Solar Energy Off-Grid – Part 5 – Installation and Test
by admin on Saturday, October 29th, 2011 | 16 Comments
Just adding some components to play around with off-grid concepts. We have 550w of solar currently. See my other videos in this playlist.
Polycrystalline Silicon 10Watt Solar Panels Power w/ 36 Cells RV Battery Charger
 | US $40.99 (0 Bid) End Date: Sunday Mar-11-2012 6:41:31 PDT Bid now | Add to watch list |
Excellent work Fearless….you must be very pleased with your efforts. Continue to have fun, we enjoy watching you do it.
@Fearlessthinker It all depends right, it’s pretty subjective. If you never used your battery bank unless it was an emergency then you could get away with having a massive battery bank and some panels to slow charge them and maintain them etc. There is a balancing act though, you are right. I intend on making a whole new series of videos very soon. I keep saying it but I’m waiting on some parts to come in before I start. I’ll do a video of the batteries…I want at least 12 myself, I have 8 now.
@helloman1976 The problem with more batteries is one has to he able to have enough panels to recharge them in short order. In my testing today in clear skies I might be able to produce 150AH (2kWh). Perhaps you can share in a video how you manage production vs. usage.
If you can get all your panels above the cloud layer you’ll make more power
Good job fearless, keep them coming! You need more batteries buddy…forget 4, get 16 
@Fearlessthinker You’re probably right. Building a battery box with a vent at the bottom and pvc pipe on the top running to the outside would be an easy job though. The air intake would probably have to be smaller than the exhaust for an upward air flow. I’m wondering if those batteries will give off a sulphur smell when charging.
@shartne I got it at our local home center; $6 in the department with workbenches and such.
@leamyelectricinc1 Thanks. The point of the series was to give the DIYer some ideas on doing something similar. Hopefully it will inspire people. It isn’t hard, but it does take some planning. It sure is nice to have these things in a box. I now will run some heavy lines into the basement to connect to my inverters that will power part of the house. As for eBay, perhaps one day I might sell some things like this. Thanks again, Larry.
Nice job. The control box came out great and what a fantstic idea to use the toggle switches to go from grid to battery. Lots of luck with it. Hey, you should sell that control box on ebay. LOL
Thanks for the post ,again, nice work.
@Fearlessthinker I guess that sounds good as long as you never go over 20 amps too far.
great job !!!
@shartne This is a 20A line and I only expect to use about 4A of it. It is on L1 which is the side most of our steady-use house items are on. I will feed enough to the grid to get L1 watts to around zero and store the rest in batteries.
@MrHorsetail This is our large 3-car garage which I think is leaky enough, I will have to watch it. Hydrogen escapes easily since it is lighter than air as well as helium. Thanks.
where did you get that metal peg board at that’s nice I guess its safer than wood behind the gtis or is easer to mount to any way where did you get it?
@MrHorsetail thats what I have heard but I see lots of people doing that. One guy even has them in his trailer house bedroom yikes. Breathing that gas is bad for your health. It looks like its in your garage maybe fearless? they usually dont seal up that well with the overhead door and all so it will be ok if thats where its at.
lol that s what it looks like on those cloudy days. Man that looks pretty good and well. Is it ok to put all the grid inverters on the same house circuit will it carry the load?? how many amps are you able to put in 12 or 14 gauge wire solid I know the breaker is 15 amps so its somewhere around there. Looks like its a pretty sweet wireing job.That is slick. I should do that very thing. It will still charge the batteries with one amp thats great. They actually charge better slowly than fast.
Very nice work, but shouldn’t the flooded lead acid batteries be vented outside? I’ve read they release highly explosive hydrogen gas when charging, and should be vented outside, unlike sealed AGMs.