Installing a solar system with a complete new home build.

[Roughy]

Hello solar community! Have a few questions and have some info as well!! The company I work for is currently taking down old cell phone technology and all the systems have back up battery systems. So awesome to say I can take as many batteries as I want.

The batteries I'm getting are the enersys powersafe 177ah 12v. About 16 of them possibly more if I can. They also aren't discharged during removal so there not useless or else I wouldn't be snagging a pallette or two.

Now a question about the system itself. My home won't be connected to the grid when it will be built. So how would I wire my new home? What would be beneficial? I was thinking about running my lights and anything small strictly on 12v and then have select plugins around the home. I was going to go with a wood cooking stove so I'm not worried about that electrical load.

As for the fridge and freezer I have a concept for them but was looking at 12v appliances as well. Would that be better for the system or just getting ac units that run off the inverter.
i'll be tying the batteries to other renewable resources as well so it won't just be the sun keeping them full

[Mike90250]

2 ways to save yourself a lot of trouble.

Forget 12V systems for a home, you need to begin thinking at 48V (four 12V batteries in series)

Forget the free telcom batteries, they are only designed for a couple dozen cycles, which they do very well for
phone system backup. Stick them in a house, and you are looking for batteries (again) in 2 or 3 months.

Just get the batteries and store them, on pallets, and the ones you can't sell to suckers, you use for the $50
core charge when you buy new ones. Any extras, you cash in as lead scrap, should get $10 ea battery.

[Roughy]

I was going to ask why the batteries wouldn't be good but I researched more and see why. There only good for float charge. Also why would 48v be better? I'm guessing theres info around here and I'll poke around more.

[Sunking]

I'm guessing theres info around here and I'll poke around more.

Because it is a toy and extremely inefficient. You are trapped inside a 12 volt box. Lead acid batteries are 2 volts, not 12. You never ever should put batteries in parallel unless absolutely necessary.

• You know even if you buy top quality batteries you wil be replacing them in about 5 years?
• You know anything you take off grid is going to cost you 5 to 10 times more vs buying from the power company for the rest of you rlife in never ending battery and equipment replacement?
• You know off-grid makes you an extremely heavy polluter, wasting precious natural resources, and robbing future generations?
• So why do you want to do that?
• Do you have a major malfunction like a Prepper or a criminal?

[ButchDeal]

I was going to ask why the batteries wouldn't be good but I researched more and see why. There only good for float charge. Also why would 48v be better? I'm guessing theres info around here and I'll poke around more.

you just cant get enough amps on a 12V system without a lot of copper and melting the battery lugs.
Higher voltage allows less conductor, thus allowing more amperage.
Think if a 12V battery system as good upto a max of 1kw
48V can go much larger

[Roughy]

you just cant get enough amps on a 12V system without a lot of copper and melting the battery lugs.
Higher voltage allows less conductor, thus allowing more amperage.
Think if a 12V battery system as good upto a max of 1kw
48V can go much larger

Thanks for the info and not jumping down my throat about my future plans.

This would be a complete new house build in a rural setting not in an urban setting where everything is conveniently placed.

So I'm just weighing in the costs to put the lines in from the power company ect. And how to wire my house from the ground up.

There's lots I have to figure out for my future homestead. I know through my province there are rebates on renewable energy systems. And if the power is close I might just do a grid tie system so my bills will be lower.

Thanks for the insight

[Living Large]

Thanks for the info and not jumping down my throat about my future plans.

This would be a complete new house build in a rural setting not in an urban setting where everything is conveniently placed.

So I'm just weighing in the costs to put the lines in from the power company ect. And how to wire my house from the ground up.

There's lots I have to figure out for my future homestead. I know through my province there are rebates on renewable energy systems. And if the power is close I might just do a grid tie system so my bills will be lower.

Thanks for the insight

It sounds like you may have been thinking about off-grid. That is a very expensive proposition. The very first questions are, how far are you from a high voltage line, and how much will it cost to connect to the grid. If you have already given up on off-grid, scratch those questions.

To give you an idea, my first option to get power was $120K. Then the price went up to $144K. I researched a PV system here, and it would have been $30K-35K. I was not happy with the idea, because it wasn't 200A POCO power to allow for intermittent heavy loads and would have required a heck of a lot of work to maintain, and replacing batteries and electronics very expensive. Then I got to $66,000 POCO option, and I started to take notice and almost consider that (but I wouldn't have, and would have sold the property). I am currently down to about $13,000 total out of pocket for POCO power. I have no problem with that cost, and my property value will go up at least that amount. I may still go solar, but I am currently bogged down in making that $13,000 economy connection happen.

[Sunking]

The batteries I'm getting are the enersys powersafe 177ah 12v. About 16 of them possibly more if I can. They also aren't discharged during removal so there not useless or else I wouldn't be snagging a pallette or two.

They are as useless as your 12 volt system. I have worked Telecom for 35 years and we searched the world over to find buyers like yourself. It saves us thousands of dollars to get them removed and disposed of properly and a lot of red tape and man hours tracking it all down for the Employment Prevention Agency aka EPA

So we came up with the idea of finding suckers like you to buy them and turn a liability and mountain of paperwork into a little cash we can stick in our pocket to buy our wives jewelry and some candy. You are now the proud owner or worthless boat anchors and the EPA has your name along with the battery serial numbers. You now own the problem.

Telecom batteries especially the Enersys are not made for cycling. They have roughly 200 cycles or 7 calandar years, whichever comes first. For a Telco they rarely use them, so they get changed out every 7 years when the calandar life is expired as the battery capacity has fallen off the cliff. You now own the POS batteries.

Congratulations.

[organic farmer]

... This would be a complete new house build in a rural setting not in an urban setting where everything is conveniently placed.

So I'm just weighing in the costs to put the lines in from the power company ect. And how to wire my house from the ground up.

There's lots I have to figure out for my future homestead. I know through my province there are rebates on renewable energy systems. And if the power is close I might just do a grid tie system so my bills will be lower.

Thanks for the insight

I built our house in a rural forest area.

Connection to the power grid was available and cheap so I did it. Though now that our build is nearing completion [8 years later] we have finally finished the Solar-Power part of it.

I strongly urge you to consider a few items in your future homestead. [it is easier to incorporate an idea into the initial design compared to adding on later]
1- include radiant heating floors,
2- include solar-thermal heating,
3- as much as possible shoot for a net-zero home.

It is okay for a solar-powered house to be grid-assist.