I am a novice when it comes to electricity and solar power and these videos have answered nagging questions I have sought answers for over the past two years! Great explanations and adaptation of of equipment to make things work while minimizing a lot of technical jargon. I was looking at a very basic application. I just bought a 40 watt panel with controller, I already had a battery and I just wanted enough power to light some led lights, and charge some power tool/cell phone batteries at my hunting camp. You have answered all my questions so I can now proceed with my project. Thank you for your consideration and time in posting this video.
4:22 that’s a single pole tandem breaker. Big difference. Double pole is twice the size and is 240 volt. Tandem is two 120 volt circuits that only take up one space instead of two
Awesome content man!!! I've had a lot of questions throughout my learning process and you touch base on a lot whereas the internet is an information black hole and it's really hard to find simple answers explained in a user friendly manner. Keep up the good work man and I love to see more content
Thanks! I appreciate that. I have dozens of videos like this one. So check them out. Unfortunately, RUclips has changed a lot over the years and does not reward this kind of content any more so I don't do as many videos as I used to.
@@LDSreliance I didn't know RUclips rewarded people for posting... I figured people just posted stuff to share knowledge... But then again I'm not a huge social media person so I don't know what goes on in that part of the world. I'll definitely check out the rest of them. Like I said it's hard to find stuff that doesn't overwhelm a person who's just trying to start learning and I think your videos broke things down in a way that helped me feel like I was at least capable 🤣
I'm really liking the tutorial vids on this subject so far. With my background in electricity and avionics I learned in the Navy I can honestly say that this is a good instructional series. Well done. I have one critique to make at this juncture though. While you said all of this is just for instructional purposes I feel you should STRESS using a proper buss wire to bridge your positive terminals. We are all culpable for accidents that happen when making these videos and I would hate to see someone try to follow this video series and use the wrong materials. Your head and heart are in the right place LDS i'm just trying to call caution to a potentially bad set of instructions. Futhermore I would recommend making an update to this series of videos with descriptions of proper wire gauges, wiring diagrams, and even parts lists to include part numbers. The amateur can easily be hurt or killed if they do something wrong and I know you don't want that. Again, great work so far. Keep it up.
+Brent Barnett Furthermore watching this segment I feel I should add that breakers ARE NOT intended to be used as switches. A very simple switchology system could be incorporated to this to turn on/off the various loads. The breaker system is there to kill the system when an overload situation occurs.
+Brent Barnett I agree somewhat on a few things. A buss bar would be nice but there are none commercially available to convert an AC load center to a DC one. Also, using a small wire that is only inches long in as big a gauge as possible does the trick easily. You will exceed the amp rating of the load center long before you burn up that wire. But if you did all it would do is sever the wire. I will probably re-shoot the whole series in a year or two as I continue to gain knowledge and as I get better video production equipment to do a better job. I agree that proper disclaimers and safety info should be available, although this IS youtube after all and no one is going to sit through extensive disclaimers and safety precautions to get to the meat of the video. I'll have to put some thought into how to do that. Thanks for the comments, though!
+Brent Barnett I agree. But they do function as switches in those rare situations where you need to shut down the system to work on it safely. This is no different than an electrician coming to your house and adding lights in your kitchen. The first thing they will do is go shut off the breakers to those circuits to prevent an accident.
Brent Barnett ...well spoken. i agree 100%. lds means well but sad to say he has a NEC code violation using that small gauge wire to jump the two phases into one single phase. most inspection authorities would red tag his jumper. reasoning would be not using an approved screw, lug, bolt etc. for power connections. if you look close.he is using a mechanical screw to hold the bus to the plastic insulator. by definition that is a code violation.
Nicely done video but I'd like to clarify something so no-one gets confused. The breaker you used is a tandem breaker originally intended for two 120v circuits. A double pole breaker is intended for a single 240v circuit.
I'm building a system now and I'm using two Square D QO series 100 amp load centers with 5- 15 amp QO breakers as a combiner box ,each 15 amp breaker handles a 100 watt panel along with a 30 amp charge controller with also handles 500 watts total, the load center will take 6 breakers total but you would need another charge controller which I 'm going to use another 20 amp charge controller for the 6th breaker from each center, Great video's Al
This is amazing! I'm converting a horse trailer into a mobile bar for hire and using a 30 amp breaker box brining one hot to load a 15 amp and 20 amp breaker and there was no info on going until Now!!
Great man. An excellent and clear demonstration for understanding solar energy usage for beginners like me. Thanks very much hope more and more video as raised by FAQ.
+Mohsin Fareed You are welcome. I appreciate that. I am trying to put together more and more basic solar content because of the overwhelmingly positive responses. Thanks for watching and be sure to thumbs up the video and/or subscribe to support my efforts!
Hello again LDS, what I was saying is I'm using a 100 amp breaker box/panel which holds 6 15 amp breakers, Each 100 watt panel is wired to one 15 amp breaker, now since the charge controller with only take 500 watts ( 5 100 watt panels) I have to use another 20 amp charge controller to use the 6th breaker for the 6th 100 watt panel, I have two breaker box/panels for a total of 12 100 watt panels
Ahh, that makes more sense. Very cool setup. I wish I had room for 10 panels. Have you considered re-wiring the panels and batteries for 24v? It would be much more efficient and you would be able to use all of those 10 panels on 1 Morningstar TS-45 charge controller ($150-175). Just a thought.
Very nice tutorial..., very informative. Keep up the good work! I looked cause I was thinking about starting a tutorial on the very subject. But here you have it. I'll have to get a hold of ya after I get some pics, I have a system I use for camping that is very similar; powers my laptop, and various pieces of radio equipment in the field.
That's cool we all learn something new every day I happened to be an electrical contractor maybe you should do the same you're off to a good start good luck
Thanks very much for these 3 videos on how to install a solar panel system complete with load. What I was missing is a simple schematic diagram on how these : source, charge controller, battery and load are connected together in order to understand the connections among them. I would be very grateful to you if you could draw that simple diagram for a better understanding of the whole system. Thank you very much.
Hey thank you so much for your videos! I’m about to set up my off grid setup with multiple panels and was wondering if you could make a video showing how to connect about 6 panels together in a combined box like you talked about at the end of the video, and then take that into a single output to charge a few batteries connected togethers (and how to best connect the batteries) to then power an inverter from the combined batteries charge. Also, I was wondering if there is a way to bypass the controller to increase efficiency?
Thank you so much for this video. it really helped me. I would just like to ask you if my set up will work. I am setting up 100 watt solar panel. I will be running a 5 watt chicken door, 25 watt fish tank heater, 20 watt waterer and 5 watt light. I seen from your video I need to get a load center but i'm not sure what size breaker's i need to use, size of battery's or battery. I live in Ohio. Could you help me figure this out? I used the calculator you have linked but Im not understanding it. Thank you.
Dude thanks for the time to show us. I'm installing a dankoff slow pump to pump water to my house we are building I got most of everything but the romex and wiring the system up. I could use your help with voltage drop. 24volt 200 watts and 150 foot from panels to pump. Dankoff slow pump 1308 if your filmiar. Also was wondering how to install lighting arrestor for lightening storms. Thanks for your help
To avoid excessive (greater than 5%) voltage drop, you will need to run #4 AWG wire for 150 feet. If you can cut the distance to 130 feet you can use #6 AWG. As for a lighting arrestor, I have never installed one. I assume this will be on your roof?
Hi, I got a lot out of this vid, thank you, so for us we are looking for cabin loft style living, do you think a big whole unit to run the home is needed or have these smaller load center breakers in each area? i like the idea of one for each area, like a small kitchen, 1 light, 1 college type fridge, I crock pot and 1 coffee maker? how do you determine how many volts or watts you need for each appliance? im sorry for so many questions but you teach very well, I like your advice, maybe 1 tv small not a whole wall! lol and a light in another room, and a computer and a cell charger in another room, ceiling fan? possibly air conditioning? lights in the lofts???
+Sue Sue That is the first question to research when you are thinking of going solar: how much electricity do my loads consume? You will be surprised and enlightened by what you find. For example, you referred to a tv and only needing a small one. Well large LCD tv's don't use much power. So that is one area where you could still enjoy something extravagant like you would if you were on grid. However, anything that produces heat (including the crock pot, hair dryer, space heater, microwave, etc.) consumes a large amount of electricity and will be hard to do off-grid without spending a lot of money. The crock pot will probably use about 600-800 watts on high so if you cook on the lower settings you will probably be ok. I am glad you are already thinking of ways you can cut down on electrical usage because people who think they can replicate their current lifestyle off-grid will fail or spend $100k+.
Sue Sue For that price you can't go wrong. I doubt they will last long or be very bright but it is a good starter place to get into solar and experiment.
Very interesting. Why are some "experts" saying you can't connect DC to an AC circuit breaker because of the way they are built and are very dangerous. Do you think I can do this set up for low voltage devices. Would they turn on with no problem? The devices I'm looking to power up is 2 12v 22watt water pumps and a string of 5 led water proof led lights. Thanks for the help. Have a great day
DC electricity can jump a gap that AC could not. If you are using low current it probably won't matter. I have never had any issues but I always use less than 30A or so. But the best bet is to use a load center that is designed for DC as well as AC like the Schneider Electric QO series load centers. They can handle 48V DC in addition to the normal AC that a house would use.
Yep, that is why I recommended them. The Homeline series as you see in this video still works with DC (in my experience over the last 2 years) but is not rated for it and is probably not as safe for DC usage.
I've watched these three videos before and couldn't remember who made them but they're very informative and where did you get the fan in the first and second video also what size is it as well as the watts?
Thanks u r doing a great job! I just wanna ask, in a case where u wanna switch intermittently and automatically between your power provider and your solar system what other equipment will be required and how will the wiring look like?
Olaoluwa Ogunranti To switch automatically between grid power and your solar power is hard. There really isn't anything on the market for that since it is technically illegal and dangerous. The reason for that is because if the power lines are down and the power company technicians are working on the lines, if you are providing solar power to the grid it could shock them and hurt them. So there needs to be a complete break in the connection from the power grid to your home so that you can use your solar safely and legally. You can do this manually with a few different types of switches or disconnects. In other words, it would be a big manual lever that you would pull to disconnect from the grid like this: www.gogreensolar.com/products/siemens-30-amp-600v-dc-disconnect-unfused-hnf361rpv?gclid=CjwKEAjwtMqrBRDwtoehx72vm34SJACl_Un11WeNH3_R-wGbRNIyrlu4-XGj_2d3RNT4Bx_9sfQXexoC8bvw_wcB. Please note that I am not saying that box will work for you just wanted to show an example of what I am talking about.
