Thanks for this video. I'm Midwestern US with reliable grid, but we do have storms. The record ice storm is 7 days no power and on gas generator. Very difficult to find fuel station open. Starting out with a 6000xp and 1 48v battery for longer term emergency well water for us and livestock. More batts and some panels as funds allow. Just got your book. Like how its starting with basic equation and tool descriptions. No talking above the solar novice.
Thanks for getting the book. For emergency power the EG4 6000XP is a great choice. One server rack will be okay for the beginning. If you don't use the inverter, then turning it off will save power because of idle consumption. If you don't need 6000W output, then look into the smaller EG4 3kW hybrid inverter.
fabulous, great detail. I'm planning a small system for my detached garage, to charge my Mustang with 240v and some woodworking equipment. My plan 4 Jinko 390W for $560, 2 EG4 48V 100AH batteries for $2,800 and the EG4 6000XP for $1,500, parts estimated around $700 for a total $5,560. Thanks again.
I spent 23000 USD, 8kw inverter, 48kw battery,12kw solar, 9kw generator with 180 hours per tank which I haven't used since the day after I replaced the faulty inverter, Jinko 465watt panels that produce 105 watts in overcast with a peak of 569w. I use 14.6 kw a day. 6kw for fridge, freezer, lights, cpu tv modem, and 8.6 kw for a 350-watt heater. Really cold days I add 1kw with 2 short 20 min blasts with the 1500watt heater +6c. The 1500w heater can eat up 36kw a day solo. If it snows where you live, vertical mount south facing bi facial solar is the way to go.
Overcurrent protection devices are not rated for a specific temperature. The wires are. I always recommend using welding cables, and i have linked them in the description. However, i think you mean that the wire have different temperature ratings, which is true. Lower temperature rating means less current carrying capacity.
Also you don't need the transfer switch with 6000xp, if you have grid available for backup you just add it to the grid connection in the inverter for any power you need over what your system can supply
Great video. I'm looking for an inverter that is not grid tied (no need to sell back power to the utility). What I'm looking for is support for and auto switching between: Normal mode: utility >> eg4-18kpv >> home panel Outage mode: utility >> utility outage >> eg4-18kpv >> generator >> battery >> home panel Solar panels are not going to work well (too much shade), so I'm focusing on a smooth transition from the local utility to small battery w/ a generator for battery recharge. Any recommendations for this kind of setup?
Thank you for the instruction videos. I am just starting to go through them. I have 1700W in solar panels and I would like to supplement the house using them with a 48V battery system with no feed back to the grid. But I would like the option to use the grid to charge the batteries if necessary. Here in the state of Georgia we get plenty of sun and cloudy days.
We live in Ohio and are planning to build a new home 1300ft from the road and power lines. The power company requires $20,000 to set a pole and run wires to the transformer. I have to dig the ditch. This seems likeca good solution. Im tired of paying $300 a month for electricity.
I intend to add a ground rod at the array and only connect pos/neg wires to inverter. If lightning struck the array or frame I'd want to keep it isolated and not have it go through the inverter.
You should not add a second grounding rod to reduce earthing loops. When a lightning strike hits your panels, they are fried and the PV cables going into the eg4 and the eg4 itself as well. Lightning protection is something completely different than grounding/bonding. You cannot protect your system with a ground rod and earth wire.
Hi, thanks for your video 🙏🏿 I have EG4 6000xp inverter, and EG4 power pro 48v 280ah lithium batterie and my total use is like 800w only but the battery keeps draining out quickly 😢 can you please help ? My country is hot 90 to 103 degree heat what is the recommended size of wires? Please 🙏🏿
You can cut the cost of the batteries in half, if you buy the cells individually, and build the rack mounted system yourself. You buy the cells, top balance them, put 'em together, attach the BMS and you have an EG4 rack mounted battery.
At $0.15/kwh, I calculate a payout of about 16 years with a low return on investment. In the cases where you are far from the grid, this off grid solution could make sense. While the panels will last 20 years with minimal degradation in performance, the inverter is only warranted for 5 years and the batteries for 5-10 years with a pro-rata warranty.
