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From what I gather I need to go with an agm battery? Anything over 200 ah. The agm batteries seem to be 12 volt so I only need one for now? The battery thing is a little confusing. I really just need to get by till I get more money so looking for the best solution for about 5 months.
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I wonder what is the overall goal for your project- is it just for fun or to get power where grid power is not available or something else? Going grid tie solar is risky from financial point of view and adding batteries is just making it completely not feasible. Since you're short on money why doing this at all? I'm sure you have other pressing needs or simply save them away for more efficient use later.Comment
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If you are indeed sitting on 1275W of panels you want to grow into PLEASE do not buy a 12V battery. Go with the 6V. FLA should be cheaper than AGM for the same rated capacity.Comment
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@ max Iam going off grid.Comment
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@az I do indeed have 5 255 watt panels. I have not bought batteries, but am very close. I do have the Commander cc at 40amp from renogy. My next question is this. Is it okay to run my 12v battery bank into a 24 inverter? Or will I need to upgrade my inverter when I switch to 24volt bank?Comment
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6 volt golf cart batteries, pick up at a membership warehouseComment
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Since you have not specified your inverter I really couldn't say. If you did specify one, I would have to find out the same way I would suggest you find out - read the manual. Hooking up wires to things is an activity where you should verify for yourself whatever information you get from a forum before you proceed.
Now I suspect the next question, a better question, is what inverter do I recommend that will work with both 12V and 24V systems. I will fall back to my moratorium on inverter questions, but the other guys in here probably can steer you to their favorites, or at least help scratch some off your shopping list.Comment
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I don't know of any inverter that will work using both a 12v & 24v source. Usually it is one or the other.
Going from a 12v battery system to a 24v one requires throwing away the 12v inverter and getting a 24v one. Which is why we try to encourage people to start with at least a 24v system if they expect to expand it.Comment
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so I understand you currently have grid power? If so it was proven many times over on this forum 'going off grid' is waste of money. Some people still do it for various reasons but definitely not to save money. The second mistake (the first one is doing this at all) is to do this iteratively, in 'phases'. These systems are very inflexible in terms of future expansions so it simply leads to thrown away equipment. If I were you I'd continue playing with this idea on paper until the moment it becomes crystal clear to me why I'm doing this and what my end goals are. It is much easier/cheaper to change design on paper than in actual hardware.Comment
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I have no grid power and it is far cheaper to run solar than get power hooked up.
I have yet to buy an inverter, but I will have to start at 12 volt as I do not have the dough for more batteries. In a few months I will. I was thinking along the lines of 1500 watts with an option to charge from a generator.Comment
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I ran a watts meter on my chest freezer yesterday and it was 500 watts in the middle of the sun outside. I let it run that way to find the most power it could consume. I am using propane to heat. I would love to find a chest freezer that uses 400 watts and id be thrilled. At night, the fridge used roughly no watts, it stayed cool. I was going to run 2 setups. One main setup for heavy power loads... Freezer, ac this next summer,. Then I have 500 watts I was going to keep 12 volts for lights and tv. So one system is roughly 750 watts in 24 volt for fridge, etc. One syste, 500 watts for tv, lights. This is my end goal.
I have no battries or inverters as I figure i would trust experience from here. No grid power as of now. I use a generator. I have a 3300 watt gas power generator.Comment
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"I ran a watts meter on my chest freezer yesterday and it was 500 watts in the middle of the sun outside" I'm not sure what that means. I have a camp system use five months a year with a chest fridge, you'll learn to hate them, but they do work. I have 1200W of panels and a car battery. This total system design works great as not only do I get fridge & TV, but all my hot water. Haven't turned on the propane heater in years.Comment
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I mention watts on the freezer because that is what I am mainly after with solar. I may need to find something that runs on less.Comment
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Hello, im back
So I seem to lose about 100 watts from each 255 watt panel
i have 10 set direct bury wire in a 60ft run. Im 24 volt and have 4 255 watt panels . I caollect about 600 watts on a good day.
I checked each panel and they watt out roughly the same. 155 watts each is what they show at c.c .
I run them in series as it seems to work the best. I also do not have a combined box.
What can i do to get my extra juice?Comment
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