Off-Grid Air Conditioning - Solar Mini Split Battery Backup System
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- Опубликовано: 14 июл 2023
- Building a battery backup system to run a 12kBTU mini split heat pump with 2 100ah Redodo batteries.
Redodo 100AH Lifepo4 Batteries
www.redodopower.com
ca.redodopower.com
Discount code: SmitHVAC
Solar AC with pre-charged lines available now!
signaturesolar.com/?ref=_KvVr...
www.windynation.com/ 
Авто/Мото
Redodo 100AH Lifepo4 Batteries
www.redodopower.com
ca.redodopower.com
Discount code: SmitHVAC
Solar AC with pre-charged lines available now!
signaturesolar.com/?ref=_KvVrzchAclARI
I really like how all of your romex lines come down then take the corner to go into your breaker box.
I’m sure you realize there are gains to be made by setting your panels to a better angle to the sun. I just recently accepted delivery of the eg4 12k btu hybrid system. This one has the pre charged outdoor unit. I’m going to see how well it performs off of a 1500 watt array which I already have . I already have a 4k split phase system with a home built 300 amp hour lifepo4 battery for AC loads so I should be able to run the ac for a few hours past solar cut off. I’m in the high desert of California with temperatures similar to Vegas. I’m encouraged by your success.
I do realize the solar is not optimal but any more angle shades the panels behind. I'm looking at upgrading my solar panels next for some high wattage and better mounting system. I'm glad to hear you recently purchased one, hopefully you have good success too. Thanks for watching
@James update??😊
I like your videos because I am learning at the same pace. You set realistic goals and complete them, I appreciate that. Everyone on RUclips is either an absolute pro or total rookie. I like that you’re in between. Thanks
Thank you, I appreciate that!
@@SmitHVAC. total rookie here , I don't understand what is needed to run the 12K BTU unit 24/7 in hot areas of the country, Palm Springs, (most of Arizona,) (Las Vegas,)
from 8PM to 8AM from May to September with AC, when it's often 80 degrees to 95 degrees at night and still needing AC, but the solar panels are largely inactive ?
The only way this makes to me is, if the solar panels produce so much power, they overproduce enough power for batteys to absorb it,
than your AC somehow knows to switch to battery power every night starting say around 8PM ?
@@flolou8496 the minisplit automatically switches to Ac input after the solar becomes too weak to run the unit. You can have it wired to a standard 120v breaker if you have grid power, or if you are offgrid you would wire it to your inverter setup, but you would need lots of battery to get through the entire night.
@@SmitHVAC. I guess that's why I have to keep learning and keeping up to date with those options, that alot more complicated like the one I'm including the link below, however with that complexity, seems to come the ability for the battery/solar generator to store more power, when the solar panels go inactive at night:
see: ruclips.net/video/ELB8v0j9lfY/видео.html
I keep asking myself has the technology there to see peole go offgrid for 15,000 out the door with the right set up yet , (for say all electrical needs on 1800 sft 24/7
The old sales line of saying your solar system would pay for itself after 15 years to 20 years, never appealed to me,
I appreciate the detailed review of that mini-split and running it with solar.
Thanks for watching!
I currently did an installation of two 12V 220AH Tubular batteries with a 2.5kva inverter. 1200watts PV panels connected in parallel. Using a 100A PWM charger controller. The system does well with my 100watts refrigerator, 160watts 55 inch TV and sound bar. The best investment i have done this year.
Awesome!
Great vid. Going to comment on just one small detail that’s worth knowing.
That coil of wire trick is basically a Choke. Like a transformer, but it only has 1 winding. It’s Impedance slowing down the in rush of current, not Resistance.
If you unrolled the spool into a long straight line it wouldn’t have nearly the same effect.
Thanks, that's a good point. That might be worth trying some day, unspooling the roll and testing the results
@@SmitHVAC. Just use a pencil with a point on both ends (as a carbon resistor)
I heard that the graphite in large pencil could serve the same purpose as a pre-charge resister.
I've heard that as well, maybe I'll try that next time. Thanks for watching once again!
That's one of those things curiosity will leave me no choice except to take a multimeter to one and see
Thanks for the update. I have one of those EG4 mini splits and it works great. I also have my AC input coming from my solar system.
Thanks for watching, sounds like a lot of people are having good luck with these!
Share your setup of the AC input please. Did you get the 12000 btu hybrid ac from EG4?
@@sxmroadcam6347 I did get the EG-4 mini split. Solar panel and AC input. My AC input is fed from 2 SMA Sunny Island 6848 inverters. I have 1800w of solar going to the mini split at 280v. I am cooling every day, as we are in Florida. This is an amazing unit
HVAC too / 34kWp totally off grid. Looking good. Looks like you'll get about 4 hrs of good running with two of those, 8 hrs with 4.
