The start of my new 'Off grid' Solar install.

[Will B Good]

Interesting!

 

Taking into account depreciation, maintenance costs, lost opportunity cost of capital.......what do estimate your payback time to be?

[Kinnock]

On 2/13/2022 at 4:43 PM, 1FinickyOne said:

It all sounds like Welsh to me - but I would like to have my computer keep running... the power is never off for too long.. 

A UPS may be a simpler option if you only want to keep your computer running during brief power cuts?

[BritManToo]

3 minutes ago, Will B Good said:

Interesting!

 

Taking into account depreciation, maintenance costs, lost opportunity cost of capital.......what do estimate your payback time to be?

No idea, just playing .......

But the 5500W inverter was 14k, 10kWhr battery 30k, 7 x 330w panels 22k. = 66k (all budget items).

Generating 7 units/day at 4bht/unit = 2360 days = 78 months = 6 & 1/2 years.

If nothing breaks.

 

Grid tie would have been half that, going off grid with batteries is $$$$$$$$$$s

[Pink7]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Everything arrived yesterday ...........

The inverter from China arrived in San Sai, but J&T express couldn't manage to deliver it the last 3Km ...... had to pick it up.

Today was drilling and wiring day.

Inverter on the left, inverter switches in the middle, house fuses on the right.

Inverter switches are supply to inverter breaker, battery breaker, PV breaker.

I've split the house fuses into grid on the left, solar rooms on the right.

Your so fast to get it up.. Im impressed. What was J&T express excuse? I had same to me happened once too. Do you main explain why there is wire from inverter breaker box to house breaker box? How you feel the quality of the inverter?

 

Edit: Or your intake is just under the house breaker box?

Pink

[BritManToo]

Almost finished, 5 panels connected, battery connected, one room on solar (2 rooms to go 2 more PVs to mount). Producing 1kW from 5 panels, which is enough to run my computer/Tv and charge the batteries.

Very tired now ..............

 

[In Full Agreement]

 

Seems like a perfect topic for photos of the installation as well as the house.

 

 

 

[Pink7]

On 2/19/2022 at 1:57 PM, BritManToo said:

No idea, just playing .......

But the 5500W inverter was 14k, 10kWhr battery 30k, 7 x 330w panels 22k. = 66k (all budget items).

Generating 7 units/day at 4bht/unit = 2360 days = 78 months = 6 & 1/2 years.

If nothing breaks.

 

Grid tie would have been half that, going off grid with batteries is $$$$$$$$$$s

You got the panels recently? Where you buy panels ? And what panels you got?

 

Pink

[BritManToo]

3 hours ago, Pink7 said:

You got the panels recently? Where you buy panels ? And what panels you got?

Pink

Had 5 already, purchased another 2 from BlueTech on Lazada, 3,500bht each delivered.

Today's effort was cutting/welding/drilling the wall mounts for the new panels.

Ready to drill the wall, but i think I'll wait until tomorrow, too tired, getting too old for this stuff.

[Pink7]

3 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Had 5 already, purchased another 2 from BlueTech on Lazada, 3,500bht each delivered.

Today's effort was cutting/welding/drilling the wall mounts for the new panels.

Ready to drill the wall, but i think I'll wait until tomorrow, too tired, getting too old for this stuff.

Ok thats not to bad price. I thought first i find better price on fb marketplace Sunfree panels but then i found out price was excl vat. I see from their pricing price up 2 times last months. Looks like inflation affecting sola panel pricing. Can you share how you fasten then panels on your steel bars? I have some steel left over from some project so i will try make some diy solar rails with it.

 

Pink

[Crossy]

12 minutes ago, Pink7 said:

Looks like inflation affecting sola panel pricing.

 

Yeah, the 340W panels I got for 2,890 in November are now 3,590, same supplier ???? 

 

Everybody is, of course, blaming covid!

 

[scorecard]

On 2/11/2022 at 9:03 PM, BritManToo said:

Risin have a lot of good 'breaker' stuff at great prices, free delivery and fast from China.

https://www.lazada.co.th/products/i2867374375-s10463770614.html

 

My Inverter cleared China customs today, not fast as they took 7 days to dispatch.

No great rush, another 8 Lifepo4 cells arriving tomorrow. Will need 4 more after that.

Batteries seem decent enough, will need load tests to discover their true capacity.

