Howdy from Corpus Christi. Starting my transition to PI within 24 months. Great information needed it so bad. So, as I see it all I have to do is follow your lead, because that is exactly what I want to do in Cebu. The same concerns you delt with I have. Just subscribed to your channel, so I have some catching up to do. You really should get something from the products endorsed. Looking forward to anything you want to share. Stay well.
James, our tiny little condo is 34 sqmt and our electric bill is nearly $200 a month. Good job in getting off the grid. The money only matters if it matters to you. I would rather be in your position and not have to worry about brown outs and high power bills. I am going to look at solar for our project here in Lipa, Batangas.
The pride and the fun of putting all together is worth it right there. I have an 8 kWh grid tie I did myself and people always ask was it worth it. My answer is yes. It becomes a hobby and it slowly pays for it self. My rounds of golf cost me as much as one panel each time I go out. There is no ROI golfing other than the fun.
Excellent advise and information on the complete system. Most definitely will be saving this for the future. Thanks for taking the time to address your set up and the cost of everything involved.
I know that I am a little behind on seeing this video but I'm happy to see that and any way that we can save money it's great because that money can be used for other things. I will have to find out if we are allowed to install solar panels in our subdivision and if so the cost for the size of our house. I love the idea of free electricity even if it might take a few years to get to the point where it has a very low cost. I hate paying the electric companies and I bet the cost savings over the years would add up to be a lot of money. Thank you for making this video as it is very helpful.
Thank you, James. Your video is very helpful. We are shopping for Solar for our home in the Philippines now. You answered all of our questions. Update: James we are making a deal with a local Solar Company to have a complete System installed. Thanks to your Video, we had a better idea about what questions to ask. The unit is Solis and it is a product of Canada.
Great info . Given ur numbers here in S.E. coastal TX a Solar system isn't worth it at my house . My last most expensive yearly electric cost was 840$ . Even with yearly increase I wouldn't recoup the costs in 15 yrs .
Hey James, super poop. That was very informative. Now I have a really good picture and what I have to do now thanks to you. I will live like you on the beach. We have a 7000 square meter property with beach front north east from Sorsogon. Out in the province. I was thinking a shared electric with city and solar but the way you put it i am going to do like you. Great channel I look forward to your videos every day. Keep them rolling. Great family.
Coming at you from the Philippines. Greetings. Nice video. I experimented with a smaller unit to run water pumps on a farm here. It was an off-brand MPP. Eventually I bought the MPP 5048GK. It's been running on its' own for a year now without maintenance. Great little units for the price. The first one is in storage since it has been replaced, but I got my money back in 9 months. The new one I added more solar and it will be paid off in two more months..so one year and six months. But I run 2 to 4 pumps about 5 to 8 hours a day for irrigation so the return is much faster. Love these little inverters. They're better than people think. Great that you guys are able to get them there now. When I finally retire I will go home somewhere in the midwest and be off grid.
They are good units for the price. I am glad you had same experience. That is great news to hear. I have seen your name pop up before. Maybe someday when I am back in PI we can do a meet and greet and collabe on a video. Feel free to contact me jamesray080808@gmail.com
i spent a fair chunk more on a grid tied system with lithium storage... electricity is cheap here and there’s no incentive to send to the grid (it’s a straight 1:1 credit per kwh) so the payback time is closer to 20 years considering future maintenance costs. but here’s the thing... when we had our first major storm hit and i went out to see how much cleanup there’d be the next day and saw the whole neighborhood was dark except my house where i hadn’t even noticed... that’s priceless.
Amen! That is priceless for real. That is what we enjoy. The family will come over bored saying brown out. They will also say we didn't sleep cause brown out all night so no fan. We wont even know it.
when i am ready i hope to take a look at your system to set mine up. im in Roxas city and plan on setting up a home someplace close to here. have to save as i am a disabled vet from the US.
Hey Richard! Nice hearing from you again. No problem I could help you out. I would suggest on a fresh system buy 10 of the 200ah batteries instead of the 100ah I did. You will spend about $1000 more but it could be very worth it during extended stormy days in rainy season.
Bro…great video, this system is cheap, at least the materials, …I would hire a professional to setup the system for me so I would budget an additional $1k usd. Overall I think it’s cheaper vs. buying a system like this in the U.S.
@@TexasFilipino Be careful with wind. I wanted to do a half solar/half wind setup, but in my area the wind averages 5-8 mph. Those systems dont' start generating power until around 8mph, and they don't generate full power until 20+ mph wind. Meaning, in my area, wind power would be a completely wasted expense.
@@zarroth not really planning wind. Would have to be marine rated like on sailboats. Those are just 300 to 500 watt usually n expensive. The salt would eat normal one fast.
I realize recovery of investment is a selling point for solar, I also wonder why we think that way, how long does it take to recover the cost of a refrigerator or a TV or a washing machine, you get my point lifestyle is the winner. live free and comfortable solar is just another way to achieve freedom.
AMEN - I love it. That is why I covered benefits. Doesn't matter whats happening in the rest of the world. You can be free of it all and have pride of self reliance! FREEDOM is it. I had the question over and over about cost and recovery so I did this video. Honestly I wish initially that I had bought the 200 ah solar batteries they sell here and gotten 10 of those. It would have only cost me about 1000 more and boy would have it been worth it.
I missed this Video, I’ll definitely do some of this sort for the tiny house 🏠, Probably only one inverted, No Brown Out makes it well worth the investment,
I have 24 Trojan L16 E-AC batteries in a 48 volt configuration. cost around $8500 I just about 840 amp hours of lithium for $4700. Doubled my power for half the cost.
I want something really great for batteries with NO need to care for them. I think this fall some new technology is being reviled. Could be game changing. Have you seen tesla new dry cell they are about to put out?
can you find out how much busbars are there. I need copper ones that are 4mm thick x 20mm wide x 1 meter long and I need 5 of them. if the price is good there I won't buy them here. also the price on MC4 connectors 2 into 1 the long ones and PV cable. 10 AWG 6mm2 if you happen to be around where you can get prices I would appreciate it.
New sub here. We live in rural Texas in the Dallas area. You mentioned in another video about the power being reliable and I would agree. I am looking to battery backup my house electricity and add solar later if costs drive that. Thanks for your videos. I do like what I see in the MPP units.
Hey thanks for adding us. We are in Poetry Texas North East of Dallas just off i-20 a few miles. Thanks for subbing and commenting. I have been test running my tesla batteries and MPP LV5048. I have only 3 of my 14 panels going as it is not where it will be long term. So far with some items like fans , 2 incubators and freezer it has ran smooth. I am about to move it now and step it up. Debating on buying two more Tesla batteries because so far they have worked great. I might invest in a eTV BMS for them. Though about running small coolant pump on them as well with a stand alone 12v panel. I have some tiny 12v pumps here I ordered for another project that would work perfect. That way if I have heavy loads in this Texas heat it can keep them cool. Just a thought!
Texas Filipino Great to hear from you. Poetry, TX?? You aren’t far away. We live in the Greenville countryside along I-30. One day it would be fun to come by and take a look at your setup (maybe this fall when we are back in town and it is cooler). As far as coolant goes, I have wondered if it would be worth it to run coolant on the underside of solar panels to keep their efficiency up. Of course, I am just learning all this, so I might not be making sense. Have a great summer and stay cool!
@@brentjohnson6654 yep we are close by. We have fil am friends around Greenville area. Your welcome to come by. Sounds like a good time to cook up somengreat food.
Hi James. I have no clue how things work so that is why I am asking you. Building a house in the Philippines. Planning on getting solar. No right away, but hopefully soon after the build. 1st question is, if I set up a 4k system. can that be upgraded to an 8k, without having to get a whole new set up? Second question is I saw these batteries on Lazada (Solar Battery Gel Battery Deep Cycle VRLA Lead Acid 12V 100AH). Says no maintenance and with valve regulator. Is this what you have now and if not would these be any good? Thanks
Quick question for you about your inverter setup: Where do you have them mounted inside the home or outside, and do they bother you with fan noise ever? I have seen videos of these running and it seems like the fans can really ramp up and be pretty loud.
Ok so good question. Here is my situation and yours may be different. They are mounted inside. This is actually our garage being used as a apartment while the main part of the house is being built. Yes the fans make noise but no worse than any fan or aircon. I actually sleep good to the noise!!! Now once our house is completed there will be a mechanical room on the top roof deck. with door facing away from beach - REASON SALT!!! I must keep them free of salt corrosion!
Hello great info. I'm going to be on the market for solar in Southern Leyte in a few months. May I ask with a 8kw system what approx size of home with standard utilities? I plan to have a few quotes from local companies and those from over in Cebu. Again, best discussion and breakdown to help a novice like me. Thank you!
Full sized inverter type samsung refrigerator , Microwave, Large LED Smart tv, multiple fans, CCTV security system, boiling pot, coffee maker, Led lights in ceiling, laptop , phones charging, submersible well pump all off just one of these inverters. When I return I will be running more lights second tv. I will run a aircon during the day. If I choose to run it at night I dont have enough storage as of now. I dont want to invest any further in these type of batteries. I can run it using grid at night when the batteries play down and it switches to grid backup. I am currently not running it like that but I will be.
