Solar Phase 2 Concluded
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 7 апр 2023
- So much electric!
I've been working away on upgrades for my solar system, the electric side of it is now done (for now!). I have solar thermal tubes and a thermal store to plumb in but not for a while, maybe over the summer if I get a chance. Here we have a tour around some of the improvements so far and a look at how it all works, including dump loads.
If you want to join those supporting my channel (starting at £1!) you can check out my Patreon page here:
www.patreon.com/user?u=37285132
Patrons get lots of exclusive videos and updates on myself and my projects. Thanks to the support of Patrons I am able to make videos almost full-time, but without needing any corporate sponsors.
My website: maximusironthumper.co.uk/ 
Авто/Мото
![Roddy Ricch - Survivors Remorse [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/J5IeFzr2GgE/mqdefault.jpg)
This is the conclusion of a series of videos I made for my patrons, I decided to make this one public to show I'm still doing other things apart from building a Land Rover!
Patrons get early access to everything that ends up on the public channel and a whole load of videos exclusive to Patreon including the rest of this solar upgrade series and the entire build of my battery room (26 videos!).
Patreon details are in the video description - you can join us for (still) just a quid!
What batteries are you using?
@@livingoffgridinscotland I have 8 6V 400AH Leoch Lead Carbon AGM configured to give 24v
@@maximusironthumper thanks
We’re still on forklift batteries, but currently building a much bigger system like yours, and just starting restoring a landrover 110…
@@sirlordbabish3873 it's a quid
Love all your vids max. Very happy to see a reply from you. One tip for an “energy dump” is doing Bitcoin mining with your excess electric. Read about Texas electricity companies doing that. Also split/electrolyze water and store the hydrogen if you are brave enough. Keep up the good work!
Personally I’d love to see a deeper dive into this system. It’s a bit unusual and it would be interesting to hear more about your decision process
You didn't really need to say anything during this update. Just standing there with that big smile on your face said everything that needed saying. 👍👍😁😁
Good to see you beaming from ear to ear at what you have achieved.
Awesome max, great setup, the redundancies are a nice touch, I think every new house built should have a system like this as mandatory
Watt an enjoyable phase of your current project. I managed to grasp about half of what you were explaining (no reflection on you). I was half hoping you would drop in a gag by pretending to get a bolt off of one of your switches. Happy for you and your continued efforts joining the resistance. I'll get my coat.
"I'll try not to make it too technical and tedious".
Mate...
Technical and tedious is my sweet spot!
Technical and tedious please!!!
Understood none of it, loved every second of it
You never cease to amaze me. You are adaptable and competent across a century of technological evolution. Impressive ☺
My Hat is once again off too you young man.
Living the dream.
Great to see how happy and excited you are about your system. Congrats!
I'd always wondered about using phase syncing with grid tie inverters, where other inverters mimic the grid.
I'd planned a multi battery / multi input / multi inverter system that dynamically adapts inputs and and loads with an AC back bone. It would allow an entire module to be taken off line if every thing just dumped to and off of the back bone, and combine inverter loads to meet requirements. 7000 watt inverters are way more than double 3000 watt ones! And smaller units on a smaller output (800w consumption out of 3000 watt inverter rather than 7000) means less efficiency losses.
Some of my solar panels have phase syncing micro inverters, and it's nice to see the Solis units do exactly that. I had come unstuck with 3 separate systems (metalshop, house, woodshop) and couldn't get the answers I was seeking from the manufacturers.
3 Micro Grid's to 1 Mini Grid here I come, hopefully home assistant is up to the task of managing it!
Got solar on my houseboat and a couple of years ago I spent quite a lot on LiPo4s to the amusement of my neighbours. Funnily enough since the electricity price hikes and the price rises brought in by the boat yard people here have been more interested in my system.
Another great video Max. I now think I understand why you wanted an off grid, grid tie inverter.
Its a truly impressive system you've built!
Making the old series III an EV would be a fab project....
It's on the list for one of them!
Good lord! To a former boat dweller who’s mind just skated off ,(even after reading ‘the 12 volt bible’ several times, the subject of electricity, this just seems like wizardry! I am full of admiration for your tenacity, self sufficiency and inventiveness. Well done sir!