This is for off-grid, not grid-tied. Off-grid electricity will be more expensive than the utility. If you are grid-tied, I recommend the setup in my video 'load shedding solutions'
Whats the cost of hookup in a neighboorhood plus the monhtly service charges. Example being if you opay $150 a month and it cost $3k for a hook up. First year on a grid application would cost you $4800. In my area it was going to cost my $18-20k just to bring power onto our ranch and then I estimated a monthly bill of $100-150 averages so $1200+ a year first year would be $19,200+ making it 100% worth us going straight solar for $20k I can pump out 75-100 amps 240 with massive battery backup
Hey boss. These are just the calculations I needed. Thanks for the explanation! I’m building a larger electrical mobile unit out of an enclosed trailer I’ve converted to be powered by the 6000xp with 10.2kwh server no alternator charge tied. My biggest question is grounding the system in a mobile application with no grid tie. Is grounding to the frame fine because of wood blocks and rubber tires. Or do I need to tie the ground to a rod at every location. I’m worried times I’ll be around pavement only. Thanks again boss!!
Hi Nick, great video! Makes it very clear. I am currently searching for a good off-grid system for my house. One of the companies I had contact with mentioned that an off-grid system takes more maintenance then a system connected to a grid. Do you have any idea why that would be?
Maintenance is checking batteries if they are lead acid. And you have more connections, that required periodic checking as well. Overall if you have lithium batteries the maintenance is very minimal. Removing dust, checking connections, software update if necesarry,...
Hi, I would like to build a system in stages, do to limited finances . First I need to run a large refrigerator freezer and a well pump ( 1.6 hp ) . I was thinking a 6000 inverter. How many panels and batteries do you advise I start with? I live in Sicily.
I live in the UK and average 10KWh daily throughout the year. My bill is around £700 yearly. Your system cost would take me 14 years (without generator cost fuel and maintenance) and a 7KW system UK, in winter output averages 2.8KWh daily, so the generator is a necessity for almost all production winter. Are these systems really viable??
Thank you for a well instructed video, but it doesn't answer my problem, In the future I will be installing, not myself, a DC to DC off grid system for my wife in Thailand, and I would be interested in knowing how many solar panels it would need to run the air-condition for day and night and also the batteries I would need, I'm sorry I can't work out all these figures as I don't understand all the different figures you quote and can't get any details of the working figures. Part of the problem is that I am in Spain and the internet just doesn't seem capable of giving me the WWW.
Well Done Nick. I Have requested several times for your free diagram but I am yet to see any in my email box. After filling the form I do get the feedback that it has been sent to my mail but I did not receive it in my inbox or spam.
I follow you with interest and I have a question. do you know the market penetration of photovoltaic panels with multijunction cells?. and if they can be bought from a certain distributor.
They are more efficient (40%), but that comes at a price. I don't know if they are available as well, so I'm making assumptions here. The market would be very small because it would be cheaper to have two 100W monocrystalline panels instead of one 100W multijunction panel.
Doesn't your calculations for the 540W Solar panels need to account for bifacial gain? I would have thought that we'd need to use 675Wp from the spec sheet to determine the max input into the inverter?
Good comment. I have not accounted for bifacial gain. Because i want to use the 'worst case scenario'. Most bifacial panels are not mounted in a way the rear side harvests irradiance. The bifacial gain would be 'extra' power as a bonus.