Thanks for this video finally James! Question unanswered is this, how well does the system handle the power tools used for the construction? Also, how quickly does your system recharge after a night of usage? or after a day with poor solar delivery? thanks
Good morning Michael. First on the unanswered question 1. Power tools. I have covered that in videos already. you may have just missed it in the past. We are running chop saw, large hammer drill, large circular saw ( which is in videos of me using it) and other drills and grinders all with no problem at all. You don't even notice anything. No lights dimming and any effect just good smooth power. Handles the surge so nice. 2. Recharge in morning. I too have covered this even in recent videos. Sun comes up early here. By 5am we are actually getting a small charge already. That is where the MPPT plus this panels in series to up the volts comes into play. 5 am it will be show like 27- 33 volts and it still will look virtually dark outside. By 930 am I am at full float on the batteries and stay that way rest of the day. If it was a cloudy rainy day we cut back usage some. Be a little more conservative. It is usually cooler those days and no need to for Air con then too. So on those days it is still charging and we still go to float maybe at 1 pm latest was 3 pm. We carried on through the night with our normal routine.
Texas Filipino thanks for answering that James. I am curious about the setup, so that why all the questions about it. Solar and MPP is how I found your channel and really what keeps me coming back. If your video isnt on solar , I normally skipped it. Lately I have stuck around for the construction to see your progress. That’s probably how I missed the videos you mentioned.if it was during a video that wasn’t on construction or solar, I may have skipped it. By the way, you and Mel are really adorable together. Really you are living the life I would love to have with regards to building a house from nothing and living off grid. Keep those videos coming. !!
You may run into a corrosion issue with your panel due to the heavy salt air environment. Panels have to meet a standard called IEC 61701 to be suitable for installation near the sea. There are six levels of corrosion resistance to the IEC 61701 standard. Level 1 is suitable for marine environments such as on roofs by the beach. Level 2 isn’t actually used, while levels 3 to 6 represent increasing levels of corrosion resistance. To receive a level 6 rating panels have to survive 112 days of testing that simulates decades of exposure to a salty environment with less than 2% decline in power output. That’s twice as long as the 56 days panels have to survive to get a level 5 rating. If you want peace of mind you can get yourself a panel with level 6 resistance. While they’re not quite suitable for use on submarines they should be able to handle any exposure that doesn’t require being submerged in salt water. Technically level one resistance should be all that’s required for solar by the coast, but fortunately most panels that are certified have better than level one resistance, with level 6 resistance being very common, so you are unlikely to have to settle for the lowest level of protection. In places where the weather and waves tend to be wilder then you’ll probably want to ensure your panels are corrosion resistant if they are going to be installed within 200m of the shore. Warmth and humidity increase the rate at which corrosion occurs because salt only corrodes when it’s wet and heat speeds up any chemical reaction. Next big issue is all your electrical connection. You must take everyone of them apart and use "electric contact grease" on the contacts or you will shortly have big problems. If you contractor was professional, he would have used "electrical contact grease" on all connections upon system installation. Sorry to be a "killjoy", really hope the system works well for you.
I appreciate you writing all of this message. I have been running solar panels here on this property since 2016. No issues! The main panels have been here for 2 years. No issues. Not even a speck of corrosion anywhere. We have no contractor. I have been dealing with solar long before all of these 10 million vlogs or even our channel. Wind gens as well. I tell the same thing as you are warning of. I repeat constantly that you cant just put any ole wind gen on this house near the beach. It too must be salt water marine type like on sail boats etc. We are so close the salt will destroy it. To buy salt water marine grade wind gens is not very economical plus they most likely will be small. Maybe one at the most to help on those windy cloudy tropical rainy season days. I agree on the grease. Use the same as is used on spark plugs as well. I soldier my wires also not just crimp them. You are so right about corrosion. Now I want you to know this since you seem to know solar. I share failures on my vlog and intentionally let some things fail so that i can show the difference. It is part of sharing and learning. People need to see failures first hand sometime. It does not mean I don't know what I am doing. It means I am running a vlog and need to show by examples. the good and bad. I appreciate you again for your support. Thank you
@@TexasFilipino Hi, i kinda figured you had your homework done and covered all the bases. Honestly my comment was for all those out there that have no clue about what salt can do to a solar panel. Soldier wires, now there is a video all to itself, lol. Appreciate your videos keep em comin. Oh by the way, there is a Nissan dealership here in Davao that is building a new garage extension and they are using the same form method as you. See what you started.... a good thing.
I looked at grid tying my home. They wanted $10k per pole between my home and their line. Then there was the hookup fee. Not to mention the privilege of paying for their power in perpetuity no matter how unreliae it is. Without considering the fed tax credits and all the other incentives, off grid is hands down the best option. I made money the first day I told the grid to take a hike.
Hi, I think you got is backwards as to which panels do better in heat, Mono's perform better in this country, Northern USA or Canada its ok to go with poly but I do see poly being sold here and I suspect its just because of the price. You are close to the water and will get a decent breeze often which will help cool them off a bit. You have done a great job and for the price its a very good sized system.
@@TexasFilipino If you google you will see what i am saying but the difference is very small , mono is 0.04 % more efficient for each degree , so around 1.2% total at 30 degrees. Getting the best deal is really what matters and that is what you did. Not that many years ago 10 to 15 years to pay off the system was considered good and they did not have redundancy built in. Its a whole other topic but the cost of electricity in this country is a crime. geothermhvac.com/mono-vs-poly-better/#:~:text=Monocrystalline%20solar%20panels%20tend%20to,than%20with%20polycrystalline%20solar%20panels.&text=They%20perform%20better%20than%20similarly,panels%20at%20low%2Dlight%20conditions.
Looks a great system and like it will pay for itself in a just few years. Interested in why you only got 4kW solar panels when you have 8kW of inverters? Is it because you sometimes want to run it off both battery and solar at the same time or you just need a redundant inverter? Also wondering how you'll manage in the typhoon season when you can have days with no sun? Are you planning to also have connection to the main power supply? The reason for the large number of brownouts in the Philippines is that there isn't the generation capacity to supply all the country. So they systematically switch off areas for given time periods (unless you live in Makati which never has brownouts).
on the solar panels - I only got part of them for now as we are building and they are ALWAYS in the way. Less to move around. We have only be using one inverter for now and it covers pretty much everything we do here. Aircon, tv, laptops, refrig, lights , fans etc etc. Of course moving into the house means more aircon and more lights but for us everything else we are doing stays pretty much the same. When we moved in there I will be increasing everything.First thing I will do is increase the solar panels and using both inverters and adding a third one. So now about that. Yes I wanted redundancy by having multiple inverters. If one goes down I have power still. Maybe have to change which is the master unit and cut back on some usage while one is down if even need to.
@@TexasFilipino You have a really good set of skills, being able to configure solar power and your knowledge of building using concrete forms. I'm sure your build will be a total success.
I'm travelling with an off grid caravan and not using caravan parks . i'll recover my solar costs in 18 weeks. Solar cost was just under $5000 with parks charging for a powered site $40/ night average. I have 1100 watts of panels and 360 amps of lithium batteries and have never run out of power .The van is all 240 volts --fridge , freezer ,lights .computer etc and a small amount of electric cooking. To be fair I use a generator to power my aircon and over the year I would only spend less than $5 / week on fuel for it.
Hello. New subscriber here and enjoyed your solar video. I’m very much interested as we just built a new house in Bataan. The one question I have is I didn’t see where you mentioned your ac’s. How many do you have and how many can you run at the same time? Thank you and keep the videos coming, Steve
mine are only temp mounted as we are building our home and using them for power as we build. This is just our garage temp converted into apartment. So we have to on occasion move them out of the way to new location as this build progresses. Eventually they will be permanent mounted like a shade of canopy over our flat deck roof. They are pointed at a 25 degree angle towards the south.
lifepo4. that is the way to go. you are set for 20 years with those as long as you don't abuse them. SOC 10%-90% and 80%DOD and you will have up to 6000 cycles and that is a long long long time. over 16 years if you cycle everyday but most people don't cycle every day. so they will last as long as your panels do. the happiness of lifepo4 batteries. LOL
how and where do you have your panels mounted. on the ground or on the house. talk about a need for very large and wonderful dogs like bull mastiffs or bullies, cane corso or mastador/ lab mastiff mix. a couple of these wonderful buddies and no one will be visiting your solar panel set up any time soon or your coconut, lemons, pineapples, jackfruit which we got ripped off the day we wanted to pick it. LOL yeah a nice large convincer of not hanging around is a good addition to the homestead in the Philippines. LOL.
You mentioned your monthly cost is about $200. I think this is very expensive consumption. We pay about 1200 peso in Php and £100 in UK per month. Most recovery periods are on average about 8-10 years.
