green light

The foreman on a job Im working on came up to me today and asked me about solar. He has a cabin out in eastern Oregon, and he produces his own power with a 30 kw generator. He wants me to come up with a system that can produce about 5000 watts, and he wants it to work with the generator so that the generator automatically charges the batteries if they get too low. I understand shadowing, and asked him about if this would be an issue, and I dont think it is. He is willing to spend some money to do it right. I dont know very much about solar and could use some advice on the subject. Any suggestions?

__________________
I'm old enough to know better, but too young to care.

JohnR

Yes, go to homepower.com they have an extensive area of doing just these types of installs. Yes, I know, unlicensed..... but they were R&D-ing this stuff when most of us never heard about it.
That has to go for something. A generator for some reason I don't know the technical aspect of, has a very hard time completing the charge on a battery system. It takes a long time for the generator to complete the last 5% or so. The Solar will do that nicely. So the Generator should be kept for when the batteries are down to a low range, say 50% or so, You don't want to have the batteries go much lower than that, or for very long.

BBQ

I think with batteries he is looking at between 5 and 10 dollars per watt.

Is he ready to spend 25 to 50k for this?

green light

He wants to spend about 20k.

__________________
I'm old enough to know better, but too young to care.

backstay

I buy all my stuff from AEE Solar, great company. 5kW is really big for a cabin. I live off grid with 3kW and a 8kW backup propane generator.

You want to do a site survey first. This is done with a device that maps out the south exposure for shading issues. Look up Real Goods, they use to rent one out.

You should find a inverter that will auto start the generator(mine does).

Decide if you will go ground mount or roof. I just configed a pole mount of 7kW that took 4 poles(each has 12 panels).

Snow is a problem with systems that are unattended. Mount should be set steep in the winter to help self shovel.

__________________
When "deleted" called the Seals, they killed Bin Laden. When the Seals called "deleted", he denied them.

erics37

There's a solar class next Saturday at the Newport classroom, and a NABCEP certification class & test the following weekend. PM me if you want details or the sign-up sheet.

chicken steve

http://www.nabcep.org/

VanIsleNorth

I like the Magnum AE4024 all in one package with the E-Panel. Get the AGS module, and hook it up with the generator. If the gen doesn't have an autostart input, I like the ES52 controller. Put it in a box with the gauges and connect the shutdowns. I don't do a lot of solar, but for my money nothing beats a nice little Kubota with autostart capability.

acro

With a 30kw generator, it ain't no one room hunting shack.

kaboler

that's a weed shack!

Pistol

wholesale solar

SEARCH

Remember, he want's 5000W of output power. You need to do a load analysis and see what kind of motors he has because of the surge. You don't want the inverter going off line every time his well pump starts.
Pick an off-grid inverter with the correct output then size a battery bank to his loads. From there, you will size his solar array. Simple...(lol).

SMA and Outback Power make two of the better systems. Magnum is a less expensive choice but remember to look at the output wattage. The 4024 is a 4000W 24V model. Try to go with a 48V system if you can.

backstay

I disagree with the 48 volts. Too many batteries in series. I have 24 volts and that's the max I would ever go.

__________________
When "deleted" called the Seals, they killed Bin Laden. When the Seals called "deleted", he denied them.

SEARCH

48V is becoming more standard now. Budget will dictate your inverter and bank sizes. It depends on the inverter as that will specify the battery votage. Remember capacity, 8 batteries will give you more capacity than 4.
48V bank is not uncommon and there is no problem with installing one.

The real problem is when you want to add capacity to a 24V system. You should never wire more than two strings of batteries in parallel so at 24V you will max out at 8 batteries....

SEARCH

....

backstay

Why should you not wire more than two parallel strings? Why is two any different than three or four. I wire mine in series/parallel.

__________________
When "deleted" called the Seals, they killed Bin Laden. When the Seals called "deleted", he denied them.

TimChaput69

Is this a residence or camp of his? I'm asking cause if its a camp and not used often he may have a problem with batteries. They need service on a regular basis and if he's not there for 3-4 months at a whack thats gonna be an expensive issue.

backstay

After almost 20 years of living off grid, I have never had to add water more often than every 6 months. If you're needing to add more often, then your charge controller voltage is too high.

__________________
When "deleted" called the Seals, they killed Bin Laden. When the Seals called "deleted", he denied them.

TimChaput69

I guess what I was getting at is that if your not there to monitor the system you could have problems, ie charge controller issues in turn causing battery issues. At least I've seen problems like that before, especially with people new to an offgrid system.

Going_Commando

You've lived off the grid for 20 years? Kudos to you man! I'd love to do that!

__________________
"Im a "fanny pirate" :lmao:" - chewy