***** True. I have looked into those before and want to try one out. I still don't think they are legal to use with grid power the way he was asking, though, or they would be marketed that way. Also, there is enough of a delay in those switches to interrupt most electronics devices like tv's, computers, etc. so it may not be a seamless transition for home use.
My generator was installed by an electrician who follows code so legal here anyway. I have my computer protected by a true sine wave UPS so it is o.k. Unfortunately not enough sun exposure here so no solar possible (Redwood forest and lots of overcast). They had a way to simulate loss of power from the grid, but haven't had a power outage since it was installed a few months ago.
Hmmm, I don't know what kind of switch that is. If there is a legal automatic switch I am all ears! If you can tell me more about it I would love to check it out.
Hello LDS. Al Ruark here again, Now I have a question for you, I have an second floor converted attic with has six 15 amp breakers on a sub-panel, not a lot of load up there I have a bedroom which I run a 50 " tv and lights and a small fridge, so I would like to put in a new panel next to the main panel and move the six 15 amps for the upstaires and also move some of the outlet to the panel from downstaires ( living room and kitchen/dinning room), can that be done using a 30 or 50 amp single pole breaker using # 10/2 Gauge wire (orange wire # 10 AWG) for that panel from the solar panels, It' looks like there is I guess 8 gauge wire that feeds the sub-panel up there Thanks Al
Al Ruark This all depends on whether you are inverting the solar power to AC power and THEN bringing the power inside the 2nd story or if you are bringing a line directly from the charge controller to the inside and to this load center and then inverting it. I don't know a ton about wiring AC power so I will stick to answering the latter scenario. If all you are running up there is a TV, a few lights, and a small fridge then you should be looking at around 500-600 watts average use (lets say 850 peak watts). That means you would need 70 amps worth of breakers. That is good news because that means you can use one of the smaller load centers (definitely use Square D QO series such as www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D-QO-70-Amp-2-Space-4-Circuit-Indoor-Main-Lug-Load-Center-with-Surface-Mount-Cover-QO24L70SCP/100153411). It has space for 2 breakers, but they can be double pole breakers if you want. So you could do one 30 amp breaker and a double pole 20 amp (total of 40 amps on 2 switches) or if you don't think you need that much you could just do two 30 amp breakers. Just keep in mind that this is a lot different from AC power where 15 amps equals 1600+ watts. With 12v DC, 15 amp breaker will only give you a pathetic 180 watts before the breaker trips. That will probably power your TV but I doubt it will power your fridge. Using 30 amp breakers allows you to plug most things in except hair dryers and other power hungry tools/appliances. On the wiring you want to use the biggest gauge wire that your load center, breakers, and inverter can handle. #10 sounds about right for wiring on the 2nd story. But I would bring a much bigger wire in from outside to handle 70 amps. If you tell me the approximate distance of the run I can calculate what size you might need. For example, I had to bring 30 amps over a long distance of 60-70 feet so in order to not lose of ton of power I had to use 1 gauge wire, which is hard to use and expensive. If you have a reasonable 10-15 feet then it will be much easier.
I have made a load center but want to tie my solar panels to it and then connect from the load center to the charge controller. in the last part of your video you explained this, and this is how I've got it wired now. it dark and rainy today so no way of test it. But I have but a volt meter on it and with the breaker in the off position I get a negative volt reading verses a small positive reading with it on. 200 watt Renogy panels in parallel. With the breaker off and reading voltage at the solar panel charge controller connection I read - .900 volts with the breaker switched to on I get + .031 volts dc. The positive reading appears to be normal at this time of night due to it being dark. I did it like this to help clean up my wiring a bit and give some more control, I have fuses in my system as well. my question is, is the negative reading expected? Or did I do something wrong here. Regards, Wayne
+Wayne Hamilton The only way I have ever seen a negative reading is having the volt meter wired backwards (negative lead connected to positive side and vice versa). What reading do you get with a multimeter?
In this video. I'm not sure if you have made a video using testers for current coming from the panel, showing how much juice the sun is putting in the panel per hour of any amount of time. To showing how fast it's charging the batteries. Ext
You would need a charge controller that can handle wind and solar inputs at the same time. There are quite a few out there designed for that purpose. A watt meter could be wired in on the production side (between the solar panel and charge controller) or on the consumption side (between the battery and the load) depending on what you want to read.
So it basically distribute the power from the source to multiple destinations so if one of them have an issue it will break and it is circuit breaker will shutdown ?
Correct, if you use it as a load center. In a load center, you have power input and then it gets distributed to multiple outputs that are all protected by breakers. That is the same as your house breaker box. But if you wire it backwards like I show in this video, it takes multiple inputs and combines them into a single output. And each of the inputs is protected by circuit breakers.
This is very interesting 👍 you mean during day for example I can pull power from soler panel via the inverter and from Batteries simultaneously so if every of them have 5000 watt I can get them combined as 10 kwatt and distribute the to the loads ?
Do strings in series get paralleled in the box, or do they need to be paralleled before going into the combiner box? In other words, does the box work as the parallel when I need the panels to be series and paralleled?
Generally, that is the point of the combiner box is to bring multiple inputs together in parallel to combine into one feed into a charge controller or grid tied inverter.
LDS, I was going over your last answer from a couple of weeks ago, I know that the question looks the same but what I'm trying to do is at this point is use that load center that I mentioned by jumping the two hot legs say with 8 AGW to keep it 110 volts so I can use the single pole 30 amp breaker, and running 10/2 from the inverter to that panel which is about 25 to 30 feet away, also the QO breakers are also rated at 48 volts DC, the other thing is that I don't know if they make a 15 amp plug that will take # 8 AGW to plug into the inverter, and the small load center that you use for your demo that has the screws so that you can jump do you have a model # I tryed to find it at home depot with no luck. Also do you have a private e-mail I would like to send you some pictures of this Shed set-up that also has a 7000watt Generator incorporated into it that slides on a dolly from inside the shed into an outside enclosure in case of a power outage, spent alot of time on this project and don't want to screw it up now I' m just and old retired guy with no money and a lot of time on my hands LOL
can you plug a load one the dc to ac power converter, then cut the wire so the power can go thru the breaker? there for you have constant ac power. Thanks helpful video :)
I was asking, one the power inverter you have only 2 available outlets for use, can you plug in a powerstrip and divide the power so you have more outlets to use, in case you want to power somthing ore multiple loads? Thanks
hello, i really appreciate your videos. question, what gives you more or maximum power? is it more or larger solar panels, more or larger batteries or inverter size?
Taylor J. The short answer is all of them together. If you have lots of solar panels but only a few batteries you will run out of power fast at night or when it is cloudy (but you will have more power during the daylight). If you have more batteries but fewer panels you will have more backup capacity for dark but the batteries may not ever recharge fully because you don't have enough panels. And if you have a small inverter (like the cheapo 300 or 400 watt units you see for $20-30) they will be inefficient (wasting some of your power) and they will not be able to power bigger items like a refrigerator even if you have plenty of solar panels or batteries. Does that make sense?
Frank Duffy Refrigerators are do-able but space heaters would take a large solar panel system to run. Even the small ones use 1500 watts continuously which means you would need at least 2200-2500 watts of solar panels to run it after factoring in the losses and real world numbers. Refrigerators are fine once they are running but they draw a lot of power to get started for the first few seconds. You would need a big inverter and a pretty big battery to get one started.
Hi bro,I want to know how to power 1.5KW Hub motor using solar panel...& i was wondering how much capacity battery to use and what kind of connections to be made & also what kind of solar panel and how much to use ....Please share ur information as soon as possible....
What if you only wanted to run AC power through the load center? Do they make inverters that you can run positive and negative wires from (instead of 120 outlets or USB outlets) directly into the load center?
Yes. I have seen some like that. Usually those are the bigger and more expensive ones that are designed to be wired directly into your home load center/breaker box.
Just sacrifice a heavy duty extension cord, cut the plug end off and plug it into the inverter, the other end feeds your junction and breaker box for AC . Run it where ever you want from there. Just make sure your extension plug wire thickness is sufficient to carry any loads you may apply down the line, its easy to burn your house down if your pulling 2000 watts through a cheap 16 gauge cord into your breaker box.
Thanks for the great video! I was wondering if you could give a tip on which type of load centers and breakers to use. Can you give a reference e.g. in amazon. Thanks!
+Kirill Pushkin Without a doubt, the QO series by Square D (Schneider Electric) is the one to get. It is the only one I have seen so far that is rated for DC use. The other ones work (I have one Homeline series load center that has been running DC for 3 years) but I wouldn't recommend it. Also, make sure you get an outdoor one if this is going to be outside and may come in contact with rain. Amazon's prices on this aren't any better than Home Depot but here is one I would recommend (top one smaller, bottom one bigger): www.amazon.com/Square-D-QO24L70RBCP-Main-Center/dp/B002KB9NDM/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1461677169&sr=8-14&keywords=qo+square+d+outdoor www.amazon.com/Square-Schneider-Electric-QO612L100RBCP-12-Circuit/dp/B00002N7N6/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1461677111&sr=8-7&keywords=qo+square+d+outdoor
+LDSreliance Many thanks! My understanding is that if you use a load center with a breaker then you do not need fuses. Is that right? Thank you very much for your help!
Kirill Pushkin If the breaker is rated for DC then yes, that is correct. The breaker will trip if it exceeds the amp rating just like a fuse. A fuse would just be redundant in that case. You are very welcome!
Ah, I found you, this is what I was looking for from another one of your vids. only how would I ground it ? I need to ground the chassis on my PROwatt SW 600. I won't need a inline fuse, (calls for 80W) with this method ? thanks, I'll check out your videos.
I wouldn't ground the inverter through this box. The "ground" in the box is being used for the negative portion of the DC current. I would run a separate ground wire (ideally bare copper wire) from the inverter to a grounding rod or other type of earth ground. Don't be scared to install your own grounding rod. It is not that hard. I have a couple videos on how to do that pretty easily and cheaply (ruclips.net/video/-kpI8PFNYl4/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/K5eorpQBml0/видео.html). As I mentioned in my reply to your other comment, an 80A fuse would be nice for added safety but if you are using a breaker it will trip if it overloads the circuit anyway. Fuses are cheap so it can't hurt, though.
if you find a 4th 6v then all of them ... as long as they are setup in 12v groups so 2 6volt batteries serial and then all the 12v groups in parallel ... or the 2 12volt panels in serial and the 4 6volts in series for then each set in parallel ... it depends on what you need more of amperage or voltage ... but you are limited by the smallest size the 12volt batteries can make ... for ease of use and safety ... mixing and matching 12v and 6v setups gets really funky really fast and costs a LOT more to deal with
what if i want more voltage and more storage? i would also want to power multiple loads like about 10. would i have to buy more grid tied systems and put them together? i would like to power a room.