Howdy, I found that the Iskand we are on was still bare bones for power while I was there 19Jan thru the 13th of Feb after the typhoon blew thru Christmas Day. We had power, but not enough to run the ac or water heaters. I missed y'all due to work while you were back in TX, and I had no internet while I was in the Philippines to try and get a hold of ya. It's a damn shame to, considering we are less than an hour apart in the Philippines and only 3 in Texas. 😂 I'm back in the states 😪 and my asawa is still there. 😭 I have my next operation on the 15th of April so I don't know when I'm gonna get back there. I also have to find a new place to put my travel trailer in TX, where I am at has crap management now. I've been there a year and a half, and they have run most of the full times out of there. Nice info here, gonna save it for our home build there.
dude we watched and watched to hear back from you. You went into hiding mode!! lol - it's ok. A shame we didn't hookup for a visit or outing. Maybe Texas will give us a better chance this summer
@@TexasFilipino I did ride thru your town when we were in Iloilo on the bike. But of course I don't have a clue where your at on the beach there. I think you were a lil closer to Iloilo than where we thought you may be. We saw all the fish farms and boats, as well as a few drunk "westerners" on the beach around the fishing boats. Saw the Mariner Academy, nice school. Maybe I could teach there. 🤣 Our place is up in Alimodian, not to far from y'all. I got called by Surgical Oncology today. They are really pushing for me to get this next series of operations. That will take me out of work for almost 2 years! I told them 2 things must happen, 1st Sha MUST be with me (not going thru that alone again) 2and my VA disability has to be going at at least 80%. Anyway, look forward to seeing y'all in person sometime.... Oh, I do have my real fb back up and going.
ROI in less than 5 years assuming you spend 12 months a year in the Pines and run more than 1 aircon. I assumed 100 USD a month as you have lots of electrical equipment. Average cost is 10.3 pesos/kwh.
@@TexasFilipino Lucky us, in Negros Oriental we dont get the longgggggggg breakdown anymore, so difficult to know how much was spent on the xmas party/other parties. But the monthly average cost is 10.3 based on pesos billed divided by the metered reading of consumed kws.
Have you tried starting something like a 3/4hp (240v 6A) water pump with your system? I live in Puerto RIco and have the same island issues. Unreliable power grid, no water every once in a while plus hurricanes. I love the MPP design but would like to make sure I can pump water from my 2500 gallon reserve tank if needed. BTW, I'm thinking using 2 LV5048 in parallel. Thanks, and really enjoy your videos!
I won that LV5048 back in Texas. GREAT UNIT. It's pre setup for parallel too. These unit have a great surge load capability. I have not personally ran a 3/4 hp pump but while everything in this place is going during the day That are outside running power tools as well same time including a large chop saw cutting up steel and look at the load it pulls as well. We never have a problem and I never have seen this unit max out. Highest I seen it hit was 54% load. GREAT UNITS. I wouldn't be scared of getting those LV5048's - When we get back stateside I will have more LV5048 videos coming out.
@@TexasFilipino thanks for the reply and keep on building that fortress/home. Nothing nicer than knowing typhoons or hurricanes can't make a dent on your home. My home gone through 150mph+ winds and 6.4 earthquakes and nothing but cosmetic damage. Enjoy the beach!
Interesting. Can't put a price on freedom!. Want to put solar in a block of flats but the amount of paper work and discussions required would be enormous.
in regards to ul listing and meeting code what did you have to do, I am looking everywhere for this information and can not find it anywhere, I am about to by a mgx mpp but concerned about meeting code
It's kinda funny, our setups are nearly the same, down to the 12 panels and the DC pv isolator switch. Except I have 2 MPP Solar Lv2424 split phase controllers. I am about to buy either nickel Iron batteries or maybe LTO batteries, I'm looking at somewhere between 40 and 60KWh. I think nickel Iron will be my choice. What are your thoughts on nickel iron?
Im just not sure but I do remember back in the day cell phones like those bricks and others used nickel and it wasnt that great. I am sure they improved it and with new chemistry but I have no first hand knowledge. I do see some very old tech early 19th century coming back with a modern twist that is simplistic. Solar setup at a home can have greater choices than mobile units like RV's. So heavy doesn't matter if a home setup. Some maintenance is okay to if it means 20 years out of a set of batteries. Share your thoughts of what you have found out on those. where are you located?
@@TexasFilipino I live in Northern California near Reno, NV. My research tells me that nickel Iron batteries are the way to go for home use. The biggest problems I hear about them are the price and size/weight. As far as price I can pickup 28.8kwh for about $10k. When I think about it my AGM 8kwh batteries only lasted 2 years and is very undersized for my home and they cost me $2k. Not great. The nickel Iron batteries can last 50 years or more with minor maintenance. They like aggressive charging and discharging. And as far as recovering the cost, I would be paying for electricity if it was available to me so I don't see it as recovering my money as much as how long it will take before I no longer have a power bill. I also have my battery system connected to a generator I custom built that starts and charges my batteries then turns off automatically. It's actually a modified Honda eu3000is that is now smart, I can start and stop it from my phone or anywhere in the world. It really saves me on those snowy weeks when solar is struggling.
James, Now that was my kind of a video. My asawa Aurora has been talking solar for 2 years for Villa Cecelia. I have been thinking a vertical wind turbine with air booster baffles since we have a very windy site as can be seen in the videos on our youtube site (the circular C comments icon). Check the bananna and coconut leaves blowing around and shreaded by wind damage. I am concerned about storm damage from high winds and need to find out if your power system could use wind generated power in place of solar panels. The inverters batteries, switches, breakers, and wireing would be the same hopefully george and aurora
wind is a bit of a different game and many of these inverters don't like the power that comes in from the cheaper affordable ones. I will give a spoiler and tell you that once the house is fully build there will be wind turbines on top. I will put several small one than putting a big dangerous one if it broke. These winds are no joke I wouldn't want anybody hurt if it gave way. George where are you located again. I have been meaning to ask you. You told me and I am pretty sure I remember but dont want to blurt it out. jamesray080808@gmail.com
By the way if you are in the Philippines, you can now source these at One Point in Manila, Cebu and Davao. You can Google One Point Philippines and their website is there. It's where I buy all my stuff.
I buy them ONLY direct from the MPP Solar. There are so many are these cloned with MPP SOlar name on them. Contact MPP Solar and they will tell you that directly themselves. I do appreciate the info.
@@TexasFilipino Yes. Many clones. I ordered direct from MPP, but was surprised when I saw the boxes at One Point. A bit higher on price so I'll probably just order through MPP again. In an emergency...at least it's there.
make sure you put a fan in the battery box to get rid of any hydrogen gas that may accumulate. need to be careful with possible explosions. so you have 500AH at 24 volts and you can only use 50% of that power which is 50%DOD or you will kill off your batteries sooner. Lifepo4 batteries are 80%DOD giving you a lot more power. what could you have bought for the price you paid for your lead acid batteries. they are much cheaper in Manila by the way. so you have 12.8KWH of power but at 50%DOD you only have 6.4KWH of power available during the night as you use the PV panels during the day for power. so to replace that 6.4 KWH of stored power with Lifepo4 batteries you would be looking at 1120USD but that is giving you 8.3 KWH of useable power. you would have to add shipping to that price. the nice things is you don't have to add water and they will last at least twice as long if not longer. those lead acid batteries only have 800 cycles and with such a small battery bank your fully cycling them much faster where with lifepo4 you get 3000 cycles and you won't cycle them as fast. lifepo4 batteries are the way to go now. they are looking at different battery chemistry for EV use not solar storage. they have much better solar storage use batteries created but they won't be releasing hem any time soon for who knows what reason. they want to make the money on lifep4 before they let go of the next chemistry and it will be expensive and lifepo4 is only getting cheaper all the time. anyone who is interested in batteries let me know. with your lead acid batteries James they hate being charged hard and don't take a charge easily like lifepo4 does. with the number of panels you have you are using them mainly during the day and the battereis only at night. if you conserve your night time use you will have fewer full cycles and they will last longer. I put together a system that cost about as much as you paid but I have more panels and a battery bank of 20KWH of useable power. I get batteries for really cheap over in China with a 5 year warranty. I know the prices over there are really high and that is why so few have solar which is really a shame. the government should be dropping the prices so people can get power in their homes easily and it would be less of a drain on the power grid. you have the start of a great system and only your batteries need to be replacing eventually. you can add lifepo4 batteries on a separate battery bank and have a switch between them. you have enough panels to power more batteries and once you go lifepo4 you will be kicking yourself like I did when I bought lead acid. I was lucky and was able to sell mine for a good price so I got our of them. I won't be going back that is for sure.
Sounds like fun! My own hydrogen gas pop! :) You are right about the gas and it is vented. If fact where we are in construction phase now it dont even have a lid on it. It is just there temp. Soon it will have its own room on the roof deck. Those might all go on a 12v system here with some used equipment I sent from the USA. I am considering upgrading my batteries. A lot has changed in past year on batteries and availability here in the Philippines. What batteries do you like?
