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  • Aerator advise

    Hello, I am looking for any advice anyone is willing to give on a new solar setup. I am considering setting up an off grid solar system near my pond. My primary purpose would be to power a small aerator pump (approximatly 60 watts). I'd like to run it 24x7 at least through April-September. I would be okay shutting it down over the winter as I already have a wind powered aerator as well, so I don't need to size my system for winter months (I live in Michigan near Lansing). I would also occassionally use this to power random things like a small fan, charging phones/devices etc as we are utilizing the pond. But this would be occassional use only and probably fewer than 100-200 watts at a time and almost exclusively during the summer months.

    I also have the option of running power or an air line from my barn which is around 600 feet away from the pond. Solar was originally my first option but I

  • #2
    Hi kramedt, welcome to Solar Panel talk. It'll take a day or two for your account to be approved for posting, but I've approved this post in the meantime to get your thread started.

    Steve

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    • #3
      Do you have a fat wallet? Just to run the pump and nothing else.

      Battery will require 60 watts x 24 hours x 5 = 300 AH @ 24 volts, $1000
      Panel Wattage = 750 watts, $750 to $1000
      MPPT Controller = 30 Amps, $250 to $350
      Misc materials and hardware = $400

      Total est = $2500

      Have fun.
      MSEE, PE

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      • #4
        Looks like my original post was cut off. Here is the rest.

        I am a newbie to solar. I've done my research and I think I have a decent academic understanding of what I need to do but I have no practical experience. I am a DIY kind of person though so I don't mind learning as I go. I would be grateful for any advice anyone is willing to give. On my sizing, tips/tricks, equipment recommendations, gotchas...anything. Here is what I had in mind:

        I figured I need around 400-500 watts coming from the panels (I oversided it a bit to account for losses, cloudy days etc). However, when pricing panels at renvu, 325/340 watt panels were about the same price as 250 watt panels, so I was thinking of two panels run in parallel along the lines of something like these:

        https://www.renvu.com/Solar-Products...-PV-40mm-Frame

        However, this does seem a bit overkill for my needs. A single 325/340 watt panel seems like not enough and two seems like too much, so I'd appreciate any feedback.

        Given that I have a pretty small setup and won't be making any long cable runs (panels will be right next to the controller/inverter), I was thinking of doing a 12v setup only because it seemed that 12v equipment was cheaper/easier to find. But I'd love feedback.

        For the charge controller, I was planning on getting an MPPT controller, primarily due to the fact that I'd probably end up with 24v panels with a 12v battery bank so this would allow me to not lose half my panel output. Figured a 60 amp would be big enough. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/PowMr-Control...r+60+amp&psc=1

        For batteries, I was thinking a 12v setup, with two 12v 100Ah batteries run in parallel. Something like:

        https://www.amazon.com/100AH-BATTERY...+cycle+battery

        That would get me approximatly 12 hours of runtime of the pump at a 30% discharge or 20 hours at 50% discharge if my math is right, which I think would be fine for running it overnight an to accomodate the occassional cloudy day. But I suspect I may be undersizing the battery bank a bit.

        As for an inverter, was going to relatively small, maybe a 500 watt as my needs are really for more prolonged usage and not high wattage usage. Was thinking a pure sine interver because, well, why not. But primarily because I could see me charging phones etc with this system. Something like:

        https://www.amazon.com/Mighty-Max-Ba...+sine+inverter

        Would like to keep the whole setup (if possible) around $1,000 or less. With the parts I listed above, I'm right around that. Any thoughts/advice??

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        • #5
          We use a wind power air pump for our pond aeration, but I see you already have one.
          Powerfab top of pole PV mount (2) | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
          || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
          || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

          solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
          gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister

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