+Dcaro Dan You can get load centers that have lots of spaces for breakers. I don't know how big they get in the QO series of load centers but at least 10-12. Just make sure it is rated for DC voltage.
Hello again LDS, I have a question for that no one seems to have the answer to. I just finished installing 13 = 100 watt solar panels and connected to a battery bank, now here's the question,The inverters are a 3000 watt modified & a 1000 watt pure sine and I would like to connect one or the other to a a SQ-D QO Breaker panel load center (QO 816L100amp 8 space 16 circuit) now this load center is for I guess a 240 sub panel but what I would like to know since the inverters are not hard wired and only have110 outlets can I jump the two hot legs in the load center to keep it at 110 volts on each side and use a 30 amp single pole breaker to feed 6 or 7 15 amp single pole breakers at 110 volts for the or 8 circuits in my house??? Thanks for all the help Al ruark
Al Ruark I'm not an expert on AC power. I use load centers strictly on the DC side thus far and am only dabbling slowly into AC territory. Go ahead and shoot me an email and I think we can figure out some answers.
+Arctic Frost OK. I have a video showing how to wire up multiple batteries in either series or parallel. So you want to see the whole thing from solar panel to charge controller to battery bank (multiple batteries) to load center to inverter to load?
ok, how about using multiple batterys for a bigger inverter . say a 10,000 watt inverter to power a house. how many batterys , how big of a charger and how would the batterys be hooked together. and is it possible to be able to use 220 v appliances ?
+welllsaiddddd All of that is definitely possible. But the answer on what you need is it depends. It depends on what size batteries you want to use (they are rated in amp hours), how much electricity you use on a daily basis at your house, how much of a reserve of power you want for cloudy days, etc. That is a really complicated question and you will want to start really small before you go big like that. You will make a ton of very expensive mistakes if you go big for a whole house without knowing what you are doing.
True. That would work for combining the strings or distributing power to multiple loads. It would also provide safety. But it doesn't let you individually disconnect strings or loads.
All you have to do to disconnect individual loads in the 10 block fuse block is pull the fuse to the load you want disconnected. Just like in a car fuse box, want to disconnect the radio, pull the fuse to the radio and so forth.
ok ' & 1 Question? ? how many bettery can we add in 32 watt solar panel ' i have 2 12v 70amph battery can i add both in one 32watt solar panel'?? if we can then plzz how we can '??? give me tips on video
Aantaya Giri Wire the 2 batteries in either series or parallel (see video below) and then connect the solar panel to a charge controller. Then connect the battery bank to the charge panel. The charge controller will take care of the rest. ruclips.net/video/4yxR-Iz2Xdc/видео.html
Hipa Furito You would have to combine the power from them somehow first before hitting the inverter. An inverter needs a steady stream of power and the current from those sources, especially wind, will fluctuate. That is why if you use those 3 sources of power to charge a battery bank and then let the battery bank power your loads you will get nice, clean, even power.
hie, if i need 2.5kwhrX24hr of energy then how much battery I need and how many panels I need to charge these batteries in just six hrs as usable day light remain for 6 hrs only. plz guide
Hey man, thanks for putting this up this really helps me on my project in Electronics. Already subscribe to you planning on building my own Solar Panel System at home once I got the budget. Any estimated budget for a System that light up 10-12 LED/light bulbs?
Hi new to solar systems and need help! I have 2 marine batteries a 20 watt panel charge controller and a 2000w inverter...but it keeps resetting. What am I doing wrong?
ok , if i have a 6000 watt inverter could i hook up a regular battery charger up to charge the batterys in the night . if i have 400 watt panels do i need a 400 watt charge controller?
+welllsaiddddd Yes you can hook up a trickle charger to keep the batteries topped off at night. But you will want to make sure to disconnect it first thing in the morning. You don't want the charge controller and trickle charger to fight each other and possibly damage your batteries. Charge controllers are rated in amps so convert watts to amps (divide by 12 if you are using a 12v system). 400/12=33.33 so you will need a 40 amp charge controller.
Sir I have a question.. Im planning to buy a 280watts solar panel, 30amps pwm charge controller and a 1000watts of pure sine inverter now the question is it is possible to run my 30 or maybe 60watts electricfan without a battery if yes what Ah of battery do i need so i can use my fan during night for 8hrs.. Hope you can answer my question thanks in advance!!!!
You can run the fan without a battery during the daytime when you get direct sunlight on your solar panel. So during the summer that will be around 8 hours depending on where you live and maybe only 2-3 hours during the winter. If you want to run it beyond that you will need a battery. To run a 60 watt fan for 8 hours you would need at least 82 amp hours of battery capacity. So I would recommend about a 100 Ah deep cycle battery and that will give you a little room for error.
+LDSreliance oh thanks! Btw, with 100ah deep cycle battery (bnew) and 8hrs continues usage during night time..how much percentage will be left knowing that it will requires to have atleast remaining 50% charged?
If you had an 82 amp hour battery (which doesn't exist in that exact number) it would be discharged to 50%. So if you had a 100 amp hour battery it would be roughly 59% after 8 hours.
Christopher Derit Your battery should be rated in amp hours. For deep cycle batteries, that will be a rating of how many amps it takes to fully discharge the battery over a 20 hour time period. So if the battery is rated at 20 amp hours, it can provide 1 amp for 20 hours. (amps x hours = amp hours)
I think the demo would have been more effective if you had actually connected the box to the inverter, & zoomed in more so the small wires were more visible.
Yes. Those are small loads so you could even run them all off of 1 breaker if you wanted to. Or you could divide them up on their own breakers if you wanted to be able to switch them on and off.
LDSreliance how do i determine the pv that I will use for me to be able to run 2 laptops? and also the specs of the battery we use 220v here and my laptop charger is 65watts thank you.
It is a pretty complicated calculation. There are some good websites that help with the math but you need to know some basic information. Where do you live? How many days of backup power do you want to hold? How long does it take your laptops to charge and how often do they need to charge?
I can do the math for you if you answer those questions or here is a link for a good calculator that I use: www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/solar-calculator.html
dc has a habit of creating a magnetic field with aluminum and cause extreme power losses ... best to stick with copper . take an aluminum pipe and a small magnet that fits in it with a little gap .. hold the pipe up and down and drop the battery ... it takes a long time to fall down ... this is a perfect way to show how an electromotive force would be buggered by aluminum in dc ... this btw is the nail as a magnet from a battery experiment just looked at from a different direction ... aluminum is great in high voltage AC as the alternating current is constantly reversing the magnetic properties of the aluminum and at the high voltages the loss is now basically 0 ... dc is always adding to it ... unless you want to get into some serious high voltage dc switching and then you can do the same thing ... but that is well beyond the needs of setting up a power system for a house or homestead
Any tutorials on how to hook up so you are just running AC to a breaker box. I have a shed I want to put some lights in and a few 3-4 outlets. Just for a radio and such. Thanks.
I will do a tutorial on this eventually. I have not used that method before and I am less familiar with AC power as I am with DC power so I need to make sure I understand it better before I try to teach others.
do you plan on using power tools or not ... if it's just a light or two and a plug or two for a radio or garden shed power tool charging then a basic dc to ac converter as the load with the required number of outlets and a battery to keep a resevoir of charge for night time is fine ... if you find any junk or super cheap campers pull the ceiling lights out of those with all the wires and electrical parts you can find and use them as they are all DC already and provide good lighting and even have a charge controller and dc to ac converter with multiple outlets to run stuff like radios and phone chargers etc ..
that should be an interesting video ... on photo voltaics ... perhaps you should cover the different wave length panels at the same time .... I do suggest using a (dang forgot the name) the power part of the wood stove fans ... basically a thermal difference power pack .. it dumbs it down to heat differential
You can use pretty much any inverter as long as it can provide enough watts for the TV. If your inverter comes with a cigarette lighter adapter you can just cut that off and then attach the positive and negative wires to the charge controller. However, a 7 amp hour battery will not run most TV's for very long. If you give me the make and model of your TV or tell me the amps it requires and how long each day you want to use the TV I can calculate what size battery you will need.
Aantaya Giri For a TV, you really want to use a pure sine wave inverter. They are more expensive but the cheaper inverters can hurt your TV over the long run.
Call it a "pure sine wave" inverter. They should know what you are talking about. Or order one online such as this one: www.amazon.com/Power-Bright-APS600-12-Inverter-continuous/dp/B002RWKIL0?ie=UTF8&keywords=pure%20sine%20wave%20inverter&qid=1464660756&ref_=sr_1_10&sr=8-10
You can buy the load center from Home Depot. It is called a load center and the Schneider QO series is rated for use with DC power. There may be other brands and lines of load centers that are rated for DC but there aren't many.
LDSreliance Thanks for quick response. I know this video was from 2015 and prices change. Can you tell me the part number. And also if it comes with everything you have on video. This is the only thing that comes close to your box. But it is 60amp. www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D-QO-60-Amp-2-Space-4-Circuit-Outdoor-Main-Lug-Load-Center-with-Non-Metallic-Enclosure-and-Neutral-QO24L60NRNM/100174454. Thanks
The amp rating doesn't really matter unless you have a lot of solar power (600W or more). And when they rate the amps they are usually talking about AC power and not DC. But check the specs to be sure. That one you linked will work fine. But it only has 2 slots for breakers. If you have more loads than that you may want to look at www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D-QO-100-Amp-6-Space-12-Circuit-Outdoor-Main-Lug-Load-Center-with-Cover-QO612L100RBCP/100071456
I love that you want to help people, however with electrical I understand what you are getting at. I've been a pro for 25 years. Someone to "green" can easily get killed if they do not understand colors change from DC to AC along with proper grounding. Sometimes they need to hire or horse trade info like wire size, colors, fire, and death if they get it wrong. Please understand I came from a do it yourself family...If it is to complex farm it out please! A old timers heart stopped after a shock this summer because he new just enough to almost die..Good luck an please be safe an never guess with electricity.....It can cost you your life.Have fun....
