Off The Grid Solar Power Systems

How Does An Off

The off grid solar PV system work using the photovoltaic principle. If sunlight strikes a solar panel, it generates direct current .

The DC energy generated is fed to the charger controller that regulates the flow of charge and provides the power required to the battery. Batteries play a significant role in providing energy for the day and night..

If the sun shines, the solar panel produces enough energy to provide power to the load and recharge the battery. The excess power stored within the battery may be retrieved later if required.

The DC energy from a solar panel or battery is converted into alternating current energy with the help of an inverter. The AC energy converted is fed to the loads through an electrical connection.

Construct Your Solar Battery Compartment Or Housing

The next thing youll need to prepare when you have the components ordered is the battery house. It could be a space in your current home, a separate shed, or a part of the garage.

You must ensure that the room where the battery is housed is safe from anything or anyone that could damage the battery. This could also avoid discharging the acids inside.

Please remember that most batteries dont do well with frigid weather, so they require some amount of temperature control.

If you opt for cheaper unsealed batteries, youll need to ensure proper ventilation in your battery compartment to impede the accumulation of hazardous hydrogen gas. This is because such types of batteries discharge the explosive hydrogen gas in minimal amounts when charging.

Most solar system installations have the primary power electronics, including inverter/s, charge controller/s, and safety fuses, shutoffs, and breakers in the battery compartment to minimize the costs.

Schneider Conext Auto Generator Start

A black frame with black back sheet combine to make this panel more aesthetically pleasing, commonly used on rooftop installations to better blend in. Mission Solar Energy modules feature advanced PERC cell technology with 5 busbars, designed, engineered and assembled in the USA.

Need help deciding? Give us a call.

Dont get lost in the nitty gritty details. Well help you build a power center with monitoring tools to keep your system purring.

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What Is The Best Off Grid Solar System Kit

You want to determine how much power you need for your off grid home. Next, narrow down the best off-grid solar systems because there are so many options to choose from. Before making any final decisions on a particular system, it is always recommended that you complete research on different styles of off-grid solar systems.

Determine the size of the solar system required, choose a company that has a solid reputation with both installation and customer service, and ensure that your current climate will be able to harness enough energy to power the chosen system.

Best Mppt Solar Charge Controllers

See our detailed review of the best mid-level MPPT solar charge controllers used for small scale off-grid systems up to 40A – click on the summary table below. Also see our review of the most powerful, high-performance MPPT solar charge controllers used for professional large-scale off-grid systems here.

See the full detailed review of the most popular MPPT solar charge controllers –

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Picking The Right Battery

So, which solar battery is right for you? There are a few different battery types commonly used for off-grid storage systems:

Flooded Lead Acid

• No maintenance, no venting
• Highest efficiency, faster charging, more usable capacity

The two main battery chemistries for off-grid are Lead Acid and Lithium. These two chemistries have unique characteristics. Lithium batteries are more efficient, which means less power is wasted in the charge/discharge process. They also have a greater discharge depth allowing you to fully utilize all of your battery capacity.

Lead acid batteries are sensitive and need to be fully recharged every day, where Lithium batteries can stay at a partial charge without any adverse effect. Lead acid batteries also have a more limited amount of usable capacity and are typically discharged only 50%.

Because of the better efficiency and deeper discharge depth, Lithium battery banks tend to be only 50-60% of the size of a comparable lead acid bank! The Lithium batteries we use are purpose-built for off-grid solar, and utilize a special Lithium chemistry called Lithium Ferro Phosphate .

This type of Lithium battery is engineered to provide a long service life while also being safe, with a stable chemistry and sophisticated electronic protection features.

This is not intended to be a comprehensive guide on off-grid design.

What Are The Different Types Of Off Grid Solar Systems

There are typically five types of off-grid solar systems. Before you purchase and set up your off-grid solar system, it is important to know more about the product. This article will explain the different systems.

DC only system

DC only systems are smaller that are designed to power mainly lights and low energy consuming devices like your monitoring equipment. They are also perfect to use on DC-powered appliances having 12 voltages or lower.

This system either uses a solar panel or wind generator that generates DC power. This power is then used to charge the battery bank.

Here, there is no solar inverter. DC power is directly fed to your lights and/or appliances. This system typically has no back-up generator hence, you need to ensure that your system is sized to handle your loads in emergency situations.

Mixed DC and AC system

This hybrid system is similar to your DC only system but with the addition of an AC inverter. This is still designed for powering light or low energy equipment.

With the AC inverter, you are able to power appliances that have 230 volts.

Nevertheless, since it is a small system, there is also no back-up generator. Thus, it must be designed in such a way to ensure that it can handle your loads during emergencies.

AC only system

With the solar inverter, the DC power is converted into AC power that can be used to run your typical household electronics and appliances.