@@cleversolarpower Okay, thanks for the reply. I wasn't sure. I'm a bit confused by the PV panel values used in the video vs the spec sheet (video/spec): Voc=48.57/49.49, Vmp=41.49/40.91, Isc=13.70/13.87 jinkosolar.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/EAGLE-72HM-G5b-JKM525-545M-72HL4-TV-F1-US-3.pdf
@@cleversolarpower Thanks for answering my question on the bifacial gain! I'm trying to figure out why the specs your video are not matching the values I found in Jinko's specs (video/Jinko): Voc=48.57/49.49, Vmp=41.49/40.91, Isc=13.70/13.87. jinkosolar.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/EAGLE-72-G5b-JKM525-545M-72HL4-TV-F35-F3-US-2.pdf
@@cleversolarpower I have a solar powered well pump 600 watts trying to add batteries or a battery for night time, 2 - 325 watt panels with submersible pump, 12 Volt 100 ah lithium ion battery, NASH pump and control, can you give me an idea of what I need to do to get this going? thanks
It's a safety factor for cold weather. If it's sunny and cold, the voltage can go over the rated Voc. Because the panels are rated at 1000W/m² at 25°C (77°F). Sometimes conditions are better, like a cold sunny day in winter. If the voltage is too high, the MPPT will get damaged. So we have to factor this in for the few days a year this might happen.
Thank you for reminding me about the importents about ohm's law. Your videos get me back on track, and i get inspired to make my own charger control with scraps laying around. Greatt videos :)
I don't have access to EG4 equipment as I'm based in Belgium, Europe. I did my research on the 6000XP. Here, we mainly work with Victron and Pylontech for off-grid.
Why is it nobody is making their own batteries to work ? Remember you could use water batteries ,5 gallon buckets or 50 gallon barrels worth the best .
This video is about 2 months old, what you ain't telling people is that you could just get 32xEVE 304/314Ah cells and 2x DIY battery box for it.. That would cost you not even half the price of the battery you are suggesting or well selling. A battery pack like this would cost around 3k usd or less...
I would never install one of these high frequency, transformerless inverters in my off grid home. They offer much poorer surge capacities and shorter life expectancies than more reliable, low frequency, transformer based inverters.
@@cleversolarpower Not anymore. Because of recent technological advancements and competition in the market, even a higher performance, longer lasting, 6kW low frequency inverter cost only about $300 more than a high frequency inverter
🎁 Free Diagrams: cleversolarpower.com/free-diagrams/
📖 My Best-Selling book on Amazon: cleversolarpower.com/off-grid-solar-power-simplified
Where is your link to fellow RUclipsr Ray regarding the UL rated AC disconnect/ transfer switch?
Glad too see your helping the masses understand alternative energy.
Thanks for this video. I'm Midwestern US with reliable grid, but we do have storms. The record ice storm is 7 days no power and on gas generator. Very difficult to find fuel station open.
Starting out with a 6000xp and 1 48v battery for longer term emergency well water for us and livestock. More batts and some panels as funds allow.
Just got your book. Like how its starting with basic equation and tool descriptions. No talking above the solar novice.
Thanks for getting the book. For emergency power the EG4 6000XP is a great choice. One server rack will be okay for the beginning. If you don't use the inverter, then turning it off will save power because of idle consumption. If you don't need 6000W output, then look into the smaller EG4 3kW hybrid inverter.
fabulous, great detail. I'm planning a small system for my detached garage, to charge my Mustang with 240v and some woodworking equipment. My plan 4 Jinko 390W for $560, 2 EG4 48V 100AH batteries for $2,800 and the EG4 6000XP for $1,500, parts estimated around $700 for a total $5,560. Thanks again.
Take a look at Santansolar for cheap or second hand panels with no damage 👍
I spent 23000 USD, 8kw inverter, 48kw battery,12kw solar, 9kw generator with 180 hours per tank which I haven't used since the day after I replaced the faulty inverter, Jinko 465watt panels that produce 105 watts in overcast with a peak of 569w. I use 14.6 kw a day. 6kw for fridge, freezer, lights, cpu tv modem, and 8.6 kw for a 350-watt heater. Really cold days I add 1kw with 2 short 20 min blasts with the 1500watt heater +6c. The 1500w heater can eat up 36kw a day solo. If it snows where you live, vertical mount south facing bi facial solar is the way to go.
Thanks for sharing your system with us Bob!
Make sure when you size your wire the ocpd is rated for that temperature many are only rated at 75 degrees
Overcurrent protection devices are not rated for a specific temperature. The wires are. I always recommend using welding cables, and i have linked them in the description. However, i think you mean that the wire have different temperature ratings, which is true. Lower temperature rating means less current carrying capacity.
