Anyone working toward Off Grid - Page 12

randen · 07-03-18, 11:10 AM

Fellow EcoRenovators

I'm sitting in-front of the 20Kw inverter monitoring heat-sink temps. We are powering the house no problem. Solar panel array is loafing along keeping the batteries full. Its noon with full sun so near 11Kw on tap

The car is charging, air conditioning (GSHP), made breakfast tea toast. Refrigerator running computers TVs wifi ALL thing critical to life. 6.2 KW !!!!

Had tested everything plus drying clothes which popped us up to 8.8 KW

Impressive

We will continue to push out the envelope. But its looking like we won!!

I had applied to our electric company for either net meter or Feed in Tariff and was declined "power constraints" OK you still loose I'm now going to be using a lot less.!!

The ROI's of going green.

In 2009 geo thermal and solar hot water reduced my energy bill by $6000.00/yr
In 2016 electric vehicles reduced energy cost (gasoline) by a min $4500.00/yr
Today 2018 SELFISH Solar Off grid style should reduce my electric bill by $4000.00/yr

The ROI for geo thermal plus the Solar hot water 5 yrs.
The ROI for EVs 20 yrs. based on todays cost of gasoline but will only get shorter as the price goes up !!!
The ROI on the Solar PV off grid system 5.5 yrs.

Randen

Pictures to follow

pinballlooking · 07-03-18, 12:13 PM

Sweet...
Congrats on the great progress!

Every time I read your off-grid battery setup it makes me want start the process. But I have a great net metering deal for a few more years.
I must resist until then.

I still enjoy reading about your progress.

randen · 07-03-18, 01:21 PM

Pinballlooking

Almost giddy today. Like the electric truck inverter, it wasn't for the faint of heart. A lot of little gremlins to shoot.

I have a bit more work to do and I'm going to get the equipment inspected. I'm looking for it all Reliability Safety, and Durability. I don't want it crapping out when its minus 20 outside.

The car is charging as I write and later a drive for errands on sunshine!!!

Not being able to connect to the grid was disappointing but the joke is now on them. the electric company won't miss me but if a few more move off grid it will make a point.

Randen

Finally driving on sunshine!!!!

randen · 07-05-18, 06:36 PM

Today I was cleaning up some loose ends. Mounting a proper start button shrink wrapping and running the wires a little more neatly in the box. I was doing this while working so a bit of back and forth.

There are thunderstorms in the area and grid power was interrupted many times through the afternoon and my son while computer gaming, was not happy, so I had to quickly finish-up and get the inverter up and running.

2:00 pm Selfish solar up and running with a closed box and proper air flow.

Air conditioner running and a new one. My wife was cooking on the electric cook top. That was sucking back some power !!

I'm going to monitor the inverter through the night to see if we can maintain battery capacity till morning sunlight.

Randen

randen · 07-07-18, 09:12 AM

The experiment to run through the night to catch the next mornings rays didn't work out. With the air-conditioning hardly cycling the projected amount of power left in the battery wouldn't have carried us through. The weather was so hot and humid at about 1:00 am I switched back to grid and slept knowing I wasn't going to possibly damage the batteries by depleting them beyond the safe zone. A rough calculation got us to about 4:00 in the morn.

A cooler dryer air mass has moved in and its a really beautiful summer day. Switched to off grid and charging the car plus the house loads. The pack was depleted and here it is by 10:00 nearly fully charged with the car charging and house loads.

Battery situation is that I need at least two more Chevy Volt packs to have sufficient battery reserve. It would seem that the 11 kw of solar is more than adequate for this time of the year.

Randen

I don,t see where to upload pictures!!

randen · 07-08-18, 09:26 AM

Coasted through the night on batteries. The battery pack was depleted I had overlooked the water heater element it must have cycled

I took a late shower and there must not been enough solar heated water in reserve

Randen

pinballlooking · 07-09-18, 08:53 AM

The grid really does spoil us it is just so convenient and it just works.