As big as you can afford. Seriously, it is always better to use bigger gauge wire as long as it will physically fit in the connectors and you can afford it. That will minimize voltage losses and maximize safety.
the load splitter isnt the charge controller is if you use batteries at all .. a good dc to ac converter the larger more advanced charge controllers that have the capability to tie into an ac breaker panel would be good for homestead type setups ... also if they can be linked (daisy chained) together for mutiple panel setups and battery setups would be good
I have two aquariums that I'm trying to set up to use solar. Combined they use almost 500 watts and about 3.5 amps. The heaters use the most power. I'm trying to figure out what I'll need. Can anyone refer me to a video that explains how to figure out the size solar panels and batteries I'll need?
Victoria Lee I don't know of a good video for that. It is a complicated question with several variables. Knowing the peak wattage (500 watts) is helpful but only half the story. How many kilowatt hours does it use in an average day? What city do you live in? How many hours or days of backup power do you want to store in your batteries (for when it is cloudy/rainy/night)?
Yes, of course. The reason you might want to run multiple loads through a load center would be if you wanted to run some 12v loads as well as one load tied to your inverter or if you wanted to be able to turn certain loads on and off with the circuit breakers.
I'm in the process of building a 800W solar system. 100W x8 panels. I will have a 24v battery bank. 8 Trojan 6v 214AH Solar Signature Series batteries that are in the process of being built. I have a 40amp MPPT charge controller and a 3k PureSinewave inverter. I've been watching numerous videos and it seems the more I watch the more confused I get. So many different ways people say to do it. I'm a old dude now 65 and CRS. Any way I was going to hook my panels directly to the charge controller. A 50amp circuit breaker between battery bank and charge controller. A 300amp fuse to protect inverter. I also will have a 100amp shunt on the negative side of the battery bank. I will also put a reg battery disconnect inline. From what I understand this should be OK. I would appreciate any help someone could give me if this wouldnt work. thanks
yes and no .. a trailer as sold generally only has one battery and that is fine for most uses ... heck if you can find an old trailer for sale super cheap (doesnt matter if it leaks or not) all you want it for is the dc bits n pieces .... it has all the gear you need to run a basic setup for a home built camper . now if they wanted to run a washer and dryer and Ac unit then more batteries are better ...
The problem I am having volt verse amps when it comes to charge controlers I want to pop for a midnight 150 seems to take the highest amps ! I read that you should not max out any charge controler you should leave like 10 or 15 % Lee way . With a 150 it would leave me more room to add panel I have tracer 40 amp with limits me to 400 at 12 v or going 800 with 24 volts now get the fact that the lower the voltage the less pannels you can use and the higher the voltage the more panels I can use and yes the wire size it not so critical on longer runs with 400w attention being my max due to the inverter I bought 12v to 220 to run a well pump at 15 amps I think I got the calculations right in my head I am sure I could run more but I just don't know how big the battery bank should or how many 6 volt flooded deep cycle batteries parallel it will cage that being said I live in the north east so winter really suck for solar power but I know it can be done was thinking of adding wind to it but there to is a different animal unto it self
You might want to look into charge controllers that can be networked together. Then you can run multiple charge controllers on the same battery bank and they will coordinate charging with each other.
LDSreliance this the other reason I was looking at midnight solar the other one is the outback I going to call midnight solar with so question be in the north east was think I should do a high bread system the best I think is missouri wind and solar I have looked at so much stuff and read watched vids on utube it's unreal but just to get start I need to know how much battery 400w will charge I think I am not sure 4 6v golf cart batteries with 215 amp hr rating at 12 volts any thoughs
Missouri Wind and Solar is complete garbage. That guy is a fraud and a hack. Please look into reviews of his company and practices before you buy from him. 400W will not be able to charge 215Ah very quickly. You would need multiple days to charge fully from a complete discharge. And that is if you do not use the system to power any loads for those days. My system is 600W for about the same battery bank size and it works pretty much perfectly.
LDSreliance ok talk to me about wind what pmg or pma turbine would you buy. The batteries 4 would make to 12v batteries at a cost of 400 dallors so your telling me 4 hundred watt can't re charge 2 batteries with a 215 amp hour rating
Correct, 400W of solar panels will take a while to recharge 215Ah of batteries. If you are going to be actively using your system to run loads during the day they will struggle to keep up. If you are only using the system occasionally you could get away with it. I have not bought a commercial wind turbine so I don't know one to recommend. I have done a lot of research and read a lot of reviews and came close to pulling the trigger on a few small ones but have not done so yet. I do know that Missouri Wind and Solar has a bad reputation from numerous sources. Sorry I can't be more helpful there.
This is not a required device. It is for combining multiple panel strings into one feed because your charge controller can only handle one set of wires.
thenks can you say i need 3 kilowat 220 volts energy how much solar panel i need and whao i need also to ctreate such energy converter and .... i have a big place....
You just need 3,000 Watts of solar panels. The 220V part doesn't matter. You'll need an inverter that can output 220V but it won't affect the size of the solar array.
Hi there, love the simplicity of your videos. Im adding a solar setup to a conversion van and Im planning to use a fuse block. (www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P6FTHC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) will this work for my load center? I was also planning to connect a 400 watt inverter to the fuse block and run a fridge off the inverter. Lights, sink pump and fan would be run directly off the fuse block. Any problems or advice for that setup? Also what gauge wires would you recommend?
Yes, as long as all of the amperages are safely within the fuse specs you should be fine. Keep in mind that your fridge will surely not run on a 400w inverter. You might want to watch how much trouble I had getting a tiny dorm style fridge to run on an inverter: ruclips.net/video/zysqlSTZwOk/видео.html
@@LDSreliance Hey LDS! I'm just getting into solar and had a question on the load center. You say it's best to get one rated for DC, but do you mean the box itself or the breaker? I assume the breaker. Also, I want to run Christmas lights off the solar panel but only want them to light at night - to allow battery to charge during the day. Can I add an inline timer? Can it go between the Charge Controller and the load center?
It has been done but in order to get it to work it is basically a tricycle with a motor and a lightweight skin on the outside. You can't drive it legally on the street and if someone ran into you... You just can't make a real car run on solar right now with the existing technology.
johauri pacheco No, I have not made one. I have seen examples of people who have built them like high school science teams or corporate competitions and they are cool but not practical at all.
I am a novice when it comes to electricity and solar power and these videos have answered nagging questions I have sought answers for over the past two years! Great explanations and adaptation of of equipment to make things work while minimizing a lot of technical jargon. I was looking at a very basic application. I just bought a 40 watt panel with controller, I already had a battery and I just wanted enough power to light some led lights, and charge some power tool/cell phone batteries at my hunting camp. You have answered all my questions so I can now proceed with my project. Thank you for your consideration and time in posting this video.
4:22 that’s a single pole tandem breaker. Big difference. Double pole is twice the size and is 240 volt. Tandem is two 120 volt circuits that only take up one space instead of two
Thank you for the correction.
Awesome content man!!! I've had a lot of questions throughout my learning process and you touch base on a lot whereas the internet is an information black hole and it's really hard to find simple answers explained in a user friendly manner. Keep up the good work man and I love to see more content
Thanks! I appreciate that. I have dozens of videos like this one. So check them out. Unfortunately, RUclips has changed a lot over the years and does not reward this kind of content any more so I don't do as many videos as I used to.
@@LDSreliance I didn't know RUclips rewarded people for posting... I figured people just posted stuff to share knowledge... But then again I'm not a huge social media person so I don't know what goes on in that part of the world. I'll definitely check out the rest of them. Like I said it's hard to find stuff that doesn't overwhelm a person who's just trying to start learning and I think your videos broke things down in a way that helped me feel like I was at least capable 🤣
Love the simple explanation. Im New to solar and old and slow on technology lol.
Thank you
You are welcome! Feel free to ask questions and check out the hundreds of other videos I have on my channel for more solar knowledge
Just want to thank you for sharing your technical know how and making it sound so simple. Great kudos to you.
Thanks! I appreciate that. Please consider giving my video a thumbs up or subscribing to my channel to help me out! Thanks for watching.
I'm really liking the tutorial vids on this subject so far. With my background in electricity and avionics I learned in the Navy I can honestly say that this is a good instructional series. Well done.
I have one critique to make at this juncture though. While you said all of this is just for instructional purposes I feel you should STRESS using a proper buss wire to bridge your positive terminals. We are all culpable for accidents that happen when making these videos and I would hate to see someone try to follow this video series and use the wrong materials.
Your head and heart are in the right place LDS i'm just trying to call caution to a potentially bad set of instructions. Futhermore I would recommend making an update to this series of videos with descriptions of proper wire gauges, wiring diagrams, and even parts lists to include part numbers. The amateur can easily be hurt or killed if they do something wrong and I know you don't want that.
Again, great work so far. Keep it up.
+Brent Barnett Furthermore watching this segment I feel I should add that breakers ARE NOT intended to be used as switches. A very simple switchology system could be incorporated to this to turn on/off the various loads. The breaker system is there to kill the system when an overload situation occurs.
+Brent Barnett I agree somewhat on a few things. A buss bar would be nice but there are none commercially available to convert an AC load center to a DC one. Also, using a small wire that is only inches long in as big a gauge as possible does the trick easily. You will exceed the amp rating of the load center long before you burn up that wire. But if you did all it would do is sever the wire.
I will probably re-shoot the whole series in a year or two as I continue to gain knowledge and as I get better video production equipment to do a better job. I agree that proper disclaimers and safety info should be available, although this IS youtube after all and no one is going to sit through extensive disclaimers and safety precautions to get to the meat of the video. I'll have to put some thought into how to do that.
Thanks for the comments, though!
+Brent Barnett I agree. But they do function as switches in those rare situations where you need to shut down the system to work on it safely. This is no different than an electrician coming to your house and adding lights in your kitchen. The first thing they will do is go shut off the breakers to those circuits to prevent an accident.
Brent Barnett ...well spoken. i agree 100%. lds means well but sad to say he has a NEC code violation using that small gauge wire to jump the two phases into one single phase. most inspection authorities would red tag his jumper. reasoning would be not using an approved screw, lug, bolt etc. for power connections. if you look close.he is using a mechanical screw to hold the bus to the plastic insulator. by definition that is a code violation.
Robert Schilling he did say it was for illustration purpose only. Hopefully people are smart enough to know wire gauge #'s for different loads.