@@TexasFilipino lifepo4 is the only way to go. the lto is good with a long long life but they capacity is not very high and the prices are also high. the lifepo4 is coming down all the time in price. if you are interested in some batteries I can put a quote together for you. not sure how much they will charge for duty and tax. I looked up duty and it was 5% tax might be 12%. if you go with a larger 271AH putting 2 in parallel and those 8 sets in series you will get 542AH x 25.6 = 13,875.2 WH or 11.1 KWH of useable power 2736USD if you want to add another 271 you will get 20.8 KWH which will give you 16.65 KWH of useable power and you will be laughing all the way to the bank. you will be replacing your solar panels before you need to replace your battery bank. those has a 10 year warranty for replacement if they go bad from a factory defect but they will be lasting you 25 years easy as you won't be cycling them every day and you will have several days of stand by time in case of bad weather etc. that larger one would be 24 x 171 USD = 4104 USD with the warranty peace of mind and the knowledge that they are going to be used by your kids after you die LOL. not really peace of mind that is I guess LOL. just choose the size you want to get and go from there. when you stick to the 10%-90% SOC and the 80%DOD you are going to have 6000 cycles plus. I mean never worrying about them ever again. Now you can go with a cheaper battery with half the warranty time etc. as long as you take care with the SOC and the DOD you still should be getting 20 years of use easy and the price would be easier on the pocket book. what I got are 70 each x 24 = 1680 USD but they are 202AH x 3 x 25.6 = 15.5 KWH 12.4 KWH useable power. you would have to put shipping on that plus whatever the Pinnes gov adds when they come through. that will be a look cheaper than what they are selling them for there now. I see stuff about 3-4 times what I can get them for here and I think that is just gouging. people wanting to get rich overnight. it really is sad to be honest when more people could have power all the time if the prices were much lower. if you want to get those batteries I could let you have them for 1,500 USD. I will be coming back to the Pinnes in a month or two and will still be able to get batteries for you if you wanted as I have contacts here who can help me out. the mystery is just how much the Pinnes gov charges once they get there. depends on which duty officer you get really, we all know that right. no lol on that one. crying instead.
I am not quite ready for them with all of this construction. My system is running great here. I know what you mean on customs officer. They hit me duty on my inverters but there is a law with gov that renewable energy items are supposed to be duty free . I had to argue it for a week.
@@TexasFilipino did you get it duty for free after it was all said and done. show him the law in black and white. you know where that money was going right. he knows the law. he can't give it to anyone because there isn't any category. he was looking to pad his pocket. like I said about getting them later. I have connections so we can talk later.
Daytime running is no problem. We have a abundance of power. We haven't been running it at night because we have such a nice breeze and enjoy the fresh air.
@@TexasFilipino I was going to go with the 5kw 48v Invertor but I think I like the idea of parraleling 2 of them. If one fails you can wire it up to the other fast to keep power. I don't think I need that much power anyways. Aircon is much less of a concern up in the mountains
We can run air conditioner all day here. We can run at night as well although we haven't been because the air and breeze has been so cool at night. I would say if I was starting again I would have spend the money for exactly double this battery capacity. That would provide a better buffer and cover you better on cloudy days. Not this all being said this unit will fire up a generator automatically. That Would charge your battery bank back up if needed. They make some big 200ah batteries and I wish I had 10 of those instead.
@@TexasFilipino with lifepo4 you'd have a lot more capacity from the same ah. I know the cost is a bear tho. I'm looking at building my own banks from individual cells. Can be done for about half the price of battle borns and can break down the system to have it shipped over I think. From what I've read you can ship the individual cells just not full battery banks.
I retired as a diesel mechanic I retired at 60 I still have a lot of good years on me so I have never driven an electric car and because I'm retired I don't know all the Technologies I go into the battery
But James you and your wife have a you know I like how you don't cut Corners I like how you it's the same with me building an engine I has to be this or it's no good so even though I'm not a construction kind of guy you think you know you guys are doing a very good job and I think you'll see what kind of person a person is that tries to steal your crew I think a person that goes to any foreign country and comes with that attitude is not going to last too long
I wish there was a way to search comments so I could see if you've commented an update on how much each of your 4 new batteries cost and how much duty you paid on them. I looked back through your video of when you got the batteries and you didn't specify in the video. I'll go have another look again. UPDATE: Disregard. Thanks to Google's privacy invading algorithms, one of your more recent videos (7 months old) conveniently appeared where you discuss the approximate cost of the batteries. (just under 45,000 PHP. each)
You really have to do your homework in USA because prices are inflated badly on those batteries and stay away from WAL -M batteries for darn sure. Thanks for commenting
I would have to.watch the video again to know what part you are referring to. Plus I might ha e been speaking of when the two are parallel. I own many different models of MPP Solar in Usa amd the Philippines.
are you sure it is the way to go or you just following a trend? SO many new technologies are coming out fast and now the market is beginning to turn on lithium. Do you actually own a lithium battery bank? I do in Texas. We just had a freeze there in Feb that without a lot of care would make lithium very dangerous. Here I am still running on lead acid day in day out for a very affordable price. Now I am in talks with a battery company in China and they are sending me samples of 24v and 48v powerwalls. I have 4 200ah units coming and will test them and showcase if they are good or bad on a second system I am building here. Just how can you prove that you even have a system and not just a talking head on here. I own many systems in 12v , 24v , and 48 v. Experience talks and bullshit walks
I have not ever had them but I keep seeing others saying the same thing. It is why I just temp invested in LA for now because the technology is changing too fast and too much unproven junk out there. My Tesla batteries I am using in Texas have been fairly good so far. Pleased with performance on them for the price so far but take caution in buying those also. I think by the time my lead acid batts in Philippines give out there will be some way better choices on the market. What do you think?
So far i all i see is the nissan leaf battery pack to work alsome for others that only cost 900 dollars but 4 battle born. Cost me 4,500 and its the worst battery in the market even their customer service is horrible dont belive that guy on line who does all this nice talk abou them its BS so far you seem to be one of the real ppl on yt staying real about this
I appreciate that - yes W.P. is getting kick back I am sure. Look even Elon is struggling like crazy to get a better answer. There will always be something new and at some point you have to just jump in and make a choice. - My choice FOR NOW is to let these FLA batteries play their life out while something real might hit the market that is justifiable. Honestly I am doing fairly good with these Telsa batteries. You might not have a enormous range of voltage but in those few volts it seems to run forever. Plus TESLA cars do not run them in a big discharge because it shortens the life of the battery. Home system builders just thinking how High and Low they can get the volts. That is primitive thinking! Take care man and some new solar videos coming over the up coming weeks
I looked at grid tying my home. They wanted $10k per pole between my home and their line. Then there was the hookup fee. Not to mention the privilege of paying for their power in perpetuity no matter how unreliae it is. Without considering the fed tax credits and all the other incentives, off grid is hands down the best option. I made money the first day I told the grid to take a hike.
Howdy from Corpus Christi. Starting my transition to PI within 24 months. Great information needed it so bad. So, as I see it all I have to do is follow your lead, because that is exactly what I want to do in Cebu. The same concerns you delt with I have. Just subscribed to your channel, so I have some catching up to do. You really should get something from the products endorsed. Looking forward to anything you want to share. Stay well.
Excellent, I'm an electrician and I'll definitely be building off grid in the Philippines when we get out there. Thanks for the video James.
James, our tiny little condo is 34 sqmt and our electric bill is nearly $200 a month. Good job in getting off the grid. The money only matters if it matters to you. I would rather be in your position and not have to worry about brown outs and high power bills. I am going to look at solar for our project here in Lipa, Batangas.
Thanks, I think this will woek for me in Ilocos Norte (Davila)...hopeing to visit you when we get back to the Phils.....
The pride and the fun of putting all together is worth it right there. I have an 8 kWh grid tie I did myself and people always ask was it worth it. My answer is yes. It becomes a hobby and it slowly pays for it self. My rounds of golf cost me as much as one panel each time I go out. There is no ROI golfing other than the fun.
Excellent advise and information on the complete system. Most definitely will be saving this for the future. Thanks for taking the time to address your set up and the cost of everything involved.
Good talk. Best I have heard on solar power in the P.I. so far. Thanks
I know that I am a little behind on seeing this video but I'm happy to see that and any way that we can save money it's great because that money can be used for other things. I will have to find out if we are allowed to install solar panels in our subdivision and if so the cost for the size of our house. I love the idea of free electricity even if it might take a few years to get to the point where it has a very low cost. I hate paying the electric companies and I bet the cost savings over the years would add up to be a lot of money. Thank you for making this video as it is very helpful.
Good morning or evening James and Mel.
I saw where a gunman took hostages in Manilla yesterday...glad to see y'all are ok. Stay safe and God bless.
Good Morning! Hope you are feeling better. Love your videos.
Thank you, James. Your video is very helpful. We are shopping for Solar for our home in the Philippines now. You answered all of our questions.
Update:
James we are making a deal with a local Solar Company to have a complete System installed. Thanks to your Video, we had a
better idea about what questions to ask. The unit is Solis and it is a product of Canada.
Great info . Given ur numbers here in S.E. coastal TX a Solar system isn't worth it at my house . My last most expensive yearly electric cost was 840$ . Even with yearly increase I wouldn't recoup the costs in 15 yrs .