Good progress.

randen · 07-10-18, 01:51 PM

Reprogrammed some devices from off peak time of day to the late morning. That’s allot better!!! Didn’t really need the hot water boosted in the wee hours to 60 deg from 45 deg. And air conditioning just a little warmer 22 deg.

So far meeting expectations charging vehicles, washing clothes , washing dishes in the middle of the day. At night all is quite and air conditioning cycles are a lot longer

Waking in the morning still off grid with battery capacity still available and ready to start charging with the sun

Too cool

Randen

randen · 07-23-18, 07:14 PM

Fellow eco-renovators

The inverter/batteries are working well but with extreme air-conditioning plus cooking at night the batteries are at the bottom of their charge in the morning. To be expected

We just experienced 2 days overcast and the air-conditioning did cycle but not much. We did obtain a surprising amount of power but not enough to make it to the next days sun. Back to the grid for 6 hour in the wee hours.

I did need to make a bit of an experiment of heating water with the back-up element. "No sun no solar hot water from our collectors." It did work quite well heating with elements.

We will need a lot larger battery as we would like to live with solar off grid without compromise. Or with limited life changes as we had done all the conservation exercises.

The best news was running the calculations for the 2 initial weeks off grid we saved 810 Kwhs or $169.00 Cnd

Photo of the completed 20 kw 240 volt inverter

Randen

jjackstone · 07-24-18, 02:09 AM

Randen,
Do you have a ballpark figure of how much money you invested in your system?
JJ

07-03-18, 11:10 AM	#111
randen Uber EcoRenovator Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada Posts: 658 Thanks: 9 Thanked 193 Times in 131 Posts	Any one working toward off-grid DONE IT! Fellow EcoRenovators I'm sitting in-front of the 20Kw inverter monitoring heat-sink temps. We are powering the house no problem. Solar panel array is loafing along keeping the batteries full. Its noon with full sun so near 11Kw on tap The car is charging, air conditioning (GSHP), made breakfast tea toast. Refrigerator running computers TVs wifi ALL thing critical to life. 6.2 KW !!!! Had tested everything plus drying clothes which popped us up to 8.8 KW Impressive We will continue to push out the envelope. But its looking like we won!! I had applied to our electric company for either net meter or Feed in Tariff and was declined "power constraints" OK you still loose I'm now going to be using a lot less.!! The ROI's of going green. In 2009 geo thermal and solar hot water reduced my energy bill by $6000.00/yr In 2016 electric vehicles reduced energy cost (gasoline) by a min $4500.00/yr Today 2018 SELFISH Solar Off grid style should reduce my electric bill by $4000.00/yr The ROI for geo thermal plus the Solar hot water 5 yrs. The ROI for EVs 20 yrs. based on todays cost of gasoline but will only get shorter as the price goes up !!! The ROI on the Solar PV off grid system 5.5 yrs. Randen Pictures to follow

07-03-18, 12:13 PM	#112
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,933 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	Sweet... Congrats on the great progress! Every time I read your off-grid battery setup it makes me want start the process. But I have a great net metering deal for a few more years. I must resist until then. I still enjoy reading about your progress. __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

07-05-18, 06:36 PM	#114
randen Uber EcoRenovator Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada Posts: 658 Thanks: 9 Thanked 193 Times in 131 Posts	We Are Off Grid !!! Today I was cleaning up some loose ends. Mounting a proper start button shrink wrapping and running the wires a little more neatly in the box. I was doing this while working so a bit of back and forth. There are thunderstorms in the area and grid power was interrupted many times through the afternoon and my son while computer gaming, was not happy, so I had to quickly finish-up and get the inverter up and running. 2:00 pm Selfish solar up and running with a closed box and proper air flow. Air conditioner running and a new one. My wife was cooking on the electric cook top. That was sucking back some power !! I'm going to monitor the inverter through the night to see if we can maintain battery capacity till morning sunlight. Randen

