Joe I've never seen a simple explanation of a solar system so well done I have a good understanding of the system. Also doing your own research and building a complete set-up by yourself gives you the knowledge of every piece in the system and can troubleshoot the problem. Thanks
I can't believe.... That u worry so much about people u shouldn't. I understand u have to say the electrician part but caring about what people think who cares. I thank u so much as u explained it well, and made it all seem easy. I was so worried as I'm have machine my heart is ran off of electricity but I can't afford to live and wait for a heart so off grid I go, and u made me feel like I got this shit. So thank u
I've watched a lot of these types of videos and I appreciate the approach you took here more than any of the others. It's nice to see the raw process and not worry about the trolls who never do anything themselves. I'm going to subscribe. I hope you share more as you grow your system. Thanks.
I'm with you on the lead-acid batteries. I understand Lithium is a game changer for most situations but not all. I have a cabin up North Michigan. We go to this cabin maybe 10-20 times a year for a weekend. I do have a Bluette EB150 that I love and take with me each trip although to power the water pump, gas stove ignitor, lights, radio, charge cell phone, charge GMRS radios and run a diesel heater, an AGM battery I bought seems to be the best tech for me. I have just 200 watts of solar to charge the battery back to full after we leave (100 watt would be more than enough but I had two panels and so installed them both). The lithium powered EB150 Bluette works well in that I keep it with me at home inside my house (temp controlled). I also use the Bluette as backup at home to power fridge and sump pump / couple lights when power goes out. Usually, power comes back in an hour or so and if not then I have a generator I hook up to power the house. I see what you have and think to myself "that is perfect". I wouldn't go to a lithium battery unless you plan to heat the area they are stored in (for extreme cold weather areas). My understanding is that Lithium is actually better in cold weather for discharge, just not charging. If I were to live at my cabin full time, I would definitely buy the Lithium batteries and simply keep them inside. Thank you for taking the time to post your video. I always enjoy different perspectives.
Thanks for the great explanation of how you arrived at the size of your system and it’s components! I’m still in the research stage of building a system just for power outage backup, and your point about analyzing the real needs really hit home with me. Keeping within a small budget is also key as many of the systems that others have discussed left me feeling like it would be pretty expensive to build something that would have likely been overkill just to have a small amount of emergency power. Thanks for presenting this no frills practical approach.
I just have to say thank you! You are the most real about solar energy i've ever heard. No sponsorship no one sending you free things and you have to say good things but real world solar experience. Keep the videos coming so refreshing to hear from a real person. That's not getting paid thousands of dollars with free stuff
DIY must be e Joe thing! :) Nice video and thanks for posting. I just built my ground mount wood rack 2.7 Kw system 48v with six panels, Hybrid Inverter and 2 LiFePo4 batteries. Works perfectly. :)
Joe, Glad I found your site. I can just say.... "What they said" ...everything all the other commenters said about what a simple "down home" explanation about how you planned and built your system and how it works. Very nice too about the DC to DC converter for your water pump. Many people can learn so much from your video. And your follow up on "what I would do differently" is very, very valuable. Thanks much!
Good vid. Thanks for taking the time to show us how it’s going. I received 2 panels and that same mppt charge controller I have a few deep cycle batteries that can use to store energy. I like the advice of staying on the 12volt system. Later. I’ll get a 48 volt system when I build my solar pergola.
Given what I see of your equipment it wouldn't be too hard to repurpose an old non working deep freezer to house everything. This would give the benefit of insulating them during cold weather. If really cold you could include a single 60 or 100 watt light which should easily heat the space of the freezer. Just a thought I was thinking of doing myself.
I love your system! We have 800 watt , 12 volt system for our house we use, and at the worst case its enough to survive with. We put it in to just for emergency's, but have been adapting to its use.
Is 800 watt enough to function with on minimalistic living needs of maybe a bit of cooking, some heat, and very little power needs? And how does that turn out in winter? Thanks.
@@jheremck I used to work for 2 interior designers, and that’s (what I said above in quotes) what we would always do. Brilliant use of space, resources and colors. I’m so impressed by what they’ve accomplished, and believe me….I don’t impress easily lol.
