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cityconvert
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# Posted: 22 Jan 2014 13:06 - Edited by: cityconvert
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Thanks in large part to the guys on this forum I have been living off-grid in VA for just over a year now. I have been getting by on a tiny Harbor Freight pre-packaged 45w system paired with two deep cycle marine batteries and a 400w inverter.
I have #12 Romex ran to a tiny ceiling fan, 4 receptacles, and a light fixture that will use two 7w LED bulbs. Each will be on its own circuit and running on AC from a pure sine wave inverter (most likely Samlex 24v).
I'm considering the Sundanzer DCR 50. Does anyone have experience with it? My concern is that it may be too small for my full time needs.
Other loads would be cellphone, portable DVD player, 2.4w fan for composting toilet, battery charger for power tools, 60w heat lamp (chickens in winter)
I live on a heavily wooded lot. I like the privacy, but winter sun exposure is poor. Any help you guys can provide is more than welcome. Thanks.
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Dillio187
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2014 10:11
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the 60W heat lamp will require a fairly significant battery bank should you want to run it 24/7 over several cloudy days. That, or a good backup generator.
Heavily wooded lots and solar don't mix. Consider in the winter the sun will be low in the sky, and solar panels don't charge well when shaded by branches.
How much power are you currently using, and how much is your 45W system putting back into your batteries on a daily basis?
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2014 10:32
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Using electricity for heating is pretty much non compatible with solar power. The one 60 watt lamp, if on 24/7 uses more power than we consume in our entire off grid cabin on an average day. You will need a large battery bank and a large number of PV panels. How large is the lot you have? Big enough to make a clearing for good solar exposure. Without good solar exposure you might as well save your money and hook up to the grid.
The Sundanzer's are either loved by people or hated by people. If you can find happiness with a chest refrigerator go for it. I can not. They are efficient, although maybe not quite as good in the real world as they claim. I have known one user of one of their models. He claimed his used about 20% more than was claimed. And you are right, that one is very small.
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cityconvert
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2014 13:44
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Chuck, thanks for the link.
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cityconvert
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2014 14:29
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Dillio: I do have a honda eu2000i. The heat lamp may not be needed. I am looking into wood heat options first. However, I want to ensure that I don't fry my chickens prematurely Lol. I suppose I can just use the Mr. Buddy propane heater as the backup and exercise caution.
Currently I consume about .13 kWh/day. The HF panels put back roughly .1v per day into my bank of two batteries.
Batteries:
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_-rv-12-volt-deep-c ycle-battery-group-size-29hm-675-cca-autocraft-marine_10312646-p?searchTerm=batteries #
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cityconvert
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2014 14:44
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MtnDon: I do have a decent spot for a clearing, but it seems a bit far. About 40yds or so from the cabin. Have to factor in the cost of running cable.
I figured the 50L was small. I saw your other post about the 12v/24v fridge. I'll have to research that one.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2014 18:29
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Quoting: cityconvert MtnDon: I do have a decent spot for a clearing, but it seems a bit far. About 40yds or so from the cabin. Have to factor in the cost of running cable.
Our panels have 325 feet of #2 AWG copper wire connecting them to the charge controller/batteries/cabin. It did cost a bit but I watched prices and different sources and found a good deal eventually. It was either that or run a generator a lot and I do not like to have to run a generator at all. The good thing is the system "runs itself" through the winter; summer too. It can sit there all winter and if we never made it up there the batteries would still been topped off.
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Dillio187
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# Posted: 23 Jan 2014 23:00
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40 yards isn't bad. Series your panels together for higher voltage and purchase an MPPT charge controller.
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old243
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# Posted: 24 Jan 2014 10:24
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city, You mentioned heat for your chickens . I have had laying hens in a cold barn . They can take the cold . Just don't let the water freeze , without supplying more , or they will stop laying eggs or slow down. Old243
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cityconvert
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# Posted: 25 Jan 2014 11:02
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Old243: Thanks for the tip. I am brand new to raising chickens. Lol. Just that recently we have been having single digit lows at night.
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sevie
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# Posted: 12 Feb 2014 19:53
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I detest generators, run mine every other day just long enough to top off my 65 gallon " day tank"
Been living off grid for 4 winters with 800 watts of panels.
