Anyone Messed with Solar/Battery banks?

[FATHERFORD]

Living out in the "country" I full rely on power for my well water etc. I do have a back up generator, but I'm looking for a setup that is ready with a flip of a switch and I don't have to worry about fuel.

Does anyone have any experience with 12 or 24 volt high amp inverter systems?

I need to be able to run 240 volt for my well pump, along with a 120 volt system to power a small 12x24 room I have in case of emergencies.

I'm not sure how much a few solar panels on the North side of my garage roof will charge a bank of batteries.

[TeeShock]

What size/hp pump is it?

What equipment load are you anticipating in your emergency room?

How much are you looking to spend?

[FATHERFORD]

What size/hp pump is it?

What equipment load are you anticipating in your emergency room?

How much are you looking to spend?

I'm assuming it's a 1/2 horse pump. I only go down 125 feet for my water.

On my emergency room? Small tv, Fans, small 10cu fridge, a light or two. I'm looking to put a ductless A/C unit out there as it is going to double as an office/guest room. I would eventually like to work my way to power the a/c unit.

Money isn't an object to a certain extent. I'm planning getting enough batteries/solar for the well pump alone, then adding up from there.

My understanding is the well pump won't require much. Seems like a lot of guys are getting away with 4x12volt batteries running in series/parallel, some home depot solar panels and a basic $250 12v/24v to 240V inverter.

I'm doing this more for fun then anything. I keep enough fuel on hand(all the gas in my vehicles, lawn mower, and several 5gal gas cans) for my 8000 running watt generator to run for quite a while.

[ceyko]

I don't have any real input on this, but do you mind posting up if you find anything cool?

[FATHERFORD]

I don't have any real input on this, but do you mind posting up if you find anything cool?

Of course.

I'm finding a lot of my good info on RV forums. They are running everything on their RV's with just 4-6 batteries and 200-400 watt solar panels.

I've pretty much decided to go with a 12volt system as 12 volt batteries are much easier to find in a SHTF scenario.

And when I mean SHTF, power out for 2-3 weeks because of a hurricane.

[TeeShock]

How close is the pump house to the emergency room?

[ceyko]

Of course.

I'm finding a lot of my good info on RV forums. They are running everything on their RV's with just 4-6 batteries and 200-400 watt solar panels.

I've pretty much decided to go with a 12volt system as 12 volt batteries are much easier to find in a SHTF scenario.

And when I mean SHTF, power out for 2-3 weeks because of a hurricane.

Ah that makes sense. I've been learning a bit about this stuff on boating forums, but RV forums would be a totally difference animal power wise and more in line with a house.

[FATHERFORD]

How close is the pump house to the emergency room?

The entire setup will be in my 36x24 garage. I have a two car garage with a "work shop". I'm going to close in the work shop area which creates the 12x24 room.

The Tank and pressure switch is in the garage, the well head is just outside the garage.



I can easily put my panels on the north and/or south side of my garage as they it have no shade.

[TeeShock]

Id mount the panels where your asshole neighbor can't choot em.

Calculate your load demand and build your system from there with a cushion of capacity. Are you going to run the panels to the battery string and from the string to an inverter?

[TeeShock]

This company makes a premium smart inverter

http://www.sma.de/en.html

[FATHERFORD]

Id mount the panels where your asshole neighbor can't choot em.

Calculate your load demand and build your system from there with a cushion of capacity. Are you going to run the panels to the battery string and from the string to an inverter?

That's the plan. The Solar Panels will charge the batteries, then the batteries will feed the inverter.

[Vertnut]

Solar panels need to be CLEANED on a regular basis, or a 25-30% power loss is pretty common. One spot of bird droppings will temporarily kill that particular cell (there's a lot of cells on a panel) and a lot of birds can be a nuisance. The panels are also not immune to hail damage (it will take very large hail), and damage to the fibers and cells is not always visible. A house near mine had a very large area of panels for several years and recently removed them altogether when he figured they weren't producing near what he thought and they were requiring maintenance. The roof under it looks like hammered shit and will now need repair.

[TeeShock]

Masive fuel storage + DRUPS should end all your problems.

[YALE]

For the record, a slow speed diesel powering a genset might be a really cheap option.

[ceyko]

Curious, have you considered wind mill(s)? When I did research they seemed to be the best bang for the buck.

Granted, if there is NO wind you're screwed but usually we have a breeze - especially up higher where they tend to be located.

I can't quote anything since it was 5-6 years ago when I did the ROI on it. If I remember right it seemed like the ROI on a wind mill was 7-8 years. It was 15-20 on a solar panel.