I estimate that the real world efficiency has been in the 80-90% range.

According to a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study , each 1-kilowatt (kW) increase in a rooftop solar system adds $5,911 to a … I do know that the modified sine wave inverters are significantly cheaper.Interesting approach with the many inverters. “Close” as in you don’t need $30K worth of stuff to get a drink. This old wire was salvaged from old oil production applications.

Why? DC appliances work just as well as AC. Or said another way would you use a Mini Cooper with a tow hitch to pull a small trailer OR use it to try to pull out a Double Decker Bus out of the ditch? By, in essence, converting the excess voltage into amps, the charge voltage can be kept at an optimal level while the time required to fully charge the batteries is reduced.

It varies a little, more than it should actually. When the sun goes down, the home will use power from the batteries until the sun starts shining again.

If that’s what your planning, a smarter way to approach it, is to check out 12 vdc or 24 vdc refrigerators and compare $$. Like Ken, my switchover of the mains is manual. It is my understanding, for basic applications such as running an electric motor, modified sine wave will work just fine. More appliances/devices, more powerful inverter ModernSurvivalBlog.com participates in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program – affiliate advertising designed to provide a means for sites to earn fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Any DC appliances will help to make your system WAY MORE efficient. What that does, is it allows me to overcharge the batteries a little bit, for a little while and clean/boil any sulfation off of the plates in them. Off-grid solar PV systems are expensive, so find any means you can to reduce the energy requirements.

Also – Up until now we’ve been using deep cycle batteries that you would normally get for a boat, RV etc… ($100+ each). Electrical lines, that is. There are drawbacks too.

That could be a wiring challenge.This little pump only requires 2 100watt panels and comes on when there is enough sun and shuts down when there isn’t. Even with a small system. In a shtf, I plan to focus all my solar/wind power to run my chest freezer.
Might be worth a look. Todd and the rest of the Wholesale Solar team are here to answer any questions you have about designing a system that will fit your needs. I just wish I had understood all the various options available, from the start. I also have a ‘secondary system’. Next step is to get back up to 24 VDC on PVs and associated equipment. Generally you can find the real world results of inverters at better solar-electric webpages and sometimes in Amazon reviews (once you parse out the “This inverter is awesome” bot messages).Inverters range in price from less than $100 to many thousands of dollars.

I have to admit I love not having to open AutoCAD that often anymore. Twice the voltage, half the current. Here’s a listing of books which may help:I use a single 200 watt solar panel for off grid truck camping, with a sunny day and a couple of 100 amp hour batteries it gives you charging for electronics, bright LED lamps at night, and fans. Keep up the good work!The reports produced are accurate and comprehensive, which projects a very professional feel for our customers, some of whom are detail oriented people. Mother Nature will do as she sees fit.

As you know, chest freezer/refrigerators are far more efficient than uprights. The cold air doesn’t “fall out” every time ya open the door. Inverters will either shut down to protect themselves or burn out and you need to replace it.Load management is choosing what items that will be run together thus maybe allowing a smaller inverter to make do.So YES if you add more appliances to be used at the same time you WILL need an inverter sized for your maximum wattage required or it will shut down or worse. full time power? Wait I mean LED string.Outback claims 90 – 93% efficiency. Watts - Since we connected two groups of four panels together in series and parallel, this solar system will output 504w of power per hour maximum (under optimal sunlight conditions). Now that we are adding panels for keeping the battery bank charged, just curious on how to set up our battery bank properly.But my short answer regarding battery type, is that it sounds like you’re doing well buy purchasing DEEP CELL marine type batteries. I should have seen that. Might even put in a 220VAC GFI, just in case.I am not ‘off-grid’, per se. Grid-tie solar systems store the power they generate in the public utility grid. They have really nice stuff for hydro now.

That could be enough to operate some essential systems.If you’re interested to research this further, it would be beneficial to read up on the subject. Choices range from less than 100 up to many thousands of watts, depending on inverter.– The first step in the process of determining an inverter is to determine what it will be powering, and how many combined watts those devices might consume.– Inverter design characteristics may be especially important to some people. Water level is typically around 165-175. Keep track of the prices, and jump on the best deal when it pops up.
to make it even more self contained.In the end, for my situation, the dc pump was a better way to go than 220 inverter, and lots more panels and batteries. (It was not a daft question).– “So what should we be looking for?” I cannot answer that. They aren’t phase-locked, yet, but working on that.I currently am using an Outback VFX3648. Meaning the DC power is used to heat the ammonia to generate cooling. That really messed up the calibrations. And an example.The basic solar power system diagram (minus the various circuit breakers, combiner boxes, cables, shunts, grounds, and other details).First, lets face it… To implement solar energy is not cheap compared to today’s energy from the grid.

Even an ‘all batteries low’, start the generator box.

As ya know, dc takes big wire to go very far. This is good.As long as you understand how your system works and what to do and what not to do to it, you are good to go.