Batteries have come a long way. Soon solar collectors will catch up to the batteries. Years ago this was not possible. I just received a Jackery 1000 v2 and it is amazing.
In a location with a temperate climate...sure. In a location with cold winters, it is not Gas or Batteries...it is BOTH! The harsh reality for most folks, living in most places around the world, is there will be a couple of months every winter when it is too gray, and the sun is too low on the horizon, for solar to keep up, unless you have an absurd number of panels and batteries. The only practical solution, in those places, is to augment with a gas or diesel generator...and there's not a darn thing wrong with that.
I have 10,000 watt solar array on top of two of my buildings, it consists of thirty-two Renogy 320W panels. Each of my four buildings has its own 48V Renogy all in one inverter, AC charger, DC solar charge controller, they all share the 10,000 watt array. With that much solar, I never use the AC/generator side charging from any of these units. I had four Honda eu3000IS generators as backup. I ended up giving two generators to my next door neighbor. I kept two as backup to the backup. Redundancy is a good thing. When or IF one controller goes bad, there's 3 more to keep charging until you're ready to change the bad one out. My bedroom cabin uses an Bluetti AC300 with four B300 batteries in series. It's connected to the 10KW array as well. All of my batteries get charged up by 12 noon, every day. I can run a water heater or residential electric stove with a few burners maxed-out on high from noon til the sun goes down without touching my battery storage.
I started the “battery / generator” after hurricane Floyd in the late 90’s using a small generator with a 1-hour runtime, a 300 watt modified sine wave inverter, a cheap 12V deep cycle marine battery and a 20 amp charger. Didn’t run a lot, but only used about a gallon of gas a day. A few years ago, I upgraded the generator to a 2200 watt inverter on clearance and a couple years ago I found a good deal on a refurbished EcoFlow River Max (720 watt hours). The EcoFlow has more usable capacity than the previous (long dead) battery, and about 4 times the charging speed. I added a 120W solar panel to allow for daytime charging. About a year ago I added an electric start dual fuel 3200 watt inverter generator. About 6 months ago, I started building my own system using two 24V 100AH batteries, and mainly used/open box Victron parts. I have a 1200VA inverter and can put in 800 watts of solar into this system. A couple months ago, I got a great deal on an EcoFlow Delta 2 and a no-name 400 watt solar panel for it. I have spare parts for my homemade system two extra 12V 50 AH batteries and a couple hundred extra panels. Currently this is only for emergency use so I think I am good, but I’ve thought that before. I figure I will be down to an average of a pint or two of gas a day to boost the charge on the systems if I’m not too careful with my usage.
@ when I was in communications in the Army I hated guys like you we called them nob-dickers…had to play with everything when it was working until it wasn’t. But I do love your videos.
Hello sire back again,i hope You are doing well:) Another solar video we like :) Let me add someting to Your charging settings on the victron.Go back there,and there is a small toggle,for advanced settings,or "expert mode" there You can find the absorbtion time,set it to at least 3 hours,so your battery have time to balance,or You can just set your float to the same voltage as the absorbtion voltage,becouse after the sun goes away,You battery will settle below 55V anyways.Also there is a setting with tail current,put that below 5A too,or even less.it allows the charge controller to know,when the battery doesnt take any more energy,and know when it is full.Best practice with LIFEPO4 is to set it to 55.2V absorbtion and float(absorb and float was a practice with lead acids.) and leave it like that-this way it allows all cells to go above 3.450V and also trigger the BMS`s balancing.Any LIFEPO4 cell,when reaches 3.450 and doesnt take any more amps(current)from the charge controler is considered completely fully charged.Also 55.2V doesnt degrade the batteries.(Source material on various youtube channels tested out with charge discharge curves,and reputable experts from all around the world.)These settings i mentioned,only apply to LIFEPO4,for LINMC,and LIpolymer are different,becouse there is multiple lithium chemystries,people always confuse them all,even Your own manufecturers write it wroing on the user manuals....(they dont care if u charge even to 57V,if it degrades faster,You just gonna end up buying more batteries...)
I had three days of bad weather last week with little sun and my 48 volt system got down to 45%. Which is still good in comparison to some climate zones ( I live in a Mediterranean climate zone, so usually plenty of sun ) One thing I have noticed when our batteries get down in charge, we tent to watch that SOC like hawk.... total solar addiction 😂😂 Yeah I remember when petrol was under 20 cents a liter, back in the 70's. Now it is around $2.00 a liter ($7.60 per U.S. gallon) here is Western Australia
Having Multiple Systems and Eco Flow EF3 Delta Pro 1300's and a River 2 Pro and Onan 5.0KVA Gennie here It's a Balancing Act on Winter Days with overcast Skies 🌴 Aloha 🤙 Brother The Sun Shines for Everyone 🙌
It is a balancing brother! And one that I have been accustomed to over the years. To me the best part is the silence. A genny in the background irritates me! Aloha 🤙
@ProjectsinParadise808 Agreed, even My Sears Portable Inverter Gennie with 2 15amp GFCI Sockets with a Run Time o 10 Hours a Gallon o Petro - just Sits in The Tool Shed for The Next Desert Rave / Concert WE TOSS OFF here to Support Wild Life here 🌴 💦 Indian Creek Ranch 🌵 ⛩
Nice just move battery's around . Good thing you re set voltage for charge on 48V system. Now the balance circuit can work. Just something odd with that inverter . But you found some settings that works. Them LiFePO4 getting smaller and smarter and cheaper. and lasting longer .