@@lisak6226 ...yep...and l too do not impress easiIy...it's those who persevere without aIways needing someone to guide them through the process, or doing the work for them. ln other, words, they can figure it out by thinking about it :)
Hay Joe and good review! Off grid 20+ years now with just a small 12 volt system and you are right that 12 volt is cheaper to maintain and you can get parts locally. I use lots of 12 volt appliances and running DC direct current you are not losing power converting it with an inverter and if your inverter fails your water pump and appliances will still work. I still have my Vmax tank 125Ah AGM batts on my main system and still going strong after 10 years but I did set up a recharging station with LIFEPO4 and I will be converting my main system to those probably this summer because they have double the capacity. My batts are kept inside because our -20 weather here would zap a flooded cell down to nothing overnight. We don't have high humidity here so I use a swamp cooler and only 85 watts but I do have a window AC I can kick on in the day. The 12 volt fridge/freezers have made life a lot easier and they are affordable now for off gridders. Keeping a fridge running off a small system was a major problem when I first went off grid. For your water pump I would suggest a switch inside the cabin so you can turn it on and off only as needed. I see you have the same propane heater and I am guessing you are also using a propane OD water heater. Your solar mount is showing some age like you said and I would look at the ecoworthy rack mount that is adjustable so you can change the angle for winter and summer sun. Reasonable price on Amazon. Ok, good to see you are enjoying off grid life and have a good one friend!
When I first did off grid in 2010 I did just regular deep cycle and regular car batteries and everything worked great. Did not even know that you could only use 50% of the battery, just used them and it worked great, but now...
Great video. I am on a strict budget so I am useing flooded lead batteries I recovered from my local auto parts store that were in the core pile . Ask the manager to let you go through the old batteries with a tester and buy the batteries with 12 volts . Equalize charge and desulfate them .Any that can't be recovered take back and trade in on your next run . I have 500+amp.usable storage that cost less than 1 new battery.
Great video brother! Just finished my solar installation...! Got all Victron components with a 100/30 solar charger, and a 500w inverter, like you said:"That's all I need"... I've stuck with 12v because I'm new to this... But, I really enjoyed the commentary, and would enjoy seeing more videos! SALUTES
What's the surge draw of your refrigerator or air conditioner? I'm impressed that the inverter handles both. Lead acid is fine, infact it's hands down the most reliable for the average person. I know dang well that the life of leas acid is going to be extended with a modern charge controller like my victrons.
Hey Joe! Lithium batteries CANNOT be charged below 32F/0C, so would be useless in your current situation. You would have to put them in the cabin, or a heated box. If you drop back to 12 volts, you will have to disconnect a solar panel, to avoid overloading the charge controller. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! All the best.
+SarkyBugger I’m not changing this setup. Just, if I had it to do over again, knowing what I’ve learned now. The solar panels I could leave setup the way the are. I’d only have change the battery bank! But you are correct though. It ain’t broke, so I ain’t changing nothin’ lol.
This has similarities to mine. I used a 40 amp Epever charge controller, and twenty marine batteries from AutoZone. I have that same watts meter on my 600 watts wind generator, but I used an MT 50 on the solar system. I used a 24 volts, 2000 watts Aims Power inverter charger. My A/C uses 640 watts. I have 1000 amp hours of batteries. I bought a Winco Lil Dog generator, but rarely use it. It's 2400 watts, just big enough to run my 75 amps inverter welder. I've just had the wind generator for a month. I'm considering buying a Midnite classic charge controller for it. At 6 a.m., I'm showing 25.5 volts with the wind generator putting in about 150 watts gusting to 450 watts. I have four different brands of panels, six different sizes. I pieced mine together during the pandemic. They'd be out of the same one I got the last time, so I'd get what ever they had. I've been using 1200 watts, wired like yours, series/ parallel, 2 panels to a frame. I made some frames out of square pipe, so they wouldn't blow around, after I shattered a panel in a storm. So one frame has two different sizes of panels on it. I found some good panels on clearance so I bought two. So when I get those wired up, I'll have 1400 watts. The way my panels are arranged, I have 600 watts in the morning, 1000 at noon, and 800 in the evening. My controller can only take 1040 watts. But that configuration will let me run the air conditioning unit longer. Nice setup you have. It's sort of like mine. Just imagine adding fourteen more batteries, lol. P.S. click on my picture if you want to watch a very short video of the wind generator spinning.
I was curious if you are maintaining the water in your batteries. I noticed they all still have a label on them that says to "remove and discard this label" to access the caps to check the water level.
I like your thoughts on size to my needs I'm planning on 2000 watts maybe 3000 but there is no way I've found to upgrade to split phase 220 so my air-conditioning won't work and no way to go to a heat pump water heater or a heat pump dryer but I do have a fridge freezer furnace and a shallow well pump to run also where do you get 12 volt dc led Edison base light bulbs all my lights are on one circuit so I can switch them to 12 volts then I can shut off my inverter at night
When you first plug something into the power inverter, there's a bit of a voltage drop typically for the load. I had questions about this. Some people say too much drop means battery wear/damage. But I don't know if that's true. Also some voltage drop, like a small amount should be there to indicate a load is going through. So it seems like there's some range there. Maybe some drop is the load, but it could be that too much voltage drop isn't good either? Do you have any thoughts on this or anyone else for advise? Thanks.
