Hey guys. Hope you enjoyed the video. If you know anyone who is interested in DIY Solar Power, it would really help us out if you shared this video and spread the word on what we're doing. Thanks a bunch and we'll see you on the next one! 😎
I knew next to nothing about electricity and solar power when I found your videos. I had just researched enough to know what watts, volts and amps stood for! That and the basic components of an RV solar system, panels, controller, battery and wires. Your video explanations are so clear that I learned what I needed to know to make a wise purchase when I am ready to do this. I know that I will not install it myself, but I wont be in the dark as a consumer. You are a born teacher! Thanks so much for taking the time to share what you learned from your research and experience in installing your system.
The best way to get the KW reading is to read your house electrical meter, it will show you the amount of energy used. In summer it will show for a household 1KW and in winter it may show 2 or 3 KW as per your heating of the house.
I don't need any of the information in this video but have to say you did a great job putting the video together. Looks like the work of a professional. Well done.
I realize this video is 2 years old, so don't know if it's getting much attention. I wanted to share what I did. I came at the sizing approach from a different direction. I have 5kW generator that will run all loads I have except HVAC, Water Heater, Range. Etc, Basically the only 240 V I want to be able to power is the well. I could run everything including the well with the 5kW generator. This gives me an idea how big the inverter needs to be. By turning off the big loads and taking electric meter readings I could come up with an actual daily use without looking at every little load. I ran between 4 and 5kWh day.
This tutorial was very realistic for me I can clearly understand that I am throwing money and energy away in my home. Using an off grid solution is exactly like planning for a life at sea where there can be no room for excessive consumption.
That was a wonderfully informative presentation! I had already began my list and this video gave me some good ideas to simplify it! Great website also! I love how simple you made it....ANYBODY should be able to figure out their needs! I have a Toy Hauler, so a generator certainly is an option, HOWEVER there are too many times (& places) that I don’t want a noisy generator interrupting my peace. You did a great job putting this all together! I look forward to the upcoming videos!!! Thanks bunches Michael (and Jenny for “taking one for the team”!) Lauri
I ended up with 400W or solar and 430 AH of battery and only ended up starting the generator once over 3 months. And that was to run the A/C. The cost for solar is modest though if your rig already has a generator that runs off of the vehicle tank, then the convenience of solar may not be there. Even though we ran a lot of stuff off of the battery including electric appliances and an induction burner, it was rare for the batteries not to be fully charged by mid afternoon. Of course, this was during the summer. I'll be interested to see what you chose for components. Good job on the video.
Very informative. I have been wondering how RVers know what they needed in solar panels, batteries, inverters, etc. You have made it quite simple in this video. Thank you!
Wow that really helped me understand how to figure my solar needs. Thank you. I'm really looking at flexible solar panels because they weigh so much less but I understand that they are not as, should I say, reliable as the rigid panels. Hopefully that will improve.
I love your video explaining solar sizing and set up. I took so many notes. I'm in the design stage of a bus conversion and a concept I've come up with is a tilting mechanism for our many roof solar panels while we are boondocking. My question is whether, in your opinion or any research you have done or come across, of the added benefit of tilting 8 to 10 panels to more directly face the sun vs. a flat fixed location on the vehicle roof? Thanks for your time and again, your videos are very informative!
Just found your channel AWESOME!!! We are newbies to the solar world but want to go totally off grid. We do not use any 220 lines in our house no TV,cable ect. Getting a sundanzer freezer. So basically lights and kitchen appliances will need power. We use wood yo heat. Trying to figure out what we will need. Of course the solar company in our area is pushing the biggest most expensive system.... what do you think ? We are in the south western county of NC in the mountains. Our house faces south on one end. Panels will work on the roof...... thank in advance
Very good info. When I started learning solar I kept combing back to one issue. Battery weighs approx 75lbs times four. And you can only drain it to 50% so I’m carrying around half a battery I can’t use.. so search was on for life of battery and excess weight that’s useless cost compared for that and extra fuel used. In 15 year period about 5 grand so after meeting a solar expert we talked about one batter and 48 volt system with charge controller etc 12k and 25 year battery life I can drain to literally 0 and can run the a/c 4 hours a day on solar or not run it and can last four days with not needing to charge that one battery. Yea a ton more $$ up front but long term much cheaper
just wanted to do a shout out on how good your videos have improved, you can tell the last three years have weathered your confidence levels well, your instructions are really informative and i think realistic and not contrived like a bad reality tv show series. I look forward to your January start and the places you two end up going too. I predict that you two will hit 100k subscribers by this time next year if you keep up the good quality video that we've been accustomed to watch. Have a great Christmas with your family and happy trails next year....