Nicely done video but I'd like to clarify something so no-one gets confused. The breaker you used is a tandem breaker originally intended for two 120v circuits. A double pole breaker is intended for a single 240v circuit.
+Darren Taylor Good catch. Sometimes I say the wrong things in my videos and don't catch them.
Detailed description for beginners.
Great job
Thanks! Glad you liked it.
THANK YOU!! For using simple explanations. And at the same time not being a bore..
You are welcome! I appreciate the support and glad it helped you out.
I'm building a system now and I'm using two Square D QO series 100 amp load centers with 5- 15 amp QO breakers as a combiner box ,each 15 amp breaker handles a 100 watt panel along with a 30 amp charge controller with also handles 500 watts total, the load center will take 6 breakers total but you would need another charge controller which I 'm going to use another 20 amp charge controller for the 6th breaker from each center, Great video's
Al
Thanks, Al! It sounds like you are running a charge controller for each solar panel? Or am I reading that wrong?
This is amazing! I'm converting a horse trailer into a mobile bar for hire and using a 30 amp breaker box brining one hot to load a 15 amp and 20 amp breaker and there was no info on going until Now!!
Well there you go. Glad it could help.
Great man. An excellent and clear demonstration for understanding solar energy usage for beginners like me. Thanks very much hope more and more video as raised by FAQ.
+Mohsin Fareed You are welcome. I appreciate that. I am trying to put together more and more basic solar content because of the overwhelmingly positive responses. Thanks for watching and be sure to thumbs up the video and/or subscribe to support my efforts!
Hello again LDS, what I was saying is I'm using a 100 amp breaker box/panel which holds 6 15 amp breakers, Each 100 watt panel is wired to one 15 amp breaker, now since the charge controller with only take 500 watts ( 5 100 watt panels) I have to use another 20 amp charge controller to use the 6th breaker for the 6th 100 watt panel, I have two breaker box/panels for a total of 12 100 watt panels
Ahh, that makes more sense. Very cool setup. I wish I had room for 10 panels.
Have you considered re-wiring the panels and batteries for 24v? It would be much more efficient and you would be able to use all of those 10 panels on 1 Morningstar TS-45 charge controller ($150-175). Just a thought.
really sweet job of giving a detailed description of how to do this breaker box for solar
Thanks for sharing! I appreciate the support.
Very nice tutorial..., very informative. Keep up the good work! I looked cause I was thinking about starting a tutorial on the very subject. But here you have it. I'll have to get a hold of ya after I get some pics, I have a system I use for camping that is very similar; powers my laptop, and various pieces of radio equipment in the field.
Nice, I would like to take a look. ldsreliance@gmail.com
That's cool we all learn something new every day I happened to be an electrical contractor maybe you should do the same you're off to a good start good luck
Thanks, I appreciate it!
Thanks very much for these 3 videos on how to install a solar panel system complete with load. What I was missing is a simple schematic diagram on how these : source, charge controller, battery and load are connected together in order to understand the connections among them.
I would be very grateful to you if you could draw that simple diagram for a better understanding of the whole system. Thank you very much.
Try this: www.mysolarshop.co.uk/images/lighting-ac_or_dc_600.jpg
You said for small systems this would be perfect but what could you power with that for example?
Thank you! Nice Video. Do you have one for connecting the inverter to a breaker in a house?
I don't. Sorry! Thanks for the sub! I will add that to the list of possible future videos.
Hey thank you so much for your videos! I’m about to set up my off grid setup with multiple panels and was wondering if you could make a video showing how to connect about 6 panels together in a combined box like you talked about at the end of the video, and then take that into a single output to charge a few batteries connected togethers (and how to best connect the batteries) to then power an inverter from the combined batteries charge. Also, I was wondering if there is a way to bypass the controller to increase efficiency?
Thank you so much for this video. it really helped me.
I would just like to ask you if my set up will work.
I am setting up 100 watt solar panel. I will be running a 5 watt chicken door, 25 watt fish tank heater, 20 watt waterer and 5 watt light. I seen from your video I need to get a load center but i'm not sure what size breaker's i need to use, size of battery's or battery. I live in Ohio. Could you help me figure this out? I used the calculator you have linked but Im not understanding it. Thank you.
use the ohms law wheel to calculate your voltage for the battery & amps for the breaker
Dude thanks for the time to show us. I'm installing a dankoff slow pump to pump water to my house we are building I got most of everything but the romex and wiring the system up. I could use your help with voltage drop. 24volt 200 watts and 150 foot from panels to pump. Dankoff slow pump 1308 if your filmiar. Also was wondering how to install lighting arrestor for lightening storms. Thanks for your help
To avoid excessive (greater than 5%) voltage drop, you will need to run #4 AWG wire for 150 feet. If you can cut the distance to 130 feet you can use #6 AWG.
As for a lighting arrestor, I have never installed one. I assume this will be on your roof?
Hi, I got a lot out of this vid, thank you, so for us we are looking for cabin loft style living, do you think a big whole unit to run the home is needed or have these smaller load center breakers in each area? i like the idea of one for each area, like a small kitchen, 1 light, 1 college type fridge, I crock pot and 1 coffee maker? how do you determine how many volts or watts you need for each appliance? im sorry for so many questions but you teach very well, I like your advice, maybe 1 tv small not a whole wall! lol and a light in another room, and a computer and a cell charger in another room, ceiling fan? possibly air conditioning? lights in the lofts???
+Sue Sue That is the first question to research when you are thinking of going solar: how much electricity do my loads consume? You will be surprised and enlightened by what you find. For example, you referred to a tv and only needing a small one. Well large LCD tv's don't use much power. So that is one area where you could still enjoy something extravagant like you would if you were on grid. However, anything that produces heat (including the crock pot, hair dryer, space heater, microwave, etc.) consumes a large amount of electricity and will be hard to do off-grid without spending a lot of money. The crock pot will probably use about 600-800 watts on high so if you cook on the lower settings you will probably be ok.
I am glad you are already thinking of ways you can cut down on electrical usage because people who think they can replicate their current lifestyle off-grid will fail or spend $100k+.
+LDSreliance just bought 2 of these I hope it isn't a bad move: www.ebay.com/itm/221782543838
Sue Sue
For that price you can't go wrong. I doubt they will last long or be very bright but it is a good starter place to get into solar and experiment.
Very interesting. Why are some "experts" saying you can't connect DC to an AC circuit breaker because of the way they are built and are very dangerous. Do you think I can do this set up for low voltage devices. Would they turn on with no problem? The devices I'm looking to power up is 2 12v 22watt water pumps and a string of 5 led water proof led lights. Thanks for the help. Have a great day
DC electricity can jump a gap that AC could not. If you are using low current it probably won't matter. I have never had any issues but I always use less than 30A or so.
But the best bet is to use a load center that is designed for DC as well as AC like the Schneider Electric QO series load centers. They can handle 48V DC in addition to the normal AC that a house would use.
Hello LDS, the QO Square D breakers are rated for both AC and DC up to 48 volts per breaker
Yep, that is why I recommended them. The Homeline series as you see in this video still works with DC (in my experience over the last 2 years) but is not rated for it and is probably not as safe for DC usage.
I've watched these three videos before and couldn't remember who made them but they're very informative and where did you get the fan in the first and second video also what size is it as well as the watts?
It is a Bitfenix fan 200mm or 220mm. I can't remember which. Very good fans.
@@LDSreliance ok I'll look Google it.
thanks for taking the time to share
Thanks u r doing a great job! I just wanna ask, in a case where u wanna switch intermittently and automatically between your power provider and your solar system what other equipment will be required and how will the wiring look like?
Olaoluwa Ogunranti To switch automatically between grid power and your solar power is hard. There really isn't anything on the market for that since it is technically illegal and dangerous. The reason for that is because if the power lines are down and the power company technicians are working on the lines, if you are providing solar power to the grid it could shock them and hurt them.
So there needs to be a complete break in the connection from the power grid to your home so that you can use your solar safely and legally. You can do this manually with a few different types of switches or disconnects. In other words, it would be a big manual lever that you would pull to disconnect from the grid like this: www.gogreensolar.com/products/siemens-30-amp-600v-dc-disconnect-unfused-hnf361rpv?gclid=CjwKEAjwtMqrBRDwtoehx72vm34SJACl_Un11WeNH3_R-wGbRNIyrlu4-XGj_2d3RNT4Bx_9sfQXexoC8bvw_wcB. Please note that I am not saying that box will work for you just wanted to show an example of what I am talking about.
LDSreliance isn't that what an automated transfer switch is for? My generator is set up so it does this without manual intervention.
*****
True. I have looked into those before and want to try one out. I still don't think they are legal to use with grid power the way he was asking, though, or they would be marketed that way. Also, there is enough of a delay in those switches to interrupt most electronics devices like tv's, computers, etc. so it may not be a seamless transition for home use.
My generator was installed by an electrician who follows code so legal here anyway. I have my computer protected by a true sine wave UPS so it is o.k. Unfortunately not enough sun exposure here so no solar possible (Redwood forest and lots of overcast). They had a way to simulate loss of power from the grid, but haven't had a power outage since it was installed a few months ago.
Hmmm, I don't know what kind of switch that is. If there is a legal automatic switch I am all ears! If you can tell me more about it I would love to check it out.
Can u pls do a full video on how to connect a solar on the combiner box to the charge controller and so forth pls...
Joel, I have done videos showing all the connections but I probably should do an updated version soon. I'll see what I can do.
Okay so you said you were using smaller wire for example purposes... What would be the best size wire for say 100-200 watt panels?
Depends on the length required.
Hello LDS. Al Ruark here again, Now I have a question for you, I have an second floor converted attic with has six 15 amp breakers on a sub-panel, not a lot of load up there I have a bedroom which I run a 50 " tv and lights and a small fridge, so I would like to put in a new panel next to the main panel and move the six 15 amps for the upstaires and also move some of the outlet to the panel from downstaires ( living room and kitchen/dinning room), can that be done using a 30 or 50 amp single pole breaker using # 10/2 Gauge wire (orange wire # 10 AWG) for that panel from the solar panels, It' looks like there is I guess 8 gauge wire that feeds the sub-panel up there
Thanks Al
Al Ruark This all depends on whether you are inverting the solar power to AC power and THEN bringing the power inside the 2nd story or if you are bringing a line directly from the charge controller to the inside and to this load center and then inverting it. I don't know a ton about wiring AC power so I will stick to answering the latter scenario.