I know you gave your disclaimer - fair and honest. However for the Internet sake I have to make some correction. Wen you series panels you increase the volts - doubled. The current remains the same. When you parallel the panels the volts remain the same and the current is doubled. In both cases the wattage remains the same. There is no trade off there. Power = volts x amps.
Hello Sir, just found you. I have a large 300 ah LiFeP04 12v battery, 60 amp MPPT, 2000w pure sine inverter, two 190w 12v and two 100w 12v panels but haven`t wired it up yet. I have used the battery with a plug-in 20 amp charger for power outages. It easily runs my tiny little air conditioner for a long time if I set the thermostat. I need to get a battery meter but they never include all the parts needed to wire them up and it was so frustrating buying nuts and bolts over and over trying to find the right ones to simply connect a FUSE to the battery that I can`t take any more stress right now. I may just use it without a meter. I ordered one and got the wrong one and have no transportation to drive two hours to the UPS store to return it. I`m sick of dealing with this.
i have been running my flexmax 60 at 12v with eleven 100w Pannels for about a year i sometimes pull 1200w from the panels im really hoping it doesn't blow up.
Joe, can you please address the grounding piece? I'm confused about whether or not I need to ground an off-grid system. I've got 24 volts, 1200 watts solar, 24h/200Ah battery bank, Victron 150/45 charge controller, and 24 volt 2000 watt inverter. I can't seem to find anything that is not bloody confusing on how to ground this stuff. How do you ground your system? Or do you?
You took the words right out of my mouth Joe just like the Meatloaf song I did wonder why you running 24 volts at that distance with all the ancillary conversions you had to do but then again I'm a smart ass like everybody else😅😅😅👍... Nice system man now chew a gunmie bear and chill😅😅
inverter is a batteries? right if you charge up then bring in to house you can used it?? it safe right??? so the controller not a batteries right ? how you set this up?
Joe,when u said some ppl were laughing at u over the years becouse of your battery choise,it broke my heart,like WTF,dont listen to them,shit on them from a high chair damnit....everyone buys what they can afford,if these batteries works for u,its better than nothing,they look good for me,they store energy,so tell the laughing ones to fk off.Nice explanation from a dude your age,also who is not an electrician.U made some terminology mistakes,but who knows this stuff understands,what u ment,so for me its all good.Thank u for the video,and for the effort,i just love seeing people crafting little systems that work,and can service the owners whit the magic of the sun created electricity.Cheers from Romania.
I forgot to mention...you said you may not go with 24Volt if you did it all over again. I think 24volt was still the right choice. I am also no expert although I have spent much time researching (mostly Will Prowse) and come to the conclusion that a 24Volt system saves money in that you don't need as thick of wire (higher volt means lower amps means thinner wire means cheaper wire and also am told 24 volt systems are just more efficient). Once again...I'm no expert either, but that is what I keep reading. I do have a 12 volt Deka "Lowes special" lead-acid battery in my 5x10 ice fishing/cargo trailer (vented in the nose box) and that works well because I am simply running a Diesel heater/max air fan/lights/radio with just a 100Watt solar on top of the trailer. I am also running 12volt at the cabin I mentioned last post and would definitely go to 24 volt if I used the cabin more. I guess it really boils down to what you need to "git er done" lol. I am thinking of putting a 48volt Lithium system into my house to act as a buffer when we lose power and if I size it right could run my house indefinitely (for basics like sump pump/fridge/couple lights and radio/furnace).
The shunt is wired wrong, it should be the only thing connected to the negative of the bank, and then everything else connects to the other side of the shunt. The voltage seems high, prolly a calibration error on the shunt.
Today to save some money on the charge controller you only need a 30 amp charge controller with 4 panels running 25 volts. With a 60 amp controller I would increase your panel voltage to 60 vdc and run 3 parallel 3 panel solar banks. 9 panels. You would get that much more power per hour of sun.
Call I had started off with a solar system with two 80 watt solar panels and four 15 watt solar panels in 1998 they were very expensive and lead acid batteries I started with three batteries then I moved up to 12 then I moved up to 24 and the 24 that acid batteries lasted me 26 years and I find lost 5 batteries so they lasted a long time. But I also got more solar panels some years after that but when solar panels got a little bit cheaper and then last year I started getting more solar panels of course I got solar panels three times before that as well.
Of course if you put a 450-watt heater in that shed your letter acid batteries your AGM batteries are lithium batteries while live comfortable in there and lettuce batteries do not like ten below zero but they do still work even when it got 30 below they still work just not as well cuz I'm also using that acid batteries.