@2:46 When doing the calculation, your both over and under measuring, especially with power transformers like the Apple charger, or other wall wart charger. You see, a device often does not use 100% of the power rating of the transformer, but the transformer is not 100% efficient. So, if your output is 500 watts, and your 90% efficient, then your input is actually 555 watts. Except, since your device is not using 100%, your actual load is less. Instead of looking at the adapter, look at the device and see what the device actually needs, not what the transformer produces. My laptop is 65 watts, but my charger is 90 watts. So, using the method outlined, I would be over sizing by 25 watts (ignoring the fact that it is not 100%, etc). My over may need 3000 watts, but once it reaches temperature, it stops drawing. So, if I am cooking for 3 hours, I won't have this 3000 watts load for all 3 hours but may only have it for 30-40% of the time (with peaks of 100% and off peaks of 0%).
My current Excel Energy utility bill shows my daily and monthly kwh data so I presume going through the spreadsheet exercise is not necessary, but very interesting to see how to calculate. Thanks.
The second of your solar videos I've watched and just want to say you're the best! You make everything so clear I don't feel overwhelmed anymore. Thank you and keep those videos coming!
Being new to RVing and diving into it by building my own van conversion I literally have know way of knowing how much power I'll use per day. My biggest power draw most likely will be my cooler/fridge, computer and TV all of which I hope to run on 12DC. My plan is to live full time and I will be solo but since my activities include various mountaineering activities year around as well as self contained bicycle touring i'll also be traveling/staying in all weather/temperature conditions. So since living in an RV is not the same as unlimited power usage in a house I'm lost right off the bat. My best guesstimate based off watching TH-cam videos would be around 400W panels but I'm not sure if I'll have the room on my Transit van, any suggestions?
Good Morning. I’m going to install 2 new 200W solar panels. The question is Parallel or Series. I have heard the Series is not as good because of shading you lose some of your power. Yes the Amps are around 10Amps with 40 Volts and Parallel the Amps are higher at about 20A and the Volts are lower at 20V . All so I read some ware the solar panels need to have a voltage around 20 to 30 volts above the battery voltage Do you have any thoughts on this. Thank you Jack
STUPID QUESTION: If there is another geomagnetic solar storm like the Carrington Event in 1859, then what will "Plan B" be for those of us who are in electric cars & using solar in our homes? (Please direct me to the video if you've already addressed this issue on another video?) Is there a Faraday Cage large enough to protect a hybrid or electric car by any chance? Thanks!
Good afternoon Can you please advice me on what will be required to install a 150kwp, 50kwp and a 3kwp each solar power ? How many inverters, solar panels, batteries charge controllers and other requirements? Counting on your advice and quick response Thank you.
I am just getting into the solar panels which I have four panels 25 watts each Hundref Watts total wired in series I believe each panel has it's own wires which plug into a 4 way that plugs into my controller. When i install my four 6 volt batteries in series and parallel then connect my modified inverter to plug in my 30 amp RV will I do any damage to the inverter in the RV? My inverter is a 1000 watt. Right now before I got solar I just hooked up my 1000 watt modified inverter and plug my RV into it and leave my truck running to run coffee pot and tv in mornings
Hey am I missing something here, On the load charts presented in the output wattage column, it's like he has been presented with the correct wattage first and worked backwards on the P=VI formula with all different voltages except the voltage will be fixed at what ever voltage the system is -240v/110v/24v/12v
Hi.. I need help please. I'm a tinyhouse person, I didn't build it. It's grid tie exception is toilet. I'm planning on getting 5 x 480w panels, I have an eccoflow delta 1300 to power the house (fan, fridge, occasional lights) how can I put the panels up and wire it to my house w/o pulling out the current setup? Also I'm thinking of doing 48v sys
Great video Michael! That sizing chart will help for sure. Still deciding between another 5k gen for the fiver and a full set of solar. Decisions, decisions!
I am trying to work out my solar needs for a camper conversion. In the spreadsheet should I be finding the Watts for the chargers or the devices themselves? They have different values. Help!
Hi! You are the dude, i want to ask.. I'm going to buy fev 285w PERC- panels, they told me, Perc-panel is the best. Is that so..? I'm beginner, but very exited to learn more about solar power! Could you help me..?
Hello. great video. I have three s/panels 180w combined - a 2000w inverter and 5 batteries 410ah. I power a tv. DVD and l.e.d lighting... Q. am I over doing it a little? I live full time in a converted long wheel base van all yr round in the UK.
The calculator seems to be way over-sizing the battery bank. 800 plus amp hours? For about 120 AH of daily needs? Even with loses, a bank about half that size will keep you powered for the better part of two days.
+Dan & Jen Nevada Hey guys! I definitely think it does too but I also tend to think it accounts for “worst case scenario” which is always good to do with solar. I will show what we’ve installed in a future video to give people an idea of what has worked for us 🌞 Thanks for watching!