If all you are running up there is a TV, a few lights, and a small fridge then you should be looking at around 500-600 watts average use (lets say 850 peak watts). That means you would need 70 amps worth of breakers. That is good news because that means you can use one of the smaller load centers (definitely use Square D QO series such as www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D-QO-70-Amp-2-Space-4-Circuit-Indoor-Main-Lug-Load-Center-with-Surface-Mount-Cover-QO24L70SCP/100153411). It has space for 2 breakers, but they can be double pole breakers if you want. So you could do one 30 amp breaker and a double pole 20 amp (total of 40 amps on 2 switches) or if you don't think you need that much you could just do two 30 amp breakers.
Just keep in mind that this is a lot different from AC power where 15 amps equals 1600+ watts. With 12v DC, 15 amp breaker will only give you a pathetic 180 watts before the breaker trips. That will probably power your TV but I doubt it will power your fridge. Using 30 amp breakers allows you to plug most things in except hair dryers and other power hungry tools/appliances.
On the wiring you want to use the biggest gauge wire that your load center, breakers, and inverter can handle. #10 sounds about right for wiring on the 2nd story. But I would bring a much bigger wire in from outside to handle 70 amps. If you tell me the approximate distance of the run I can calculate what size you might need. For example, I had to bring 30 amps over a long distance of 60-70 feet so in order to not lose of ton of power I had to use 1 gauge wire, which is hard to use and expensive. If you have a reasonable 10-15 feet then it will be much easier.
I have made a load center but want to tie my solar panels to it and then connect from the load center to the charge controller. in the last part of your video you explained this, and this is how I've got it wired now. it dark and rainy today so no way of test it. But I have but a volt meter on it and with the breaker in the off position I get a negative volt reading verses a small positive reading with it on. 200 watt Renogy panels in parallel. With the breaker off and reading voltage at the solar panel charge controller connection I read - .900 volts with the breaker switched to on I get + .031 volts dc. The positive reading appears to be normal at this time of night due to it being dark. I did it like this to help clean up my wiring a bit and give some more control, I have fuses in my system as well. my question is, is the negative reading expected? Or did I do something wrong here. Regards, Wayne
+Wayne Hamilton The only way I have ever seen a negative reading is having the volt meter wired backwards (negative lead connected to positive side and vice versa). What reading do you get with a multimeter?
Very well explanation. Ty sharing..
Thanks! I appreciate it.
good info..thank you very much. now i can make may own solar panel system. i think this is not more expensive to buy this materials.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
In this video. I'm not sure if you have made a video using testers for current coming from the panel, showing how much juice the sun is putting in the panel per hour of any amount of time. To showing how fast it's charging the batteries. Ext
How would you set up a solar panels and wind turbines as a source? Also, how would a watt meter fit in this process?
You would need a charge controller that can handle wind and solar inputs at the same time. There are quite a few out there designed for that purpose. A watt meter could be wired in on the production side (between the solar panel and charge controller) or on the consumption side (between the battery and the load) depending on what you want to read.
So it basically distribute the power from the source to multiple destinations so if one of them have an issue it will break and it is circuit breaker will shutdown ?
Correct, if you use it as a load center. In a load center, you have power input and then it gets distributed to multiple outputs that are all protected by breakers. That is the same as your house breaker box. But if you wire it backwards like I show in this video, it takes multiple inputs and combines them into a single output. And each of the inputs is protected by circuit breakers.
This is very interesting 👍 you mean during day for example I can pull power from soler panel via the inverter and from Batteries simultaneously so if every of them have 5000 watt I can get them combined as 10 kwatt and distribute the to the loads ?
Yes, you could wire up a system that would do that.
nice set of video's ... i wonder how many people will still be confused ....
Thanks! I don't know how to make it any more basic than this without being insulting to most people.
Do strings in series get paralleled in the box, or do they need to be paralleled before going into the combiner box? In other words, does the box work as the parallel when I need the panels to be series and paralleled?
Generally, that is the point of the combiner box is to bring multiple inputs together in parallel to combine into one feed into a charge controller or grid tied inverter.
LDS, I was going over your last answer from a couple of weeks ago, I know that the question looks the same but what I'm trying to do is at this point is use that load center that I mentioned by jumping the two hot legs say with 8 AGW to keep it 110 volts so I can use the single pole 30 amp breaker, and running 10/2 from the inverter to that panel which is about 25 to 30 feet away, also the QO breakers are also rated at 48 volts DC, the other thing is that I don't know if they make a 15 amp plug that will take # 8 AGW to plug into the inverter, and the small load center that you use for your demo that has the screws so that you can jump do you have a model # I tryed to find it at home depot with no luck. Also do you have a private e-mail I would like to send you some pictures of this Shed set-up that also has a 7000watt Generator incorporated into it that slides on a dolly from inside the shed into an outside enclosure in case of a power outage, spent alot of time on this project and don't want to screw it up now I' m just and old retired guy with no money and a lot of time on my hands LOL
Al Ruark That is a lot of info and questions :) Shoot me an email at ldsreliance@gmail.com and we can start tackling those issues one by one.
Very helpful video. Thank you!
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
can you plug a load one the dc to ac power converter, then cut the wire so the power can go thru the breaker? there for you have constant ac power. Thanks helpful video :)
I don't understand your question. Sorry
I was asking, one the power inverter you have only 2 available outlets for use, can you plug in a powerstrip and divide the power so you have more outlets to use, in case you want to power somthing ore multiple loads? Thanks
Yes but each outlet on the inverter can only handle so many amps. So be careful you don't overload it.
hello, i really appreciate your videos. question, what gives you more or maximum power? is it more or larger solar panels, more or larger batteries or inverter size?
Taylor J. The short answer is all of them together. If you have lots of solar panels but only a few batteries you will run out of power fast at night or when it is cloudy (but you will have more power during the daylight). If you have more batteries but fewer panels you will have more backup capacity for dark but the batteries may not ever recharge fully because you don't have enough panels. And if you have a small inverter (like the cheapo 300 or 400 watt units you see for $20-30) they will be inefficient (wasting some of your power) and they will not be able to power bigger items like a refrigerator even if you have plenty of solar panels or batteries.
Does that make sense?
+LDSreliance What would you need to do if you wanted to power something like a refrigerator or space heater?
Frank Duffy
Refrigerators are do-able but space heaters would take a large solar panel system to run. Even the small ones use 1500 watts continuously which means you would need at least 2200-2500 watts of solar panels to run it after factoring in the losses and real world numbers. Refrigerators are fine once they are running but they draw a lot of power to get started for the first few seconds. You would need a big inverter and a pretty big battery to get one started.
Thanks, makes perfect sense 👍
Taylor J.
You are welcome. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Hi bro,I want to know how to power 1.5KW Hub motor using solar panel...& i was wondering how much capacity battery to use and what kind of connections to be made & also what kind of solar panel and how much to use ....Please share ur information as soon as possible....
Email me at ldsreliance@gmail.com.
raj c
What if you only wanted to run AC power through the load center? Do they make inverters that you can run positive and negative wires from (instead of 120 outlets or USB outlets) directly into the load center?
Yes. I have seen some like that. Usually those are the bigger and more expensive ones that are designed to be wired directly into your home load center/breaker box.
Just sacrifice a heavy duty extension cord, cut the plug end off and plug it into the inverter, the other end feeds your junction and breaker box for AC . Run it where ever you want from there. Just make sure your extension plug wire thickness is sufficient to carry any loads you may apply down the line, its easy to burn your house down if your pulling 2000 watts through a cheap 16 gauge cord into your breaker box.
wow great to know now i can order a few thanks also do you need too use a ground wire to ground so it wont short out ????thanks great video
Ground wire is always better but not required. Just make sure to use breakers and/or fuses and you should be fine.
Thanks for the great video! I was wondering if you could give a tip on which type of load centers and breakers to use. Can you give a reference e.g. in amazon. Thanks!
+Kirill Pushkin Without a doubt, the QO series by Square D (Schneider Electric) is the one to get. It is the only one I have seen so far that is rated for DC use. The other ones work (I have one Homeline series load center that has been running DC for 3 years) but I wouldn't recommend it. Also, make sure you get an outdoor one if this is going to be outside and may come in contact with rain.
Amazon's prices on this aren't any better than Home Depot but here is one I would recommend (top one smaller, bottom one bigger):
www.amazon.com/Square-D-QO24L70RBCP-Main-Center/dp/B002KB9NDM/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1461677169&sr=8-14&keywords=qo+square+d+outdoor
www.amazon.com/Square-Schneider-Electric-QO612L100RBCP-12-Circuit/dp/B00002N7N6/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1461677111&sr=8-7&keywords=qo+square+d+outdoor
+LDSreliance Many thanks! My understanding is that if you use a load center with a breaker then you do not need fuses. Is that right? Thank you very much for your help!
Kirill Pushkin
If the breaker is rated for DC then yes, that is correct. The breaker will trip if it exceeds the amp rating just like a fuse. A fuse would just be redundant in that case. You are very welcome!
Kirill Pushkin
Ah, I found you, this is what I was looking for from another one of your vids. only how would I ground it ?
I need to ground the chassis on my PROwatt SW 600. I won't need a inline fuse, (calls for 80W) with this method ?
thanks, I'll check out your videos.
I wouldn't ground the inverter through this box. The "ground" in the box is being used for the negative portion of the DC current. I would run a separate ground wire (ideally bare copper wire) from the inverter to a grounding rod or other type of earth ground. Don't be scared to install your own grounding rod. It is not that hard. I have a couple videos on how to do that pretty easily and cheaply (ruclips.net/video/-kpI8PFNYl4/видео.html and ruclips.net/video/K5eorpQBml0/видео.html).
As I mentioned in my reply to your other comment, an 80A fuse would be nice for added safety but if you are using a breaker it will trip if it overloads the circuit anyway. Fuses are cheap so it can't hurt, though.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO USE , SOLAR ,CHARGE CONTROLLER ,BATTERY ,THEN TO INVERTER WITHOUT USING THE LOD
what is the most number of battery's that this can handle i have 2 12v & 3 6v right now
if you find a 4th 6v then all of them ... as long as they are setup in 12v groups so 2 6volt batteries serial and then all the 12v groups in parallel ... or the 2 12volt panels in serial and the 4 6volts in series for then each set in parallel ... it depends on what you need more of amperage or voltage ... but you are limited by the smallest size the 12volt batteries can make ... for ease of use and safety ... mixing and matching 12v and 6v setups gets really funky really fast and costs a LOT more to deal with
cool vids buddy, I like your ideas.
