Look at my solar system pics and help me finish the project (:

[J.P.M.]

To reiterate - Some folks you just can't reach.

[Amy@altE]

Amen

[Living Large]

Ya there are too many people inputting their ideas, like our neighbor and everybody.

As of now we wont be returning anything, nobody wants to admit their wrong lol. So in the end, well be using all these 12 guage wires. Its gotten worse tho. Each pole has 12 panels, since well be running two panels in series means well need 12 individual 12 gauge wires per pole. Of course it doesnt look like thats going to be enough so were going to double it and have 24 wires all going to one pole aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaa. Talk about craziness.

Since the 2k ft of 12 gauge was purchased online, wed have to return it, and nobody wants to do that, but I may insist that we just get a large 2/0 instead of all these 24 wires. Do you think I should insist on a cable instead? Seems like such a pain with 24 plus he didnt buy enough. Have to go to home depot for more.

1. Would the 2/0 copper be good enough for the 1 pole with a 130ft loop with the 12x280w/48v?
2. Would the 1/0 copper be good enough for the 1 pole with a 80ft loop with the 12x280w/48v?

3. As for the batteries, are they even necessary?

Ill be buying timers for all the grass, this way maybe we can keep everything running during the day and not at night, hopefully the panels will be able to handle the motor loads during the day.

ya its frustrating

Sir, as someone who recently came to this site looking for assistance in designing a solar power source for a house, I have the following observation. In my case, I came in the door with about 5% of the information I needed. It took the responding members here and I several interchanges before I was able to grasp what the whole system would look like and how it would operate. Along the way, I did some research on my own in an attempt to get a global picture - but I did pester some folks here with questions on specific topics I didn't quickly understand.

The problem I see with your visit here is the target of what you want from the system is still moving, but you (and/or others) have already bought wire and equipment. You are asking about wire size, and, set aside the fact it has already been purchased, I don't believe there is a consensus about what the top level function will be. What loads and their Wh will be operated at night? At day? Is grid available?

I am seeing frustration and a realization in those who can offer advice in that after a whole lot of work, what they will end up doing is largely responding to requests to put BandAids on - to make up for being constrained by random "design" decisions that have locked you and them on a certain path. What they know is that path could be a dead end, if you haven't assessed your requirements first.

I think it is unlikely that anyone will be able to help, unless you are willing to start from scratch. The position you are putting people in is like going to have your car repaired, and supplying parts that were not designed to fit your car and asking them to make the car work using them.

[SunEagle]

Looking back, you gave it a darned good try.

Does the statement "has no clue" mean anything. I just hope he doesn't get hurt or hurt anyone.

[Living Large]

Ok, I'm done. Lost cause here.

Looking back, you gave it a darned good try.

[sensij]

Ok, I'm done. Lost cause here.

[hollywoodtoday]

great ideas, but frustrating for sure

Ya there are too many people inputting their ideas, like our neighbor and everybody.

As of now we wont be returning anything, nobody wants to admit their wrong lol. So in the end, well be using all these 12 guage wires. Its gotten worse tho. Each pole has 12 panels, since well be running two panels in series means well need 12 individual 12 gauge wires per pole. Of course it doesnt look like thats going to be enough so were going to double it and have 24 wires all going to one pole aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaa. Talk about craziness.

Since the 2k ft of 12 gauge was purchased online, wed have to return it, and nobody wants to do that, but I may insist that we just get a large 2/0 instead of all these 24 wires. Do you think I should insist on a cable instead? Seems like such a pain with 24 plus he didnt buy enough. Have to go to home depot for more.

1. Would the 2/0 copper be good enough for the 1 pole with a 130ft loop with the 12x280w/48v?
2. Would the 1/0 copper be good enough for the 1 pole with a 80ft loop with the 12x280w/48v?

3. As for the batteries, are they even necessary?

Ill be buying timers for all the grass, this way maybe we can keep everything running during the day and not at night, hopefully the panels will be able to handle the motor loads during the day.

ya its frustrating

[Living Large]

Agreed 100% - Plus he might not destroy equipment nor kill anyone.

You know, if you dropped a really large automotive type battery on someone, it might just do that. 10 of them - much better chance.

[russ]

STOP! Buying the wrong thing because it is cheap is throwing away money and dangerous. STOP! Call a professional, explain what you are trying to do, which keeps changing with every post, and buy the right equipment. You will pay less for the right equipment than you waste with the wrong stuff.

Agreed 100% - Plus he might not destroy equipment nor kill anyone.