I'll probably wait until i have all 16, as they seem to arrive all with the same Voltage from the shop, and I don't want to risk mixing things up too much. 

When you've completed this project what % of your overall households electricity need (day and night needs) will be covered.

 

I must add, I admire your knowledge on this subject.

[Pink7]

5 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Yeah, the 340W panels I got for 2,890 in November are now 3,590, same supplier ???? 

 

Everybody is, of course, blaming covid!

 

Yes i see same when compare posted prices few months back. Prices up around same level as your example. I also see most sellers and solar companies have very identical prices. 

 

Pink

[Crossy]

18 minutes ago, scorecard said:

When you've completed this project what % of your overall households electricity need (day and night needs) will be covered.

 

Just out of interest, we have just over 10kWP on the car port, so far in February we have:-

• From Solar 504kWh
• From PEA 213kWh

Since 18th Feb (when the meter reader came) we have:-

• From solar 155kWh
• From PEA 5.3kWh

The weather has been good to us for the last 4 days, I don't expect it to last ???? 

[scorecard]

13 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Just out of interest, we have just over 10kWP on the car port, so far in February we have:-

• From Solar 504kWh
• From PEA 213kWh

Since 18th Feb (when the meter reader came) we have:-

• From solar 155kWh
• From PEA 5.3kWh

The weather has been good to us for the last 4 days, I don't expect it to last ???? 

 

Crossy, thanks for your data, really interesting and it seems that the majority of daily needs (am & pm) from solar is possible within say  70,000 to 100,000Baht (just a wild guess) budget for a basic / good home installation,  and getting cheaper all the time.

 

Can i I please ask BritManToo to please share the same data.

 

I'm guessing there's quite a few members, besides me, watching you guys to learn.

 

Also seems that suppliers from China are reliable, have good products and good prices. I think I'm also seeing that a lot of the needed equipment is now more 'packaged', easy to handle for installation and for real use. 

 

Thanks.

[Crossy]

18 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Crossy, thanks for your data, really interesting

 

I post full month generation figures in the Solar Car-Port thread at the end of each calendar month I can add the PEA numbers too if it's useful ???? 

 

I have numbers going back to March 2020 (and before but sporadic as I was just getting the logging working).

 

live data here https://thingspeak.com/channels/991448

 

If anyone is that interested feeds (1).csv only 77MB! That's data every 60 seconds (I do have 1 second data but it's a bit big). Sadly I didn't store weather data ???? 

 

The PV capacity has increased over the period covered, let me know and I'll post the dates and capacity changes.

 

 

[BritManToo]

35 minutes ago, scorecard said:

Can i I please ask BritManToo to please share the same data.

 

My 5 (x330w) 'grid tie' panels have been generating around 140 units/month, and the PEA sells me another 170-220 units/month.

 

Those 5 panels are now connected to my 'off grid' living room supply.

And are supposedly generating 1kW between 9am and 3pm, only the PV gets throttled back at around mid-day when the batteries have been fully charged ......... waiting for a 'Neutral bus bar' for my fuse box (tomorrow) so I can connect my bedrooms to the 'off grid'. When I'm running off battery, from 3pm to 9am the battery drops from 100% to 82% so I have plenty to spare.

Think I'll leave the kitchen, showers and air-con on grid with maybe one double socket solar powered in the kitchen.

 

Completely knackered now ...... just put the mounts for the 2 new panels up, lifted one up and bolted it down, one left to lift tomorrow. Why is it the holes you drill on the ground move when they're in the air, so you have to drill again when up a ladder?

[Crossy]

10 hours ago, BritManToo said:

Why is it the holes you drill on the ground move when they're in the air, so you have to drill again when up a ladder?

 

Yours do it too? I thought it was just me!

 

My youngest, who does ultra-precision measurements for a UK defence contractor, would kill me (very slowly) for saying that!

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, BritManToo said:

My 5 (x330w) 'grid tie' panels have been generating around 140 units/month, and the PEA sells me another 170-220 units/month.

 

Those 5 panels are now connected to my 'off grid' living room supply.

And are supposedly generating 1kW between 9am and 3pm, only the PV gets throttled back at around mid-day when the batteries have been fully charged ......... waiting for a 'Neutral bus bar' for my fuse box (tomorrow) so I can connect my bedrooms to the 'off grid'. When I'm running off battery, from 3pm to 9am the battery drops from 100% to 82% so I have plenty to spare.