That compressor would be a perfect use case for a 3 phase motor and a VFD, to ramp up startup and even run at a constant load that the sand blaster is consuming, but if it works with the new interter and the old motor on it fantastic ! but if that motor ever dies or you need another project.
You almost lost me at hello 😉 but I hung in and learned some useful stuff. I have a much more simple system but am intending to make some improvements. Great video and quality looking job mate.👍👏
Can only imagine the personal satisfaction from getting to this point. Lovely work, mate.
I live in Johannesburg where we are lucky to have a lot of sun but unlucky to have load shedding. For many reasons our power is rationed. I spent the equivalent of 12000 quid on a solar system that produces 7Kw. It was a painful amount of money for me too but worth every Rand. There is no way I could have installed it myself so I am very impressed by your ingenuity.
Superb, all you need now is a water turbine for winter.
What a point to reach! Your enthusiasm and excitement are infectious - I must go and make progress myself!
Excellent - well done.
Fair play Max.... It's a long way from where you started living off grid.... Hats off to you for showing us what's possible. Love the vids, keep them coming 😁👍
Belt and braces and a spare pair of trousers, you'll never get caught with your trousers down.
I love what you are doing, one of youtubes gems
Of all the projects you've shared I think 'project solar' is the one (or the ones) I've enjoyed the most. For me this really is the pinnacle of self sufficiently in today's power hungry world. It's reignited my determination to setup a solar system to run my gaming rig in the shed.
Max, I have sat all the way through this with a big smile on my face. In the past I have watched you (with pleasure) and been concerned as to how you cope, especially in inclement weather for power needed to run daily life. You could have gone into "Nutty Professor Mode" and all you would have needed was a white coat, row of pens and horn rimmed specs. But, you explained it all at a pace and simplicity that even I could take in. No doubt about it.... my concerns were unfounded. Go well my friend. Bob (Weston super Mare)
This is amazing Max! If my batteries/ solar endeavours reach half the size of your system I'll be over the moon :D
Thank you for breaking down your system for us :)
Absolute legend ! I’m already having ideas about my solar array and I don’t even have a property to install it on yet.
I see you supporting Max and his efforts, I see!
Nice setup keep making the videos.
Great update Max, I almost , just about kept up.
That's one well thought out and executed system, all the redundancies and power dumps are well thought out for your setup, I work in designing industrial machinery for big factories and compressed air is one of the most expensive commodities in a factory (that the bosses are always trying to save money on), so having a big tank at a useful pressure is a real luxury! and if you find that you're still producing more power than you need then adding a second tank, or some more batteries to store excess energy shouldn't be an issue at all.
Or a Hot tub 😎
hell, you hurt my brain with this one, damned impressive system, you have done well.
unbelievably, for the first time in 8 yrs, i needed my compressed air today, to dust down my dad's classic car. after sourcing hoses, adaptors etc, my [tested every month] portable compressor seized after 5 mins, bugger... keep up the excellent work young man
The SPD on the AC feed is a very good idea as you are running feeds between buildings and have some highly inductive loads. As you mentioned the generator is likely to spike when the load changes so the SPD should catch that too. It is worth adding SPDs in the other distribution boards in the house and elsewhere to catch any voltage spikes between buildings.
You could also add DC SPD to the PV inputs of the charge controllers but your current panels are fairly close so it wouldn't do a lot for you, however you should consider PV SPD on feeds from other buildings and those over over 10m in length. Relevant specification is IEC 61643-32.
Cheers Andy!
What a well thought out and completely awesome setup! You definitely should be proud of that job! 👍🏻
What a beautiful system design! Top job Max especially when domestic customers are getting rinsed by high bills yours is paying itself back to you every day!!! Top work fella! 👍👍
Another great video Max. Enjoyed the descriptions, I think you get it just right
Fantastico! The smile on your face, priceless!
Bud I love to see it when you smile. So wholesome.
A basic ebike conversion kit to go with this and that would be local travel sorted too, I use mine with a trailer and have been surprised how many car trips it has replaced, weekly shopping is no problem at all for example
Or a Tesla motor in the 110.
Beats the Cyber truck any day😅
Pretty technical for a Blacksmith!
Although I seem to recollect a Blacksmith building a time machine.......
