:20, are we consuming 7,500 Wh for 5 hours? it's a bit confusing. Or did you mean 7,500 Wh for 1 hour? not sure what i'm missing. Thanks for a great video, as always
i'm confusing too ..
7500Wh in 1 hour and 7500wh in 5 hours is the same power consumption, both is 7500w total consumption and that is why watt hours is so easy to use for these kind of calculations.
Very helpful