I just added 2 more batteries, It will be in the next video
Like your video....i have a great interest in offgrid power .... Im 44 years old have a good deal of 12 volt wiring experience with automotive and semi truck ...i have a suggestion !! All of your battery connections and wire connections need lock washers ontop of the ring connecters ..your ground wires are important too slightly larger ground cables than your required hot cables will help alot ...the ground side of your batteries are actually carring the batteries fire power ...dont forget to get the lock washers to bite into bite into ring connecters when tightening .....good solid connections are crucial on d/c systems of any sort.. thank you for reading if you have
I run a inovair 38 seer 9000 bru unit non stop on solar and batteries. The high seer unit uses half the power of the popular pioneer brand. It tooks a lot of study time lol. I finally decided on the inovair and couldn't be more happy with it
I would like to learn the details of your successfull installation of the inovair 38 seer...sounds like a choice
@@sheridanatwood513 it was the first minisplit I've installed but it was really easy. I watched a David poz video a couple times. He installed the exact unit I bought so it made it really simple. I just bought the vacuum pump and guages and I had the other tools needed. It took me probably 3 hours from the time I started opening boxes till it was blowing cold air. The other units like pioneer seem to be good but if running them on solar it's best in my opinion to get the most efficient you can find and still afford. The inovair was a few hundred bucks more but it has a much wider band of operation. It goes from 2000 btu up to 13500 btu and it being able to go that low is one of the main factors in its super low energy consumption. Mine runs 24 7 when I'm not on the road in this semi truck and my batteries never get down much below 80%. I could have gotten away with a smaller battery bank but I wanted that security for several days bad weather. Most the time the inovair is pulling just over 200 watts. Another great thing about the inovair vs other brands is its ability to make heat all the way down to -20 degrees. Hopefully this winter it will save me alot with not buying as much propane. I've not used the heating with it yet so I can't speak on the efficiency but hopefully it's fairly good also. The David poz videos showed it doing great with heating and air conditioning tho
I assume you're inverting both to 240 VAC. Do you know what that does to the SEER #?
@@dawa8746 yes it's a 240 unit and I use a 120/240 sungold power low frequency 4000 watt inverter. I'm not sure how all the math works out but I do know it runs at around 200 watts after the first 10 or 12 minutes. Now the best thing about the inovair is it's still heating at well below 0 degrees and how.. im not sure but it does. Although it does use a considerable more amount of power to heat than to cool. I have 30kw in one battery I built and 12 to 15 kw in a second battery for backup and the second is linked to the first with a victron DC to DC charger that automatically dumps the power to the first battery bank once the voltage from bank 1 is low. I've never came close to running out of power since. I'm a truck driver that's rarely home more than 3 days at a time and normally only once a month but when I'm home the minisplit runs non stop and has been great so far going on 2 years
Thanks for the content and it was interesting. I just completed a 9 hour test of my 6000BTU LG window unit with a high SEER rating and pulling no more than 500 watts at 120v. My set up is a smaller scale using 800AH 12v AGM bank and a 1500 watt inverter and it worked great using two Victron 100/20 MPPT controllers. I ran the unit beginning at noon until 9pm (after sunset here in Michigan) to test everything. Today, the SOC was 86% and using those two MPPT controllers with east, south, and west facing smaller panels the battery is fully charged. So, if you can dream it and spend time you can successfully have A/C off grid easier than heating off grid using inverters...... new subscriber today.
Awesome! It's a good feeling being able to cool your house for free. Thanks for subscribing!
Excellent MPPSolar = Voltronic = Good Quality :D If you live in area where it never get's below +5°C leave it in the shack :D
The best way I found to pre charge the inverter is a test light when the light goes out your all set .
That's a great idea!
Nice tip
Awesome! Thank you so much for sharing!!
Thank you for watching!
I spent that last 23 years repairing Xantrex, Magnum, Trace, Heart Interface low frequency inverters and hundreds of off brand Chinese made high frequency inverters. So I can tell you from experience that the high frequency inverter that you chose for your HVAC project will probably only last a little more than a year if your lucky. The FETs that are used in transformerless high frequency inverters were never meant for powering motors, especially motors that power AC compressors. I would highly recommend switching to a low frequency inverter if you want your system to last.
Thanks for the tip, what would you recommend in roughly the same spec?
I would bet the coil of wire is inductance rather than resistance that is avoiding the spark.