Hey James, super poop. That was very informative. Now I have a really good picture and what I have to do now thanks to you. I will live like you on the beach. We have a 7000 square meter property with beach front north east from Sorsogon. Out in the province. I was thinking a shared electric with city and solar but the way you put it i am going to do like you. Great channel I look forward to your videos every day. Keep them rolling. Great family.
Absolutely great video and info
Glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the info. Super pics! The pic from the rooftop of the build really put things more in prospective.
Thanks great video 📹👍James
Coming at you from the Philippines. Greetings. Nice video.
I experimented with a smaller unit to run water pumps on a farm here. It was an off-brand MPP. Eventually I bought the MPP 5048GK. It's been running on its' own for a year now without maintenance. Great little units for the price. The first one is in storage since it has been replaced, but I got my money back in 9 months. The new one I added more solar and it will be paid off in two more months..so one year and six months. But I run 2 to 4 pumps about 5 to 8 hours a day for irrigation so the return is much faster.
Love these little inverters. They're better than people think. Great that you guys are able to get them there now. When I finally retire I will go home somewhere in the midwest and be off grid.
They are good units for the price. I am glad you had same experience. That is great news to hear. I have seen your name pop up before. Maybe someday when I am back in PI we can do a meet and greet and collabe on a video. Feel free to contact me jamesray080808@gmail.com
@@TexasFilipino
Absolutely.
I live in Davao, but farm in Cebu. :)
thanks for the valuable information James; am planning similar type of system on Bantayan island.
i spent a fair chunk more on a grid tied system with lithium storage... electricity is cheap here and there’s no incentive to send to the grid (it’s a straight 1:1 credit per kwh) so the payback time is closer to 20 years considering future maintenance costs. but here’s the thing... when we had our first major storm hit and i went out to see how much cleanup there’d be the next day and saw the whole neighborhood was dark except my house where i hadn’t even noticed... that’s priceless.
Amen! That is priceless for real. That is what we enjoy. The family will come over bored saying brown out. They will also say we didn't sleep cause brown out all night so no fan. We wont even know it.
when i am ready i hope to take a look at your system to set mine up. im in Roxas city and plan on setting up a home someplace close to here. have to save as i am a disabled vet from the US.
Hey Richard! Nice hearing from you again. No problem I could help you out. I would suggest on a fresh system buy 10 of the 200ah batteries instead of the 100ah I did. You will spend about $1000 more but it could be very worth it during extended stormy days in rainy season.
Bro…great video, this system is cheap, at least the materials, …I would hire a professional to setup the system for me so I would budget an additional $1k usd. Overall I think it’s cheaper vs. buying a system like this in the U.S.
Bloody great presentation with a lot of work gone into it to make it amazing. more like a documentary, thank so much... Larry
Add in some wind power...and you are in long term! Love It!
Wind Gen is something we want. They will have to be marine units because salt n sea spray.
@@TexasFilipino Be careful with wind. I wanted to do a half solar/half wind setup, but in my area the wind averages 5-8 mph. Those systems dont' start generating power until around 8mph, and they don't generate full power until 20+ mph wind. Meaning, in my area, wind power would be a completely wasted expense.
@@zarroth not really planning wind. Would have to be marine rated like on sailboats. Those are just 300 to 500 watt usually n expensive. The salt would eat normal one fast.
Awesome video
How did your panels hold up during the typhoon
You need to swap you fridge door. It opens the wrong way. That would save some watts too since it would be open less.
Thank You for all the information it is great.
I realize recovery of investment is a selling point for solar, I also wonder why we think that way, how long does it take to recover the cost of a refrigerator or a TV or a washing machine, you get my point lifestyle is the winner. live free and comfortable solar is just another way to achieve freedom.
AMEN - I love it. That is why I covered benefits. Doesn't matter whats happening in the rest of the world. You can be free of it all and have pride of self reliance! FREEDOM is it. I had the question over and over about cost and recovery so I did this video. Honestly I wish initially that I had bought the 200 ah solar batteries they sell here and gotten 10 of those. It would have only cost me about 1000 more and boy would have it been worth it.
@@TexasFilipino mind sharing why you would have gone with the 200ah batts instead?
I missed this Video, I’ll definitely do some of this sort for the tiny house 🏠, Probably only one inverted, No Brown Out makes it well worth the investment,
I have 24 Trojan L16 E-AC batteries in a 48 volt configuration. cost around $8500 I just about 840 amp hours of lithium for $4700. Doubled my power for half the cost.
I want something really great for batteries with NO need to care for them. I think this fall some new technology is being reviled. Could be game changing. Have you seen tesla new dry cell they are about to put out?
can you find out how much busbars are there. I need copper ones that are 4mm thick x 20mm wide x 1 meter long and I need 5 of them. if the price is good there I won't buy them here. also the price on MC4 connectors 2 into 1 the long ones and PV cable. 10 AWG 6mm2 if you happen to be around where you can get prices I would appreciate it.
New sub here. We live in rural Texas in the Dallas area. You mentioned in another video about the power being reliable and I would agree. I am looking to battery backup my house electricity and add solar later if costs drive that. Thanks for your videos. I do like what I see in the MPP units.
Hey thanks for adding us. We are in Poetry Texas North East of Dallas just off i-20 a few miles. Thanks for subbing and commenting. I have been test running my tesla batteries and MPP LV5048. I have only 3 of my 14 panels going as it is not where it will be long term. So far with some items like fans , 2 incubators and freezer it has ran smooth. I am about to move it now and step it up. Debating on buying two more Tesla batteries because so far they have worked great. I might invest in a eTV BMS for them. Though about running small coolant pump on them as well with a stand alone 12v panel. I have some tiny 12v pumps here I ordered for another project that would work perfect. That way if I have heavy loads in this Texas heat it can keep them cool. Just a thought!
Texas Filipino Great to hear from you. Poetry, TX?? You aren’t far away. We live in the Greenville countryside along I-30. One day it would be fun to come by and take a look at your setup (maybe this fall when we are back in town and it is cooler). As far as coolant goes, I have wondered if it would be worth it to run coolant on the underside of solar panels to keep their efficiency up. Of course, I am just learning all this, so I might not be making sense. Have a great summer and stay cool!
@@brentjohnson6654 yep we are close by. We have fil am friends around Greenville area. Your welcome to come by. Sounds like a good time to cook up somengreat food.
Comprehensive video. Could not give more than one thumb up.
Thank you for sharing.
Good job. Thank you.
Hi James. I have no clue how things work so that is why I am asking you. Building a house in the Philippines. Planning on getting solar. No right away, but hopefully soon after the build. 1st question is, if I set up a 4k system. can that be upgraded to an 8k, without having to get a whole new set up? Second question is I saw these batteries on Lazada (Solar Battery Gel Battery Deep Cycle VRLA Lead Acid 12V 100AH). Says no maintenance and with valve regulator. Is this what you have now and if not would these be any good? Thanks
Best info ever
Quick question for you about your inverter setup: Where do you have them mounted inside the home or outside, and do they bother you with fan noise ever? I have seen videos of these running and it seems like the fans can really ramp up and be pretty loud.
Ok so good question. Here is my situation and yours may be different. They are mounted inside. This is actually our garage being used as a apartment while the main part of the house is being built. Yes the fans make noise but no worse than any fan or aircon. I actually sleep good to the noise!!!
Now once our house is completed there will be a mechanical room on the top roof deck. with door facing away from beach - REASON SALT!!!
I must keep them free of salt corrosion!
@@TexasFilipino Awesome. Thanks for the info.
Hello great info. I'm going to be on the market for solar in Southern Leyte in a few months. May I ask with a 8kw system what approx size of home with standard utilities? I plan to have a few quotes from local companies and those from over in Cebu. Again, best discussion and breakdown to help a novice like me. Thank you!
Well Done
What type of appliances are you using I’ve basically bought the exact same set up some different panels in different batteries but I love my PIP
Full sized inverter type samsung refrigerator , Microwave, Large LED Smart tv, multiple fans, CCTV security system, boiling pot, coffee maker, Led lights in ceiling, laptop , phones charging, submersible well pump all off just one of these inverters. When I return I will be running more lights second tv. I will run a aircon during the day. If I choose to run it at night I dont have enough storage as of now. I dont want to invest any further in these type of batteries. I can run it using grid at night when the batteries play down and it switches to grid backup. I am currently not running it like that but I will be.
Thanks for this video finally James! Question unanswered is this, how well does the system handle the power tools used for the construction? Also, how quickly does your system recharge after a night of usage? or after a day with poor solar delivery? thanks
Good morning Michael. First on the unanswered question 1. Power tools. I have covered that in videos already. you may have just missed it in the past. We are running chop saw, large hammer drill, large circular saw ( which is in videos of me using it) and other drills and grinders all with no problem at all. You don't even notice anything. No lights dimming and any effect just good smooth power. Handles the surge so nice. 2. Recharge in morning. I too have covered this even in recent videos. Sun comes up early here. By 5am we are actually getting a small charge already. That is where the MPPT plus this panels in series to up the volts comes into play. 5 am it will be show like 27- 33 volts and it still will look virtually dark outside. By 930 am I am at full float on the batteries and stay that way rest of the day. If it was a cloudy rainy day we cut back usage some. Be a little more conservative. It is usually cooler those days and no need to for Air con then too. So on those days it is still charging and we still go to float maybe at 1 pm latest was 3 pm. We carried on through the night with our normal routine.