Thank you for this video but I realise everything everything u running are DC what size inverter will I need for this will it be the same amount of total wattage per day used?
Thanks for the video I had a question regarding consumption of a refrigerator, the plate says 350 Watts but after a week on The Kill a watt meter it shows 1.5 kilowatts per day. Which is around 63 watts an hour.
Would it not be easier to just look at the KWH in your current electricity bill and just divide it by the number of days covered by the bill, to get seasonal differences in the calculation look at the last 12 months calculate the total KWH used and divide it by 365. Add 25% head room for additional equipment you might purchase that should be a pretty accurate calculation or am I missing something?
I have 90Watt t.v. I want to use it for 15 hours a day off grid in an area that has 6 hours of full sun everyday. What solar size I need 'exactly'? What battery size I need 'exactly'? What controller size I need? And what invertor size I need? Being tight budget, I need exact sizes for each. If somebody can help me, I would be thankful in advance.🙏🙏🙏
Hi, When you said you had two of the "chargers", did you mean that you are going to use two charge controllers? I'm sharing this video with a few people who want to do DIY solar. :-)
That is better, I was thinking the same question. Why so much math when you can use the bill, and cut it in half for the location you will be using. Better no?
So when you are out dry camping how do you know your batteries are at 50% discharge? The built in RV battery meter is unreliable and I dont have any fancy solar set up or battery monitor. Can I just use my voltmeter? what reading am I looking for?
Hello I want to install my solar 12v 50watts to my battery but I don’t know how many Ah of battery 12v I should use . Can u tell me it the best one ? How many ah that 50watts can charge in a whole day ?
Hello. I love this video. It really great.. Buy I have a i question.. The calculation above. Please how many batteries do you derive to? In rate of 12v/200ah..
Those calculators don't actually work, due to the fact they are average. If you have summer and 8 hours and winter 2 hours, then the average is 4 hours. Then adding say 100w panels in summer you get 800wh In winter you get 200wh. This means that your winter power will fall short, and depending where you are that can be around 70 days of falling short. A 5 day battery reserve isn't going to help, you need a generator. If we use winter calculations you would need five times the solar panels to make average power. I don't think anyone would want to do the battery storage... 70*2kw 140kw battery! (Three Tesla car batteries). Then to power to charge this! A good way is to zero your use on battery in spring... So if you have 6 hours of sun. And you use 400w for 4 hours. That's 1600kw. But if you start with 400w panels then for 4 hours the power is zero. But if we have 1600kw battery, and we have 800w panels the. We can charge the battery and use the power, or use 400wh for 8 hours. We don't need to over do the solar, as we can only use what we use and what we can store. The time shifts for summer with 8 hours of sun gives us 8 hours of use and a further 4 on the battery totalling 12 hours. We shift again to winter, and we get 2 hours of sun. So our 4 hours becomes 2 hours and 800w. That's 50% of the battery charge. So in two days you get 8 hours of use. Or four hours per day. But we double the panels and get our 8 hours per day. Hope that makes more sense as average just won't work out especially for winter or different places, that redundancy will be dead before you can make good power. I've a 800w array making around 30watts for most of the day and around 120-140watts in winter in the sun hours. (Here winter sun is 400wm2)
Simply reading the rated power consumption off of the device is not an accurate way to determine actual average power usage. For example, a fridge/freezer combo might have the peak rating on it but to plan for solar, you would be more concerned with the average power consumption. What would you type in for # of hours of use for a fridge/freezer into your calculator? How would someone know how many hours it actually runs? Some people might just type in 24 hours for that and if they use the peak wattage rating of the fridge, that estimate will be WAY off, telling them to buy many more solar panels and getting a much larger battery bank than they really need.
The refrigerator I have, states the energy consumption is 313 kWh/year based on standard test results for 24 hours. I then multiplied 313 kWh by 1000 (conversion to watts) giving me 313 000 watts, then I dived that by 365, which gave me 800 and some change watts .. to run a 157 liter refrigerator and its 73 liter freezer over a 24 hour period? Does that sound right?
Hi, if I want a system with 6000W, I should need X panels at 12v, if I want to run the same system ate 24 or 48v does the number of panels double and quadruplicate also?