Everything running great here. Holding down the on the Western end. I know you are dialed in on the East! What a great time we live in now with all this cool stuff. Power on brother!🌴🤙
Ecoflow and others make portable solar generators big enough to run your house but small enough to move around. They can be charged in hours by gas generator, solar panel, car alternators and inverters.
Battery saga continues 🙂 I'm convinced that Power Queen screwed up the BMS parameters for that particular battery and there is just no fixing it. I think they only sold the 90Ah version of the battery for a really short time before they moved to the 100Ah version. Oh man. I remember when gas was $0.25/gallon too! Well, that and comics were $0.15. Definitely a shock to my kid-self when comic book prices started going up seemingly every month! And gasoline too but that wasn't something I had to worry about. -Matt
That's all I need to do to balance that system without the noise until if, and when I upgrade the 48v inverter. Even if I just do that a few times a year should be fine yeah? All in all my brother...everything humming right along out here! Aloha!🤙🌴🏄🏼
Glad to see your sun has got you back to where you need to be. Running into much the same here in the Midwest with low sun angle. Longer nights and snow lurking on the horizon as always thus time of year. Stay safe brothet.
Batteries have come a long way. Soon solar collectors will catch up to the batteries. Years ago this was not possible. I just received a Jackery 1000 v2 and it is amazing.
In a location with a temperate climate...sure. In a location with cold winters, it is not Gas or Batteries...it is BOTH! The harsh reality for most folks, living in most places around the world, is there will be a couple of months every winter when it is too gray, and the sun is too low on the horizon, for solar to keep up, unless you have an absurd number of panels and batteries. The only practical solution, in those places, is to augment with a gas or diesel generator...and there's not a darn thing wrong with that.
YES I AGREE 1000PERCENT. THE EXTRA BATTERY WILL DEFINITELY OUT LAST GASOLINE
Good to see the sun back out!!! And my thoughts disappear daily!!!!
I'm old too, 66 now and I can't remember the last time I forgot. ;)
I have 10,000 watt solar array on top of two of my buildings, it consists of thirty-two Renogy 320W panels. Each of my four buildings has its own 48V Renogy all in one inverter, AC charger, DC solar charge controller, they all share the 10,000 watt array. With that much solar, I never use the AC/generator side charging from any of these units. I had four Honda eu3000IS generators as backup. I ended up giving two generators to my next door neighbor. I kept two as backup to the backup. Redundancy is a good thing. When or IF one controller goes bad, there's 3 more to keep charging until you're ready to change the bad one out. My bedroom cabin uses an Bluetti AC300 with four B300 batteries in series. It's connected to the 10KW array as well. All of my batteries get charged up by 12 noon, every day. I can run a water heater or residential electric stove with a few burners maxed-out on high from noon til the sun goes down without touching my battery storage.
Thanks! I hate it when I forget mid sentence. Aint growing old great!
I started the “battery / generator” after hurricane Floyd in the late 90’s using a small generator with a 1-hour runtime, a 300 watt modified sine wave inverter, a cheap 12V deep cycle marine battery and a 20 amp charger.
Didn’t run a lot, but only used about a gallon of gas a day.
A few years ago, I upgraded the generator to a 2200 watt inverter on clearance and a couple years ago I found a good deal on a refurbished EcoFlow River Max (720 watt hours). The EcoFlow has more usable capacity than the previous (long dead) battery, and about 4 times the charging speed. I added a 120W solar panel to allow for daytime charging.
About a year ago I added an electric start dual fuel 3200 watt inverter generator.
About 6 months ago, I started building my own system using two 24V 100AH batteries, and mainly used/open box Victron parts. I have a 1200VA inverter and can put in 800 watts of solar into this system.
A couple months ago, I got a great deal on an EcoFlow Delta 2 and a no-name 400 watt solar panel for it.
I have spare parts for my homemade system two extra 12V 50 AH batteries and a couple hundred extra panels.
Currently this is only for emergency use so I think I am good, but I’ve thought that before.
I figure I will be down to an average of a pint or two of gas a day to boost the charge on the systems if I’m not too careful with my usage.
Hello Bob, I agree with you, turning off the inverter and let the battery balance..
That's why you have other systems as backups. ❤
I agree with you wholeheartedly.
More panels too…have fun and stop playing with all the settings…if it works .
No, I like playing with it .