Very nice video, can you show us how you connect the 120 volts line
Thanks
I love the way everything is explained for beginners that now getting a hang of solar ac systems. Just curious to know how many solar panels have you installed?
Thanks for watching, at the time I only had 1 290w panel, I have 4 more on the way
I run my eg4 ac via 6 400w bifacial modules i use it in my office for my solar company. Its run offgrid pv only for a few months
Awesome, have you been happy with its performance?
Im running my 12,000btu Senville mini split on 4 120ah Lithium batteries for 240ah 24v 5760wh but im using 16 Lithium Lifepo4 cells & building another bank of 280ah cells to add to it
Make an update video when you add the cells!
Newbie here. Please excuse the silly questions.
1. How many kw for the 12 hours to run it offgrid?
2. Would be better to use the batteries direct rather than an inverter?
I say this because the system cannot tell the difference if the panels run to the batteries first and then to the system as oppossed to panels directly to system.
It depends how hard it had to run to cool the space. It's always modulating but I guess it would be around 6 to7 kWh. You would have to have a very high voltage battery bank to run directly and it would definitely void the warranty.
I thought the advertisement for the eg4 mini split was ac/dc unit so you can run directly from your solar panels without having to have the inverter or batteries.
@@goodfortune6399 You can, just showing what's possible if fully off grid
Another great video. How long can you run the EG4 on battery power? I have a similar albeit slightly larger system (Growatt SPF3000 TL LVM-ES with a EG4 Lifepower4 battery and 3k of solar) that I plan use with an EG4 12k btu hybrid mini split.
About 4 hours on this setup, when I move it to the house I will likely add 2 more batteries. Usually I shut it off around 8pm after it cools off and I've only used 30-40% of the battery
I know it is exciting to have the option to directly input solar power into an AC unit but for your application where you require additional runtime after sunset, am guessing that the only feasible option comes down to abandoning the direct solar input option on the EG4 Mini Split and running the solar panels' power output directly into the inverter, then splitting the use of the inverter output for the dual purpose of charging the batteries and also to supply AC voltage to the mini split, ...allowing the AC system to seamlessly switch over to battery power after the sun goes down and solar panels output=0W?
Yea you're correct. I have a dedicated panel array for the AC and another one for my battery bank. It powers several loads including the mini split.
You got it looking good. Thanks for the video. I noticed now Signature Solar has the mini split in plug and cool with pre charged lines, no need to pull a vacuum. Only drawback is the line itself . Whatever is not needed has to be rolled up and put behind the unit. What is the maximum watts you've seen unit draw of the AC line? I noticed to are able to regulate the ac input from 0 to 600 warts. So I figured it didn't use more than 600 watts at any one time. Still haven't gotten mine yet. To many expenses on my mowers has set me back a bit. Thanks in advance..... Jeff
Yes they do have the precharged version now. I'm hoping to make a video on one soon. I've seen it pull up to 1000w in cooling and 1200w in heating but it doesn't stay there long, usually ramps down after 10 to 15 minutes of runtime. Thanks for watching
@@SmitHVAC. Did you get your line set covers and the mounting brackets from Signature Solar?
@@JWTX No I got those from a local supplier
Just about all of our standard 14-18 SEER units consume about 1000W per ton (12000 btu). 20-100% more in heat mode, depending on unit. My Fujitsu 9000 33 SEER runs about 700W max in cool, 1400W in heat (it really throws the heat out, even below 0F.
Great trick on the resistor but I have never seen an issue with the spark. You know it's coming and do a quick touch, it's there then gone and no markings or damage that I have ever seen. Just my experience.
It depends on the inverter, I think typically the larger the inverter, the larger the spark
Great video. Spool of wire as your pre-charge resistor, eh? Great idea. Curious what the ohms are - got a multimeter? Thanks for sharing
I'll have to check! Thanks for watching
I believe someone may have alluded to this earlier and apologize if I missed your reply. Why use the MPP inverter if only using it to power the heat pump? Why not use the solar panels to charge the batteries and have the batteries power the EG4 directly. During hours of sufficient sunlight, the solar can run the EG4 and any unused energy will recharge the batteries. The inverter is the most inefficient part of your system. I don't think you have any excess capacity and will still need to borrow from your utility but much less. Thank you for listening.
A few people have mentioned this now. It may work but I'm not ready to void my warranty just yet.
@@SmitHVAC. I think the limiting factor is the requirement for 90VDC. Would require one heck of a battery or a boost converter.