Texas Filipino thanks for answering that James. I am curious about the setup, so that why all the questions about it. Solar and MPP is how I found your channel and really what keeps me coming back. If your video isnt on solar , I normally skipped it. Lately I have stuck around for the construction to see your progress. That’s probably how I missed the videos you mentioned.if it was during a video that wasn’t on construction or solar, I may have skipped it. By the way, you and Mel are really adorable together.
Really you are living the life I would love to have with regards to building a house from nothing and living off grid. Keep those videos coming. !!
This is pretty cool! Thank you so much, very informative. We may have to get ourselves the same system!
You may run into a corrosion issue with your panel due to the heavy salt air environment.
Panels have to meet a standard called IEC 61701 to be suitable for installation near the sea.
There are six levels of corrosion resistance to the IEC 61701 standard. Level 1 is suitable for marine environments such as on roofs by the beach. Level 2 isn’t actually used, while levels 3 to 6 represent increasing levels of corrosion resistance. To receive a level 6 rating panels have to survive 112 days of testing that simulates decades of exposure to a salty environment with less than 2% decline in power output. That’s twice as long as the 56 days panels have to survive to get a level 5 rating.
If you want peace of mind you can get yourself a panel with level 6 resistance. While they’re not quite suitable for use on submarines they should be able to handle any exposure that doesn’t require being submerged in salt water. Technically level one resistance should be all that’s required for solar by the coast, but fortunately most panels that are certified have better than level one resistance, with level 6 resistance being very common, so you are unlikely to have to settle for the lowest level of protection.
In places where the weather and waves tend to be wilder then you’ll probably want to ensure your panels are corrosion resistant if they are going to be installed within 200m of the shore.
Warmth and humidity increase the rate at which corrosion occurs because salt only corrodes when it’s wet and heat speeds up any chemical reaction.
Next big issue is all your electrical connection. You must take everyone of them apart and use "electric contact grease" on the contacts or you will shortly have big problems.
If you contractor was professional, he would have used "electrical contact grease" on all connections upon system installation.
Sorry to be a "killjoy", really hope the system works well for you.
I appreciate you writing all of this message. I have been running solar panels here on this property since 2016. No issues! The main panels have been here for 2 years. No issues. Not even a speck of corrosion anywhere. We have no contractor. I have been dealing with solar long before all of these 10 million vlogs or even our channel. Wind gens as well. I tell the same thing as you are warning of. I repeat constantly that you cant just put any ole wind gen on this house near the beach. It too must be salt water marine type like on sail boats etc. We are so close the salt will destroy it. To buy salt water marine grade wind gens is not very economical plus they most likely will be small. Maybe one at the most to help on those windy cloudy tropical rainy season days. I agree on the grease. Use the same as is used on spark plugs as well. I soldier my wires also not just crimp them. You are so right about corrosion. Now I want you to know this since you seem to know solar. I share failures on my vlog and intentionally let some things fail so that i can show the difference. It is part of sharing and learning. People need to see failures first hand sometime. It does not mean I don't know what I am doing. It means I am running a vlog and need to show by examples. the good and bad. I appreciate you again for your support. Thank you
@@TexasFilipino Hi, i kinda figured you had your homework done and covered all the bases.
Honestly my comment was for all those out there that have no clue about what salt can do to a solar panel.
Soldier wires, now there is a video all to itself, lol.
Appreciate your videos keep em comin.
Oh by the way, there is a Nissan dealership here in Davao that is building a new garage extension and they are using the same form method as you.
See what you started.... a good thing.
grate video
I looked at grid tying my home. They wanted $10k per pole between my home and their line. Then there was the hookup fee. Not to mention the privilege of paying for their power in perpetuity no matter how unreliae it is.
Without considering the fed tax credits and all the other incentives, off grid is hands down the best option. I made money the first day I told the grid to take a hike.
Hi, I think you got is backwards as to which panels do better in heat, Mono's perform better in this country, Northern USA or Canada its ok to go with poly but I do see poly being sold here and I suspect its just because of the price. You are close to the water and will get a decent breeze often which will help cool them off a bit. You have done a great job and for the price its a very good sized system.
No it is not backwards.
@@TexasFilipino If you google you will see what i am saying but the difference is very small , mono is 0.04 % more efficient for each degree , so around 1.2% total at 30 degrees. Getting the best deal is really what matters and that is what you did. Not that many years ago 10 to 15 years to pay off the system was considered good and they did not have redundancy built in. Its a whole other topic but the cost of electricity in this country is a crime.
geothermhvac.com/mono-vs-poly-better/#:~:text=Monocrystalline%20solar%20panels%20tend%20to,than%20with%20polycrystalline%20solar%20panels.&text=They%20perform%20better%20than%20similarly,panels%20at%20low%2Dlight%20conditions.
Looks a great system and like it will pay for itself in a just few years.
Interested in why you only got 4kW solar panels when you have 8kW of inverters?
Is it because you sometimes want to run it off both battery and solar at the same time or you just need a redundant inverter?
Also wondering how you'll manage in the typhoon season when you can have days with no sun? Are you planning to also have connection to the main power supply?
The reason for the large number of brownouts in the Philippines is that there isn't the generation capacity to supply all the country. So they systematically switch off areas for given time periods (unless you live in Makati which never has brownouts).
on the solar panels - I only got part of them for now as we are building and they are ALWAYS in the way. Less to move around. We have only be using one inverter for now and it covers pretty much everything we do here. Aircon, tv, laptops, refrig, lights , fans etc etc. Of course moving into the house means more aircon and more lights but for us everything else we are doing stays pretty much the same. When we moved in there I will be increasing everything.First thing I will do is increase the solar panels and using both inverters and adding a third one. So now about that. Yes I wanted redundancy by having multiple inverters. If one goes down I have power still. Maybe have to change which is the master unit and cut back on some usage while one is down if even need to.
@@TexasFilipino You have a really good set of skills, being able to configure solar power and your knowledge of building using concrete forms. I'm sure your build will be a total success.
Can you tell me which company website to lookup for your off grid setup
link is in the description
With your off grid solar system, are u able to use US appliances?
I'm travelling with an off grid caravan and not using caravan parks . i'll recover my solar costs in 18 weeks. Solar cost was just under $5000 with parks charging for a powered site $40/ night average. I have 1100 watts of panels and 360 amps of lithium batteries and have never run out of power .The van is all 240 volts --fridge , freezer ,lights .computer etc and a small amount of electric cooking. To be fair I use a generator to power my aircon and over the year I would only spend less than $5 / week on fuel for it.
I like your style. I don't care for rv parks anyways! I like secluded and raw! Your doing it right mate!
Hello. New subscriber here and enjoyed your solar video. I’m very much interested as we just built a new house in Bataan. The one question I have is I didn’t see where you mentioned your ac’s. How many do you have and how many can you run at the same time?
Thank you and keep the videos coming,
Steve
I know nothing about electricity, I would have to hire it out.
I would like to see how your panels are secured and are they on your roof also what direction are your panels oriented
mine are only temp mounted as we are building our home and using them for power as we build. This is just our garage temp converted into apartment. So we have to on occasion move them out of the way to new location as this build progresses. Eventually they will be permanent mounted like a shade of canopy over our flat deck roof. They are pointed at a 25 degree angle towards the south.
@@TexasFilipino awsome partner , thanks!!!
@@TexasFilipino I live in Oregon , we point our solar panels south because of the winter sun
You are almost directly on the equator does it matter what direction you orientate them
THANK'S VERY
I'm off grid totally and it'll take me 4 1/2 years to recover my cost.I have lithium batteries .
lifepo4. that is the way to go. you are set for 20 years with those as long as you don't abuse them. SOC 10%-90% and 80%DOD and you will have up to 6000 cycles and that is a long long long time. over 16 years if you cycle everyday but most people don't cycle every day. so they will last as long as your panels do. the happiness of lifepo4 batteries. LOL
how and where do you have your panels mounted. on the ground or on the house. talk about a need for very large and wonderful dogs like bull mastiffs or bullies, cane corso or mastador/ lab mastiff mix. a couple of these wonderful buddies and no one will be visiting your solar panel set up any time soon or your coconut, lemons, pineapples, jackfruit which we got ripped off the day we wanted to pick it. LOL yeah a nice large convincer of not hanging around is a good addition to the homestead in the Philippines. LOL.
You mentioned your monthly cost is about $200. I think this is very expensive consumption. We pay about 1200 peso in Php and £100 in UK per month. Most recovery periods are on average about 8-10 years.