Lucas Marinho 48v runs appliances. The big ones like washers and dryers and three prong giants. It is wired to AC as a system so it requires special integration issues depending on where you live and the code. So if you plan to run a system that large you either have a electrical grid panel or you are off grid no electricity. If you have a panel breaker box and have electricity 48v is the way to do it. The other voltages seem to work best for people who don’t want to carry a full load house type battery solar set up and want portable with expansion capabilities
I use average 18885 WH a day. I live in 8 hour sun light a day. How many batery i need? I see from the solar calculator i need solr controller that can handle 267 amp. But no shop that sell that size of controller
Are you trying to go OFF-GRID? Do you get 8 hours of sun each and *EVERY* day, without exception? The battery only supplies the loads during the day when cloudy and all night long. The Solar Panels must supply power for *BOTH* the loads and recharge the battery - from sun rise until sun set. How many days in-a-row can you have with NO SUN? Is it reasonable to assume ... 80% of kWHr loads during the day and 20% during the night? You may need three independent PV arrary's each feeding their own 100 Amp Battery Controller going to the big 48 Volt Battery Bank. EXAMPLE for one Day of autonomy: 18,885 kWhr / 48 Volts X 2 = 800 AH @ 48 Volt battery Bank (approx)
Hi, Awesome series that you have here, so thanks for your efforts really well done. I do have a question or 2 if possible, hope u can help. If i wanted to run a Computer system for 24 hours a day, my computer system has a 1000W power supply. The thing is i have a 1000W power supply but i am not maxing out the Power of that supply, My power meter is only reading under 450w. SO my question is, Should i still calculate of the MAX potential Watts of my PSU or what my computer is actually using. This is the same for the battery bank? My other question is, If i want the Bank to power my PC through out the night and recharge throughout the day, do the panels need to produce double the watts needed during the day so it does the recharge? For example uses 400w meaning panels need to produce 800w during the day to power PC and charge batteries for nights usage. I hope this makes sense, Thanks again
Hey 👋🏼 send me an email (duetjustus@gmail.com)... this numbers sound astronomical for a computer. Make sure you are looking at the output wattage on your power supply. An iMac is 217W max and our MacBooks are 85W
@@DuetJustusFam Depends on your machine. I used to own a 2 cpu / 12 core gaming rig with two MSI R7970 graphics cards which, if ran at full power, easily pulled 800+ watts. The PSU was rated for 1200Watts, as the motherboard actually had room for 2 more gfx cards, never got to install them though. It actually heated the room it was in to unbearable levels during summer... But it's very unlikely you would run that 24/7 in an off-grid setup / camper van anyways.
If i have only one type Car battery of 40 amps 12v how many I need to use my house 2.8kw per day, average sunlight 4 hours and two days power storage, how many batteries I need to get?
Hey guys. Hope you enjoyed the video. If you know anyone who is interested in DIY Solar Power, it would really help us out if you shared this video and spread the word on what we're doing. Thanks a bunch and we'll see you on the next one! 😎
All I know is winter I used 6.78 kilowatts and summer 7.5 kilowatts, please tell what I need for my inverter and batteries bank, thanks
On the online calculator you used, there was this part '3 String Configuration' in battery connection. What does it mean?
hi, I'm interested in DIY SOLAR POWER asap. Thanks for the previous uploaded videos.
How can I get your contact information?
Wouldn't it be easier to call the electric company to get the monthly usage over 1-2 years and average it out?
At last! Someone did a video that explains things in the absolute simplest and DETAILED terms. Thank you!
I highly appreciate your comprehensive explanation! It is very smooth. You are a very good Teacher
I knew next to nothing about electricity and solar power when I found your videos. I had just researched enough to know what watts, volts and amps stood for! That and the basic components of an RV solar system, panels, controller, battery and wires. Your video explanations are so clear that I learned what I needed to know to make a wise purchase when I am ready to do this. I know that I will not install it myself, but I wont be in the dark as a consumer. You are a born teacher! Thanks so much for taking the time to share what you learned from your research and experience in installing your system.
The best way to get the KW reading is to read your house electrical meter, it will show you the amount of energy used. In summer it will show for a household 1KW and in winter it may show 2 or 3 KW as per your heating of the house.
This video is the best info I’ve found. Looking to solar power a tiny home. I’ll be using this!! Thank you!!
Thanks duet justus for teaching us how to compute.
I don't need any of the information in this video but have to say you did a great job putting the video together. Looks like the work of a professional. Well done.
Very helpful. Prior to this I thought that one would just have to guess what to use if you were not a solar installer. Thanks for the video.
Awesome! Glad it helped 😊
I'm working on installing solar on my RV I just bought and your videos are such a big help. Thank you so much your videos are helping tons 😊
Hi do you have any information about sizing pv system based on intelligent techniques used to labview
This information is so valuable to newbies like me. Thanks so much for the great video.
ahhhh the Metric System, simple precise and beautiful!
