Need help with new system desgin for off-grid yurt

[Serenityacres]

We bought land in Plymouth NH and just moved up last week to begin setting up our 27' colorado yurt on our property. I am not in the process of designing our off-grid solar system while my husband works on building the platform for our yurt. We have a large wood cookstove for heating but may need to run A/C occasionally in summers. As far as our power needs we will be needing the system to run:
10cuft converted chest fridge
10cuft chest freezer
2 500w desktop computers used for working
occasional charging of tablets and laptops for the kids
LED lights in the home
occasional charging of cell phones
occasional use of our centrifugal "dryer"

the AltE Store is close enough that shipping to us is lower cost or we could drive down and pick it up.

So far I am looking at this for our set up:

• https://www.altestore.com/store/Packaged-Systems/Off-Grid-Cabin-Systems-Solar-Packages/Off-Grid-Cabin-Package-D-560W-Kyocera-Modules/p7433/

  
  

  https://www.altestore.com/store/Wind-Turbines/Primus-Windpower-Turbines-Parts/AIR40-Series-Wind-Turbines/Primus-Wind-Power-AIR-40-12-Volt-DC-Wind-Turbine/p9620/

  
  

  https://www.altestore.com/store/Wind-Turbines/Wind-Turbine-Towers/Towers-for-Air-X-Air-Breeze/Primus-Windpower-45ft-Tilt-Up-Tower-Kit-for-Air-Turbines/p1422/

  
  

  https://www.altestore.com/store/Charge-Controllers/Solar-Charge-Controllers/PWM-Type-Solar-Charge-Controllers/Morningstar-Charge-Controllers-PWM/Morningstar-TriStar-TS-60-Charge-Controller-without-Display/p807/

  
  a top of pole mount so probably another 500

total - 8383.53 plus 300 ship

I am looking at adding two more batteries to the setup and possibly a 5th panel either now or down the road.

My main questions are:
Do you think this setup would be enough or effcient for the lifestyle listed above?
Are the batteries in this package good and or sufficient? We are in a pretty cold climate and it was/is attractive to ise the sealed gel for this reason alone.
Where would you tweak this setup for maximum efficiency and stay within the 9500 budget?
If this is completely the wrong direction can you offer suggestions on a good system or setup?


thank you so much for your help in advance!!! all help is invaluable and much appreciated!!

ETA we are also looking for a good generator to complement the system but are also completely new to generators as well so any help or recommendations there as well are super appreciated!

[Bala]

Sadly i doubt that system will come close to meeting your listed needs.

But at least you have not purchase anything yet, although unless you can severely reduce your power usage your budget will be to small.

Unless you have very large system A/C is not generally an option unless you want to run a genset a lot.

Desktop PC also are not ideal as they use more power than a laptop.

You will need to have a better idea of exactly how much power you use. If you are currently living in a house with mains power what is your usage?

Have you red the sticky in the top of this section on Sizing off grid systems.

[Serenityacres]

we are in a hotel ATM we can do w/o the A/C I just put it there just in case PC wise hubby is a software engineer so at least his PC is a must. I am a writer so I can work on my laptop if necessary.

I read through the sticky ne or twice I just am at the point still of being too new to make ehads or tails of it. We are trying to go as minimal as possible so we can reduce our use and cost for our system.

[Bala]

You will need to work on the real amount of power you use, this is the key to designing systems.

You should be able to buy an inexpensive wattmeter, you can may be able to use this in the hotel room to measure PC power consumption.

If the PC will be used a lot at night this will make a difference.

Also it is generally accepted that unless the wind is blowing your hat off 24/7 then wind generators are not effective.

So concentrate on working out how much power you will use.

If you have power bill from your last house think of how you would reduce that amount of usage.

[Serenityacres]

You will need to work on the real amount of power you use, this is the key to designing systems.

You should be able to buy an inexpensive wattmeter, you can may be able to use this in the hotel room to measure PC power consumption.

If the PC will be used a lot at night this will make a difference.

Also it is generally accepted that unless the wind is blowing your hat off 24/7 then wind generators are not effective.

So concentrate on working out how much power you will use.

If you have power bill from your last house think of how you would reduce that amount of usage.

We will not have well water so no well pump, gravity fed cistern setup. Also no washing machine, we will be hand washing and using a cetrifugal dryer to get as much water out as we can before we hang dry. According to the solar ad wind maps we live in 3-3.5 sun hour zone and a high wind zone. in fact there are several wind farms minutes from our land We will be turning off pretty much everything at night so minimal night usage. The power usage at our old house is a world different from what we use now and plan on using in the long run! At our old house we stayed up late playing PC games until 2-3am sometimes, had lights on a lot in many rooms in a 2500 sqft house, elec oven, stove, washer, dryer, A/C, stereos..... you know the avrg american dream (we were a family of 8 but my 2 teen step-daughters remained behind in WV with thier mom). So this entire journey is a complete and total lifestyle change and we are ready and willing to make the changes needed to reach our goals of sustainable living.

We will need power for the internet device though as mentioned above. We are unsure if we can get cable run to the land yet (no power or water avail) but if not we will need to go satallite as internet is a necessity with my husband being a software engineer. My husband was able to find quite a few cases of people running low wattage window A/C units on solar I am just hoping to be able to fit the system into our budget.

I have made some changes to my thought process as I have learned through reading and talking with more experienced people! I am looking into the 100w Renogy solar panels (8-10) of them, using either deep cycle marine batteries or the seemingly infamous sams club golf cart batteries.

