Solar power HELP

[trkarl]

MB - in answer to your question here is a little story of mine. Before I knew anything about solar and inverters I was a member of this astronomy club. We would go out in the swamp where it is real dark and set up telescopes for viewing. I wanted to run my laptop so I bought this Vector 1500w msw inverter for 150.00 .

I also bought a marine trolling motor battery. It worked fine. When hurricane Charlie came through in 2004 our power was out for three days. I had never been in a power outage for more than a couple hours until then. I was able to hook that inverter up to my car and idle the engine and run my fridge to keep everything cold. Also I could have a fan at night and t.v. and radio.

That piece of junk inverter made the situation light years better than not having one. I ended up killing my car battery but it was worth having no spoiled food and ice and cold drinks etc.

Lowdown is absolutely correct in what he is saying. If you want a real power production system then don't waste your money on that inverter. However I get the sense that you are itching to get your feet wet. My only advice is to download the manual and read it. Understand it's limitations because it has many.

http://sunforceproducts.com/prodinfo/en_vend_lit/%2811240%29%201000%20W%20PSW%20Inverter.pdf

You will gain an education with that inverter but you will not be satisfied. You will need to buy a charger, a real 3 or 4 stage battery charger not an automotive one from walmart for 20 bucks.

If you are dead set on getting something now then go for it. Buy a couple golf cart batteries for a small bank and a charger and a small genny if you don't have one. You can at least be comfortable in a long term power outage. Learn how it works and then buy a couple of solar panels and a charge controller and begin playing with it.

My first solar panels was 580 watts of BP panels that I bolted to some pool cage aluminum and would set up in the driveway on the weekends. I would run my chest freezer with a ProSine 2.0 inverter and charged the bank with an Outback MX60. It was a 12v configuration.

The panels in the driveway:




The nice thing about having the MX60 was that it is a real offgrid charge controller and now helps keep my 48v bank charged. Also the same panels are now wired in one series string which now powers my 48v inverter. So the pieces were upgradable.

IMHO don't buy the stupid kits from Costco. Buy some panels that you can use in the system you are planning on building but you can also use them now. Also buy a charge controller you can use later.

ETA: correct manual link for sunforce inverter http://sunforceproducts.com/prodinfo...neInverter.pdf

[monkeybird]

I do have a gas/oil generator I purchased during the year of the 4 hurricanes. I also bought a window AC that draws 15 amps. Last week the central AC on one side of my house stopped working (attacked by ants believe it or not!), anyway I turned on the little AC and it cooled a 20x22' bedroom, a 8x4' office and a 14x16 sitting room. All this is considered the Master suite area and closes off from the rest of the house. (Older homes are much bigger than newer ones.) That area was a cool as if I had the central AC on. During the next hurricane (Ivan) I ran the AC, refrigerator, TV, VCR, lights with no problems on my generator. I could live with this much power during the PAW.

But generator's require gas/oil stuff to run, and they sound like a jet engine. Thats one reason I want a solar back up. Imagine running all that in peace and quite. I'm still at a loss for the water pump. My son got all involved in getting the boat ready for our outing, we both forgot to check it out.) The pump moves water to a holding tank. I know the well is 265 feet deep. Hand pumping is a problem at that depth.

So, I think I've decided to go for the big inverter and start from there. I'd also like enough for a backup during a hurricane. I priced a kit, vs purchasing the parts separately, and it's no contest, buying parts separately is half the cost of buying a kit. So, my adventure begins.

[Lowdown3]

MB- you HAVE a power source already- the generator. Read this

http://www.buildanark.net/index.php?pages/What%20you%20can%20do%20with%20your%20Generator.html

That is exactly what I did when I started my system. I figured the "crucial needs" that I absolutely wanted to be able to do-

1. Pump water from a deep well.
2. Have an EMP backup if the solar took a dive

That's why the "heart" of my original system was a big nasty 12KW Hardy Diesel genset. Once you realize that you could be charging some batteries while pumping your water (sized correctly of course), you'll want to add some batteries.

The genset is an AC input to the inverter.
Solar and wind would be DC inputs to the inverter.

See why not buying a cheesy $99. "inverter" is important?

So I began with the most crucial thing- being able to pump water. The excess power meant adding some batteries and an inverter. This alone was a working system- just relied on diesel. Later I added to the DC (solar) side of the equation.

[trkarl]

Seeing that Trace 4024 in the Buildanark article is pretty cool. My inverter mentor (may he rest in peace) has one of those as his, now his wife's, back up power source with a large Trojan golf cart battery bank. After he died I rebuilt the battery bank and showed her how to use the transfer switches when the power goes out.

My first big inverter was a Xantrex sw4048 which now sits in a box to be used as a backup if for some reason the Sunny Island 5048 goes down.

[1Admin]

Seeing that Trace 4024 in the Buildanark article is pretty cool. My inverter mentor (may he rest in peace) has one of those as his, now his wife's, back up power source with a large Trojan golf cart battery bank. After he died I rebuilt the battery bank and showed her how to use the transfer switches when the power goes out.

My first big inverter was a Xantrex sw4048 which now sits in a box to be used as a backup if for some reason the Sunny Island 5048 goes down.

Yeah that is probably way old "tech" now but it's been a great inverter. LED readout started going out years ago, but other than that not a problem whatsoever. I'll typically stick with stuff as long as it's still working. We are probably one of the only families that don't have a flat screen TV... That Radiation King 4000 model from 1975 is still working pretty good! ;)

[redmeat]

When I read all the information about inverters it gets more and more confusing. Particularly about 220 lines. The major problem in the surge power drain when the pump starts. Some of the inverters cost over $3,000.00. While I don't want a cheap inverter, $3,000 is a little steep.

Your logic about the panels make good sense. Never thought about damage and replacement.

Why, or why is it soooooooooooooooo expensive.

Not enough people are using solar. When more packages are sold, the price will go down. When everyone uses solar then the price for a system will be (reasonable). We need more tax breaks on this technology. That way, more people will consider it in their new house plans and retrofits. Too bad the goverment is broke. If we would stop spending so much on weapons systems and spend that money on energy systems that would help a hell of a lot.