I realize this video is 2 years old, so don't know if it's getting much attention. I wanted to share what I did. I came at the sizing approach from a different direction. I have 5kW generator that will run all loads I have except HVAC, Water Heater, Range. Etc, Basically the only 240 V I want to be able to power is the well. I could run everything including the well with the 5kW generator. This gives me an idea how big the inverter needs to be. By turning off the big loads and taking electric meter readings I could come up with an actual daily use without looking at every little load. I ran between 4 and 5kWh day.
Very helpful!!! I actually understand this stuff within a day by watching this video
Wow! That’s great advice for how to think about what size of system you need. Thanks!
This is what exactly I was searching brother.. Thank you so much
I am currently trying to determine if I can do this myself and your videos are immensely helpful! Mucho thanks!!
This tutorial was very realistic for me I can clearly understand that I am throwing money and energy away in my home. Using an off grid solution is exactly like planning for a life at sea where there can be no room for excessive consumption.
Thank you for this video. I understood everything you covered ( which is a first). Now I feel like there is hope for me yet.
Dude, best video ever for newbies (Like me and my dog-Rascal B. Ornery) understanding this!!!! You Rocked this one! yes, you did do it Justus!
good day this video is very helpful to me. to learn what system i will be needing for off-grid system. the next step is cost and budgeting
I really like your videos as you make it easy to understand. Thank you
Thanks for all your solar videos that has been very helpful.
That was a wonderfully informative presentation! I had already began my list and this video gave me some good ideas to simplify it! Great website also! I love how simple you made it....ANYBODY should be able to figure out their needs!
I have a Toy Hauler, so a generator certainly is an option, HOWEVER there are too many times (& places) that I don’t want a noisy generator interrupting my peace.
You did a great job putting this all together! I look forward to the upcoming videos!!! Thanks bunches Michael (and Jenny for “taking one for the team”!)
Lauri
🌞🌞🌞
I ended up with 400W or solar and 430 AH of battery and only ended up starting the generator once over 3 months. And that was to run the A/C. The cost for solar is modest though if your rig already has a generator that runs off of the vehicle tank, then the convenience of solar may not be there. Even though we ran a lot of stuff off of the battery including electric appliances and an induction burner, it was rare for the batteries not to be fully charged by mid afternoon. Of course, this was during the summer. I'll be interested to see what you chose for components. Good job on the video.
Very informative. I have been wondering how RVers know what they needed in solar panels, batteries, inverters, etc. You have made it quite simple in this video. Thank you!
Very useful and clear. Thanks. Greetings from Saudi 🌹
Wow that really helped me understand how to figure my solar needs. Thank you.
I'm really looking at flexible solar panels because they weigh so much less but I understand that they are not as, should I say, reliable as the rigid panels. Hopefully that will improve.
I love your video explaining solar sizing and set up. I took so many notes. I'm in the design stage of a bus conversion and a concept I've come up with is a tilting mechanism for our many roof solar panels while we are boondocking. My question is whether, in your opinion or any research you have done or come across, of the added benefit of tilting 8 to 10 panels to more directly face the sun vs. a flat fixed location on the vehicle roof? Thanks for your time and again, your videos are very informative!
Just found your channel AWESOME!!! We are newbies to the solar world but want to go totally off grid. We do not use any 220 lines in our house no TV,cable ect. Getting a sundanzer freezer. So basically lights and kitchen appliances will need power. We use wood yo heat. Trying to figure out what we will need. Of course the solar company in our area is pushing the biggest most expensive system.... what do you think ? We are in the south western county of NC in the mountains. Our house faces south on one end. Panels will work on the roof...... thank in advance
Very good info. When I started learning solar I kept combing back to one issue. Battery weighs approx 75lbs times four. And you can only drain it to 50% so I’m carrying around half a battery I can’t use.. so search was on for life of battery and excess weight that’s useless cost compared for that and extra fuel used. In 15 year period about 5 grand so after meeting a solar expert we talked about one batter and 48 volt system with charge controller etc 12k and 25 year battery life I can drain to literally 0 and can run the a/c 4 hours a day on solar or not run it and can last four days with not needing to charge that one battery. Yea a ton more $$ up front but long term much cheaper
just wanted to do a shout out on how good your videos have improved, you can tell the last three years have weathered your confidence levels well, your instructions are really informative and i think realistic and not contrived like a bad reality tv show series. I look forward to your January start and the places you two end up going too. I predict that you two will hit 100k subscribers by this time next year if you keep up the good quality video that we've been accustomed to watch. Have a great Christmas with your family and happy trails next year....
Excellent source of information
Thanks for watching!
This is very helpful....thank you so much.....
@2:46 When doing the calculation, your both over and under measuring, especially with power transformers like the Apple charger, or other wall wart charger. You see, a device often does not use 100% of the power rating of the transformer, but the transformer is not 100% efficient.
