Practical SOLAR power system for a BIG house

In this video I'm going to show you a practical and fairly cost effective solar power set up for my 4.200 sq/ft house
After watching a gazillion videos about solar, my brain started to melt, just like yours probably. There are so many options and half of them turn out to be disguised paid promos or “get your solar for free” ads.
In my particular situation I needed to build a system for a large home, and I started by requesting quotes from solar installers.
After an initial “sticker price” shock- i was like - there’s got to be a better way.
And this is what I’ve got. Keep in mind - I wanted a flexible system with a potential for an upgrade later on. This tends to make a system a bit more expensive initially, but a lot more affordable after an expansion.
This system has been in operation for a full year now, and I want to share real life data with you. This system can generate about 4 kW of energy and store about 22 kWh.
Wait a second Alex, you say - it’s not enough for such a big house - isn't it?
Well - this is where a practicality comes in.
To understand it better, your house is like your body, every part of it using a different amount of energy, and on top of it it uses it at the different time of the day too.
This is where, by the way, a traditional solar “gotcha” comes in.
If you calculate a total energy used in a month and divide it by the day - the numbers will be very high - and most likely you’d need to buy a commercial type of equipment to handle all the load at any given time. Such systems cost a fortune, and are not going to pay off for a very long time… if ever.
But the solution to this problem is very simple and already exists, and it has been there for a long time - it’s called a breaker panel.
See - each breaker is like an energy roadway with a different speed limit - indicated on a breaker itself.
All you have to do is to decide which one you are going to supply with solar energy.
The interesting part - some of them are using small amounts of energy on a first glance - but they are working constantly throughout all day and night, and actually may account for a huge amount of your total energy bill.
You can easily identify such loads by connecting a simple energy metering device - Im using a Sense smart meter, but there are plenty of others on the market. This will give you a very good idea of your actual need.
At this point you can supply solar energy to each of your energy lines using this simple switch panel, and you can leave heavy load devices like your dryer or stove on your utility power. Think of it as you just paying rent to them only when you are using it.
The other unexpected benefit of such system is you are probably are not going to exceed a price bracket limit - as electric companies tend to charge a lot more per kilowatt if you are above a certain limit.
Because as I've mentioned before it’s a flexible system, you can always add more capacity to it later on and keep connecting more and more lines.
As for the actual components of my system, I'm going to keep it short and simple for this video and we can go deeper if you guys wanted, just leave a comment below.
On my roof, I have 22 solar panels and a combiner box .
Below in a garage the rest of the system consist of 100 Amps Magnum solar charger, Magnum Inverter, DC breaker box and control panel where you can tune up your system parameters. Also a switch box you guys are already familiar with.
A 22 kWh lithium battery located outside, and it came from a BMW i3 electric car.
If we switch to a bill view, on average, it saves about $50/month with a potential of crossing a $100 mark.
Total savings for a year of operation right now will be about $600 and about $1500 if I use a full capacity of this system -
this does not account for an additional savings by keeping a total house energy usage in a cheaper price bracket and also saving on gas, as do own a hybrid electric vehicle.
The total cost of my system with a lithium storage battery is about 8.000 dollars and you can probably save another 2 gran if you are not planning on expansion.
But the main reason I'm doing this, is actually not savings - or though it's nice. :)
The main reason is FUN ! and to have a power back up when another hurricane will come through.
As you can see my house is surrounded by huge trees, and it doesn’t take much to knock some branches down along with power lines.
Yes I can buy a backup generator, it won't really pay itself off, and it’s not fun at all. But building a solar system is awesome :)

[@walidphul6048]

Great video! Thanks for posting! It answers my question of having partial loads connected on grid and solar/battery!

[@tinika2]

Glad it was helpful!

[@raizaabarasa4886]

pls do.. i want to know more.. does solar panel has life span?

[@tinika2]

They do, usually about 25 years, but they will become absolute in about 10 years as efficiency going up and pricing going down every year.

[@sergeyilyin9270]

👍