Forum Sages:
I am now to solar and this forum (it is great!) and have been reading about off-grid garages but cannot find an answer to some basic questions. This is my first solar installation and want to get it right so sorry for newbie questions.
I built a two car garage on my property that is too far away from line power so solar it is. I had two Liftmaster 8500 garage door openers installed. The openers are meant to be installed with 120 v line voltage, with an optional battery backup. The opener motor is 24 volts DC. You can buy a battery backup that plugs into the unit. I have not purchased the battery backup units.
8500 Electrical specs:
24 volt DC motor
line Voltage: 120V AC, 60 Hz.
Wattage: 120W.
Current Rating: 2.7A.
I called the Liftmaster folks and asked if I can connect a 24 volt battery bank (charged by solar) directly to the unit and not use 120 volt line voltage. They said "this will nullify the warranty" He suggested i connect the system to 120 volt power and purchase the battery back up unit. So i considered building a solar system with an inverter to run the openers. I would power the garage lights with DC LED's.
However, in reading the forum, someone said it was not a good idea to invert the DC solar system to 120 volts for garage door openers since the power draw on the idle system would be too great.
So a few questions:
1. Do I Build a solar system with 24 volt battery storage and run the garage doors (and five 10-watt LED lights) directly with 24 volts? (i don't care about the warranty if it is best to directly connect)
or do I Build a solar system with 12 volt storage, invert to 120 v, buy the Liftmaster battery backup, and hook up the Liftmaster to 120V?
2. I live in Oregon, 70 miles east of Portland, that gets decent sun. The doors would run maybe once per day. Lights even less. I figured a system as follows:
100 watt solar panel
Sunforce 60022 30 Amp Solar Charge Controller
Amstron 12v battery, 55Ah, 660 Whr (2 if 24 volt system)
Inverter (not sure what size to get or if needed)
Your comments and sage advice is most appreciated!
thanks!
I am now to solar and this forum (it is great!) and have been reading about off-grid garages but cannot find an answer to some basic questions. This is my first solar installation and want to get it right so sorry for newbie questions.
I built a two car garage on my property that is too far away from line power so solar it is. I had two Liftmaster 8500 garage door openers installed. The openers are meant to be installed with 120 v line voltage, with an optional battery backup. The opener motor is 24 volts DC. You can buy a battery backup that plugs into the unit. I have not purchased the battery backup units.
8500 Electrical specs:
24 volt DC motor
line Voltage: 120V AC, 60 Hz.
Wattage: 120W.
Current Rating: 2.7A.
I called the Liftmaster folks and asked if I can connect a 24 volt battery bank (charged by solar) directly to the unit and not use 120 volt line voltage. They said "this will nullify the warranty" He suggested i connect the system to 120 volt power and purchase the battery back up unit. So i considered building a solar system with an inverter to run the openers. I would power the garage lights with DC LED's.
However, in reading the forum, someone said it was not a good idea to invert the DC solar system to 120 volts for garage door openers since the power draw on the idle system would be too great.
So a few questions:
1. Do I Build a solar system with 24 volt battery storage and run the garage doors (and five 10-watt LED lights) directly with 24 volts? (i don't care about the warranty if it is best to directly connect)
or do I Build a solar system with 12 volt storage, invert to 120 v, buy the Liftmaster battery backup, and hook up the Liftmaster to 120V?
2. I live in Oregon, 70 miles east of Portland, that gets decent sun. The doors would run maybe once per day. Lights even less. I figured a system as follows:
100 watt solar panel
Sunforce 60022 30 Amp Solar Charge Controller
Amstron 12v battery, 55Ah, 660 Whr (2 if 24 volt system)
Inverter (not sure what size to get or if needed)
Your comments and sage advice is most appreciated!
thanks!
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