Going off grid- Talk to me about AC versus DC for appliances

[Mike90250]

Run 48 volt battery with a inverter.

Exactly what I would say. 12V dc wire runs will cause 2 problems, needs large gauge wire ($$) and wide voltage variation between charge voltage 15.5V and night time voltage 12.5V Some gear will fault or fail at >14V.

[Sunking]

Run 48 volt battery with a inverter.

[308AndyJ]

I am toying with the idea of building a small home on some family land but it does not have power. Luckily I have a family member who can provide solar panels at $0.70/watt.

I will be living by myself and my power needs are very small, but there are a few things I need to determine.

I want to know for the following things, if it is more cost effective to do AC or DC. By allocating as many things as possible to DC I can get by with a smaller inverter for cost savings. DC is also more efficient and does not occur as many loses as inverting power, correct?

-Lights
-Fans (box fan for the bedroom etc)
-Kitchen appliances


With lighting it would be simple to invert the power from my battery bank and run conventional ac lighting. By doing this though, I would be taking up space from my inverter and might need to step up to a bigger size (more$$) and I would also deal with the loss from inverting, right?


Fans-I have seen some ready made box fans and I have also seen people take a normal box fan and replace the ac motor with a dc one. The cost effectiveness would depend on the cost of a dc motor though I am guessing.

Kitchen appliances- This one seems the one most fitting for "just go AC" am I right?