@ when I was in communications in the Army I hated guys like you we called them nob-dickers…had to play with everything when it was working until it wasn’t. But I do love your videos.
thank you for the encouragement. wisdom 👍👍👍
My pleasure...mahalo!🤙
Thank you for the info.
I thought of something really funny this morning and I couldn't wait to tell my son but when he got here I just can't remember what it was..
Hello sire back again,i hope You are doing well:) Another solar video we like :) Let me add someting to Your charging settings on the victron.Go back there,and there is a small toggle,for advanced settings,or "expert mode" there You can find the absorbtion time,set it to at least 3 hours,so your battery have time to balance,or You can just set your float to the same voltage as the absorbtion voltage,becouse after the sun goes away,You battery will settle below 55V anyways.Also there is a setting with tail current,put that below 5A too,or even less.it allows the charge controller to know,when the battery doesnt take any more energy,and know when it is full.Best practice with LIFEPO4 is to set it to 55.2V absorbtion and float(absorb and float was a practice with lead acids.) and leave it like that-this way it allows all cells to go above 3.450V and also trigger the BMS`s balancing.Any LIFEPO4 cell,when reaches 3.450 and doesnt take any more amps(current)from the charge controler is considered completely fully charged.Also 55.2V doesnt degrade the batteries.(Source material on various youtube channels tested out with charge discharge curves,and reputable experts from all around the world.)These settings i mentioned,only apply to LIFEPO4,for LINMC,and LIpolymer are different,becouse there is multiple lithium chemystries,people always confuse them all,even Your own manufecturers write it wroing on the user manuals....(they dont care if u charge even to 57V,if it degrades faster,You just gonna end up buying more batteries...)
I had three days of bad weather last week with little sun and my 48 volt system got down to 45%. Which is still good in comparison to some climate zones ( I live in a Mediterranean climate zone, so usually plenty of sun )
One thing I have noticed when our batteries get down in charge, we tent to watch that SOC like hawk.... total solar addiction 😂😂
Yeah I remember when petrol was under 20 cents a liter, back in the 70's. Now it is around $2.00 a liter ($7.60 per U.S. gallon) here is Western Australia
Happy thanksgiving to everyone be safe everyone 👍
Having Multiple Systems and Eco Flow EF3 Delta Pro 1300's and a River 2 Pro and Onan 5.0KVA Gennie here It's a Balancing Act on Winter Days with overcast Skies 🌴 Aloha 🤙 Brother
The Sun Shines for Everyone 🙌
It is a balancing brother! And one that I have been accustomed to over the years. To me the best part is the silence. A genny in the background irritates me! Aloha 🤙
@ProjectsinParadise808 Agreed, even My Sears Portable Inverter Gennie with 2 15amp GFCI Sockets with a Run Time o 10 Hours a Gallon o Petro - just Sits in The Tool Shed for The Next Desert Rave / Concert WE TOSS OFF here to Support Wild Life here 🌴 💦 Indian Creek Ranch 🌵 ⛩
Nice just move battery's around . Good thing you re set voltage for charge on 48V system. Now the balance circuit can work. Just something odd with that inverter . But you found some settings that works. Them LiFePO4 getting smaller and smarter and cheaper. and lasting longer .
Everything running great here. Holding down the on the Western end. I know you are dialed in on the East! What a great time we live in now with all this cool stuff. Power on brother!🌴🤙
Great video
Ecoflow and others make portable solar generators big enough to run your house but small enough to move around. They can be charged in hours by gas generator, solar panel, car alternators and inverters.
Battery saga continues 🙂 I'm convinced that Power Queen screwed up the BMS parameters for that particular battery and there is just no fixing it. I think they only sold the 90Ah version of the battery for a really short time before they moved to the 100Ah version.
Oh man. I remember when gas was $0.25/gallon too! Well, that and comics were $0.15. Definitely a shock to my kid-self when comic book prices started going up seemingly every month! And gasoline too but that wasn't something I had to worry about.
-Matt
Good move cutting off inverter. The battery is partying
Aloha
That's all I need to do to balance that system without the noise until if, and when I upgrade the 48v inverter. Even if I just do that a few times a year should be fine yeah? All in all my brother...everything humming right along out here! Aloha!🤙🌴🏄🏼
Glad to see your sun has got you back to where you need to be. Running into much the same here in the Midwest with low sun angle. Longer nights and snow lurking on the horizon as always thus time of year. Stay safe brothet.
Man, he cleaned up nice. I don't know who that creepy old guy was before.
Both ?
I hate this forgetting stuff.😢
Post-it note stock should be a good investment.😅
Have a good day man 😊.
So true brother...but it happens yeah?!? Right back at ya! Aloha!🤙
I'm building a simple solar system 100ah battery 1500 watt inverter for backup power
I just don't understand relying on those apps.
It's most convenient knowing true SOC...imo 🤙
@@ProjectsinParadise808Do they work if you do not have an internet connection?
@ProjectsinParadise808
I heard the magic words "don't understand"
Isn't this site to help that?