Hey thanks! I appreciate it.
so you can use dc from the sun and store it and make ac at the same time?
Thanks for your videos; very helpfull.
+Carl Trummer No problem. Thanks for watching!
what if i want more voltage and more storage? i would also want to power multiple loads like about 10. would i have to buy more grid tied systems and put them together? i would like to power a room.
i am asking so that if you answere you would make a video please.
+Dcaro Dan You can get load centers that have lots of spaces for breakers. I don't know how big they get in the QO series of load centers but at least 10-12. Just make sure it is rated for DC voltage.
+LDSreliance thank you
Hello again LDS, I have a question for that no one seems to have the answer to. I just finished installing 13 = 100 watt solar panels and connected to a battery bank, now here's the question,The inverters are a 3000 watt modified & a 1000 watt pure sine and I would like to connect one or the other to a a SQ-D QO Breaker panel load center (QO 816L100amp 8 space 16 circuit) now this load center is for I guess a 240 sub panel but what I would like to know since the inverters are not hard wired and only have110 outlets can I jump the two hot legs in the load center to keep it at 110 volts on each side and use a 30 amp single pole breaker to feed 6 or 7 15 amp single pole breakers at 110 volts for the or 8 circuits in my house???
Thanks for all the help
Al ruark
Al Ruark I'm not an expert on AC power. I use load centers strictly on the DC side thus far and am only dabbling slowly into AC territory. Go ahead and shoot me an email and I think we can figure out some answers.
What's the section of positive and negative wire coming from panels ? My panel are 250 watt.
+freddyboys I don't understand your question. Could you rephrase?
ok sorry I want to know the size of the cable utilized. 6mmq ?
freddyboys
The size varies with the manufacturer. For 250 watts I think it would be around #12 AWG.
i would like to see a video where you have a off grid/direct current charging multiple batteries.
+Arctic Frost OK. I have a video showing how to wire up multiple batteries in either series or parallel. So you want to see the whole thing from solar panel to charge controller to battery bank (multiple batteries) to load center to inverter to load?
@@LDSreliance yes I want to see that
ok, how about using multiple batterys for a bigger inverter . say a 10,000 watt inverter to power a house. how many batterys , how big of a charger and how would the batterys be hooked together. and is it possible to be able to use 220 v appliances ?
+welllsaiddddd All of that is definitely possible. But the answer on what you need is it depends. It depends on what size batteries you want to use (they are rated in amp hours), how much electricity you use on a daily basis at your house, how much of a reserve of power you want for cloudy days, etc. That is a really complicated question and you will want to start really small before you go big like that. You will make a ton of very expensive mistakes if you go big for a whole house without knowing what you are doing.
I've been trying to find the Schneider QO series rated for use with DC power without success. Do you have a model number?
www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D-QO-100-Amp-6-Space-12-Circuit-Indoor-Main-Lug-Load-Center-with-Surface-Mount-Cover-QO612L100SCP/100148926
All you need is a 12 volt 10 slot fuse block. a grounding block and you are easily set up.
True. That would work for combining the strings or distributing power to multiple loads. It would also provide safety. But it doesn't let you individually disconnect strings or loads.
All you have to do to disconnect individual loads in the 10 block fuse block is pull the fuse to the load you want disconnected. Just like in a car fuse box, want to disconnect the radio, pull the fuse to the radio and so forth.
ok ' & 1 Question? ? how many bettery can we add in 32 watt solar panel ' i have 2 12v 70amph battery can i add both in one 32watt solar panel'?? if we can then plzz how we can '??? give me tips on video
Are you asking how to wire it?
I have to 2 battery how can i charge it by 1 solar panels
Aantaya Giri Wire the 2 batteries in either series or parallel (see video below) and then connect the solar panel to a charge controller. Then connect the battery bank to the charge panel. The charge controller will take care of the rest.
ruclips.net/video/4yxR-Iz2Xdc/видео.html
Can you connect multiple powersource (solar, minihydro, windturbine power) to a inverter
Hipa Furito You would have to combine the power from them somehow first before hitting the inverter. An inverter needs a steady stream of power and the current from those sources, especially wind, will fluctuate. That is why if you use those 3 sources of power to charge a battery bank and then let the battery bank power your loads you will get nice, clean, even power.
hie, if i need 2.5kwhrX24hr of energy then how much battery I need and how many panels I need to charge these batteries in just six hrs as usable day light remain for 6 hrs only. plz guide
Hey man, thanks for putting this up this really helps me on my project in Electronics. Already subscribe to you planning on building my own Solar Panel System at home once I got the budget. Any estimated budget for a System that light up 10-12 LED/light bulbs?
Probably around $500-600 total for all the components, wiring, etc. if you shop for good deals.
Hi new to solar systems and need help! I have 2 marine batteries a 20 watt panel charge controller and a 2000w inverter...but it keeps resetting. What am I doing wrong?
Shouldnt you be using a QO load center and QO breakers? I dont think HOM breakers are rated for DC usage...
ok , if i have a 6000 watt inverter could i hook up a regular battery charger up to charge the batterys in the night . if i have 400 watt panels do i need a 400 watt charge controller?
+welllsaiddddd Yes you can hook up a trickle charger to keep the batteries topped off at night. But you will want to make sure to disconnect it first thing in the morning. You don't want the charge controller and trickle charger to fight each other and possibly damage your batteries.
Charge controllers are rated in amps so convert watts to amps (divide by 12 if you are using a 12v system). 400/12=33.33 so you will need a 40 amp charge controller.
Sir I have a question.. Im planning to buy a 280watts solar panel, 30amps pwm charge controller and a 1000watts of pure sine inverter now the question is it is possible to run my 30 or maybe 60watts electricfan without a battery if yes what Ah of battery do i need so i can use my fan during night for 8hrs.. Hope you can answer my question thanks in advance!!!!
You can run the fan without a battery during the daytime when you get direct sunlight on your solar panel. So during the summer that will be around 8 hours depending on where you live and maybe only 2-3 hours during the winter. If you want to run it beyond that you will need a battery. To run a 60 watt fan for 8 hours you would need at least 82 amp hours of battery capacity. So I would recommend about a 100 Ah deep cycle battery and that will give you a little room for error.
+LDSreliance oh thanks! Btw, with 100ah deep cycle battery (bnew) and 8hrs continues usage during night time..how much percentage will be left knowing that it will requires to have atleast remaining 50% charged?
If you had an 82 amp hour battery (which doesn't exist in that exact number) it would be discharged to 50%. So if you had a 100 amp hour battery it would be roughly 59% after 8 hours.
+LDSreliance sir last question how can i compute the total usage time of my battery? Many thanks!!!
Christopher Derit Your battery should be rated in amp hours. For deep cycle batteries, that will be a rating of how many amps it takes to fully discharge the battery over a 20 hour time period. So if the battery is rated at 20 amp hours, it can provide 1 amp for 20 hours. (amps x hours = amp hours)
hi, nice video. Where can I buy this model Load Center ?
+Minascurta Ion They carry it at Home Depot. I am sure they also carry it at most other hardware stores with an electrical department.
I went homedepot they gave me the wrong thing
I think the demo would have been more effective if you had actually connected the box to the inverter, & zoomed in more so the small wires were more visible.
can i use this load center for my two laptops and 3 mobile chargers?
Yes. Those are small loads so you could even run them all off of 1 breaker if you wanted to. Or you could divide them up on their own breakers if you wanted to be able to switch them on and off.
LDSreliance how do i determine the pv that I will use for me to be able to run 2 laptops? and also the specs of the battery we use 220v here and my laptop charger is 65watts thank you.
It is a pretty complicated calculation. There are some good websites that help with the math but you need to know some basic information. Where do you live? How many days of backup power do you want to hold? How long does it take your laptops to charge and how often do they need to charge?
LDSreliance thank you will try to check google for that :)
I can do the math for you if you answer those questions or here is a link for a good calculator that I use: www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/solar-calculator.html
How well does dc work with aluminum verse copper in resistance a voltage lose
Aluminum is not ideal. I am sure there are lower resistance options out there but they would be much more expensive.
dc has a habit of creating a magnetic field with aluminum and cause extreme power losses ... best to stick with copper
.
take an aluminum pipe and a small magnet that fits in it with a little gap .. hold the pipe up and down and drop the battery ... it takes a long time to fall down ... this is a perfect way to show how an electromotive force would be buggered by aluminum in dc ... this btw is the nail as a magnet from a battery experiment just looked at from a different direction ... aluminum is great in high voltage AC as the alternating current is constantly reversing the magnetic properties of the aluminum and at the high voltages the loss is now basically 0 ... dc is always adding to it ... unless you want to get into some serious high voltage dc switching and then you can do the same thing ... but that is well beyond the needs of setting up a power system for a house or homestead
Any tutorials on how to hook up so you are just running AC to a breaker box. I have a shed I want to put some lights in and a few 3-4 outlets. Just for a radio and such. Thanks.
I will do a tutorial on this eventually. I have not used that method before and I am less familiar with AC power as I am with DC power so I need to make sure I understand it better before I try to teach others.
do you plan on using power tools or not ... if it's just a light or two and a plug or two for a radio or garden shed power tool charging then a basic dc to ac converter as the load with the required number of outlets and a battery to keep a resevoir of charge for night time is fine ... if you find any junk or super cheap campers pull the ceiling lights out of those with all the wires and electrical parts you can find and use them as they are all DC already and provide good lighting and even have a charge controller and dc to ac converter with multiple outlets to run stuff like radios and phone chargers etc ..
sir your videos are great... can you make video on how panel works... plz
You mean how a panel converts sunlight into DC energy?
sir i know about pn diodes, semiconductors, but i whats to know how panel is constructed and how how it works?
jashandeep kaur
Alright, I will look into making a video about that. Thanks
that should be an interesting video ... on photo voltaics ... perhaps you should cover the different wave length panels at the same time .... I do suggest using a (dang forgot the name) the power part of the wood stove fans ... basically a thermal difference power pack .. it dumbs it down to heat differential
i have 12v 7amh batetery with charge controler and i want to add inverter to run a tv can i do it can u give me some tips on this
You can use pretty much any inverter as long as it can provide enough watts for the TV. If your inverter comes with a cigarette lighter adapter you can just cut that off and then attach the positive and negative wires to the charge controller. However, a 7 amp hour battery will not run most TV's for very long. If you give me the make and model of your TV or tell me the amps it requires and how long each day you want to use the TV I can calculate what size battery you will need.
