Oct
11
2011
how to be off the grid with solar power
By Solar Expert
This is the old off the grid system that I had years ago. I still use a off the grid system but a lot of it has changed. The electronics are housed in a different location and a bigger inverter was added along with more batteries. I also changed the housing to have a greater air flow.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
@GLEEPERS66 You are right, this is a very old video and that is not safe to have both together. I changed the system long ago, but never thought about making another video for the correction. I will be doing a correction video real soon to talk about why that it not the safe way to have a off the grid system. Thank you, Lonny
nice bomb , take all the electric inverters and charge controllers out of the battery box, even though you have it vented, there is a possibility of enough hydrogen gas buildup and just a little spark created with the switching of the controllers and there will be a explosion!
@img0ingin Hello, I do think you could run a rv off of this. I have ran a small dorm fridge, a tv , radio, charge a computer, and charged a cell phone during the day. At night you would have a bigger battery bank or just run things like the fridge and a tv. Thanks for the question, Lonny
do you think a system like this could power a rv 24/7?
I highly recommend cutting your coords down as I see wound bundles on your setup coming off each panel. The longer your wires, the more current/amps get lost to wire resistance.
The deep cycle marine batteries are ideal for long periods of downtime and adverse weather conditions, I do not think it would be an efficient alternative per the cost!
Nice job. Nice setup.
@Datsrboi I am using deep cycle rv batteries for our system. I have never used a boat battery before so I am not sure if they work better or not. If anyone knows about how well boat batteries work, could you please leave a comment. Thank you, Lonny
Question since I might have missed it on the video. Are you running deep cycle car battery or boat battery? Are boat battery better since I have heard rumors they can be ran deeper towards drainage?
So you can run that long of a wire from the panels to the batteries at 12V DC without substantial loss of voltage due to resistance of that thin wire?
EXCELLENT video.
@SirBradfordII I use a gas fridge
a nice vid, very information
thank you and god bless you
I’m in the mind to work on making my car into a part of the system.It would be easy to build with about 5 batteries and a converter.
Nice setup and really nice mounting stand. I think what you’ve done with your panels are more than sufficient for your needs. I have a small solar set up and it is working fine for me. Yes they are the cheaper “PV panels” but I think as long as they serve their purpose, why should you spend large amounts of money on solar when you can put that extra money elsewhere. You keep doing what you do man, because you do it well. Nice job, great video. Thanks for posting
Sorry, the batteries are deep cycle, but the battery clips have to go! The inverter in the box scares me! hope you dont have kids around! If that cooling fan has brushes in it and it sparks, away with your porch! You could have saved $ by buying real solar panels and not those 15Watt kit style mono panels! Looks like you have $, but still did it the cheap way.. maybe your needs are not that high and this is a weekend cabin??? Not sure, but for the size of the house you could have gone bigger!
@SirBradfordII I am sure you could get it to start up and run, but I am not sure how long the refrigerator would run before the power would run out. I think you might need a battery bank of 4 to do the job.
If I wanted to run a refrigerator dorm room size would that be something I could do?
@supergokue1 hi
@shakaama To heat and cool takes a lot of power and it would be a very big system to run those off of solar all day and night. Also the batteries should be vented to the outside or kept outside. You could try a solar heater in your window in winter for heat and you could try a cooler air conditioner to help cool in the summer. I do have videos of both if you are interested in either, Thanks for the question, Lonny
I have a real tiny question: I live in an apartment. Can i just get something small just to run my wall unit AC / heater? It is the only thing that kills my electric bill. And all day and i guess batteries for night?
The alligator clamps are very lossy.. Every connection should be soldered and crimped with a terminal connector. I’m currently running my entire living room and upstairs bedroom on my 80 watt system. This contains my flat panel TV ,cable box DVD, Internet ,and all lights. Bed room includes lamp 60 watt tube, Flat Panel TV, Desktop Computer and DVD player.. I never run out of power, I get an over charge LED around 11am..
@satactusa0 I am slowly working on the solar videos. I hope during summer break to finish them. I get the solar cells off of ebay. Thank you