You are an inspiration. I enjoyed what you had to say.
Awesome max great job
Although I'm confused as to the sudden appearance of this (poverty-stricken non-patreon regular subscriber and all!), it's all quite impressive to know that you're getting all that power on tap from your rooftops, making the generator and gas options somewhat redundant (but that's why they call it "redundant backup" I suppose!), given we're all being pushed towards electric-only living, it's a good example of how that can be done, only downside is the cost of investment in such things, which for a lot of folk isn't viable unfortunately...
This is amazing your living the off grid dream! Absolutely love it been watching your progress over the years it’s brilliant
Brilliant video, on top of a superb and thorough design, I think you do a remarkably good job of describing your installation and how you use it. Having gone through the design and installation of my own rather less extensive hybrid on/ off grid system over the last 8 months, one thing I find difficult to do is describe the way it functions without either going for too heavy with detail, or glossing over all the important aspects or worst, resorting to meaningless jargon. You got it spot on.
That said, I can listen to these videos and watch installation footage for hours. Your previous solar content and the development of this system very much influenced me and kept me motivated as I did my own.
Love the pneumatic battery, that's a brilliant idea. One thought: you can program a relay on the MultiPlus which could drive a contactor to run your little compressor on availability of excess generation rather than just a time switch, though you might be using that for the immersion I suppose.
Bloody good job done bloody well. I've loved following this. It has given me inspiration.
Nice, I used to do electrical installation for a living another lifetime ago and you have a very tidy well laid out system there. It's easy to see how happy you are with it. 😁
We've been living off grid here in Spain for 4 years now and love it, we're coming back to the UK soon and I hope to fit one to the house?
Obviously in the winter you will see a difference in power coming in,get yourself a decent compressor..
Well done Max excellent stuff and great to watch.
So well thought out & executed. Hats off to you. Don't know what's delivering more power to the Ironthumper homestead the Sun or your ebullient elation with a job well done. Rock on Max.
I have 10 strings of 2 panels each. All configurable between the two solar charge controlers and individually metered. So I have been able to play about with combining the strings which see different sun and see how efficient they are utilised. Ideally banking them together for max output.
What I was trying to avoid was a situation where one string in full sun, brought the bank voltage up the the point that another parallel string, in poorer sun but stilll capable of useful generation, not giving current flow due to it being reversed biased.
But that wasn't the case. The panels seem to have highish internal resistance and don't seem to care how they are banked together.
So whilst it is true that panels in different sun are more efficient if the have their own mppt. You get a surprisingly good conversion when parallelling up strings with different sun and even different makes/ratings.
(Obviously the strings need to be similar open circuit voltage.)
In my case, it makes more sense to put in more panels (I use ex-solar farm ones that are cheap) than to try and squeeze the last few % efficiency with multiple MPPT's.
Your set up is enviable, I share your enthusiasm of what it can do now! Thanks for the explanations, there is a lot of research / bitter your head now, and it is nice of you to share!
Well explained for your redundancy system Max, thanks.
Yo Max...super interesting dude
Brilliant and inspiring. Thank you.
Like a kid on Christmas! Lol! Great work.
well done , kudos !!!
Max, I am very impressed with your setup and the direction you are heading with it. You have clearly put a lot of thought into what you want to achieve and how to go about it well done. Mixed energy storage, generation and use is exactly how small scale users like yourself will get the most benefit from any system. I especially love the large container of compressed air. I see a project in your future to convert the problematic diesel compressor/generator into a hydrogen fuel engine and then start making your own fuel with the excess power you have in the summer months to run it with. Consider Shelly smart relays. These are the next progression in your journey (don't be scared of the complex electronics your mate Mark is more than capable of helping you understand them). Case example, you could replace the manual timer switch and having to move the small compressor plug with a single shelly smart relay in the back on the plug socket (a Shelly plus with an add on module which will allow sensors like pressure and flow to be part of the solution). With that you could set the following up (if the tank has room, and the batteries are at 100% and there is excess sun, run the compressor, Or if the is X air flow through a low pressure line (like a spray gun) and there is capacity in the tank, run the compressor) etc. and on and on you could go improving the system, to the point it just works and you have to input less and less. You just work and live on the property without thinking about energy. My last point is, I'd control the dump loads less from the inverter and more from a centralised home automation platform like 'Home Assistant'. Because centralised automation software is easier to interact with and have a much wider array of customisations (or rule sets/decisions) you could add into your energy use, than Solar inverters, leave the inverters to do what they do best and move some of the logic you want to deploy into a medium better suited to that. Anyway I am looking forward to phase 3 and where you take your energy journey. Take care D
Making and using hydrogen is straightforward enough, it's hanging on to the stuff that's the tricky bit! JCB are doing some interesting work with that. The inverter only controls the PV inverter, nothing else. I have a Raspberry Pi running Victron's (free) Venus OS at the heart of the system. Their latest version of the OS came with an implementation of Node Red and this will allow for automation, although that will have to wait a bit as I have a lot of solar thermal to plumb in first.