AC system with wind and solar

AC system with back-up generator

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Power Consumption Of Household Appliances

Select the appliances from this drop down menu. To the right will appear typical wattage values for the appliance you selected. However, for the most accurate information look on your appliance to find its wattage rating .

See our Kill-a-Watt database for real-world power consumption data on a variety of older appliances collected by our staff and customers.

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Order The Suitable Components For Your Solar System

The moment you have selected the placement of your panels, youll obtain an idea of the power potential of your location. Hence, you can select and order the right components for your solar system.

You have lots of choices to consider, such as:

• The size and type of your charge controller
• The size and number of your solar cells
• The battery type and the capacity of the battery bank
• The overall voltage of each leg and which loads should be DC or AC
• Inverter rating, if any

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How We Picked And Tested

Just like when buying off grid solar batteries, you must carefully consider your options on the available off-grid solar systems on the market to ensure that youre making a good decision.

A good off-grid solar system is one that is fully capable of handling your load and one that is made out of high-quality materials. To ensure that you get the best quality for your money, consider these steps.

Calculate the load

Before you buy the components to your off-grid solar system, you must first calculate the total load of your home. This number is important to know since it dictates the quality and the power of your other components.

To start, you need to choose what devices you want to run and calculate how many hours they will operate. After that, check their specification charts for their respective ratings.

Then, get the watt-hour for each device by multiplying the power rating by the run time. Then, get the total watt-hour by adding all the watt-hours of your appliances.

Now that you know your total load, its time to choose your components.

Battery

First, you need the battery to store the electricity. There are different types of batteries available in the market. Choosing one depends on how much storage you need, the number of appliances you wish to run, and the amount of power sources you have.

For solar systems, lead acid batteries are suggested. You can also use Ni-MH or lithium ion batteries if youre only powering a small load.

Solar Panel

Charge Controller

Inverter

Promotes A More Active Life Style

Its easy for you to ignore your power consumption when youre connected to grid. You consume electricity, pay the bills as they arrive and thats all there is to it. It cuts you off from the origin and destination of electricity.

When youre not connected to the grid, your attitude towards power will change completely. You will need to monitor your electricity generation closely and reevaluate your energy use.

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Tiny Home/cabin Or Bach Ultra

*Excludes generator and installation . Your package includes:

Free design service to correctly size your system 8 x 380W high-efficiency solar panels 1 x 5.6 kW all-in-one inverter, charger, controller unit 2 x 3.2 kWh Lithium Ferrous Phosphate battery modules All fusing, isolators, fittings, rails, DC cabling. NZ Compliant Pre assembled, tested, plug and play to save on installationDouble cabinet, warranties ongoing supportWiFi and APP monitoring

Check out our latest article on tiny house off grid solar.

Like the larger PS2 and PS3 units it includes a single 5.6 kW off grid solar inverter, charger, controller unit.

Is Off Grid Solar Power For Me

Off-Grid Solar Power is perfect for anyone who needs their very own standalone energy system. Its ideal for any property that is unable to get utility service , or for anyone who wants guaranteed electricity in the event of a grid failure or disaster.

We have a quality power solution to fit your needs that will not only conform to the latest version of the NEC, but also be installed by a team that provides exceptional service and communication from start to finish, backed by a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee.

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Choosing Solar Panels And Camping Batteries Made Easy By My Generator

WHAT SIZE SOLAR PANEL & BATTERY DO I NEED?this is the most commonly asked caravan / camping solar panel and battery question and can sometimes seem like quite a technical, challenging task. But for most applications, its actually pretty simple and straightforward here we try and make it easy for you.

First follow these four simple steps

Step 1 & 2: Total Power Consumption of Your Favourite Caravan, Camping & Off Grid appliances.

Step 3: Solar Panel selection and calculation

Step 4: Battery bank sizing & calculation

Read on for more detail how to go about completing each of the steps. Then we have also included a Power Draws of Common Caravan, Camping & Off Grid Appliances table to assist you in your calculations.

Note: solar power calculator assumes 12V solar panels are connected in parallel.

Software And Energy Management

To enable hybrid or off-grid power systems to optimise energy use and prolong battery life, a high level of power management and battery monitoring is required. The software used to run hybrid and off-grid systems thus require advanced energy management and monitoring capabilities and this is where the high-end grid-interactive inverters really shine. These powerful inverters, such as those from Victron, Selectronic, Schneider and SMA have the most advanced software packages with built-in control systems, relays and digital inputs and outputs. These systems also incorporate specialised battery monitoring and temperature sensors to prolong battery life and optimise charging when used with lead-acid or VRLA battery banks.

Selectronic SP.Link software is used to configure the SP PRO inverter-charger. This advanced software package has 8 system priority settings enabling multiple operating modes depending on the various inputs, outputs and battey SOC.