So, if your output is 500 watts, and your 90% efficient, then your input is actually 555 watts. Except, since your device is not using 100%, your actual load is less. Instead of looking at the adapter, look at the device and see what the device actually needs, not what the transformer produces. My laptop is 65 watts, but my charger is 90 watts. So, using the method outlined, I would be over sizing by 25 watts (ignoring the fact that it is not 100%, etc).
My over may need 3000 watts, but once it reaches temperature, it stops drawing. So, if I am cooking for 3 hours, I won't have this 3000 watts load for all 3 hours but may only have it for 30-40% of the time (with peaks of 100% and off peaks of 0%).
Thank you very much for the helpful info. That makes total sense. 😎☀️👍🏼
My current Excel Energy utility bill shows my daily and monthly kwh data so I presume going through the spreadsheet exercise is not necessary, but very interesting to see how to calculate. Thanks.
The second of your solar videos I've watched and just want to say you're the best! You make everything so clear I don't feel overwhelmed anymore. Thank you and keep those videos coming!
wow great video,thanks for the easy step breakdown. i'm new to this so this was a great introduction.
Fabulous i love it. I have subscribed to your channel after watching few videos of yours.
Hi Guys,
Very interesting thank you for making the great videos 👍
Interesting information and very instructive.
Its good and thanks for helping out.
Being new to RVing and diving into it by building my own van conversion I literally have know way of knowing how much power I'll use per day. My biggest power draw most likely will be my cooler/fridge, computer and TV all of which I hope to run on 12DC. My plan is to live full time and I will be solo but since my activities include various mountaineering activities year around as well as self contained bicycle touring i'll also be traveling/staying in all weather/temperature conditions. So since living in an RV is not the same as unlimited power usage in a house I'm lost right off the bat. My best guesstimate based off watching TH-cam videos would be around 400W panels but I'm not sure if I'll have the room on my Transit van, any suggestions?
Good Morning. I’m going to install 2 new 200W solar panels. The question is Parallel or Series. I have heard the Series is not as good because of shading you lose some of your power. Yes the Amps are around 10Amps with 40 Volts and Parallel the Amps are higher at about 20A and the Volts are lower at 20V . All so I read some ware the solar panels need to have a voltage around 20 to 30 volts above the battery voltage Do you have any thoughts on this. Thank you Jack
Awesome video. Thank you for your help in understanding what I need to do prior to buying solar
Very nice and need every information
Very thorough/interesting - I think I could DIM! Thank y'all and God bless!
You absolutely can. I believe in you 🌞
STUPID QUESTION: If there is another geomagnetic solar storm like the Carrington Event in 1859, then what will "Plan B" be for those of us who are in electric cars & using solar in our homes? (Please direct me to the video if you've already addressed this issue on another video?) Is there a Faraday Cage large enough to protect a hybrid or electric car by any chance? Thanks!
Very thorough instructional video. Nice.
Fantastic, so well explained. Thank you so very much.
Good afternoon
Can you please advice me on what will be required to install a 150kwp, 50kwp and a 3kwp each solar power ?
How many inverters, solar panels, batteries charge controllers and other requirements?
Counting on your advice and quick response
Thank you.
Hi love your videos easy to follow, Can you use different size solar panels to make up your wattage
I am just getting into the solar panels which I have four panels 25 watts each Hundref Watts total wired in series I believe each panel has it's own wires which plug into a 4 way that plugs into my controller. When i install my four 6 volt batteries in series and parallel then connect my modified inverter to plug in my 30 amp RV will I do any damage to the inverter in the RV? My inverter is a 1000 watt. Right now before I got solar I just hooked up my 1000 watt modified inverter and plug my RV into it and leave my truck running to run coffee pot and tv in mornings
Great teacher
Thank you
Thanks heaps mate!!!
This would have to be the best explanation on solar set ups and needs on the net.
You have a sub right here :)
Hey am I missing something here, On the load charts presented in the output wattage column, it's like he has been presented with the correct wattage first and worked backwards on the P=VI formula with all different voltages except the voltage will be fixed at what ever voltage the system is -240v/110v/24v/12v
Seriously, the best videos by far.
Biggest thank you.
the first solar system i think didnt take much planning as you suggested. He just said let there be light!
Hi.. I need help please. I'm a tinyhouse person, I didn't build it. It's grid tie exception is toilet. I'm planning on getting 5 x 480w panels, I have an eccoflow delta 1300 to power the house (fan, fridge, occasional lights) how can I put the panels up and wire it to my house w/o pulling out the current setup? Also I'm thinking of doing 48v sys
Great video Michael! That sizing chart will help for sure. Still deciding between another 5k gen for the fiver and a full set of solar. Decisions, decisions!
Decisions, decisions indeed! If it helps, we absolutely LOVE the freedom of solar. Good luck.
thanks a lot for your comprehensive explanation.