I think a dirty diesel generator is good insurance for Armageddon. You will struggle to get Hydrogen from your neighbouring farms when the zombies are wondering about.
Well done Sir, really enjoy your content.
Brilliant video !
Great set up Max, that for showing it.
Absolutely awesome Max! Thanks for sharing, always love to hear how this works and how you put it together. Very nice!
That's brilliant Max! Love the videos, thanks.
Ah yes I was like you with only basic 12 volt and a few panels, batteries and generator to a similar setup to phase 2, have rarely had to use the generator and can run all sorts of things. Grid power in town is out quite often but we are always ok.
smart energy management
Awesome max, you are a real inspiration, keep up the amazing work 👍👍👍👍
Bravo Max, would love to see more on this like your battery banks. I'm new to solar etc but want to learn more.
Hey Max, It's such a nice feeling to be completely off grid, congratulations. I was wondering is you could post a picture of the wiring diagram of your electric room. Thank you.
YYYEEEEOOOOWWWW AC COUPLED SOLAR IS THE BOMB, Phase shift is the general mechanism or demand response mode aka microgrid mode
We have done something similar but we used Fronius inverters for our AC coupled solar, we have 3x 3kw primos on one inverter and two fronius galvos on another, for direct use its awesome
I'm the same as you... Got more power than I know what to do with 😂👌got 8x100w eco-flo panels 10x130amp leisure batteries , a cheap Chinese controller and two cheap Chinese 2kw inverters, been running faultless for a year now ,only cost me £2300 and already saved me twice that on this year's bill . Only had to put my truck battery charger on it twice to top it up over the winter. 1 good day of sun like today and I've got all the house lights on and my in house car audio system with amps and subs banging all day long to keep it at 13.8v ...and I can charge my electric bike 3 times a day and that's 180 miles a day I can do for free 😍 just loving it 👍
With an abundance of kw the convenience of an electric kettle will be easy to get used to and if you drink as much tea as i do it will save you a small fortune in gas.
Very impressive system Maximus! Nice work, it's obvious that you've done a tremendous amount of research. I'd be very happy too if I were to accomplish such a feat. Thanks for sharing your progress on this and explaining how you have things set up with redundancy, brilliant! It's amazing how much power you are producing, just the ticket for the many tasks and home use that you have ... keep up the great work, I've watched a great many of your videos and enjoyed every one of them. Best of luck in all !!
I understood about 10% of that but it's brilliant. Well done.
Fantastic work, I have done pretty much the same, I have two inverters and two battery banks with an interconnecting cable so that I have back up.
Excellent job Max T, I have a much smaller system, but runs lights from the controller, [but much smaller array], and like wise a rotary mower for my not too large lawn, but via the inverter[big workhorse 6kw] can also run 110 v tools via transformer, where the leads tend to warm up…..hey ho not the finished article unlike yours……..One day!!!!!!! Ps you will have a few comments from the solar tech gurus of which I’m sure you are able 😅😊😊
You cant go wrong with Victron.
Excellent use of solar Max. I have used a back up diesel generator for the house and workshop for years. Recently it has been cheaper than Grid. However you have convinced me to install arrays on a new in progress workshop and go from there. As you have found, choosing the right magic boxes is not easy and it requires homework. Thanks for posting so many and varied videos. Best wishes Happy Easter to you and Grandad.
Amazing achievement Max - great to see that you are making a contribution to saving the planet. Will you be able to extend the green energy by making a wind turbine? Thanks for the video - very enjoyable.