I'm still running on two Trojan lead acid Joe.... I would prefer lithium although I don't trust lithium very much and I would rather my truck conversion motorhome wouldn't burn to the ground and I'm getting on just fine with the lead acid . although I don't like the weight of them. but they are s*** kicking tough and reliable but at some point I will go over to lithium and put them in an isolated metal box under the truck
Basics is you combine the volts that adds up and if you hook him up individually the amps at up the w always stay the same atom from each panel to the next Sophia four 400 watt solar panels that adds up to 1200 watts no matter which way you put it you will always have 1200 watts then what changes and how you hook it up is the volts and the amps those are the only thing that changes when you connect parallel or separate from one another. But you're watts still at up.
+Steve Arnold We just went through 6 days of no sun, overcast and rain on and off. In the winter now, I will only get a few hours of sun on a good day.
That's what I do I get to solar panels I think I'm going to need even though I know it's not going to be enough but I had to start somewhere so I started small and always adding more batteries to everytime I get solar panels and I'm going to get more solar panels because I still can't read everything that I would need to be able to run. So I'm getting more solar panels and I'm getting more batteries but this time I'm thinking about getting batteries at more rated for solar panels and start my battery system over again so that means I got to have to get a lot of batteries instead of just a few but I'm not sure if I'm going to change batteries just yet thank you for the cost of things.
What size AC do you have.? I love this video. There is a guy who uses the same batteries for 5 years he said even today those batteries are cheaper then the other batteries.
Looks like a pretty good setup and I don't mind that you mixed up some terminolgy, but how can you have so many "temporary" aspects to this layout if it's a 3 year review? Some things should only be done if they're going to be done right. You've proven this will work for you, now clean it up and make it safe?
+Jason Broom The only thing that was temporary is the rack that is still doing fine. I don’t live there full time, try to continue clearing for the permanent spot as well as many other things.
![Noob To Max With DRAGON REWORK In Blox Fruits [FULL MOVIE]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LnBMOinoOvA/mqdefault.jpg)
Joe, you are a genius. You explained the entire setup where anyone could understand. Thanks much.
+Tom Atkinson Thank you!
i was an electrician for over 35 years and still had to do research so great job !
For a guy who worries about being made fun of, you do a great job explaining stuff, and your system works great! Good job. Jim
+Jim L With a RUclips channel, the least of my worries is being made fun. That’s a daily occurrence. Thanks Jim!
Joe I've never seen a simple explanation of a solar system so well done I have a good understanding of the system. Also doing your own research and building a complete set-up by yourself gives you the knowledge of every piece in the system and can troubleshoot the problem. Thanks
+Rick Daystar Thanks. I hope I never stop learning!
I can't believe.... That u worry so much about people u shouldn't. I understand u have to say the electrician part but caring about what people think who cares. I thank u so much as u explained it well, and made it all seem easy. I was so worried as I'm have machine my heart is ran off of electricity but I can't afford to live and wait for a heart so off grid I go, and u made me feel like I got this shit. So thank u
I've watched a lot of these types of videos and I appreciate the approach you took here more than any of the others. It's nice to see the raw process and not worry about the trolls who never do anything themselves.
I'm going to subscribe. I hope you share more as you grow your system. Thanks.
Thanks! I really appreciate it. Welcome to the channel b
I'm with you on the lead-acid batteries. I understand Lithium is a game changer for most situations but not all. I have a cabin up North Michigan. We go to this cabin maybe 10-20 times a year for a weekend. I do have a Bluette EB150 that I love and take with me each trip although to power the water pump, gas stove ignitor, lights, radio, charge cell phone, charge GMRS radios and run a diesel heater, an AGM battery I bought seems to be the best tech for me. I have just 200 watts of solar to charge the battery back to full after we leave (100 watt would be more than enough but I had two panels and so installed them both). The lithium powered EB150 Bluette works well in that I keep it with me at home inside my house (temp controlled). I also use the Bluette as backup at home to power fridge and sump pump / couple lights when power goes out. Usually, power comes back in an hour or so and if not then I have a generator I hook up to power the house. I see what you have and think to myself "that is perfect". I wouldn't go to a lithium battery unless you plan to heat the area they are stored in (for extreme cold weather areas). My understanding is that Lithium is actually better in cold weather for discharge, just not charging. If I were to live at my cabin full time, I would definitely buy the Lithium batteries and simply keep them inside. Thank you for taking the time to post your video. I always enjoy different perspectives.
Thanks for the great explanation of how you arrived at the size of your system and it’s components! I’m still in the research stage of building a system just for power outage backup, and your point about analyzing the real needs really hit home with me. Keeping within a small budget is also key as many of the systems that others have discussed left me feeling like it would be pretty expensive to build something that would have likely been overkill just to have a small amount of emergency power. Thanks for presenting this no frills practical approach.