Now there seems to be a mild debate of hardware that I am trying to figure out. I have read so many positive things about the outback charge controllers and inverters. However I am finding a good sized group of people recommending to save money by purchasing the chinese made inverters and charge controllers on ebay. So now I am definitely confused over what is the best route for a beginner to go? Are there better places to save money so I can build a bigger system at a lower cost?

thanks again for the help!!!

[Bala]

The fact that some people run A/C on stand alone systems depends on their system. They may have a huge system, have auto start generator so really they run a lot on genset, or they ruin batteries frequently.

So you are now a family of 6?

I have made some changes to my thought process as I have learned through reading and talking with more experienced people! I am looking into the 100w Renogy solar panels (8-10) of them, using either deep cycle marine batteries or the seemingly infamous sams club golf cart batteries.

I am not sure who these experienced people are but if you go with a system like that it will end it tears.

At the moment you are learning but guessing. If you truly want a system that will give you good battery life then you need to work out your expected power usage. If you want A/C, you have to size the system for it, you cant just squeeze it in.

If your system is undersized you will be buying new batteries VERY regularly.

I dont know your climate so this is only a very rough ball park estimate for you to work on for pricing,without A/C, you may get buy with a 5KWH per day system, but I think you will be looking at about 10kwh per day system. If you want A/C you will need Auto start genset backup.

Someone will let us know if I am in error.

Note: The basis of systems is battery life if its not sized and used correctly batteries can die extremely quickly. There are some people that will tell you what you want to hear, this forum is not like that. There are however people on here who live and who work with stand alone systems that will help you determine what will truly work in the most cost effective way long term. But it wont cheap and it will take a while for you to plan it out properly.

[mschulz]

I have made some changes to my thought process as I have learned through reading and talking with more experienced people! I am looking into the 100w Renogy solar panels (8-10) of them


thanks again for the help!!!

This would be an expensive way to go. If you are going to run 800 to 1000 watts of PV panel, do yourself a favor, save a little money and get some 250-300 watt grid tie panels and a decent MPPT charge controller. Who ever told you to run 8-10 of those 100 watt panels is just trying to sell them to you or really doesn't know what they are doing.

The size of your system that you are trying to build is not something you are going to be able to buy off Amazon or e-bay.

Seriously look at the cost per watt for those 100 watt panels vs the 250-300 watt panels - you are not ready to buy anything yet, if you do, you most likely will be returning it.


Read this a couple times: http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showth...rs-PWM-or-MPPT

Then Read this a couple times: http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showth...-Size-Tutorial


And think about if you could do this: http://www.solarpaneltalk.com/showth...ng-Gen-Support

You have made the decision to Live Off the Grid, don't let yourself go down a rat hole throwing money at it. Post up your loads and we will see what we can do, but at this point, DO NOT BUY ANYTHING.

[Serenityacres]

OK before we sold our old way too big for us house our average kW usage as shown on our bill would come up with needing 4.76kW for a system. I would say we are cutting our usage in half as far as what we plan on using in the long run.

[Bala]

OK before we sold our old way too big for us house our average kW usage as shown on our bill would come up with needing 4.76kW for a system. I would say we are cutting our usage in half as far as what we plan on using in the long run.

How did you calculate that figure?

[Serenityacres]

our old house last bill did have an avrg usage which was 400kWh

[Bala]

our old house last bill did have an avrg usage which was 400kWh

So how does that equate to usage per day in KWH? ( I dont know how many days that bill is for)

Did you use a solar calculator like at the top of this page?

[Serenityacres]

ok i just went through several of the stickies and started working on the actual equations given for the information that we need. Using the stickies and the information from my previous power bills I am getting 6kWh as my number with an array size of 1714w and a 24v system. does this sound more correct? On a side note this is basing off of my previous way too big for us house where we abused our electric usage LOL

[Bala]

ok i just went through several of the stickies and started working on the actual equations given for the information that we need. Using the stickies and the information from my previous power bills I am getting 6kWh as my number with an array size of 1714w and a 24v system. does this sound more correct? On a side note this is basing off of my previous way too big for us house where we abused our electric usage LOL

So now you are getting a better idea of the size you will need, 6kwh is a big difference to what you were looking at earlier on.

I have no idea what a system that size will cost where you are, perhaps some one else can chime in with a ball park figure of cost.

It may be a little more than your original budget.

[Serenityacres]

So now you are getting a better idea of the size you will need, 6kwh is a big difference to what you were looking at earlier on.

I have no idea what a system that size will cost where you are, perhaps some one else can chime in with a ball park figure of cost.

It may be a little more than your original budget.

we get 3.5 peak hours of sun according to the charts up here. Unfortunately we cannot go over our 9500 budget because there simply isn't more without taking fom another budget equally as critical since my husband is off work for the year while we build the homestead.

[Bala]

we get 3.5 peak hours of sun according to the charts up here. Unfortunately we cannot go over our 9500 budget because there simply isn't more without taking fom another budget equally as critical since my husband is off work for the year while we build the homestead.

Even more reason to make sure you understand completely what system you are buying and what it will do for you.

If you do not understand how to use the system you can easily draw to much from the batteries and ruin them.

A general base for battery life is about 5 years, I have 9 years on mine but I use genset back up a lot so there is a cost there.

Battery replacement needs to be in the longer term budget.

Apparently a lot of people ruin there first set of batteries in a year or so!!

Stand alone is truly a lifestyle change, it is not just a different source for electricity.