Also you don't need the transfer switch with 6000xp, if you have grid available for backup you just add it to the grid connection in the inverter for any power you need over what your system can supply
This is awesome!, Can I use the same diagram for a creek I have running through my property? Just replacing the solar panels?
Great video. I'm looking for an inverter that is not grid tied (no need to sell back power to the utility).
What I'm looking for is support for and auto switching between:
Normal mode: utility >> eg4-18kpv >> home panel
Outage mode: utility >> utility outage >> eg4-18kpv >> generator >> battery >> home panel
Solar panels are not going to work well (too much shade), so I'm focusing on a smooth transition from the local utility to small battery w/ a generator for battery recharge. Any recommendations for this kind of setup?
Thank you for the instruction videos. I am just starting to go through them. I have 1700W in solar panels and I would like to supplement the house using them with a 48V battery system with no feed back to the grid. But I would like the option to use the grid to charge the batteries if necessary. Here in the state of Georgia we get plenty of sun and cloudy days.
We live in Ohio and are planning to build a new home 1300ft from the road and power lines. The power company requires $20,000 to set a pole and run wires to the transformer. I have to dig the ditch. This seems likeca good solution. Im tired of paying $300 a month for electricity.
I intend to add a ground rod at the array and only connect pos/neg wires to inverter. If lightning struck the array or frame I'd want to keep it isolated and not have it go through the inverter.
You should not add a second grounding rod to reduce earthing loops. When a lightning strike hits your panels, they are fried and the PV cables going into the eg4 and the eg4 itself as well. Lightning protection is something completely different than grounding/bonding. You cannot protect your system with a ground rod and earth wire.
Hi, thanks for your video 🙏🏿 I have EG4 6000xp inverter, and EG4 power pro 48v 280ah lithium batterie and my total use is like 800w only but the battery keeps draining out quickly 😢 can you please help ? My country is hot 90 to 103 degree heat what is the recommended size of wires? Please 🙏🏿
You can cut the cost of the batteries in half, if you buy the cells individually, and build the rack mounted system yourself. You buy the cells, top balance them, put 'em together, attach the BMS and you have an EG4 rack mounted battery.
Indeed, but that's not for everybody. I have made a video on the cost analysis between diy and buying batteries.
Thank you for calculating the previous question i asked for.
How do you connect the two-wire start/stop connections on the inverter to the ATS on that generator?
You need an inverter with an auto start stop functions. The cheaper generators don't have this. Look into Kohler generators.
At $0.15/kwh, I calculate a payout of about 16 years with a low return on investment. In the cases where you are far from the grid, this off grid solution could make sense. While the panels will last 20 years with minimal degradation in performance, the inverter is only warranted for 5 years and the batteries for 5-10 years with a pro-rata warranty.
This is for off-grid, not grid-tied. Off-grid electricity will be more expensive than the utility. If you are grid-tied, I recommend the setup in my video 'load shedding solutions'
Whats the cost of hookup in a neighboorhood plus the monhtly service charges. Example being if you opay $150 a month and it cost $3k for a hook up. First year on a grid application would cost you $4800. In my area it was going to cost my $18-20k just to bring power onto our ranch and then I estimated a monthly bill of $100-150 averages so $1200+ a year first year would be $19,200+ making it 100% worth us going straight solar for $20k I can pump out 75-100 amps 240 with massive battery backup
Hi,
When you say 32500Wh Li battery, how many batteries is that actually??
Can you please give an example?
Hey boss. These are just the calculations I needed. Thanks for the explanation! I’m building a larger electrical mobile unit out of an enclosed trailer I’ve converted to be powered by the 6000xp with 10.2kwh server no alternator charge tied. My biggest question is grounding the system in a mobile application with no grid tie. Is grounding to the frame fine because of wood blocks and rubber tires. Or do I need to tie the ground to a rod at every location. I’m worried times I’ll be around pavement only. Thanks again boss!!