I just have to say thank you! You are the most real about solar energy i've ever heard. No sponsorship no one sending you free things and you have to say good things but real world solar experience. Keep the videos coming so refreshing to hear from a real person. That's not getting paid thousands of dollars with free stuff
+Explore101 Thanks! Glad you liked it.
DIY must be e Joe thing! :) Nice video and thanks for posting. I just built my ground mount wood rack 2.7 Kw system 48v with six panels, Hybrid Inverter and 2 LiFePo4 batteries. Works perfectly. :)
Joe,
Glad I found your site. I can just say.... "What they said" ...everything all the other commenters said about what a simple "down home" explanation about how you planned and built your system and how it works. Very nice too about the DC to DC converter for your water pump. Many people can learn so much from your video. And your follow up on "what I would do differently" is very, very valuable.
Thanks much!
Well my brother, I sure appreciate the way you explain that to me. I’m still kind of searching and thinking. God bless you.
Good vid. Thanks for taking the time to show us how it’s going. I received 2 panels and that same mppt charge controller I have a few deep cycle batteries that can use to store energy. I like the advice of staying on the 12volt system. Later. I’ll get a 48 volt system when I build my solar pergola.
Proud of your work, honesty and attitude.
Given what I see of your equipment it wouldn't be too hard to repurpose an old non working deep freezer to house everything. This would give the benefit of insulating them during cold weather. If really cold you could include a single 60 or 100 watt light which should easily heat the space of the freezer. Just a thought I was thinking of doing myself.
Excellent straight forward explanation. Good job.
I love your system! We have 800 watt , 12 volt system for our house we use, and at the worst case its enough to survive with. We put it in to just for emergency's, but have been adapting to its use.
Is 800 watt enough to function with on minimalistic living needs of maybe a bit of cooking, some heat, and very little power needs? And how does that turn out in winter?
Thanks.
@@noahriding5780 It works for us, we have led lights and use for tv and computers and small chest freezer. hubbys bi pap.
@@benzoverakers1877 Thank you.
I’m not laughing at your batteries, quite the contrary. I’m impressed with your whole setup. It works, what more could you ask for, right…? Right.
...it's impressive for sure, work with what one has at the time :)
@@jheremck absolutely. “Take what you have, and make it what you want.” 👍🏼
I think Joe and Gail have mastered this concept.
@@lisak6226 ...an extremeIy important concept in one's Iife, and it works so weII :)
@@jheremck I used to work for 2 interior designers, and that’s (what I said above in quotes) what we would always do. Brilliant use of space, resources and colors. I’m so impressed by what they’ve accomplished, and believe me….I don’t impress easily lol.
@@lisak6226 ...yep...and l too do not impress easiIy...it's those who persevere without aIways needing someone to guide them through the process, or doing the work for them. ln other, words, they can figure it out by thinking about it :)
Hay Joe and good review! Off grid 20+ years now with just a small 12 volt system and you are right that 12 volt is cheaper to maintain and you can get parts locally. I use lots of 12 volt appliances and running DC direct current you are not losing power converting it with an inverter and if your inverter fails your water pump and appliances will still work.
I still have my Vmax tank 125Ah AGM batts on my main system and still going strong after 10 years but I did set up a recharging station with LIFEPO4 and I will be converting my main system to those probably this summer because they have double the capacity. My batts are kept inside because our -20 weather here would zap a flooded cell down to nothing overnight.
We don't have high humidity here so I use a swamp cooler and only 85 watts but I do have a window AC I can kick on in the day. The 12 volt fridge/freezers have made life a lot easier and they are affordable now for off gridders. Keeping a fridge running off a small system was a major problem when I first went off grid.
For your water pump I would suggest a switch inside the cabin so you can turn it on and off only as needed. I see you have the same propane heater and I am guessing you are also using a propane OD water heater.
Your solar mount is showing some age like you said and I would look at the ecoworthy rack mount that is adjustable so you can change the angle for winter and summer sun. Reasonable price on Amazon.
Ok, good to see you are enjoying off grid life and have a good one friend!
When I first did off grid in 2010 I did just regular deep cycle and regular car batteries and everything worked great.
Did not even know that you could only use 50% of the battery, just used them and it worked great, but now...
Great video thank you for posting! The new XW PRO 6848 only consumes less than 50 watts at idle... inverters are getting more and more efficient.
well done joe 😃
+Ray Gordon Thanks Ron!
+Ray Gordon I meant Ray! Lol
Thank you for explaining your solar system. Great system. I like your rainwater storage system.
My I'm new to solar, and I thank you for this van you send me this video
Enjoyed your vid.
You may want to add some grommets to that circuit breaker box.
Very good Joe.
