Off-grid Solar Power System for Home

[nosaj08]

hey All,
I'm newbie in Solar Power. And, i planning to install a home off-grid solar power system. but i dont know what type system should i setup. look forward expert here will give me some advise. Please find below of my power usage

Supply Voltage Options = single-phase 2 wire, 240V, up to 12KVA

Equipment	Watt	Hours Used	=Total Watts
TV	500	10	=5000
Rice Cooker	730	2	=1460
Ceilling Fan	75	10	=750
Standing Fan	50	8	=400
Lights	36	30	=1080
(Sub Total)	(1391)		=(8690)

May i know how many watts system should i configure ? 1000 watts, 1500 watts ,or 9000 watts ?
And, inverter type ? Solar PV ? battery AH ?

Please advise

thanks

rgds
JaS

[Logan005]

I would get a new TV, I have a small 13.3 inch TV that only uses 6.5 watt's and you can get a 32" TV that only uses about 45 to 55 watt's. it sounds like your TV is an old tube type, to use 500 watts.

[ButchDeal]

hey All,
I'm newbie in Solar Power. And, i planning to install a home off-grid solar power system. but i dont know what type system should i setup. look forward expert here will give me some advise. Please find below of my power usage

Supply Voltage Options = single-phase 2 wire, 240V, up to 12KVA

Equipment	Watt	Hours Used	=Total Watts
TV	500	10	=5000
Rice Cooker	730	2	=1460
Ceilling Fan	75	10	=750
Standing Fan	50	8	=400
Lights	36	30	=1080
(Sub Total)	(1391)		=(8690)

May i know how many watts system should i configure ? 1000 watts, 1500 watts ,or 9000 watts ?
And, inverter type ? Solar PV ? battery AH ?

Please advise

thanks

rgds
JaS

you should be posting this in Off grid solar section

how are you burning lights for 30 hours a day?
You should be careful to keep correct labels on your figures. Watt X Hours = wh so your total would be 8690 w/h or 8.69kwh per day

It does seem strange that you average 2 hours of rice cooker use a day and your TV is using WAY too much power.

[Sunking]

Congratulations this will be so much fun and educational for you.

You did not specify your location, time of year use, and any shade issues but based solely on daily watt hour use of 9 Kwh per day.

Panel wattage can only be guessed because we have no idea where you are or have any shade issues to deal with Min = 5000 watts, Maximum a FLA battery can handle is 7500 watts. Around $8000 to $12,000

For charge Controllers, it will take two of them. Must know panel wattage to determine Controller sizes. Will be 2 x 60 to 80 amps MPPT Controllers about $800 to $1200.

Batteries is easy. 48 volt @ 1200 AH. About 3500 pounds worth costing you some $12,000. Here is the fun and educational part you are going to really like. You will destroy your first set in 2 years or less while you learn. Then once you learn you wil be replacing them every 4 to 6 years for the rest of your life, and it comes with a new part time job, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year with no days off keeping them working. In adition you wil need racking and spill containment for another $3000

As for an Inverter, hard to answer but no larger than the panel wattage. Most likely a good 480 volt 4000 watt 240/120 House Inverter will cost you around $2000

Now for the stuff you do not have listed that is a absolute must for off grid.

6 KVA Pad Mounted LPG Generator around $5000,
550 gallon LP Storage Tank $2000
48 volt 100 amp Charger for $1500.

Since it is obvious you have no experience with electrical you are going to have to hire someone to design and build the system and apply for EPA Permits. I can do the design and hire the contractors for Cost Plus 15%. Labor and materials will be around $20,000. So my Estimate is not a penny more than $64,500. All I need is a good faith check of 10% down to get started along with all the missing details you left out.

I told you it would be fun and educational. Don't forget about the batteries need replace about every 5 years at higher cost than today. Forgot one little thing. The Employment Prevention Agency (EPA) will require yearly inspections for batteries and Spill Containment with more than 500 pounds of electrolyte on site. That wil be done by the local FD at your expense. Any required repairs or cleanup is on you.

[Yaryman]

Why do you want an off grid system?