[Living Large]

STOP! Buying the wrong thing because it is cheap is throwing away money and dangerous. STOP! Call a professional, explain what you are trying to do, which keeps changing with every post, and buy the right equipment. You will pay less for the right equipment than you waste with the wrong stuff.

Put another way, your goal would be for the Dance of Joy, and not a somber dirge, for example.

[Amy@altE]

STOP! Buying the wrong thing because it is cheap is throwing away money and dangerous. STOP! Call a professional, explain what you are trying to do, which keeps changing with every post, and buy the right equipment. You will pay less for the right equipment than you waste with the wrong stuff.

[sensij]

OK, now we are getting somewhere. With PG&E service, you should be able to use your panels in a grid-tie system to offset some of your electric bill. None of the expense of buying and maintaining batteries, and all of the benefit of the power your panels can create. If this is a commercial enterprise, there may even be state incentives available beyond the federal investment tax credit.

Another benefit is in the wiring:
Each pole of 12 panels can be installed as a single string, with all the panels in series. That gets you a DC circuit Voc of 12 * 44.9 * 1.2 temp correction for 650 V. That is too high for a basic string inverter like a SMA SB6000TL-US-22 (or SB7000TL-US-22), but would work with a SolarEdge inverter and P400 optimizers, or micro-inverters, if you choose to go that route.

With SolarEdge, the DC current for the 12 panel string would be around 12 * 280W / 350 V = 9.6 A, and you could safely combine both strings together just ahead of the inverter and still not exceed 20 A.

Most of what you've bought could be returned... charge controllers, batteries, high current disconnects, etc. The money you get back could be spent on a licensed electrician or solar installer to design your system and make sure it meets PG&E's interconnect requirements.

[SunEagle]

I was struck by these statements: "hm, I wonder if its enough batteries.. not knowing anything about batteries.

Somebody also bought 10 big batteries today for this system, I duno what the ratings are."

I see very little hope for the Dance of Joy here. Maybe two of the batteries are spares? Perhaps the person who bought them can explain why they bought the batteries they did, and why they bought 10. Better than anyone here, anyway. I would take the big automotive type batteries back today, and then stop and design a system. If my buddy went off and bought big batteries, brought them to me and said "here, use these", I'm not sure what I would do. Go to the bar?

I was also concerned with the statement that someone is using multiple strands of #12 wire instead of the larger #1/0 wire to meet the load's current draw requirements.

Paralleling small AWG gauge wire instead of using the proper AWG sized single wire is both dangerous and against code.

[hollywoodtoday]

I see that Im in over my now with this system lol but I have questions yet

The knife switches are rated for 200a which is what hes used as well, so I figured why not, theyre cheap however I will most likely just find a fused disconnect online and eliminate the knife switches. thanks for that.

As for the immense load, I was talking to him today about the load in the daytime and night, he hadnt thought of the immense night time load lol. So basically I need to tie in to the grid somehow or run only during the day of course. Is there anyway to use pg&e and solar at the same time?

Maybe we could use solar for the pumps during the day and at night use pg&e. Im kinda stuck at night without using pg&e I would suspect, what do you think? We simply cant run everything during the day, too many things would run at the same time and not have enough pressure. o brother ugh

yes we pump from a well into our tank, then the pressure pump pressurizes our property systems. The tanks are quite high. 2 10k gallon tanks, 15 foot high, so theres a little pressure, but no we cant elevate the tanks or buy something else.

As for AIMs, yes I would imagine its not the best quality, it was cheap, and everybody likes cheap.. haha to buy. So I duno how it will work out really.

The pumps are currently run by pg&e. We previously were pumping with a 48v pump that used like 6 panels, but we upgraded to the 1 1/2, then we upgraded the pressure pump also, to 3hp.

Ya, my grandfather went off and bought some batteries, I believe 8, I dont know what size. I suppose theyll be pretty useless, I dont know. If they only provide an hours worth of pumping at night, thats silly.

Maybe I can turn off the well pump with a light sensor then let the pressure pump work at night, may improve a little on the length of the batteries in the evenings. Prob not much. What do you think?

I may just need to hook everything 100% on timers, so Ive got it efficiently watering everyday only during the day. or a bigger pressure pump would be nice, but we already upgraded 3 times, now to the 3hp lol.

thx for the insights and laughs of course

[Living Large]

Which will be left sitting uncharged until they die?

Agreed - that was tongue in cheek. Notice my overall message was to take the batteries back now, when it still may be possible.