Great job, don't change anything leave every thing like it is ❤❤❤❤👌👌👌👌👌👍👍👍👍👍👍
Job well done sir. You put in work and completed a project. More than some can say.
+asus12351 Thanks!
nice one Joe.
Thank you for making things so simple.
+Steve Lacroix 👍🏻
You are very positive and explanatory thanks
Great job. I have a simple set up like you. Thank you for your simple explanation. Love the video
Thank you Sir , very good video, you are down to earth 👍, God bless you.
Great video Joe!
+Poon Tang Thanks!
Great video. I am on a strict budget so I am useing flooded lead batteries I recovered from my local auto parts store that were in the core pile . Ask the manager to let you go through the old batteries with a tester and buy the batteries with 12 volts . Equalize charge and desulfate them .Any that can't be recovered take back and trade in on your next run . I have 500+amp.usable storage that cost less than 1 new battery.
+Teddy Cunningham 👍🏻
love the way you explained everything thanks
You are a good teacher ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
+Nilambar Biswas 👍🏻
Hello thank you sharing who cares what you have it works good for you stay safe and God bless
Twice the volts half the amps. I have 8 100 watt 12v panels hooked to 24v. In the summer I get around 4kw a day weather permitting of course.
+Chris Morton That’s perfect!
Great system. Thanks for the video.
lol, with you on sizing. I have a 300 watt inverter to run fan in my greenhouse and a few led lights…
i totally agree with you keep it simple you don,t need to spend the big bucks and it will still work
+lee taves 👍🏻
Great video!
+Liberty Creek Off Grid Thanks! Hope it helps some!
Great video brother! Just finished my solar installation...! Got all Victron components with a 100/30 solar charger, and a 500w inverter, like you said:"That's all I need"... I've stuck with 12v because I'm new to this... But, I really enjoyed the commentary, and would enjoy seeing more videos! SALUTES
+Apocalyptic Minister Thanks
@@StBernardAcres Always brother... Been with ya for a while now...
Love your site real simple easy to understand. My mother calls me jack Benny Jr lol. Set in my way s ...thanks for information
...exceIIent expIanation Joe...and aIong the way you have learn even more...thank you so much for sharing :)
We keep on learning! Thanks.
Good job
Thanks sir for a great explanation. Love your attitude.
+Gary King Thanks!
Nice job😊
+The Shootin' Dutchman Thanks
Thank you sir. Video is Awesome
What's the surge draw of your refrigerator or air conditioner? I'm impressed that the inverter handles both. Lead acid is fine, infact it's hands down the most reliable for the average person. I know dang well that the life of leas acid is going to be extended with a modern charge controller like my victrons.
Hey Joe!
Lithium batteries CANNOT be charged below 32F/0C, so would be useless in your current situation. You would have to put them in the cabin, or a heated box.
If you drop back to 12 volts, you will have to disconnect a solar panel, to avoid overloading the charge controller.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
All the best.
+SarkyBugger I’m not changing this setup. Just, if I had it to do over again, knowing what I’ve learned now. The solar panels I could leave setup the way the are. I’d only have change the battery bank! But you are correct though. It ain’t broke, so I ain’t changing nothin’ lol.
❤ nice explanation
Im running on solar...brilliant😊👍
+versatec1 👍🏻
You do what you need for power for your needs .... how long have you had the battery's ???
This video is perfect
+Alex Vaughn Thanks
Nice video Joe thanks a lot .
Sweet and simple.
+Mark Armesto 👍🏻
This has similarities to mine. I used a 40 amp Epever charge controller, and twenty marine batteries from AutoZone. I have that same watts meter on my 600 watts wind generator, but I used an MT 50 on the solar system. I used a 24 volts, 2000 watts Aims Power inverter charger. My A/C uses 640 watts. I have 1000 amp hours of batteries. I bought a Winco Lil Dog generator, but rarely use it. It's 2400 watts, just big enough to run my 75 amps inverter welder. I've just had the wind generator for a month. I'm considering buying a Midnite classic charge controller for it. At 6 a.m., I'm showing 25.5 volts with the wind generator putting in about 150 watts gusting to 450 watts. I have four different brands of panels, six different sizes. I pieced mine together during the pandemic. They'd be out of the same one I got the last time, so I'd get what ever they had. I've been using 1200 watts, wired like yours, series/ parallel, 2 panels to a frame. I made some frames out of square pipe, so they wouldn't blow around, after I shattered a panel in a storm. So one frame has two different sizes of panels on it. I found some good panels on clearance so I bought two. So when I get those wired up, I'll have 1400 watts. The way my panels are arranged, I have 600 watts in the morning, 1000 at noon, and 800 in the evening. My controller can only take 1040 watts. But that configuration will let me run the air conditioning unit longer. Nice setup you have. It's sort of like mine. Just imagine adding fourteen more batteries, lol. P.S. click on my picture if you want to watch a very short video of the wind generator spinning.