Your doing what I plan on doing with my workshop with my E4 Solar A/C. For now it just running during the day on solar alone. Still doing my homework on battery storage and type of inverter to know what my cost will be for investment. Thoughts on Growatt inverter? Still not set on lithium battery yet, how far can you draw down on the batteries you bought?
I think growatts are good, I looked at a few but ended up finding this one used locally for a good price. The beauty of lithium is you can run them all the way down to about 10% before the voltage really starts to drop, but if you can find some good golf cart batteries or similar locally they would do the job too
Just wondering. If you use an inverter with solar and batteries, why not just buy a mini split without direct attached solar? Just wondering before I buy. Thanks for excellent vids!
If you want to get started with solar Ac, the EG4 model and some solar panels is the cheapest way to get going. I bought this equipment afterwards to add the after hours solar aspect. If you already had a large battery system and inverter you could go either way!
Very nice video. Informative. How much power consumption does the inverter use in standby mode? How much Solar did you say you are using?
The inverter uses 50w in standby which is pretty high. At the time I only had a 290w panel, but it worked ok because the AC ran on the dedicated solar all day while the batteries charged.
How are you charging the batteries? Do the solar panels provide enough in the day to run the AC unit and charge the batteries?
I am looking to buy the same setup for a South Florida of grid shop for 24/7 air conditioning. Would like to know how many batteries it would take to run all night until solar kicks in?
It would depend a lot on how well the shop is insulated, how big it is etc. I need about 6.5kwh to get it through from sunset to about 9am when I have enough solar again. In my Canadian climate I rarely run it over night as it tends to cool off, so this 4.8kwh is more than enough for me
Can you extend the pergola? Two well placed 4x4s towards the shed and three 2x10s - you could land six more panels, no?
I probably could, but I'm planning a ground mount right now and upgrading the pergola panels to 400w each
No resistor, no problem…. Take a normal number 2 pencil, sharp it on both sides, and put on tip on the terminal and the Oder tip on the cable. Graphite on the pencil should be enough resistence.
I apologize as I have been bing watching RUclipss on the EG4 mini split that takes solar directly. Why do you not just go direct solar during the day and battery (charged by other solar) through the inverter at night?
That's what I'm doing, it's connected all the time but it prioritizes solar and only pulls from the batteries after the sun starts to go down
@@SmitHVAC. Got it!
How many solar panels?
This is probably a stupid question, but doesn't that EG4 run off of DC? Is there a battery management solution that can charge DC and also output DC so you don't lose with conversion? Or a way to configure a system so the batteries can provide DC to the minisplit?
Yes it's possible but it's more battery power than I have, it needs to be above 90vdc
When you move it into the house, will you turn off the beeping noise?
I've turned off all the beeps, the only one I can't turn off is the first beep when it powers up, but it runs 24/7 so it's not really a problem
soon california will charge solar users 20$ an hour to use the sun
😂 Probably
That eg4 opporates1kw or less? I was looking that up the other day, thought I say 1500
In heating mode it will get up to around 1300 watts
Yes windy nation does make real good wires (I’ve bought several ga’s and lengths)
But they have always been short a inch or so! 😮
Yep every time.
But it’s quality wire.
Interesting, I have not measured these. Maybe I will!
why 24v and not 12v? Will that inverter not work with 12v batteries?
No it won't, it's a 24v inverter
Will solar panels mounted on the roof heat up the roof?
No, the air gap under the panel actually makes the roof cooler
I want to buy a hybrid inverter from aliexpress. Powmr. But so many manufacturers from china are just lying about the specs. Im scared to purchase a dud. I need to run a small 9000btu inverter ac , a fridge, a fan, lighting, and a tv. I think 5kw inverter should handle it. Any recommendations.
I like the EG4s from Signature Solar, pretty cheap for the specs.
signaturesolar.com/?ref=_KvVrzchAclARI
Does anyone have a website / forums for this stuff as well? I am completely knew to it, so if i start going down this journey i think... i know what to get but I could also be completely wrong.
Check out Diy solar forum
Must not be that hot there I put a small 5000BTU window AC in a shed it draws 960 watts when outside temp is 117F.
Is it an inverter Ac able to ramp the compressor frequency? Or is it just on/off? We never see temps over 100f so yea that's a lot hotter climate
The Plug N Cool is supposed to come complete with its own built in solar controller and pure sine wave inverter and is supposed to be a truly plug and play, depending on an already estabished 1400 watts of solar minimum. Is this a different system and not the newest self contained version or is the information online about it all being truly self contained and plug and play false information?
This is the previous model, it still has the mppt and runs directly on solar panels but it did not come precharged. This one requires hvac specific tools.