Hi Nick, great video! Makes it very clear. I am currently searching for a good off-grid system for my house. One of the companies I had contact with mentioned that an off-grid system takes more maintenance then a system connected to a grid. Do you have any idea why that would be?
Maintenance is checking batteries if they are lead acid. And you have more connections, that required periodic checking as well. Overall if you have lithium batteries the maintenance is very minimal. Removing dust, checking connections, software update if necesarry,...
@@cleversolarpower Thankyou! That sounds very manageable
Great video. I am about to install a similar setup without the generator . What are the breaker and fuse requirements?
All discussed in the video.
Great video. I did a similar system and took my house off grid.
12 550w panels
1 6000XP
1 Powerpro
Ground mount
All in at 8K
It would take 10years before it paid for itself here, by which time it might all need replacing.
You have no idea what you are talking about. You should educate yourself before making uneducated comments.
@OH2023-cj9if well it depends on how much it cost for power a month .
Thanks for your comment! What is your daily consumption?
Dave can you post a video of ur system and what you can run with it?
Hi, I would like to build a system in stages, do to limited finances . First I need to run a large refrigerator freezer and a well pump ( 1.6 hp ) . I was thinking a 6000 inverter. How many panels and batteries do you advise I start with? I live in Sicily.
I live in the UK and average 10KWh daily throughout the year. My bill is around £700 yearly. Your system cost would take me 14 years (without generator cost fuel and maintenance) and a 7KW system UK, in winter output averages 2.8KWh daily, so the generator is a necessity for almost all production winter. Are these systems really viable??
Of course not, this is completely off the grid. Imagine a remote cabin in the woods.
Please make a video for off grid setup to run 2000 watt hairdryer and deep freezer 200 liter and laptop
Thanks, Nick
Please explain what materials and sizes of PV, baterai LIFo4, SPD, MCB DC, MCB AC, MCCB are needed for a 48 volt 3000 watt hybrid inverter?
You can check the 48V diagram on my website's homepage using the EG4 3kW inverter.
Thank you for a well instructed video, but it doesn't answer my problem, In the future I will be installing, not myself, a DC to DC off grid system for my wife in Thailand, and I would be interested in knowing how many solar panels it would need to run the air-condition for day and night and also the batteries I would need, I'm sorry I can't work out all these figures as I don't understand all the different figures you quote and can't get any details of the working figures. Part of the problem is that I am in Spain and the internet just doesn't seem capable of giving me the WWW.
can i use mppt charge controller on 1.2kw hybrid inverter...???
A hybrid inverter already has an MPPT inside of it. But you can add another one next to it.
@@cleversolarpower okay, thanks mate..
Would be nice if you can explain the calculations. Now, all in a sudden, there are number introduced a layman can't do anything with.
This is a practical example. I have many videos about the theory.
This is a GREAT video. Thanks!!
thanks you
Well Done Nick. I Have requested several times for your free diagram but I am yet to see any in my email box. After filling the form I do get the feedback that it has been sent to my mail but I did not receive it in my inbox or spam.
That's weird. Please send me an email through my contact form on my website and I will send them to you manually.
@@cleversolarpower Okay
I follow you with interest and I have a question. do you know the market penetration of photovoltaic panels with multijunction cells?. and if they can be bought from a certain distributor.
They are more efficient (40%), but that comes at a price. I don't know if they are available as well, so I'm making assumptions here. The market would be very small because it would be cheaper to have two 100W monocrystalline panels instead of one 100W multijunction panel.
What is the “x 1.25” in the calculation accounting for?
Safety guidelines
I downloaded your diagrams. They are well done. Do you have an engineering degree?
Electro-mechanical engineering with a background in electric housing installations.
I grounded my solar panel frames and rails at a ground rod at array seperate from all the rest of my system, is this wrong?
Yes, you can create grounding loops. It should go to your main grounding rod.
Doesn't your calculations for the 540W Solar panels need to account for bifacial gain?
I would have thought that we'd need to use 675Wp from the spec sheet to determine the max input into the inverter?