I am trying to work out my solar needs for a camper conversion. In the spreadsheet should I be finding the Watts for the chargers or the devices themselves? They have different values. Help!
Fiona Wright chargers, unless devices are plugged directly without chargers, eg 12v bulbs
Thanks super helpful subbed since you're from mo too 🤘
Very informative
Hi! You are the dude, i want to ask.. I'm going to buy fev 285w PERC- panels, they told me, Perc-panel is the best. Is that so..? I'm beginner, but very exited to learn more about solar power! Could you help me..?
Thank you. Very easy to follow. Appreciate it very much.
Very very useful!!!
Hello. great video.
I have three s/panels 180w combined - a 2000w inverter and 5 batteries 410ah. I power a tv. DVD and l.e.d lighting...
Q. am I over doing it a little?
I live full time in a converted long wheel base van all yr round in the UK.
The calculator seems to be way over-sizing the battery bank. 800 plus amp hours? For about 120 AH of daily needs? Even with loses, a bank about half that size will keep you powered for the better part of two days.
+Dan & Jen Nevada Hey guys! I definitely think it does too but I also tend to think it accounts for “worst case scenario” which is always good to do with solar. I will show what we’ve installed in a future video to give people an idea of what has worked for us 🌞 Thanks for watching!
It told me I need 35,000 Ah of battery for 83 kWh usage. That's 179 batteries
Thank you for this video but I realise everything everything u running are DC what size inverter will I need for this will it be the same amount of total wattage per day used?
Thanks for the video I had a question regarding consumption of a refrigerator, the plate says 350 Watts but after a week on The Kill a watt meter it shows 1.5 kilowatts per day. Which is around 63 watts an hour.
No, not 63 watts. It is "63 watt-hours per hour". It is still a 350 Watt appliance
Very informative need to watch more.
Sir how can you tell what inverter to use if how many watts or voltage or Ampere of the solar
Awesome video, great information
Would it not be easier to just look at the KWH in your current electricity bill and just divide it by the number of days covered by the bill, to get seasonal differences in the calculation look at the last 12 months calculate the total KWH used and divide it by 365. Add 25% head room for additional equipment you might purchase that should be a pretty accurate calculation or am I missing something?
I have 90Watt t.v. I want to use it for 15 hours a day off grid in an area that has 6 hours of full sun everyday.
What solar size I need 'exactly'?
What battery size I need 'exactly'?
What controller size I need?
And what invertor size I need?
Being tight budget, I need exact sizes for each.
If somebody can help me, I would be thankful in advance.🙏🙏🙏
Great information. Thank you.
Im curious. Why not just take your monthly power bill and divide by 31? Any reason not to?
What you did not confirm tho, are the solar panel capable of charging the batteries or some more calculation is needed?
VERY NICE VIDEO
Hi, When you said you had two of the "chargers", did you mean that you are going to use two charge controllers? I'm sharing this video with a few people who want to do DIY solar. :-)
thank you for your lecture and how i can find that above software that you solve the example
what about just looking at your electrical bill monthly
I think this is for when you're only planning to run particular amount of things in your house on solar or you're on the go like him in his RV.
That is better, I was thinking the same question. Why so much math when you can use the bill, and cut it in half for the location you will be using. Better no?
It’s better to read your meter twice a day . Once during the daytime and once at night. That should tell you what u need.
I like your eplaination... think it will help me later.
So when you are out dry camping how do you know your batteries are at 50% discharge? The built in RV battery meter is unreliable and I dont have any fancy solar set up or battery monitor. Can I just use my voltmeter? what reading am I looking for?
thank you very much for sharing the ideas. but i cant get the solar calculator.please help me how to size the components manualy?
Hello I want to install my solar 12v 50watts to my battery but I don’t know how many Ah of battery 12v I should use . Can u tell me it the best one ? How many ah that 50watts can charge in a whole day ?
Hello. I love this video. It really great..
Buy I have a i question..
The calculation above.
Please how many batteries do you derive to? In rate of 12v/200ah..
Those calculators don't actually work, due to the fact they are average.
If you have summer and 8 hours and winter 2 hours, then the average is 4 hours.
Then adding say 100w panels in summer you get 800wh
In winter you get 200wh.
This means that your winter power will fall short, and depending where you are that can be around 70 days of falling short. A 5 day battery reserve isn't going to help, you need a generator.
If we use winter calculations you would need five times the solar panels to make average power. I don't think anyone would want to do the battery storage... 70*2kw
140kw battery! (Three Tesla car batteries).
Then to power to charge this!
A good way is to zero your use on battery in spring... So if you have 6 hours of sun. And you use 400w for 4 hours. That's 1600kw.
