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

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  • #16
    Originally posted by Robert1234 View Post
    Buy an even number of panels unless you just want one as a spare for grins and giggles.
    Not really. You want to avoid Prime Numbers like 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 as that only leaves you one option of all in parallel or all in series. Odd numbers like 9, 15, 21 will work in 3's.

    But to your point 7 will not work as he either has to loose one or gain one to make it work. Another rookie big mistake.
    MSEE, PE

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    • #17
      Originally posted by billvon View Post
      Based on those loads you absolutely, positively need a good inverter. And once you are doing that you might as well run 120V everywhere.
      The Answer!

      You've got two chest freezers, one converted to fridge with Johnson Control thermostat and . You will have a big inverter. Once you have a big inverter, the lights and laptop charger are just a drop in the bucket. Hardly worth the expense and effort to go DC, especially if you think clearly, and decide to build a 24 or 48 volt system.

      If you do go to a sensible system voltage, you can use a DC-DC converter to make 12 volts if you need 12 volts. Those converters can make a constant 12 volts... unlike your battery that would be anywhere from 11 to 16 volts, depending on what's going on with the charge-discharge cycle.

      May I suggest an outback inverter... my (see my sig) inverter draws 20 watts tare loss. It's an inverter and battery charger. It has an input for your generator, and a built in transfer switch.

      On another subject... if you do go with DC lights and appliances, what will you do for DC rated light switches, or timers, or anything that switches your DC power? You will need an electrical panel with DC rated circuit breakers for the DC wiring. What will you use for DC receptacles? Hopefully not a cigarette-lighter receptacle. All your DC lamps will have to have their plugs modified to fit your DC receptacles.

      --mapmaker
      ob 3524, FM60, ePanel, 4 L16, 4 x 235 watt panels

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      • #18
        Originally posted by Sunking View Post
        Not really. You want to avoid Prime Numbers like 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17 as that only leaves you one option of all in parallel or all in series. Odd numbers like 9, 15, 21 will work in 3's.

        But to your point 7 will not work as he either has to loose one or gain one to make it work. Another rookie big mistake.
        True. Definately forgot about 3x setups.

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