Good comment. I have not accounted for bifacial gain. Because i want to use the 'worst case scenario'. Most bifacial panels are not mounted in a way the rear side harvests irradiance. The bifacial gain would be 'extra' power as a bonus.
@@cleversolarpower Okay, thanks for the reply. I wasn't sure. I'm a bit confused by the PV panel values used in the video vs the spec sheet (video/spec): Voc=48.57/49.49, Vmp=41.49/40.91, Isc=13.70/13.87 jinkosolar.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/EAGLE-72HM-G5b-JKM525-545M-72HL4-TV-F1-US-3.pdf
@@cleversolarpower Thanks for answering my question on the bifacial gain! I'm trying to figure out why the specs your video are not matching the values I found in Jinko's specs (video/Jinko): Voc=48.57/49.49, Vmp=41.49/40.91, Isc=13.70/13.87. jinkosolar.us/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/EAGLE-72-G5b-JKM525-545M-72HL4-TV-F35-F3-US-2.pdf
why do you need 2 series of 7 panels? is it because the mppt cannot tolerate that much voltage?
Exactly, the MPPT can only handle a certain amount of input voltage.
Good info.
💕💕💕 your videos buddy, Thank you!
Glad you like them!
@@cleversolarpower I have a solar powered well pump 600 watts trying to add batteries or a battery for night time, 2 - 325 watt panels with submersible pump, 12 Volt 100 ah lithium ion battery, NASH pump and control, can you give me an idea of what I need to do to get this going? thanks
Hello I need your help my charger controller is not charging the battery am using a 300w solar panel and a 200 ah battery
Is the solar panel voltage higher than the battery voltage? Did you configure your charge controller correctly? Is your battery full?
What is the 1.25 multiplier against Voc? I did not hear you mention it's purpose or where it comes from.
It's a safety factor for cold weather. If it's sunny and cold, the voltage can go over the rated Voc. Because the panels are rated at 1000W/m² at 25°C (77°F). Sometimes conditions are better, like a cold sunny day in winter. If the voltage is too high, the MPPT will get damaged. So we have to factor this in for the few days a year this might happen.
@@cleversolarpower thank you
Hello from South Carolina
55kwh- daily
Is the Total cost in USD?
Thanks for sharing.
Yes USD.
My hero 🤩
Soon, you will learn how to make your own off-grid solar system!
Thankyou sir
This generation pollution free Required at all house and industrial ❤
Thank you for reminding me about the importents about ohm's law. Your videos get me back on track, and i get inspired to make my own charger control with scraps laying around. Greatt videos :)
Glad the videos are helping you out.
would be great if you could do a very basic description of the small and medium setups sometime if possible
Can you let me know through email what your daily consumption is? That way I can work something out.
I vote for small/medium system
Do you have any of these products, or do you just make videos with images?
I don't have access to EG4 equipment as I'm based in Belgium, Europe. I did my research on the 6000XP. Here, we mainly work with Victron and Pylontech for off-grid.
Why is it nobody is making their own batteries to work ? Remember you could use water batteries ,5 gallon buckets or 50 gallon barrels worth the best .
Because they don't work. Turning on a led light? Yes.
Nick...can i get your phone no?? I need a system to produce 80 KW daily
You can write me an email through my website for questions. I can say you need a lot of solar panels.
This video is about 2 months old, what you ain't telling people is that you could just get 32xEVE 304/314Ah cells and 2x DIY battery box for it.. That would cost you not even half the price of the battery you are suggesting or well selling. A battery pack like this would cost around 3k usd or less...
I did a video about diy vs buy, go check it out 👍
I would never install one of these high frequency, transformerless inverters in my off grid home. They offer much poorer surge capacities and shorter life expectancies than more reliable, low frequency, transformer based inverters.
Yes, low frequency inverters are also more expensive. Not for everyone.
@@cleversolarpower Not anymore. Because of recent technological advancements and competition in the market, even a higher performance, longer lasting, 6kW low frequency inverter cost only about $300 more than a high frequency inverter