But if you start with 400w panels then for 4 hours the power is zero.
But if we have 1600kw battery, and we have 800w panels the. We can charge the battery and use the power, or use 400wh for 8 hours.
We don't need to over do the solar, as we can only use what we use and what we can store.
The time shifts for summer with 8 hours of sun gives us 8 hours of use and a further 4 on the battery totalling 12 hours.
We shift again to winter, and we get 2 hours of sun.
So our 4 hours becomes 2 hours and 800w.
That's 50% of the battery charge.
So in two days you get 8 hours of use. Or four hours per day. But we double the panels and get our 8 hours per day.
Hope that makes more sense as average just won't work out especially for winter or different places, that redundancy will be dead before you can make good power.
I've a 800w array making around 30watts for most of the day and around 120-140watts in winter in the sun hours.
(Here winter sun is 400wm2)
Best, i just subscribed.
Good, Duet! I need to do it.
Simply reading the rated power consumption off of the device is not an accurate way to determine actual average power usage. For example, a fridge/freezer combo might have the peak rating on it but to plan for solar, you would be more concerned with the average power consumption. What would you type in for # of hours of use for a fridge/freezer into your calculator? How would someone know how many hours it actually runs? Some people might just type in 24 hours for that and if they use the peak wattage rating of the fridge, that estimate will be WAY off, telling them to buy many more solar panels and getting a much larger battery bank than they really need.
The refrigerator I have, states the energy consumption is 313 kWh/year based on standard test results for 24 hours. I then multiplied 313 kWh by 1000 (conversion to watts) giving me 313 000 watts, then I dived that by 365, which gave me 800 and some change watts .. to run a 157 liter refrigerator and its 73 liter freezer over a 24 hour period? Does that sound right?
Hi, if I want a system with 6000W, I should need X panels at 12v, if I want to run the same system ate 24 or 48v does the number of panels double and quadruplicate also?
Lucas Marinho 48v runs appliances. The big ones like washers and dryers and three prong giants. It is wired to AC as a system so it requires special integration issues depending on where you live and the code. So if you plan to run a system that large you either have a electrical grid panel or you are off grid no electricity. If you have a panel breaker box and have electricity 48v is the way to do it.
The other voltages seem to work best for people who don’t want to carry a full load house type battery solar set up and want portable with expansion capabilities
I use average 18885 WH a day. I live in 8 hour sun light a day. How many batery i need? I see from the solar calculator i need solr controller that can handle 267 amp. But no shop that sell that size of controller
Are you trying to go OFF-GRID? Do you get 8 hours of sun each and *EVERY* day, without exception? The battery only supplies the loads during the day when cloudy and all night long. The Solar Panels must supply power for *BOTH* the loads and recharge the battery - from sun rise until sun set. How many days in-a-row can you have with NO SUN? Is it reasonable to assume ... 80% of kWHr loads during the day and 20% during the night? You may need three independent PV arrary's each feeding their own 100 Amp Battery Controller going to the big 48 Volt Battery Bank. EXAMPLE for one Day of autonomy: 18,885 kWhr / 48 Volts X 2 = 800 AH @ 48 Volt battery Bank (approx)
Concise and no waffle
Hi,
Awesome series that you have here, so thanks for your efforts really well done.
I do have a question or 2 if possible, hope u can help. If i wanted to run a Computer system for 24 hours a day, my computer system has a 1000W power supply. The thing is i have a 1000W power supply but i am not maxing out the Power of that supply, My power meter is only reading under 450w. SO my question is, Should i still calculate of the MAX potential Watts of my PSU or what my computer is actually using. This is the same for the battery bank?
My other question is, If i want the Bank to power my PC through out the night and recharge throughout the day, do the panels need to produce double the watts needed during the day so it does the recharge? For example uses 400w meaning panels need to produce 800w during the day to power PC and charge batteries for nights usage.
I hope this makes sense, Thanks again
Hey 👋🏼 send me an email (duetjustus@gmail.com)... this numbers sound astronomical for a computer. Make sure you are looking at the output wattage on your power supply. An iMac is 217W max and our MacBooks are 85W
@@DuetJustusFam Depends on your machine. I used to own a 2 cpu / 12 core gaming rig with two MSI R7970 graphics cards which, if ran at full power, easily pulled 800+ watts. The PSU was rated for 1200Watts, as the motherboard actually had room for 2 more gfx cards, never got to install them though. It actually heated the room it was in to unbearable levels during summer...
But it's very unlikely you would run that 24/7 in an off-grid setup / camper van anyways.
If i have only one type Car battery of 40 amps 12v how many I need to use my house 2.8kw per day, average sunlight 4 hours and two days power storage, how many batteries I need to get?
Fantastic video and information. Thanks :)