Twice the wattage would help very little from December thru February, too little sun and short
days are the pproblem. I have enough solar to run the 12 volt pressure pump, a reading light and day time radio. In summer we live the good life with direct TV.
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spoofer
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2014 09:03
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I just bought a small kit from Renogy. I bought the 100 watt one that's $189. I upgraded to a mppt controller. I'm hoping it's enough to power 4 led lights that are 8 watts apiece and a 26 watt tv at night. I also have a radio.
I still have to wire my shack for this set-up. There is currently still about 4 feet of snow on the ground in northern NY, so I haven't installed this system yet. I'm going to tinker with it at home for a while, waiting for the snow to melt.
I can't decide if I will pole mount it, or mount it on the side of the camp, or just prop it up in the best place while I'm there.
Do you think 100 watts is enough power for my remote needs, if I'm careful?
Does anyone have any experience with Renogy products?
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razmichael
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2014 12:12 - Edited by: razmichael
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Quoting: spoofer Do you think 100 watts is enough power for my remote needs, if I'm careful?
Lots of experts with more experience than me but here goes...
Are your watt figures for 12 volts or through an inverter for 120v? You also need to consider the battery pack size and how long you need to be able to function with limited solar on those cloudy days. If most of your use is weekend only and you can assume 4-5 days between visits to recharge then this will impact the system needs. Lots of calculators out there. This one will give you and idea of what type of amp-hour capacity you need for 'autonomous' running battery Sizing . Example - if 12 volts and you run all the lights and tv for 5 hours a day for 3 days you use about 25 amp-hours per day (so you need about 150 amp-hours capacity for the three days at 50% discharge - the maximum you should consider). Given you likely do not want to go to 50% discharge and you do have some charging even on most cloudy days then something like two Trojan 6v 220 amp-hours in series would do nicely (I only mention Trojans because this is the source of the calculator.)
If you are using an inverter the daily needs goes up to about 30 amp-hours a day (may be more depending on inverter efficiency). Still easily doable at a 220 amp-hour bank.
Tying this into the panel needs more details as to where you are located (Solar) and you need to consider time of year. Are you also planning on a generator to charge up the batteries if needed?
As far as mounting it or not, assuming you want it to continue to function when you are away, you need to mount it securely. Ground mount has the ability to allow you to adjust for the seasons (and this can make a lot of difference given you only have the one panel). In my case I designed something and my father-in-law welded it up. Easily adjustable a few time a year and did not cost a fortune.
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ILFE
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# Posted: 29 Mar 2014 20:06
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It seems a lot of people tend to get things confused when it comes to determining what sized array they need in order to run specific loads in their homes / cabins. Go in this direction, and you will know exactly what you will require:
1. Conservation. Decide what appliances you can and cannot live without.
2. Decide how many hours per day each appliance must run.
3. Buy an energy meter and use it to determine the watt hours (watts needed to run the appliance, times the number of hours required to run) each appliance will consume. You can get them in North America for around $25 USD.
4. Add each of the appliances' watt hours together to come up with a total power requirement over a 24 hour period.
You will need to add in inverter size / losses as well, at this point. If all appliances are DC volts only, you can skip concerning yourself with the inverter.
5. Determine battery bank size, between 25% and 50% depth of discharge (no greater than 50%), to power said appliances.
NOTE: If you only work the batteries on weekends, it will be fine to go 50% DOD each weekend. If, however, you are residing in the cabin for weeks at a time, or full time, you may wish to consider only drawing them down 25% DOD. This will help prevent your batteries from dying a premature death.
At this point, it would be good to have an idea of how many days of autonomy (days without sun) you will need. For example, if you are never at the cabin for more than a weekend, figure two days. The array will have time to charge the batteries up during the following week while you are away.
6. Determine solar array size necessary to keep the battery bank charged daily (and more), if you wish to run heavier draw appliances during peak charge times, to save your batteries. This would include washing machines, vacuum cleaners, etc.
7. Once you know the above information, you can determine which type (PWM or MPPT) controller you will need, and what ampere rated controller to buy.
Do not start with the solar array and work your way backwards. It will cost you a lot more money to do it that way.
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