Please forgive my ignorance. Is there a way to build a battery system on the DC side? Seems like an extra step to have the battery power converted to AC to supplement the solar DC. What am I missing?
If you put enough batteries in series and found a mppt that could charge at 200V then it's possible. I don't have that equipment at my disposal. Then you're also dedicating all that equipment to one task, this system powers my other loads now that it's in my house.
@@SmitHVAC. thanks! I was mostly asking out of curiosity to learn. I appreciate your reply
@@CJB_B95L No problem, that's a question a lot of people have asked. So much that I reached out to the manufacturer to confirm it was possible! Thanks for watching
@@SmitHVAC. this is really intriguing to me because as far as I can tell, this isn’t really grid tied so you wouldn’t need all the permitting. It’s an appliance that can use either or both but if power went out, solar would not be feeding into your mains, causing a hazard.
question so 2 batteries is enough to run this unit off grid 24/7 with solar?
No, it won't run 24/7. This gets me 4 or 5 hours after the sun goes down. I usually only need to run it until around 8pm when things cool off but obviously it depends on your weather
@@SmitHVAC.- one of the great benefits of the Canadian summer!! I now live in Florida...
Got me thinking. But summer in florida is hot and hot 24/7
Where you able to run the minisplit all night off that battery set up?
No, not on 2 batteries
What type of main fuse are you running, and does it ever get hot
Just a basic 200A fuse, it doesn't get hot
@@SmitHVAC. so not class t
Nope
Is that setup capable of heating
Yes check out my recent videos
what does it take to run a central air. Thanks 220 v
Yes central AC's are 240v, this mini split is 120v
Central air takes massive power and massive battery bank, from what I have seen. These mini-splits are much more "do-able" re price, space, and setup.
Where on the EG4 does the extension cord connect?
It has standard line/neutral/ground terminals, I temporarily wired in a male plug end for the purpose of this video
@@SmitHVAC. Awesome. new subscriber here by the way. Can it switch between 120v and 240v?
Thanks for subscribing! This is a 12k btu 120v model, the larger ones are all 240v and they all have a DC range of 90 to 380v DC
@@SmitHVAC. seems the 120v model gives a lot of flexibility when running off battery backup. I expect a 240v battery backup inverter would cost a lot more.
Yes it does, I ran it on a little 1000w inverter and 100ah battery in my other video and it worked great
That's a very long run and power lost in that extension cord
Still had 119VAC at the unit, 14Awg cord. No issues.
how long does ur system last with the ac on when the sun goes down?
About 10 hours with my current setup, I've added 2 more batteries but I usually shut it off after 2 or 3 hours
@@SmitHVAC. so you have 4 battery now and you have the battery on 12v or 24v
24v
@@SmitHVAC. and youre inverter coverts the 24v to 110v
@@psychopath_ca007c.a.7 yes
How long did you run the Unit with this config?
A few weeks, I have a small power station for the shed now and my EG4 is backed up by my 6000xp
I mean with the 2 battery charged on only AC
@@dealinator9 Oh not long, 2 batteries was good for 5-6 hours after dark
@@SmitHVAC. which cheaper material would you recommend me to invest to use it with AC ? for 8-10 hrs
@@dealinator9 a server rack battery or wall mount batter
Ok
Ok
sell the small solar panels and buy bigger
I'm not subscribed
Ok
I challenge everything your saying! Do not believe this . Iam a EE the math s not there.
Ah there's your problem.. Thanks for letting us know. The numbers are all there plain as day to see in the app and the inverter.. Do you think I'm faking those too?
Your hooked to power. Your lying Your system couldn't do any of the thing your saying.
Oh no you caught me, great detective work sherlock. What would I gain from making a fake video about this?
How many ah does it take to start a compressor in 24vdc? What is the current draw on a 24v system to run 2kw at 1/3 duty cycle for 12 hrs? What is the maximum power generation @optimal sun for the area? Then the lie starts to become more clear.
The reason for giving deceptive information to the un educated . So they return to you to buy more and receive more partially true advice and still buying more and needing you more. So the motivations are clear !
@@corashy1950 You seem confused.. I'm not selling anything, I'm not starting any compressors at 24vdc, I'm not running 2kw at 1/3 duty cycle for 12 hrs. Did you watch the video at all? Maybe you should just move on..
If you have people's best interest in mind . You would 1st educate .A super cap would need to be put in place to handle compressor start current. A BMS is a must and most of all a 48v,60,72 or 96v system is far better than any 24v system every could be . System is not mobile so weight is not a issue .LF big transformer GOOD for compressor and motors . Same setups on old navy ships planes and bomb shelters and remote living facilities voltages vary to 600v