Comments on Solar Generator Ordered Online

**lkruper** · 08-28-2015, 10:50 PM

Originally posted by RatedPG

Hi! I'm new to this forum and new to solar power.

I ordered this solar generator online with the following specs:

(3) 240 Watt Solar Panels
40 Amp charge Controller (I was told it is an MPPT controller)
(4+2) 100Ah Deep Cycle Batteries (I was told I needed to add two more batteries)
10K Watt Peak 5000 Watt Continuous Pure Sine Wave Inverter (I was told it is a 24V system)
*500 Amp ANL Fuse (safety feature),
40 feet of solar panel cables

I haven't received it yet. The company told me it would take to weeks to be delivered. I'm kinda iffy dealing with this company. We had a good exchange of emails at the start but that has changed as soon as I placed my order. Now it feels like they don't want to reply to my emails and answer my questions anymore.

Here are some of my questions:

What would be the total Amp-hours for this configuration? 600Ah from the 6 batteries?

What would be the usable Amp-hours if I did not want to discharge the battery back past 50%?

What is the maximum Watt-hours I could get from this system (up to 50% discharge)?

If I wanted to power 12V DC gadgets and tools, how do I connect them to a 24V system?

If your six batteries are 12v then you would have 600Ah total at 12v and 300Ah at 24v. That would leave you 300Ah at 12v or 150Ah at 24 volts if you use 1/2 the battery capacity.

Watt Hours = Amp Hrs X Volts, so at 12v that would be 12 X 300 = 3600 (or 24 X 150).

There is such a thing as a DC 24 to 12v step down converter which will allow you to run 12v appliances from your system. However you would need a DC to AC inverter to run AC appliances.

What kind of batteries do you have?

**RatedPG** · 08-28-2015, 11:43 PM

Originally posted by lkruper

However you would need a DC to AC inverter to run AC appliances.

What kind of batteries do you have?

I think the Pure Sine Wave Inverter will convert DC to AC.

I don't have the unit yet but I'm guessing the batteries will be 12V AGM batteries. Those are the only kind they have on their website.

BTW, I ordered my unit from Be Prepared Solar. Any feedback from that company?

**lkruper** · 08-29-2015, 12:16 AM

Originally posted by RatedPG

I think the Pure Sine Wave Inverter will convert DC to AC.

I don't have the unit yet but I'm guessing the batteries will be 12V AGM batteries. Those are the only kind they have on their website.

BTW, I ordered my unit from Be Prepared Solar. Any feedback from that company?

Yes, I missed the inverter in your description... have no info on the company... maybe someone else does.

**SunEagle** · 08-29-2015, 02:17 PM

Originally posted by RatedPG

I think the Pure Sine Wave Inverter will convert DC to AC. I don't have the unit yet but I'm guessing the batteries will be 12V AGM batteries. Those are the only kind they have on their website. BTW, I ordered my unit from Be Prepared Solar. Any feedback from that company?

Based on thier website I found a system matching your description. From the description they indicated 4 x 100Ah batteries (probably 12volt), 3 x 240watt panels and a 5000w/10000w mod sine wave inverter.--------------------- I see two issues with this equipment. That 5k/10k inverter will suck that 400 Ah system dry in less than an hour at 5k load.----------------------- The other issue is that due to it being a 12 volt system it will require fuse and wires that can handle 500 amp continuous load. They even mention they provide that 500 amp ANL fuse but I doubt they provide wire to handle that amperage. --------------------If it was me I would replace the inverter with one around 800 watt continuous. Which is a much better fit for that 400Ah battery bank. up to 840 amp peak. More than likely they did not provide that type of wire or fusing so you can expect something to burn up.

**RatedPG** · 08-29-2015, 04:36 PM

Originally posted by SunEagle

From the description they indicated 4 x 100Ah batteries (probably 12volt)

They added two more batteries to my configuration - making it 6 batteries total. They said it will be a 24V setup.

**SunEagle** · 08-29-2015, 09:13 PM

Originally posted by RatedPG

They added two more batteries to my configuration - making it 6 batteries total. They said it will be a 24V setup.

ok. With 6 x 12v 100Ah batteries you can wire them as 3 sets of 2 in parallel. That gets you a 24volt 300 Ah system which is better but still way too small for a 5000watt inverter.

**RatedPG** · 08-29-2015, 10:12 PM

Originally posted by SunEagle

ok. With 6 x 12v 100Ah batteries you can wire them as 3 sets of 2 in parallel. That gets you a 24volt 300 Ah system which is better but still way too small for a 5000watt inverter.

I am clueless as to how they will configure the system. I'm thinking it should be as you described it.

I'm disappointed with this company. I asked them for a good setup for my intended usage and this is the configuration they gave me. I placed my order thinking they knew what they were doing. They have stopped answering my emails since I placed my order.

I did not know much about solar systems and my mistake was placing the order BEFORE I joined this forum.

**lkruper** · 08-29-2015, 10:22 PM

Originally posted by RatedPG

I am clueless as to how they will configure the system. I'm thinking it should be as you described it.

I'm disappointed with this company. I asked them for a good setup for my intended usage and this is the configuration they gave me. I placed my order thinking they knew what they were doing. They have stopped answering my emails since I placed my order.

I did not know much about solar systems and my mistake was placing the order BEFORE I joined this forum.

You said it would take two weeks to be delivered and you do not have it yet? Maybe you can cancel the order if they have not shipped it yet.

**Naptown** · 08-29-2015, 10:35 PM

Originally posted by lkruper

You said it would take two weeks to be delivered and you do not have it yet? Maybe you can cancel the order if they have not shipped it yet.

Cancel your order hopefully you paid with a credit card.
We can point you toward building a system that is much better balanced and likely much less expensive.

**RatedPG** · 08-29-2015, 10:57 PM

Originally posted by Naptown

Cancel your order hopefully you paid with a credit card.

My credit card has already been charged for the order. They have not been responding to my emails. Now there is a notification on their website that they will be closed from Aug 29 - Sept 14.

**Naptown** · 08-29-2015, 11:08 PM

Call your credit card and have them stop payment.

**RatedPG** · 08-29-2015, 11:21 PM

Originally posted by Naptown

Call your credit card and have them stop payment.

I just did. The credit card company said that they cannot stop that payment but they can help me dispute the transaction if BePreparedSolar refuses to cancel my order.

**lkruper** · 08-29-2015, 11:42 PM

Originally posted by RatedPG

I just did. The credit card company said that they cannot stop that payment but they can help me dispute the transaction if BePreparedSolar refuses to cancel my order.

From the web site, it sounds like they have the individual components drop-shipped from various places because they don't all arrive at the same time. I wonder if they will want someone to sign for the delivery.

The ungrammatical notes on their web site does not give me a warm and fuzzy feeling.

**RatedPG** · 08-30-2015, 12:28 AM

This is the blog that led me to this company: (I was originally looking at the Yeti 1250)

http://bestportablesolargenerators.com/bepreparedsolar-5000w-200ah-solar-generator-vs-goal-zero-yeti-1250-solar-generator/

... which led me to this Amazon page:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F1GA5DA/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00F1GA5DA&linkCode=as2&tag=rgon-20&linkId=AYLGCPDG7UZXMPXR