Howdy, I found that the Iskand we are on was still bare bones for power while I was there 19Jan thru the 13th of Feb after the typhoon blew thru Christmas Day. We had power, but not enough to run the ac or water heaters.
I missed y'all due to work while you were back in TX, and I had no internet while I was in the Philippines to try and get a hold of ya. It's a damn shame to, considering we are less than an hour apart in the Philippines and only 3 in Texas. 😂
I'm back in the states 😪 and my asawa is still there. 😭 I have my next operation on the 15th of April so I don't know when I'm gonna get back there. I also have to find a new place to put my travel trailer in TX, where I am at has crap management now. I've been there a year and a half, and they have run most of the full times out of there.
Nice info here, gonna save it for our home build there.
dude we watched and watched to hear back from you. You went into hiding mode!! lol - it's ok. A shame we didn't hookup for a visit or outing. Maybe Texas will give us a better chance this summer
@@TexasFilipino I did ride thru your town when we were in Iloilo on the bike. But of course I don't have a clue where your at on the beach there. I think you were a lil closer to Iloilo than where we thought you may be. We saw all the fish farms and boats, as well as a few drunk "westerners" on the beach around the fishing boats. Saw the Mariner Academy, nice school. Maybe I could teach there. 🤣 Our place is up in Alimodian, not to far from y'all.
I got called by Surgical Oncology today. They are really pushing for me to get this next series of operations. That will take me out of work for almost 2 years! I told them 2 things must happen, 1st Sha MUST be with me (not going thru that alone again) 2and my VA disability has to be going at at least 80%. Anyway, look forward to seeing y'all in person sometime....
Oh, I do have my real fb back up and going.
Was your solar system imported?
Have you tried lithium titanate? Lowest cost per cycle so far.
I have read ithium titanate are a low efficiency cells,
ROI in less than 5 years assuming you spend 12 months a year in the Pines and run more than 1 aircon. I assumed 100 USD a month as you have lots of electrical equipment. Average cost is 10.3 pesos/kwh.
that is just kilowatt hour cost then lets list ALLLLLL the LONNNGGGG list of additional charges on a Philippines power bill. lol
@@TexasFilipino Lucky us, in Negros Oriental we dont get the longgggggggg breakdown anymore, so difficult to know how much was spent on the xmas party/other parties. But the monthly average cost is 10.3 based on pesos billed divided by the metered reading of consumed kws.
Have you tried starting something like a 3/4hp (240v 6A) water pump with your system? I live in Puerto RIco and have the same island issues. Unreliable power grid, no water every once in a while plus hurricanes. I love the MPP design but would like to make sure I can pump water from my 2500 gallon reserve tank if needed. BTW, I'm thinking using 2 LV5048 in parallel. Thanks, and really enjoy your videos!
I won that LV5048 back in Texas. GREAT UNIT. It's pre setup for parallel too. These unit have a great surge load capability. I have not personally ran a 3/4 hp pump but while everything in this place is going during the day That are outside running power tools as well same time including a large chop saw cutting up steel and look at the load it pulls as well. We never have a problem and I never have seen this unit max out. Highest I seen it hit was 54% load. GREAT UNITS. I wouldn't be scared of getting those LV5048's - When we get back stateside I will have more LV5048 videos coming out.
@@TexasFilipino thanks for the reply and keep on building that fortress/home. Nothing nicer than knowing typhoons or hurricanes can't make a dent on your home. My home gone through 150mph+ winds and 6.4 earthquakes and nothing but cosmetic damage. Enjoy the beach!
Thanks for sharing you sound like hell broke Lucy that be kicking knowledge on youtube American history tho bro 🍾✌️
Interesting. Can't put a price on freedom!. Want to put solar in a block of flats but the amount of paper work and discussions required would be enormous.
Excellent video man! just have a question ?! How to you make video like this with you showing pictures and you being in a little screen ?!
Part of the software I use.
@@TexasFilipino whats the software ?!
salamat..........
I use this in my van but I still can't get 100% off the charge. 400 watt panels 2 12v batteries. It works for like a half a day
in regards to ul listing and meeting code what did you have to do, I am looking everywhere for this information and can not find it anywhere, I am about to by a mgx mpp but concerned about meeting code
in what country are you putting it? contact sales@mppsolar.com and ask them
It's kinda funny, our setups are nearly the same, down to the 12 panels and the DC pv isolator switch. Except I have 2 MPP Solar Lv2424 split phase controllers. I am about to buy either nickel Iron batteries or maybe LTO batteries, I'm looking at somewhere between 40 and 60KWh. I think nickel Iron will be my choice. What are your thoughts on nickel iron?
Im just not sure but I do remember back in the day cell phones like those bricks and others used nickel and it wasnt that great. I am sure they improved it and with new chemistry but I have no first hand knowledge. I do see some very old tech early 19th century coming back with a modern twist that is simplistic. Solar setup at a home can have greater choices than mobile units like RV's. So heavy doesn't matter if a home setup. Some maintenance is okay to if it means 20 years out of a set of batteries. Share your thoughts of what you have found out on those. where are you located?
@@TexasFilipino I live in Northern California near Reno, NV. My research tells me that nickel Iron batteries are the way to go for home use. The biggest problems I hear about them are the price and size/weight. As far as price I can pickup 28.8kwh for about $10k. When I think about it my AGM 8kwh batteries only lasted 2 years and is very undersized for my home and they cost me $2k. Not great. The nickel Iron batteries can last 50 years or more with minor maintenance. They like aggressive charging and discharging. And as far as recovering the cost, I would be paying for electricity if it was available to me so I don't see it as recovering my money as much as how long it will take before I no longer have a power bill. I also have my battery system connected to a generator I custom built that starts and charges my batteries then turns off automatically. It's actually a modified Honda eu3000is that is now smart, I can start and stop it from my phone or anywhere in the world. It really saves me on those snowy weeks when solar is struggling.
But yes James they are very expensive
James, Now that was my kind of a video. My asawa Aurora has been talking solar
for 2 years for Villa Cecelia. I have been thinking a vertical wind turbine with air
booster baffles since we have a very windy site as can be seen in the videos on our
youtube site (the circular C comments icon). Check the bananna and coconut
leaves blowing around and shreaded by wind damage. I am concerned about
storm damage from high winds and need to find out if your power system could
use wind generated power in place of solar panels. The inverters batteries, switches,
breakers, and wireing would be the same hopefully
george and aurora
wind is a bit of a different game and many of these inverters don't like the power that comes in from the cheaper affordable ones. I will give a spoiler and tell you that once the house is fully build there will be wind turbines on top. I will put several small one than putting a big dangerous one if it broke. These winds are no joke I wouldn't want anybody hurt if it gave way. George where are you located again. I have been meaning to ask you. You told me and I am pretty sure I remember but dont want to blurt it out. jamesray080808@gmail.com
I spent a lot less because I only buy from Chinese ecommerce sites. Stuff sold at Lazada are substandard products for Asian market.
By the way if you are in the Philippines, you can now source these at One Point in Manila, Cebu and Davao. You can Google One Point Philippines and their website is there. It's where I buy all my stuff.
I buy them ONLY direct from the MPP Solar. There are so many are these cloned with MPP SOlar name on them. Contact MPP Solar and they will tell you that directly themselves. I do appreciate the info.
@@TexasFilipino
Yes. Many clones. I ordered direct from MPP, but was surprised when I saw the boxes at One Point.
A bit higher on price so I'll probably just order through MPP again. In an emergency...at least it's there.
make sure you put a fan in the battery box to get rid of any hydrogen gas that may accumulate. need to be careful with possible explosions. so you have 500AH at 24 volts and you can only use 50% of that power which is 50%DOD or you will kill off your batteries sooner. Lifepo4 batteries are 80%DOD giving you a lot more power. what could you have bought for the price you paid for your lead acid batteries. they are much cheaper in Manila by the way. so you have 12.8KWH of power but at 50%DOD you only have 6.4KWH of power available during the night as you use the PV panels during the day for power. so to replace that 6.4 KWH of stored power with Lifepo4 batteries you would be looking at 1120USD but that is giving you 8.3 KWH of useable power. you would have to add shipping to that price. the nice things is you don't have to add water and they will last at least twice as long if not longer. those lead acid batteries only have 800 cycles and with such a small battery bank your fully cycling them much faster where with lifepo4 you get 3000 cycles and you won't cycle them as fast. lifepo4 batteries are the way to go now. they are looking at different battery chemistry for EV use not solar storage. they have much better solar storage use batteries created but they won't be releasing hem any time soon for who knows what reason. they want to make the money on lifep4 before they let go of the next chemistry and it will be expensive and lifepo4 is only getting cheaper all the time. anyone who is interested in batteries let me know. with your lead acid batteries James they hate being charged hard and don't take a charge easily like lifepo4 does. with the number of panels you have you are using them mainly during the day and the battereis only at night. if you conserve your night time use you will have fewer full cycles and they will last longer. I put together a system that cost about as much as you paid but I have more panels and a battery bank of 20KWH of useable power. I get batteries for really cheap over in China with a 5 year warranty. I know the prices over there are really high and that is why so few have solar which is really a shame. the government should be dropping the prices so people can get power in their homes easily and it would be less of a drain on the power grid. you have the start of a great system and only your batteries need to be replacing eventually. you can add lifepo4 batteries on a separate battery bank and have a switch between them. you have enough panels to power more batteries and once you go lifepo4 you will be kicking yourself like I did when I bought lead acid. I was lucky and was able to sell mine for a good price so I got our of them. I won't be going back that is for sure.