Think I'll leave the kitchen, showers and air-con on grid with maybe one double socket solar powered in the kitchen.

 

Completely knackered now ...... just put the mounts for the 2 new panels up, lifted one up and bolted it down, one left to lift tomorrow. Why is it the holes you drill on the ground move when they're in the air, so you have to drill again when up a ladder?

Wow, I admire you guys.

[Pink7]

17 hours ago, BritManToo said:

 

BritManToo can you share how you connected the panels and what parts you used?

 

Pink

[thaibeachlovers]

How long does it take for that to pay for itself?

 

I'm interested in something like that myself, but I can get everything needed from a local shop, but is it worth it?

[BritManToo]

50 minutes ago, Pink7 said:

BritManToo can you share how you connected the panels and what parts you used?

Pink

It's just 2" x 1" box steel welded into shelf supports the 'shelf' being the distance between mounting holes in the PV. In my case the PV mounting holes are 96cm apart, so I made my 'shelf' 1m wide. Then 2 rails (2x1 box steel) 3m long. The rails are mounted 96cm apart (every different PV I have has different mounting holes), then drilled and bolted on with 2 & 1/2" bolts.

 

Essentially,

You just need a welder, grinder, drill plenty of 2x1 box steel and a handful of nuts/bolts/washers.

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

How long does it take for that to pay for itself?

 

I'm interested in something like that myself, but I can get everything needed from a local shop, but is it worth it?

6-7 years if you use batteries, totally legal.

3 years if you use Grid Tie (and turn your meter backwards), but usually illegal.

Like everything big business has you by the balls.

 

But if you're a prepper planning for TEOTWAWKI you need batteries.

Because when TSHTF there will be no grid.

 

Better buy that 45Kg sack of rice as well.

No point in having power, if you don't have food!

[BritManToo]

Finished the wiring ..........

Upstairs main bedroom, spare bedrooms, living room and a double kitchen socket on solar.

Two shower heaters, bedroom air-con, and kitchen remain on grid.

 

The wiring was a bit of an effort the two bedroom fuses shared a neutral ..... are they allowed to do that?

Tried cooking dinner on solar, the battery flipped out at 50A, my fault had set max discharge to 50A in the BMS.

Upped it to 75A, nothing 'hot' so far.

 

Looks like the inverter takes all the PV power available, then tops it up with battery (or grid if battery can't cope).

Will have to investigate inverter settings, and see if I can set a maximum batter draw.

The BMS just cuts the battery off if the max discharge is reached, which isn't that useful.

[Crossy]

19 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

The wiring was a bit of an effort the two bedroom fuses shared a neutral ..... are they allowed to do that?

 

No!

[Crossy]

20 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

The BMS just cuts the battery off if the max discharge is reached, which isn't that useful.

 

You should be able to tell the inverter what it's max discharge / charge rate is, set it a bit lower than the BMS then it "should" top up from the grid.

 

[BritManToo]

1 minute ago, Crossy said:

You should be able to tell the inverter what it's max discharge / charge rate is, set it a bit lower than the BMS then it "should" top up from the grid.

Sadly there's no setting for max battery discharge in the inverter.

[Crossy]

1 minute ago, BritManToo said:

Sadly there's no setting for max battery discharge in the inverter.

 

Which inverter do you have, is the manual online?

 

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, Crossy said:

Which inverter do you have, is the manual online?

https://cdn.shopifycdn.net/s/files/1/0530/3799/0070/files/VM-PLUS-3.2KW-5.5KW-HYBRID-SOLAR-INVERTER-CHARGER-USER-MANUAL.pdf

[Crossy]

13 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Sadly there's no setting for max battery discharge in the inverter.

 

Looks like time for a bigger BMS then ???? 

 

Or just ensure you don't go over the max discharge current it's set to.

 

[BritManToo]

5 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

Looks like time for a bigger BMS then ???? 

 

Or just ensure you don't go over the max discharge current it's set to.

 

I've got a 150A BMS, which can handle 300A for 5s.

Not sure the battery cables were that good, so had max charge/discharge at 50A.

Nothing got hot so I've upped it to 75A.

I'll try that for a couple of days, and if still not hot I might try 100A.

 

Trying not to burn my house down!