New to forum. 150 Golf Cart Batteries solar setup midwest

[thastinger]

Keeko, you have a lot going on here. So here are my suggestions
1. Buy a good temp compensated hydrometer and pick the best 20 batteries by fully charging them and checking the SG, sell the rest.
2. Buy a kill-a-watt meter and determine your loads in kWh, use the calcs or ask back here once you determine them
3. Forget the idea of useing all 20 batteries, sounds like a series string of 4(24V) or 8(48V) is all you need but when calculating your loads you need to factor in the power needed to charge the other non-used batteries once a month if you intend to do that via your solar power system
4. Simplicity in design, get a UL PSW inverter and wire it to feed your present power panel, then just use your outlets as you would if still hooked up to the grid
5. Use the money from the sale of the batteries to buy a good PSW inverter and a good MPPT charge controller and the proper amount of panels to support whatever your final loads come out to be. (calculate for the worst case solar insulation)

There is a lot more but that should get you going on figuring out the size of the system.

[thastinger]

....orrrrrr, hook the grid power back up and use the money from selling all 150 batteries to pay your power bill for the next 8.92 years. Assuming you can get 25 each for the batteries and your monthly power bill is 35 bones.

[FloridaSun]

....orrrrrr, hook the grid power back up and use the money from selling all 150 batteries to pay your power bill for the next 8.92 years. Assuming you can get 25 each for the batteries and your monthly power bill is 35 bones.

good idea... and save $10,000 by not having to buy solar panels and mounts, charge controllers, inverters, generator, fuel and charger to replace those Kwhs the mean ol POCO provides.

[keeko785]

I will use the Killowatt EZ to get the wattage's I will be using and post on this forum shortly.

Turning power back on with the power company is OUT OF THE QUESTION.

The building has two 3 phase meters and has 2 natural gas meters. Even if I turn everything off for 60 days I am still paying hundreds of dollars each month just to "have the service there and available".

I can also have the natural gas meters removed but then I can't have them reinstalled for 12 months from the date of removal.

I know this because I paid the bill on it for 12 months. I could have the phase 3 meters removed but then If I decide to rent part of the building in the future then having phase 3 would be beneficial to a lot of people and a good selling point as the shop has overhead garage doors. Paying thousands of dollars a year for a hobby shop just for the electricity alone is out of the question. I will use the shop once or twice a month during the summer months....

[thastinger]

I've never heard of min utility bills so high but whatever...be sure you factor in the surge draw of those garage door openers if you plan to run them off of your solar system. My inverter runs 2 openers, one on a 10x14 door and one on a 16x8 door.

[axis11]

Having to properly maintain 150 batteries is a huge task really.
60 days of using some of the batteries without charging them will definitely cause some permanent damage to them.

If it was me, I'll recharge all the batteries ASAP.
I'll arrange the batteries in 2 strings of 12volt , hook up to a vehicle alternator and idle the car until the batteries are charged up. Repeat the long process until all 150 batts have been charged up.

Then its time to select the best 40 batteries.

I'll use 4 batts for a 12 volts system, 2 series in 2 parallel strings
-12 volt charge controller to power 12v devices + solar panels(at least 100 watts if batteries are not used, more if used depending on usage)

16 batts for a 48 volt system, 8 in series, 2 parallel strings
- separate 48 volt controller and inverter, solar panels depending on your load ( at least 400 watts just to maintain the batteries if used very slightly, a lot more depending on usage)

another 16 batts for a 48 volt system, 8 in series, 2 parallel strings
- separate 48 volt controller and inverter, solar panels depending on your load ( at least 400 watts just to maintain the batteries if used very slightly, a lot more depending on usage)

The remaining 110 batteries will be sold.(there is no more use for them)
They will die whether you use it or not, take care of them or not.
Sell them ASAP while they can still hold a charge and get a higher amount instead of scrap value if you hold on them too long.
Save the money and buy new batteries when the batteries you kept dies.
Of course it will not be 40 batteries anymore.
You will size up the system based on your actual need.

Mobile homes and campers, boaters, golf carts need those batteries and you may get a better deal for the batteries.
You may opt to keep 2 batteries for each truck you have as a replacement for the automotive battery.

If you're my neighbor, I would steal 8 batteries and you wouldn't even notice they are missing. lol