Ok & thank U For Reply
& what type of inverter we have to used'
Aantaya Giri
For a TV, you really want to use a pure sine wave inverter. They are more expensive but the cheaper inverters can hurt your TV over the long run.
Can u named of inverter'' or we can ask by saying wave inverter in shop
Call it a "pure sine wave" inverter. They should know what you are talking about. Or order one online such as this one:
www.amazon.com/Power-Bright-APS600-12-Inverter-continuous/dp/B002RWKIL0?ie=UTF8&keywords=pure%20sine%20wave%20inverter&qid=1464660756&ref_=sr_1_10&sr=8-10
Has anyone made this? Where you buy the parts. What are they called. Thanks
You can buy the load center from Home Depot. It is called a load center and the Schneider QO series is rated for use with DC power. There may be other brands and lines of load centers that are rated for DC but there aren't many.
LDSreliance Thanks for quick response. I know this video was from 2015 and prices change. Can you tell me the part number. And also if it comes with everything you have on video. This is the only thing that comes close to your box. But it is 60amp. www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D-QO-60-Amp-2-Space-4-Circuit-Outdoor-Main-Lug-Load-Center-with-Non-Metallic-Enclosure-and-Neutral-QO24L60NRNM/100174454. Thanks
The amp rating doesn't really matter unless you have a lot of solar power (600W or more). And when they rate the amps they are usually talking about AC power and not DC. But check the specs to be sure.
That one you linked will work fine. But it only has 2 slots for breakers. If you have more loads than that you may want to look at www.homedepot.com/p/Square-D-QO-100-Amp-6-Space-12-Circuit-Outdoor-Main-Lug-Load-Center-with-Cover-QO612L100RBCP/100071456
I love that you want to help people, however with electrical I understand what you are getting at. I've been a pro for 25 years. Someone to "green" can easily get killed if they do not understand colors change from DC to AC along with proper grounding. Sometimes they need to hire or horse trade info like wire size, colors, fire, and death if they get it wrong. Please understand I came from a do it yourself family...If it is to complex farm it out please! A old timers heart stopped after a shock this summer because he new just enough to almost die..Good luck an please be safe an never guess with electricity.....It can cost you your life.Have fun....
ok thanks for reply & tips
You are welcome. Good luck!
what gauge wire should we use ?
As big as you can afford. Seriously, it is always better to use bigger gauge wire as long as it will physically fit in the connectors and you can afford it. That will minimize voltage losses and maximize safety.
good video, thank you
+Chungchi Chiu Thanks and thanks for watching!
good info thanks
You are welcome!
nice video
mohammed manyanya Thanks!
thank you
You are welcome. Thanks for watching!
is charge controller and the load splitter is necessary??
can we replace both of them by using solar inverter only
Solar inverters are only for grid tied. So if you want to use your system off grid then you can't use a micro inverter or string inverter.
the load splitter isnt the charge controller is if you use batteries at all .. a good dc to ac converter the larger more advanced charge controllers that have the capability to tie into an ac breaker panel would be good for homestead type setups ... also if they can be linked (daisy chained) together for mutiple panel setups and battery setups would be good
What does lds stand for?
Latter Day Saint, as in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints aka "Mormons".
That is not a double pole breaker, it called a twin breaker double pole is 240volt single pole is for 120volt
Good call. I make mistakes speaking sometimes since I don't plan out my videos word for word. Thanks for catching that.
I have two aquariums that I'm trying to set up to use solar. Combined they use almost 500 watts and about 3.5 amps. The heaters use the most power. I'm trying to figure out what I'll need. Can anyone refer me to a video that explains how to figure out the size solar panels and batteries I'll need?
Victoria Lee I don't know of a good video for that. It is a complicated question with several variables. Knowing the peak wattage (500 watts) is helpful but only half the story. How many kilowatt hours does it use in an average day? What city do you live in? How many hours or days of backup power do you want to store in your batteries (for when it is cloudy/rainy/night)?
Can living plants battery be used in place of the solar panel?
Living plants battery? I don't understand.
LDSreliance ah the Phillip plants battery where they using living plants as power sources u can see it on RUclips
If it produces 14V or more of DC power then you might be able to use it.
yes you can , it will take 14 plants battery to equal 14v
Cool, I will have to look into that. I did not know about that.
Couldn't you just plug in a power strip into the AC converter and then be able to run multiple loads that way????
Yes, of course. The reason you might want to run multiple loads through a load center would be if you wanted to run some 12v loads as well as one load tied to your inverter or if you wanted to be able to turn certain loads on and off with the circuit breakers.
I'm in the process of building a 800W solar system. 100W x8 panels. I will have a 24v battery bank. 8 Trojan 6v 214AH Solar Signature Series batteries that are in the process of being built. I have a 40amp MPPT charge controller and a 3k PureSinewave inverter. I've been watching numerous videos and it seems the more I watch the more confused I get. So many different ways people say to do it. I'm a old dude now 65 and CRS. Any way I was going to hook my panels directly to the charge controller. A 50amp circuit breaker between battery bank and charge controller. A 300amp fuse to protect inverter. I also will have a 100amp shunt on the negative side of the battery bank. I will also put a reg battery disconnect inline. From what I understand this should be OK. I would appreciate any help someone could give me if this wouldnt work. thanks
How many batteries should be used to keep power all night long on a rv
That is a loaded question. What are you trying to run all night long? Where are you camping?
yes and no .. a trailer as sold generally only has one battery and that is fine for most uses ... heck if you can find an old trailer for sale super cheap (doesnt matter if it leaks or not) all you want it for is the dc bits n pieces .... it has all the gear you need to run a basic setup for a home built camper
.
now if they wanted to run a washer and dryer and Ac unit then more batteries are better ...
The problem I am having volt verse amps when it comes to charge controlers I want to pop for a midnight 150 seems to take the highest amps ! I read that you should not max out any charge controler you should leave like 10 or 15 % Lee way . With a 150 it would leave me more room to add panel I have tracer 40 amp with limits me to 400 at 12 v or going 800 with 24 volts now get the fact that the lower the voltage the less pannels you can use and the higher the voltage the more panels I can use and yes the wire size it not so critical on longer runs with 400w attention being my max due to the inverter I bought 12v to 220 to run a well pump at 15 amps I think I got the calculations right in my head I am sure I could run more but I just don't know how big the battery bank should or how many 6 volt flooded deep cycle batteries parallel it will cage that being said I live in the north east so winter really suck for solar power but I know it can be done was thinking of adding wind to it but there to is a different animal unto it self
You might want to look into charge controllers that can be networked together. Then you can run multiple charge controllers on the same battery bank and they will coordinate charging with each other.
LDSreliance this the other reason I was looking at midnight solar the other one is the outback I going to call midnight solar with so question be in the north east was think I should do a high bread system the best I think is missouri wind and solar I have looked at so much stuff and read watched vids on utube it's unreal but just to get start I need to know how much battery 400w will charge I think I am not sure 4 6v golf cart batteries with 215 amp hr rating at 12 volts any thoughs
Missouri Wind and Solar is complete garbage. That guy is a fraud and a hack. Please look into reviews of his company and practices before you buy from him.
400W will not be able to charge 215Ah very quickly. You would need multiple days to charge fully from a complete discharge. And that is if you do not use the system to power any loads for those days. My system is 600W for about the same battery bank size and it works pretty much perfectly.
LDSreliance ok talk to me about wind what pmg or pma turbine would you buy. The batteries 4 would make to 12v batteries at a cost of 400 dallors so your telling me 4 hundred watt can't re charge 2 batteries with a 215 amp hour rating
Correct, 400W of solar panels will take a while to recharge 215Ah of batteries. If you are going to be actively using your system to run loads during the day they will struggle to keep up. If you are only using the system occasionally you could get away with it.
I have not bought a commercial wind turbine so I don't know one to recommend. I have done a lot of research and read a lot of reviews and came close to pulling the trigger on a few small ones but have not done so yet. I do know that Missouri Wind and Solar has a bad reputation from numerous sources. Sorry I can't be more helpful there.
Nice
Thanks for watching!
why you need breaker(what function it has?) ? you cant put it in invertor?
This is not a required device. It is for combining multiple panel strings into one feed because your charge controller can only handle one set of wires.
thenks can you say i need 3 kilowat 220 volts energy how much solar panel i need and whao i need also to ctreate such energy converter and .... i have a big place....
You just need 3,000 Watts of solar panels. The 220V part doesn't matter. You'll need an inverter that can output 220V but it won't affect the size of the solar array.
Hi there, love the simplicity of your videos. Im adding a solar setup to a conversion van and Im planning to use a fuse block. (www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001P6FTHC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) will this work for my load center? I was also planning to connect a 400 watt inverter to the fuse block and run a fridge off the inverter. Lights, sink pump and fan would be run directly off the fuse block. Any problems or advice for that setup? Also what gauge wires would you recommend?
Yes, as long as all of the amperages are safely within the fuse specs you should be fine. Keep in mind that your fridge will surely not run on a 400w inverter. You might want to watch how much trouble I had getting a tiny dorm style fridge to run on an inverter: ruclips.net/video/zysqlSTZwOk/видео.html
Where is the Ground wire??
The systems grounds to the battery. An earth ground is not required for the system to function.
how to put solar power to power my house
hi frienda.i want solar panal bussiness information
+Chandra Sekhar Meaning you want to start your own business? Or you want my business information?
You keep saying "load center". Isn't that a "breaker box"? Just asking, because I've never heard of the former.
Yes, same thing. You won't find them labelled as a breaker box in the store, though. They are officially called load centers by the manufacturers.
@@LDSreliance Hey LDS! I'm just getting into solar and had a question on the load center. You say it's best to get one rated for DC, but do you mean the box itself or the breaker? I assume the breaker.
Also, I want to run Christmas lights off the solar panel but only want them to light at night - to allow battery to charge during the day. Can I add an inline timer? Can it go between the Charge Controller and the load center?
can you do a solar car
It has been done but in order to get it to work it is basically a tricycle with a motor and a lightweight skin on the outside. You can't drive it legally on the street and if someone ran into you... You just can't make a real car run on solar right now with the existing technology.
So did you did the solar car
johauri pacheco No, I have not made one. I have seen examples of people who have built them like high school science teams or corporate competitions and they are cool but not practical at all.