I was curious if you are maintaining the water in your batteries. I noticed they all still have a label on them that says to "remove and discard this label" to access the caps to check the water level.
I like your thoughts on size to my needs I'm planning on 2000 watts maybe 3000 but there is no way I've found to upgrade to split phase 220 so my air-conditioning won't work and no way to go to a heat pump water heater or a heat pump dryer but I do have a fridge freezer furnace and a shallow well pump to run also where do you get 12 volt dc led Edison base light bulbs all my lights are on one circuit so I can switch them to 12 volts then I can shut off my inverter at night
Nice System
Nice work can you send that link so I can buy those use solar panels
When you first plug something into the power inverter, there's a bit of a voltage drop typically for the load.
I had questions about this. Some people say too much drop means battery wear/damage. But I don't know if that's true. Also some voltage drop, like a small amount should be there to indicate a load is going through. So it seems like there's some range there. Maybe some drop is the load, but it could be that too much voltage drop isn't good either?
Do you have any thoughts on this or anyone else for advise?
Thanks.
great video, i learned a lot..thanks for your video
+Micky Mouse 👍🏻 Thanks!
I know you gave your disclaimer - fair and honest.
However for the Internet sake I have to make some correction.
Wen you series panels you increase the volts - doubled. The current remains the same.
When you parallel the panels the volts remain the same and the current is doubled.
In both cases the wattage remains the same.
There is no trade off there.
Power = volts x amps.
Hello Sir, just found you. I have a large 300 ah LiFeP04 12v battery, 60 amp MPPT, 2000w pure sine inverter, two 190w 12v and two 100w 12v panels but haven`t wired it up yet. I have used the battery with a plug-in 20 amp charger for power outages. It easily runs my tiny little air conditioner for a long time if I set the thermostat. I need to get a battery meter but they never include all the parts needed to wire them up and it was so frustrating buying nuts and bolts over and over trying to find the right ones to simply connect a FUSE to the battery that I can`t take any more stress right now. I may just use it without a meter. I ordered one and got the wrong one and have no transportation to drive two hours to the UPS store to return it. I`m sick of dealing with this.
i have been running my flexmax 60 at 12v with eleven 100w Pannels for about a year i sometimes pull 1200w from the panels im really hoping it doesn't blow up.
hi howdo u wire voltmeter to the shunt which wire to which
you're beyond awesome
Joe, can you please address the grounding piece? I'm confused about whether or not I need to ground an off-grid system. I've got 24 volts, 1200 watts solar, 24h/200Ah battery bank, Victron 150/45 charge controller, and 24 volt 2000 watt inverter. I can't seem to find anything that is not bloody confusing on how to ground this stuff. How do you ground your system? Or do you?
Nice video! What size fridge do you run?
You took the words right out of my mouth Joe just like the Meatloaf song I did wonder why you running 24 volts at that distance with all the ancillary conversions you had to do but then again I'm a smart ass like everybody else😅😅😅👍... Nice system man now chew a gunmie bear and chill😅😅
+versatec1 😀. I feel like those folks in the gummie bear commercials after I chew one lol.
Did you ever have the beeping power inverter problem? And is there a way to avoid this? Thanks. (Maybe bigger inverters won't get this?)
inverter is a batteries? right if you charge up then bring in to house you can used it?? it safe right??? so the controller not a batteries right ? how you set this up?
Forget about those laughing, you got a system and it works well.
Thank you.
+Dennis Leon 👍🏻
Joe,when u said some ppl were laughing at u over the years becouse of your battery choise,it broke my heart,like WTF,dont listen to them,shit on them from a high chair damnit....everyone buys what they can afford,if these batteries works for u,its better than nothing,they look good for me,they store energy,so tell the laughing ones to fk off.Nice explanation from a dude your age,also who is not an electrician.U made some terminology mistakes,but who knows this stuff understands,what u ment,so for me its all good.Thank u for the video,and for the effort,i just love seeing people crafting little systems that work,and can service the owners whit the magic of the sun created electricity.Cheers from Romania.