Sounds like fun! My own hydrogen gas pop! :) You are right about the gas and it is vented. If fact where we are in construction phase now it dont even have a lid on it. It is just there temp. Soon it will have its own room on the roof deck. Those might all go on a 12v system here with some used equipment I sent from the USA. I am considering upgrading my batteries. A lot has changed in past year on batteries and availability here in the Philippines. What batteries do you like?
@@TexasFilipino lifepo4 is the only way to go. the lto is good with a long long life but they capacity is not very high and the prices are also high. the lifepo4 is coming down all the time in price. if you are interested in some batteries I can put a quote together for you. not sure how much they will charge for duty and tax. I looked up duty and it was 5% tax might be 12%. if you go with a larger 271AH putting 2 in parallel and those 8 sets in series you will get 542AH x 25.6 = 13,875.2 WH or 11.1 KWH of useable power 2736USD if you want to add another 271 you will get 20.8 KWH which will give you 16.65 KWH of useable power and you will be laughing all the way to the bank. you will be replacing your solar panels before you need to replace your battery bank. those has a 10 year warranty for replacement if they go bad from a factory defect but they will be lasting you 25 years easy as you won't be cycling them every day and you will have several days of stand by time in case of bad weather etc. that larger one would be 24 x 171 USD = 4104 USD with the warranty peace of mind and the knowledge that they are going to be used by your kids after you die LOL. not really peace of mind that is I guess LOL. just choose the size you want to get and go from there. when you stick to the 10%-90% SOC and the 80%DOD you are going to have 6000 cycles plus. I mean never worrying about them ever again. Now you can go with a cheaper battery with half the warranty time etc. as long as you take care with the SOC and the DOD you still should be getting 20 years of use easy and the price would be easier on the pocket book. what I got are 70 each x 24 = 1680 USD but they are 202AH x 3 x 25.6 = 15.5 KWH 12.4 KWH useable power. you would have to put shipping on that plus whatever the Pinnes gov adds when they come through. that will be a look cheaper than what they are selling them for there now. I see stuff about 3-4 times what I can get them for here and I think that is just gouging. people wanting to get rich overnight. it really is sad to be honest when more people could have power all the time if the prices were much lower. if you want to get those batteries I could let you have them for 1,500 USD. I will be coming back to the Pinnes in a month or two and will still be able to get batteries for you if you wanted as I have contacts here who can help me out. the mystery is just how much the Pinnes gov charges once they get there. depends on which duty officer you get really, we all know that right. no lol on that one. crying instead.
I am not quite ready for them with all of this construction. My system is running great here. I know what you mean on customs officer. They hit me duty on my inverters but there is a law with gov that renewable energy items are supposed to be duty free . I had to argue it for a week.
@@TexasFilipino did you get it duty for free after it was all said and done. show him the law in black and white. you know where that money was going right. he knows the law. he can't give it to anyone because there isn't any category. he was looking to pad his pocket. like I said about getting them later. I have connections so we can talk later.
@@builtnotboughtmadeinphilip3955 I emailed you, so check your email account and get back to me.
How is mpp inverter performance, are you satisfied ?
I have never had issue with it in Pi or in Texas. My Lv5048 in Texas is running smooth everyday without a issue
Do you run aircon on that system?
Daytime running is no problem. We have a abundance of power. We haven't been running it at night because we have such a nice breeze and enjoy the fresh air.
@@TexasFilipino I was going to go with the 5kw 48v Invertor but I think I like the idea of parraleling 2 of them. If one fails you can wire it up to the other fast to keep power. I don't think I need that much power anyways. Aircon is much less of a concern up in the mountains
how much more to run AC
We can run air conditioner all day here. We can run at night as well although we haven't been because the air and breeze has been so cool at night. I would say if I was starting again I would have spend the money for exactly double this battery capacity. That would provide a better buffer and cover you better on cloudy days. Not this all being said this unit will fire up a generator automatically. That Would charge your battery bank back up if needed. They make some big 200ah batteries and I wish I had 10 of those instead.
@@TexasFilipino with lifepo4 you'd have a lot more capacity from the same ah. I know the cost is a bear tho. I'm looking at building my own banks from individual cells. Can be done for about half the price of battle borns and can break down the system to have it shipped over I think. From what I've read you can ship the individual cells just not full battery banks.
I retired as a diesel mechanic I retired at 60 I still have a lot of good years on me so I have never driven an electric car and because I'm retired I don't know all the Technologies I go into the battery
HEllo, is that 1358 us $ including shipping to PH ? your 104 us $ customs fee seems ok to me :-)
Plus replacing batteries
You forgot to factor in the life cycle of lead acid batteries and its related replacement costs.
But James you and your wife have a you know I like how you don't cut Corners I like how you it's the same with me building an engine I has to be this or it's no good so even though I'm not a construction kind of guy you think you know you guys are doing a very good job and I think you'll see what kind of person a person is that tries to steal your crew I think a person that goes to any foreign country and comes with that attitude is not going to last too long
You already have recovered your investment in clean air to breath and clean water to drink. Thank you for investing in solar.
I wish there was a way to search comments so I could see if you've commented an update on how much each of your 4 new batteries cost and how much duty you paid on them. I looked back through your video of when you got the batteries and you didn't specify in the video. I'll go have another look again.
UPDATE: Disregard. Thanks to Google's privacy invading algorithms, one of your more recent videos (7 months old) conveniently appeared where you discuss the approximate cost of the batteries. (just under 45,000 PHP. each)
I lost my compressor on my AC due to dirty power spikes
absolutely !
✋ JO JO IN VT 💕☃ 😊
Irony: "the solar don't like the heat."
and that is why it is best to give them room to breath.
$200 dolares por mes waw, como vive la gente?
Stop bad because whatever you spent at Island you saved it on the batteries because the batteries in the US are extremely expensive
You really have to do your homework in USA because prices are inflated badly on those batteries and stay away from WAL -M batteries for darn sure. Thanks for commenting
@@TexasFilipino oh yeah I know I got t 105 about $145 each but they only 6 volts
You claimed 1000ah.... it's actually 500ah @24v.....
If you say so.
Ahh I know so. Basic math.....
I would have to.watch the video again to know what part you are referring to. Plus I might ha e been speaking of when the two are parallel. I own many different models of MPP Solar in Usa amd the Philippines.
500ah@24v is the same usable power as 1000ah@12v anyways
Damn only 1 year ago and he is talking like this video was made 10 years ago. Of course lithium is the way to go,
are you sure it is the way to go or you just following a trend? SO many new technologies are coming out fast and now the market is beginning to turn on lithium. Do you actually own a lithium battery bank? I do in Texas. We just had a freeze there in Feb that without a lot of care would make lithium very dangerous. Here I am still running on lead acid day in day out for a very affordable price. Now I am in talks with a battery company in China and they are sending me samples of 24v and 48v powerwalls. I have 4 200ah units coming and will test them and showcase if they are good or bad on a second system I am building here. Just how can you prove that you even have a system and not just a talking head on here. I own many systems in 12v , 24v , and 48 v. Experience talks and bullshit walks
Dont buy battle born batterys its junk
I have not ever had them but I keep seeing others saying the same thing. It is why I just temp invested in LA for now because the technology is changing too fast and too much unproven junk out there. My Tesla batteries I am using in Texas have been fairly good so far. Pleased with performance on them for the price so far but take caution in buying those also. I think by the time my lead acid batts in Philippines give out there will be some way better choices on the market. What do you think?
So far i all i see is the nissan leaf battery pack to work alsome for others that only cost 900 dollars but 4 battle born. Cost me 4,500 and its the worst battery in the market even their customer service is horrible dont belive that guy on line who does all this nice talk abou them its BS so far you seem to be one of the real ppl on yt staying real about this
I appreciate that - yes W.P. is getting kick back I am sure. Look even Elon is struggling like crazy to get a better answer. There will always be something new and at some point you have to just jump in and make a choice. - My choice FOR NOW is to let these FLA batteries play their life out while something real might hit the market that is justifiable. Honestly I am doing fairly good with these Telsa batteries. You might not have a enormous range of voltage but in those few volts it seems to run forever. Plus TESLA cars do not run them in a big discharge because it shortens the life of the battery. Home system builders just thinking how High and Low they can get the volts. That is primitive thinking! Take care man and some new solar videos coming over the up coming weeks
Great Video
I looked at grid tying my home. They wanted $10k per pole between my home and their line. Then there was the hookup fee. Not to mention the privilege of paying for their power in perpetuity no matter how unreliae it is.
Without considering the fed tax credits and all the other incentives, off grid is hands down the best option. I made money the first day I told the grid to take a hike.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!