My Off Grid Solar

[Proton]

I started my first system with junk like this about 14 years ago

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I then moved to SMA 4000TL-US 4KW grid Tie inverter. Very efficient but not hybrid. SMA like Nokia did not want to change with times and was left behind.
In Europe Victron is a very good company but they are still behind to the Chinese hybrid inverters. They are just now cathing up.

At this time I also built my first 4 solar pannels. Took 8Hours /panel to solder all cells. by the time I was done with the 4 solar panels the solar pannels in the stores got cheaper , so that was a waste of time.

I think Almost 7 years ago, I moved to Solark 8K inverter and this was a game changer. It runs my whole house. ** If I manage the loads.
My Battery = 93KW.
Solar = 8.4kW

For my hot water heater I removed the 4500W element and changed it with a 1500W element.
Stove uses 2400W, AC uses 2500W, Owen uses 2400W.
So I can use the Stove, Oven and AC at the same time.
2400W + 2400W + 2500W = 7300W.

I can use up to 12kW because I still have a GRID connection but I manage the loads to use my own power because I have too much power.
Here in Georgia, in the summer AC runs all day long From June to September. I had 11 panels Down on the ground and afternoon some shade from a power pole was cutting down my production. Also chickens were pooping on the solar panels and I was washing them 2 times a day. This year I got tired and moved them up. Now there is no pore dirt on the panels and no more shade afternoon. So production went way UP.

I built this solar carport for $1080 and was a lot of work. The metal poles are 4ft in the ground in concrete.

In the spring I was able to produce 50kw /Day. But that was only after few cloudy days when the battery went down to 50%.

Right now I can produce more but I do not know exactly how much because my batteries are full by noon and the inverter stops producing power. I need to have the battery down to maybe 60% and then I need a full sunny day to see how much I can produce in the summer.


This image show the how much my house used this year. Not what the system can produce, because I can produce a lot more.

July is the hottest Month and will probably know if my panels produce enough power.
When I will start charging the battery for the car I will know exactly how much I can produce.

Here I was guarding my solat panel on the ground. we had high winds that were picking up the solar panels and I had to move the cars around.

Here is the new solar carport.

[jrbe]

I've been eyeing a Sol-Ark for a few years. Is your inverter new enough that you can add another in parallel or add microinverters on the switched input/output of you wanted to?

[Proton]

I've been eyeing a Sol-Ark for a few years. Is your inverter new enough that you can add another in parallel or add microinverters on the switched input/output of you wanted to?

I do not want to parallel my inverter. I want to by a 15k when I have some money and keep this one for backup.
the inverter uses 60W/h. At 24 hours that is 1.4Kw which means you need an extra 400W solar panel to cover that. if you have 2 inverters in paralell you are using 2.8Kw/day which translates in 2 solar panel extra. you also need 1/4/2.9 kW of extra batteries.
So it is better to use a bigger inverter and have an extra one for backup.


Micro controllers or any other version of grid tie inverter are garbage, specially these days.
1. power goes out they stop producing power.
2. expensive. lets say you have 30 solar panels 30 x $180 = $5400 just for the micro controllers. if power goes out you go out.
3. you cannot connect batteries or store power overnight.
4. power companies now do not want to pay anymore for the home solar.

in my area I have to pay $10 if I want to export and anything I export they pay me 5cent/kW. This is theft.
I chose to cancel my grid tie agreement after I got the hybrid inverter and batteries.

[jrbe]

The Sol-Ark becomes "the grid" in an outage and the microinverters help support it on the generator input / aux input. The grid disconnect switch likely would keep the system and microinverters producing in an outage.
I don't have the experience with this but it seems the US inverter options are not great vs a Sol-Ark.
Are you sure a 15k will support all your loads? Our split phase power means we use a lot more current on stoves, dryers, water heaters, chargers, etc. vs the sensible areas with 3 phase.
A small East/West bifacial solar fence would cover the inverter(s) power draw and give you some extra system flexibility. Not telling you what to do, was just what I bumped into planning.

[Proton]

AC coupling with solark is possible but only is you have a very big battery, otherwise you do not have where to store that extra energy. Personally I am not going to use microinverters ever, under any circumstrance. Cant stand them.

Solark 15 K puts put 15 k continous.

Stove 2400W AC 2500W, Hot water 1500W, fidge 400w, Freezer 150W, Computers, monitors, Modem Firewall etc 400W.
All these are 7350W.

with the dryer 6000W is 13350W.

you need to change both water heater elements from 4500w to 1500W.

MOst of the time my house is arounf 400W. Goes up only when I start a big load.