I forgot to mention...you said you may not go with 24Volt if you did it all over again. I think 24volt was still the right choice. I am also no expert although I have spent much time researching (mostly Will Prowse) and come to the conclusion that a 24Volt system saves money in that you don't need as thick of wire (higher volt means lower amps means thinner wire means cheaper wire and also am told 24 volt systems are just more efficient). Once again...I'm no expert either, but that is what I keep reading. I do have a 12 volt Deka "Lowes special" lead-acid battery in my 5x10 ice fishing/cargo trailer (vented in the nose box) and that works well because I am simply running a Diesel heater/max air fan/lights/radio with just a 100Watt solar on top of the trailer. I am also running 12volt at the cabin I mentioned last post and would definitely go to 24 volt if I used the cabin more. I guess it really boils down to what you need to "git er done" lol. I am thinking of putting a 48volt Lithium system into my house to act as a buffer when we lose power and if I size it right could run my house indefinitely (for basics like sump pump/fridge/couple lights and radio/furnace).
The shunt is wired wrong, it should be the only thing connected to the negative of the bank, and then everything else connects to the other side of the shunt. The voltage seems high, prolly a calibration error on the shunt.
Isn’t one of the advantages of 24v over 12v that the current loads at similar wattages are lower, for higher inverter input voltages
Thank you for sharing.*
+Rod Fer 👍🏻
Today to save some money on the charge controller you only need a 30 amp charge controller with 4 panels running 25 volts.
With a 60 amp controller I would increase your panel voltage to 60 vdc and run 3 parallel 3 panel solar banks. 9 panels. You would get that much more power per hour of sun.
+RockTech I have 6 more panels in the barn to install later.
Call I had started off with a solar system with two 80 watt solar panels and four 15 watt solar panels in 1998 they were very expensive and lead acid batteries I started with three batteries then I moved up to 12 then I moved up to 24 and the 24 that acid batteries lasted me 26 years and I find lost 5 batteries so they lasted a long time. But I also got more solar panels some years after that but when solar panels got a little bit cheaper and then last year I started getting more solar panels of course I got solar panels three times before that as well.
Whats your charfing voltage? Float and bulk? Do you equalization? And what voltage? Thank you
Good deal
Great video! Love the flag🇺🇸
+onecullen Thanks!
Of course if you put a 450-watt heater in that shed your letter acid batteries your AGM batteries are lithium batteries while live comfortable in there and lettuce batteries do not like ten below zero but they do still work even when it got 30 below they still work just not as well cuz I'm also using that acid batteries.
I'm still running on two Trojan lead acid Joe.... I would prefer lithium although I don't trust lithium very much and I would rather my truck conversion motorhome wouldn't burn to the ground and I'm getting on just fine with the lead acid . although I don't like the weight of them. but they are s*** kicking tough and reliable but at some point I will go over to lithium and put them in an isolated metal box under the truck
+versatec1 As lithium has started to become affordable, it makes sense for all of us old schoolers lol
Thanks
+blake goss 👍🏻
Basics is you combine the volts that adds up and if you hook him up individually the amps at up the w always stay the same atom from each panel to the next Sophia four 400 watt solar panels that adds up to 1200 watts no matter which way you put it you will always have 1200 watts then what changes and how you hook it up is the volts and the amps those are the only thing that changes when you connect parallel or separate from one another. But you're watts still at up.
do this work for computer too??
Joe do you have really dull rainy days ,I’m in uk and just setting up my 700 watt panel system.
+Steve Arnold We just went through 6 days of no sun, overcast and rain on and off. In the winter now, I will only get a few hours of sun on a good day.
thank you
+kj7444 Your welcome!
Where did you get the solar panels please let me know.
+Keith From Santan Solar
That's what I do I get to solar panels I think I'm going to need even though I know it's not going to be enough but I had to start somewhere so I started small and always adding more batteries to everytime I get solar panels and I'm going to get more solar panels because I still can't read everything that I would need to be able to run. So I'm getting more solar panels and I'm getting more batteries but this time I'm thinking about getting batteries at more rated for solar panels and start my battery system over again so that means I got to have to get a lot of batteries instead of just a few but I'm not sure if I'm going to change batteries just yet thank you for the cost of things.
if you need ac get a senville mini split you can install it yourself many videos on it and they use very little electricity
I want to know who built your structure for your solar panels?
+Indigenous Lady “Indigenous Homestead” I built it. I have a couple videos on building it.
@StBernardAcres Okay, thank you!
What size AC do you have.? I love this video.
There is a guy who uses the same batteries for 5 years he said even today those batteries are cheaper then the other batteries.
+ja c court It’s just a 5000 btu
Looks like a pretty good setup and I don't mind that you mixed up some terminolgy, but how can you have so many "temporary" aspects to this layout if it's a 3 year review? Some things should only be done if they're going to be done right. You've proven this will work for you, now clean it up and make it safe?
+Jason Broom The only thing that was temporary is the rack that is still doing fine. I don’t live there full time, try to continue clearing for the permanent spot as well as many other things.
@@StBernardAcres - What about the cables laying on the ground? I mean, it's a good setup, just needs to be finished.
No point in burying the cables, since it’s all going to be moving this summer.