Maybe one day, currently enough projects on the go!
crackin setup there!! like the redundancy
Great stuff...
It's great to see your enthusiam for energy self-sufficiency. We've had 3.6kW of solar on our house for over 10 years now and we're hoping to add battery storage to it this year to try and reduce our dependence on expensive grid power.
Wow. Amazing, actually.
I lost you, but it's been a long day. Thanks for all your vids :)
0:45 maybe not your usual project, but: Why don't you add 3 wheels (one swiveling in the front) and buy an old iRobot Roomba, like the 581, for the sensor suite, charging dock navigation and "navigation".
By adding some more battery power and larger motors, you should be able to adapt the Roomba to cut your grass for next to nothing. :)
Amazing power room. I saw your mouth moving and I heard words but have no idea what you were talking about. Great job 👍
Great system, well done. Watch out for any mains synchronous clocks going faster on sunny days :-)
Progress!
Too technical for my old brain but kudos to you 👏, heard NASA are looking for people like you lol 👍
I have a Solis unit, the WiFi dongle gives you a lot of useful data in the app.
Electric conversion for Kermit and you're away 🙂
I'd still put a soft starter or VSD with a 60 second ramp up time on the large air compressor.
Very cool! 💪🙏
Love it mister, I've been scheming about the compressor idea
Have you worked out how many watts your compressor tank is worth if you tried to convert it back to 12/24vdc?
I was looking into autostart Genny's, i.e. "battery hits 11v I'll fire up for 30 mins"
Got any thoughts on that?
It's an easy enough function to add but I wouldn't want a generator to automatic starting unless it also had automatic cut out on low oil, low fuel etc.
Define easy? As in any electric start generator find the start and stop button wires? Would need a voltage sensing relay. You would usually need some sort of logic right?
Easy as in all electric start generators feature a start switch of some sort - like any electrical switch this can be controlled remotely.
How the switch is triggered depends on what is used to monitor the battery.
All systems are different but as an example this is how I could do it on my setup. Within the (free) Victron operating system I use to control my system there is facility to remote start a generator (this would be via a relay), the remote start can be programmed to activate on low voltage or low state of charge. At the other end, one of my generators has a socket for a remote start, I'd wire the relay into that. My charger has a delayed start before it ramps up otherwise that's something else to add in (don't want to start the generator on load).
Hi Max. I would love to know more about how you wired your systen, how many batteries you have and there capacity as well how much it cost you, if you don't mind. I hope to be able to follow in your foot steps some day soon. Many thanks for your video's. Paul 😀
I have 8x 6V 400AH Leoch Lead Carbon AGM Batteries wired to give 24v. I have no idea of the overall cost - it was built up over many years and most of it (including all the panels) was secondhand. The batteries were new and cost about £2.5k. The Victron stuff was all new as well.
HELLO! :D It has been so long since last video, hasn't it? I haven't seen stuff in ages, I miss watching your videos! :D
That's a nice setup! :D
Max, morning, Andy Reynolds here, wonder if you can help. I've got a Solar Battery course in Brighton for the Brighton Permaculture Trust on the 17th June 2023. The course is shown under the ecobuild part of the courses section of the BPT website. Don't want to add the link as it may cause the message to be rejected. I wondered if you could find the time to do a 1 minute promo video for this course. It covers: panels, charge controllers, batteries (both lead acid and lithium phosphate), inverters, wiring, mountings, and loads of discussion. A new copy of W&S4 on it's way to you when it's published. Cheers, Andy
Hi Andy, sorry I don't do promos! Actually the only time I did was the video reviewing your book but that was very much a one off. Best of luck with the course, don't worry about sending me a new copy of the book. Cheers
@@maximusironthumper Max good to hear from you, no worries just exploring all possibilities. Enjoying this weather and absurd amounts of power, cheers
that is some mad redstone
if you like smoke, than keep plugging in the silent compressor with the switch of the compressor in the 'on' position. the rest looks pretty good!
I was wondering if I'd missed a video somewhere, great update, you really have me thinking about creating redundance, even though I'm on the grid
BTW, are you guys still working on project awesome?
Project Awesome is still on-going (but slowed right down until I finish the land rover build).