[Logan005]

If he has grid avail. Why waste so much money for so little power? go with a Hybird system, with a small battery bank for blackouts. an off grid system will cost you 4 to 10X for the same power from your grid. Maybe it makes sense if you win the powerBall.

[Calihaze]

nosaj08 - perhaps a good place to start would be to more accurately represent your daily usage. It's always better plan larger, otherwise you'll be running a generator half the time. Here is a device that can help. In addition, consider that you might need to refrigerate items or pump water, the latter being a very energy intensive task (generally speaking). Also remember that seasons greatly impact your usage. (cloudy days not only reduce harvest but also keep you inside with your electronics) Lastly, if you only have small electronics, consider a 120v system instead of 240v.

Buy a new LED TV and ditch the plasma or whatever takes 500 watts. Trust us, it will be worth it.

[nosaj08]

hey all
TQVM for yours info feedback. To add on more clearance info about my plan. I an living in near KL city in Malaysia, whereby i has 7-8 hours sunny day per day except in raining day.
As per Logan005 advise, i plan setting a up a hybrid solar system, using utility company power grid for big consumption electrical appliance all days such as washing machine, tv, refrigerator. And, a small off-grid solar system with batteries for fan, lights, rice cooker usage. Below are my new power usage calculation

Equipment	Watt	total Hours use	Total Watts Used	Remark
Rice Cooker	700	2	1400	cooking 2-3 times per day
Water Kettle	2200	2	4400	boiled the water 4-5 times per day
Ceilling Fan	75	10	750	2 unit , each used 5 hours per day
Standing Fan	50	8	400	2 unit, each used 4 hours per day
Lights	36	30	1080	5 unit lights , which mostly using from evening till late night
(Sub-total)	3060watts		8030 watts

May i know what off-grid solar system size should i design 3000watts with battery ?, or 8000watts with battery system ? or 1000watts with battery ?
Please advise.

thanks

rgds
JaS

[Logan005]

Looks like you got rid of the 500 watt TV, now get rid of the rice cooker and the water kettle and use a gas burner.

[Logan005]

The best thing is to remove or reduce your loads, passive induction cooking and or water heating is not recommended for solar photovoltaic/battery power. a small propane burner would save you at least $1000.00 in batteries.

[Logan005]

a Hybrid system maintains batteries and only uses battery power when the grid is down, use only matters if you plan to sell more power to the grid than you use. not recommended. My Hybrid system maintains 8 t-105's soon to be upgraded to 8 L-16's and sells all excess back to the grid. Our batteries only get used during power outages, which are frequent. we never cycle more than 10% except in long duration outages.

[nosaj08]

hi All
in my country, there is not cost-effective investment if i having a hybrid solar with "feed-in Tariff",selling back to the grid. I need get a government approved selected vendor install for me which will cost a big sum of money and the ROI is 15-20years, So, i plan setup a DIY solar system which will supply some power for light electrical appliance at day light and switch to the grid at nite. And, those big electrical appliance (eg. Air-cond, Freezer etc ) will continue using utility grid supply.


Please find my attachment of my ideal diagram . Can this work ?

Please help.

thanks

rgds
Jas

[Mike90250]

Whoa
Don't buy anything yet.

Several things I'd call mistakes:

Battery charge rate about 10% of capacity. 675A battery needs 67 A of charger to keep electrolyte stirred up. Not obtainable with 960W of PV
Parallel (3) strings of batteries
You have MPPT charge controller. See if you can find 30 or 50 V 200W PV panels. A small panel costs more per watt generally, than larger panels. (economy of scale.)
Use DC breakers, not fuses, in your PV DC combiner box. Easier to trouble shoot a bad array string.
AC mains panel, using a jumper to convert a 240V split phase panel to 120V is risky. If you don't know why - DON'T DO IT. Or get the 240V split phase model of the inverter.

[nosaj08]

hi Mike,
Thanks you for your feedback, i will re-study the design plan again based on ur info input.
Anyway, i has re-draft my idea design as per attached document.

by the way, does my DC/AC breaker position in the MeteringDetail diagram correct ?

thanks

regards
Jas