Island Energy Systems Tour – Off Grid Solar Electric

on Aug 22 in Lowes DIY


solarnexusinternational.com This video shows and explains the major components of an off-grid home solar electric system.

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25 Comments

  • hvkwvdub says:

    @mccunecp the biggest favor you can do for yourself is to size all your wiring for the eventual setup , that way when you replce with bigger units you can just plug them in

  • IslandEnergySystems says:

    @IslandEnergySystems Sorry, I mis-stated that. We’d land the AC OUT HOT wire in one main lug in the panel, and the AC OUT NEUTRAL on the neutral bus bar. The 2 main lugs are then jumpered together to feed 120V to all the circuits.

    Don’t use muti-wire branch circuits (with shared neutral wire) in a situation like this.

  • brandon14872 says:

    also i have one of those inverter/chargers

    i am working on a solar power system kind of like that for my bedroom

  • IslandEnergySystems says:

    @dieselplow
    The AC power output from the E-Panel is a single 120 Volt circuit with a maximum ampacity of 60 amps, so we typically use 2, #6 gauge wires to feed the main lugs in a circuit distribution panel (breaker box). The E-Panel could also serve as the main distribution panel, using AC breakers at 15, 20, 30 Amps etc to distribute power to the load circuits.

  • IslandEnergySystems says:

    @brandon14872
    Yes, Anacortes is where we catch the ferry to get out here to the island

  • dieselplow says:

    How does the transition work – from the batteries to the “typical breaker box” to run the power through the house? What does that connection look like for an off grid system?

  • brandon14872 says:

    is orcas island close to Anacortes

  • IslandEnergySystems says:

    @dieselplow
    There are AC input bus bars and an AC circuit breaker in the power center cabinet for hard wiring to a generator, an input receptacle or an extension cord with a plug on the end. The AC input assembly in the power center also can be switched to bypass the inverter/charger completely, to run the loads directly off the generator. That can be a nice backup option in the case of a problem with the inverter.

  • dieselplow says:

    Can you share some more information regarding plugging in a generator to supplement / add charge to the batteries? Is there a plug on the side you can plug into from a generator or??

  • brandon14872 says:

    i have the same inverter

  • cristoretornebiblia says:

    You know a lot about Electronics? Have you used an Oscilloscope to measure your devices?

  • BurtBartlow says:

    I just ate a pumpkin muffin. Delicious!

  • lexam55 says:

    thanks…. a lot…

  • IslandEnergySystems says:

    @lexam55

    As a habit you should try to minimize the discharge of your battery to about 50% of its capacity. For this battery that means you can safely use about 425 AH of energy, or 10.2kWh (425AH x 24V) before you should seriously think about running the generator or turning everything off and waiting for the sun to come out.

  • IslandEnergySystems says:

    @lexam55
    That is the rated capacity of the battery bank, or the total amount of stored electric energy you would have available if you tried to use it all at one time. That rating is at the ‘20 hour rate’, which means that would be discharging at a rate of 42.5 Amps of power, or about 2kW. Though its pretty unrealistic that you would run a 2000 Watt load for 42 hours straight. At lower discharge levels you could get more total Amp-Hours out of it.

  • lexam55 says:

    you are using 850 apm-hours in total@4:36???is this the maximum rate??

  • IslandEnergySystems says:

    That totally depends on how much POWER and ENERGY you need. A micro-scale low power system to run small efficient lighting and small electronics could be put together for as little as about $500. That would be pretty tiny however. Figure roughly $10 per Watt for a simple complete system. So the $500 system would be 50 Watts of PV or so and a 300 Watt system would be more like $3,000.

  • IslandEnergySystems says:

    That MX-60 PV charge controller can deliver max of 60 Amps of charging POWER to the battery. The Amp-hours (charging ENERGY) it can deliver would depend on how long the sun shines and will vary based on the array, the location and the time of year.

  • lexam55 says:

    how amp-hour for battery the maximum limit of this kind of controller?

  • redstrike88 says:

    I can’t afford a setup like this, but how much would this run (cost) for the average Joe?

  • globe255 says:

    Cant i have that house? It looks like a great place.

  • mccunecp says:

    only if I had the money for it I have to start off small. and I want to combine solar and wind but start off small and build up so it will take me a while to get what I want and to get it all up and running like I want it but we all have to start some were like you system it rocks

  • ABOSOLUTEKNOWLEDGE says:

    nice setup clean neeat

    way to go we just need to work in te price

  • djmriogmailcom says:

    Tbhis is a very nicely installed system, unlike some other examples shown here. It’s good to see neat wiring in conduit and straps connecting the battery cells. Very well done. Thanks for showing.

  • NIK4EVA says:

    What appliances do you have on the inside running from this setup ?

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