07-07-18, 09:12 AM	#115
randen Uber EcoRenovator Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada Posts: 658 Thanks: 9 Thanked 193 Times in 131 Posts	We're Off Grid The experiment to run through the night to catch the next mornings rays didn't work out. With the air-conditioning hardly cycling the projected amount of power left in the battery wouldn't have carried us through. The weather was so hot and humid at about 1:00 am I switched back to grid and slept knowing I wasn't going to possibly damage the batteries by depleting them beyond the safe zone. A rough calculation got us to about 4:00 in the morn. A cooler dryer air mass has moved in and its a really beautiful summer day. Switched to off grid and charging the car plus the house loads. The pack was depleted and here it is by 10:00 nearly fully charged with the car charging and house loads. Battery situation is that I need at least two more Chevy Volt packs to have sufficient battery reserve. It would seem that the 11 kw of solar is more than adequate for this time of the year. Randen I don,t see where to upload pictures!! Last edited by randen; 07-07-18 at 09:53 AM..

07-09-18, 08:53 AM	#117
pinballlooking Super Moderator Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: SC Posts: 2,933 Thanks: 172 Thanked 564 Times in 463 Posts	The grid really does spoil us it is just so convenient and it just works. Good progress. __________________ Current project Aquaponics system , Passive Solar Greenhouse build To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Solar Install 12.5 Kwh- To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. Mini Split installs - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. EV Chevy Volt - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

07-03-18, 01:21 PM	#113
randen Uber EcoRenovator Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada Posts: 658 Thanks: 9 Thanked 193 Times in 131 Posts	Pinballlooking Almost giddy today. Like the electric truck inverter, it wasn't for the faint of heart. A lot of little gremlins to shoot. I have a bit more work to do and I'm going to get the equipment inspected. I'm looking for it all Reliability Safety, and Durability. I don't want it crapping out when its minus 20 outside. The car is charging as I write and later a drive for errands on sunshine!!! Not being able to connect to the grid was disappointing but the joke is now on them. the electric company won't miss me but if a few more move off grid it will make a point. Randen Finally driving on sunshine!!!!

07-08-18, 09:26 AM	#116
randen Uber EcoRenovator Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada Posts: 658 Thanks: 9 Thanked 193 Times in 131 Posts	Coasted through the night on batteries. The battery pack was depleted I had overlooked the water heater element it must have cycled I took a late shower and there must not been enough solar heated water in reserve Randen

07-10-18, 01:51 PM	#118
randen Uber EcoRenovator Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada Posts: 658 Thanks: 9 Thanked 193 Times in 131 Posts	Reprogrammed some devices from off peak time of day to the late morning. That’s allot better!!! Didn’t really need the hot water boosted in the wee hours to 60 deg from 45 deg. And air conditioning just a little warmer 22 deg. So far meeting expectations charging vehicles, washing clothes , washing dishes in the middle of the day. At night all is quite and air conditioning cycles are a lot longer Waking in the morning still off grid with battery capacity still available and ready to start charging with the sun Too cool Randen

07-23-18, 07:14 PM	#119
randen Uber EcoRenovator Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Strathroy Ontario Canada Posts: 658 Thanks: 9 Thanked 193 Times in 131 Posts	Off Grid Fellow eco-renovators The inverter/batteries are working well but with extreme air-conditioning plus cooking at night the batteries are at the bottom of their charge in the morning. To be expected We just experienced 2 days overcast and the air-conditioning did cycle but not much. We did obtain a surprising amount of power but not enough to make it to the next days sun. Back to the grid for 6 hour in the wee hours. I did need to make a bit of an experiment of heating water with the back-up element. "No sun no solar hot water from our collectors." It did work quite well heating with elements. We will need a lot larger battery as we would like to live with solar off grid without compromise. Or with limited life changes as we had done all the conservation exercises. The best news was running the calculations for the 2 initial weeks off grid we saved 810 Kwhs or $169.00 Cnd Photo of the completed 20 kw 240 volt inverter Randen Attached Thumbnails

07-24-18, 02:09 AM	#120
jjackstone Helper EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Sacramento,Ca Posts: 88 Thanks: 5 Thanked 32 Times in 23 Posts	Randen, Do you have a ballpark figure of how much money you invested in your system? JJ

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