How are you all doing solar (or plan to)?
How are you all doing solar (or plan to)?
I've gone full DIY for my setup. My primary one is a hybrid on/off grid setup, with the on-grid part being that the inverter has a mains utility input for powering any devices plugged into it should there not be any panel activity and the batteries are drained. But, it doesn't feed back into the grid (important to not charge the grid wires if there's technicians working on it, but if power dies, I'm likely going to kill the main breaker regardless so I can use my inverter generator if I wanted, since that can also be used to charge the batteries and power stuff).
My inverter powers a few things with a total capacity of 30A that I have split between two 15A circuits, one in the house, and the other in the garage.
My panels are ground based, purchased secondhand for a steal, about $0.05/watt. About 3kw worth, probably going to add some more to safely max the input of the inverter. Battery backup is LiFePO4 batteries, about 15kwh worth. I'm aiming to get it up to 30kwh before summer really hits.
As of now, I can run a chest freezer for about 20 days without any sun, or the majority of my "high priority" stuff (NVR, local networking gear, etc) for about a week. Pretty happy with it. The most expensive single piece was the hybrid inverter. Even the PV combined box wasn't that bad of a deal, and made it easy to hook things up. I have a secondary setup that has about 1kw of panels, 3600Wh of battery capacity, and a 2kw inverter. That one is entirely off grid.
I've built two solar systems so far. One was enough to power my cell phones for a week. The second was to be able to charge my power tool batteries and a CPAP with AC plugs. My next step will be to build one that can power my refrigerator. But there is a huge price difference between steps two and three and a large Gulf between practicality and investment. So that one is waiting. I need a new roof first.
Have you considered dropping down to a chest freezer and mini fridge when needed? The two combined can pull as little as 50-60W (each about 25-30W on average). A full size fridge draws a lot more since they're a lot less efficient. The chest freezer especially is beneficial since worst case, when properly filled, can go 3 days or so without power and still remaining ice cold.
I have a chest freezer and I have considered the idea. I know that chest freezer requires a whole lot less power than a refrigerator.
- My chest freezer is filled with ice cold stuff including old cat litter jugs that are filled with ice. This creates a thermal battery that gives me about 24 hours.
- once the chest freezer thaws I have enough charcoal on hand to cook just about everything in it.
- There are things in my refrigerator that can't be frozen without ruining them
The refrigerator is the bigger goal here. If I can run the refrigerator of a solar then I can easily run the chest freezer. Getting the refrigerator to run off of solar means I automatically have the chest freezer covered.
I've been thinking of simply getting an used panel on the roof of my toolshed and using that to charge an Ecoflow powerbank. I really only need power for charging devices and powering a diesel heater. I could go with a charge controllel and 12v batteries route too but I feel like a powerbank would likely become more handy on the long run as it can be taken with me and used for other purposes as well
One thing to consider, especially for long-term planning, is those power banks are NOT user maintable. If the screen dies, the ON button fails, or the inverter craps out, that's it. It's a brick. With DIY setups, if a single component fails, you can replace that single component.
And also, you can make a portable DIY battery bank! I made one using a secondhand rolling tool case I bought in Facebook for $15!
That setup sounds great. The system I'm working on putting together is similar to your secondary setup. I picked up most of the equipment after Huricane Helene when we had neighbors who were without power for a couple of weeks (we're kinda lucky where we live that we're about 200 yards from the local fire department and on the same trunkline so they got our power back within a couple of days), but I have around 1.6 kw worth of panels and 2400 Wh of battery. Have a cheap 500w inverter for now, but will probably upgrade when I can afford it.
Mine will also be entirely off-grid. Hoping to get it installed soon now that the weather is getting better. Spent most of these colder months working on lowering my power use requirements - like moving a bunch of services off my more power-hungry (~60w average) homelab/NAS onto a Raspberry Pi and another ARM SBC that combined pull around 7w.
At this point, I'm not going for being able to power everything through an outage. Just trying to have enough that we can keep some essentials and some basic comforts like lighting in the evenings. My roommate has some off the shelf Eco-flow batteries and panels that have been able to keep our small chest freezer powered, but A/C and water heating will be things we'd have to go without, and we'd have to move cooking outdoors until we can get our old fireplace/chimney remodeled.
Once I have everything a bit more organized, I'll do a full writeup including parts used. I need to sort of redo.... well, everything! My new greenhouse build is taking place on a different part of the property that will let me take better advantage of the space, and I need to move it all to accommodate. But, it will be a lot more organized as a result as well. I have a data rack that I repurposed that can hold 1,500lbs. It's wheeled so I can move it if need be, but to be safe, I'm going to put enough pieces of reclaimed pallet wood underneath the frame to sort of take the pressure off the wheels themselves. The rack will also make it easier to expand battery capacity, since each shelf can hold either 2x 24v 100AH batteries, or 3x 12V 100AH batteries.
I'm very excited to start the greenhouse up, especially it will be a self-contained, automated, solar powered dream. 4x IBC totes totaling 1100 gallons with UV disinfecting lights, fed by a well with a filter and the tap located inside the greenhouse (to avoid freezing in the winter), with the well having both an automatic pump to draw water as well as a manual one if needed. Hydroponics set to keep the plants hydrated, with the capability to have a wood stove to keep it warm for winter growing (which will also heat the water in the totes via copper pipe around the stove pipe with a 12v pump cycling water, a double plus since water is a great thermal battery!). All managed by my Home Assistant server, but I can always manually turn things on/off as well with 12v timers and switches.