Example of logged data from a Redback technologies hybrid inverter – Image credit Redback Portal

Several advanced hybrid inverters such as those from SolarEdge and Redback Technologies also include smart control features. For additional monitoring and control add on energy monitoring systems like Reposit Power and Solar Analytics can provide more advanced remote monitoring and smart control features.

Two popular add-on remote monitoring and energy management systems

Reposit Power remote monitoring and energy management system

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What Is A Solar Charge Controller

A solar charge controller, also known as a solar regulator, is basically a solar battery charger connected between the solar panels and battery. Its job is to regulate the battery charging process and ensure the battery is charged correctly, or more importantly, not over-charged. DC-coupled solar charge controllers have been around for decades and are used in almost all small-scale off-grid solar power systems.

Modern solar charge controllers have advanced features to ensure the battery system is charged precisely and efficiently, plus features like DC load output used for lighting. Generally, most smaller 12V-24V charge controllers up to 30A have DC load terminals and are used for caravans, RVs and small buildings. On the other hand, most larger, more advanced 60A+ MPPT solar charge controllers do not have load output terminals and are specifically designed for large off-grid power systems with solar arrays and powerful off-grid inverter-chargers.

Solar charge controllers are rated according to the maximum input voltage and maximum charge current . As explained in more detail below, these two ratings determine how many solar panels can be connected to the charge controller.

• Current Amp rating = Maximum charging current.

• Voltage rating = Maximum voltage of the solar panel/s.

Types Of Solar Battery Storage

There are 2 types of solar battery storage options, hybrid, and off-grid.

The former uses a battery in the system thats supported by both solar powers as well as being grid-tied.

This means that your panels generate energy during the day and the surplus electricity is sent to the batteries for later use.

However, once the batteries are charged, the excess electricity is fed back to the grid.

Off-grid means you dont rely on the grid at all and you independently supply power to your home using your solar system.

Having an off-grid solar system means you need more solar panels as well as bigger or multiple batteries to compensate for the grid not supplying you power.

While we know the basic components of a solar system, when you add a battery to existing solar systems, more components become essential.

One of these components is the charge controller.

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Determine The Demands Of Power Consumption

The first step in designing a solar system is to find out the total power and energy consumption of all loads that need to be supplied by the solar PV system as follows:

1.1 Calculate total Watt-hours per day for each appliance used.

Add the Watt-hours needed for all appliances together to get the total Watt-hours per day which must be delivered to the appliances.

1.2 Calculate total Watt-hours per day needed from the solar modules.

Multiply the total appliances Watt-hours per day x1.3 to get the total Watt-hours per day which must be provided by the panels.

Cycles And Depth Of Discharge

The depth of discharge, DoD refers to the amount of power that you can withdraw from a battery before it needs to be charged again.

You will never be able to use up 100% of your battery’s capacity due to its composition.

Lead acid batteries have a DoD of around 50%. In other words, you shouldnt use more than 50% of the battery before recharging it.

If you do, you could risk the battery becoming inoperable and breaking.

A lithium-ion battery has a DoD of 80%, giving you more use out of your battery before needing to recharge it.

The battery cycle determines its lifespan. They have a total number of cycles that they can complete before needing to be replaced.

A single cycle is complete when a fully charged battery is discharged until it reaches its DoD and is then charged back up to 100%.

In other words, the number of cycles a battery can complete indicates how long the battery will last.

Lets have a look at solar battery storage that you can implement into your solar systems.

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Get Power From A Hybrid Solar Panel When The Power Is Out

Emily Newton is the Editor-in-Chief at Revolutionized Magazine. She enjoys writing articles in the energy industry as well as other industrial sectors.

• Member since 2020

Solar energy is a fantastic choice for both residential and commercial applications. However, problems arise with this energy source when the power grid fails. Fortunately, there are solutions that make using solar power possible, even during outages or when the sun isnt shining.

Learn more about hybrid solar power and how to use it when the power is out.

What Is Off Grid Solar System

Off grid solar systems, or stand-alone power systems, are connected to the electrical grid and produce enough energy through the usage of solar panels and battery storage without having to tap into the electric grid. Historically, off-grid systems have been out of reach most people because of the high costs of inverters and batteries, but as mentioned before those prices keep dropping.

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Are Maintenance

One of the best things about lithium batteries is that you dont have to maintain them. You can rest easy knowing that there are safety systems built into the batteries. As long as youre using them as recommended, theyre going to keep working until they reach 3,000-5,000 charge cycles and possibly more. Even at those high cycles, they will still retain 75-80% of their original capacity.

In contrast, lead-acid batteries require frequent watering and cleaning and come with strict charging instructions. Even maintenance-free sealed or AGM lead-acid batteries need occasional equalization charges and must be charged fully every cycle for maximum life.