What, where and who do I need for a Solar Starter Hybrid System 2kWh+-

TheChamp

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It will be enough to do what is within it's means, that means, it would charge the battery and when the battery is full power the load up to the maximum of its capability.

Assuming 100% efficiency for simplicity, 280Wx4 is 1120W available to your load when the batteries are fully charged. While you batteries are still charging the power would be shared between you load and the battery in solar mode.
 

Steamy Tom

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It will be enough to do what is within it's means, that means, it would charge the battery and when the battery is full power the load up to the maximum of its capability.

Assuming 100% efficiency for simplicity, 280Wx4 is 1120W available to your load when the batteries are fully charged. While you batteries are still charging the power would be shared between you load and the battery in solar mode.

assuming the load is lower than the extra pv power, unless his inverter can mix power sources
 

OSiri5

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48(volts) x 120AH = 5760W
divide this by 2 to allow for 50 DoD = 2800W - this is how much power you have to use without loses.

so you need to recharge this at least in the average amount of sun hours, which is something like 5.5, thus you need to replace at least 560W per hour, for 5.5 hours, so technically 2 x 300W panels could achieve this, but again, loses, clouds, bad days etc 4 x 280W should achieve this with some overhead

Awesome. Thanks for the help. Appreciate it.
 

OSiri5

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ahaha. Ya, helps a lot. So many options.
It will be enough to do what is within it's means, that means, it would charge the battery and when the battery is full power the load up to the maximum of its capability.

Assuming 100% efficiency for simplicity, 280Wx4 is 1120W available to your load when the batteries are fully charged. While you batteries are still charging the power would be shared between you load and the battery in solar mode.

Thanks. So I need to make sure I get an inverter than can share the load to charge battery and run some things at home during the day or do most inverters do this already. What do I need to check?
 

Steamy Tom

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ahaha. Ya, helps a lot. So many options.


Thanks. So I need to make sure I get an inverter than can share the load to charge battery and run some things at home during the day or do most inverters do this already. What do I need to check?

most inverters will do this, but if the load exceeds the surplus it will switch to grid.

i.e if you have say 1000W coming in via PV (solar) and the batteries are taking say 800 in charge, and you use under 200W, then it should share, but if your load suddenly becomes 300W then it will switch the AC load side completely to the grid and you effectively lose out on the 200W usage. to combat this (if you want to), either you increase your array so there is more PV at anytime, or get an inverter that can mix power, the bigger array is probably first choice in general
 

TheChamp

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That Axpert in your link from the first page is a good choice, there are much better, more advanced and more expensive inverters out there but I can't think of anything better at your budget.
 

swakop_toe

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I want to start with some solar (2kWh or less if I can) at home but not sure who to use, where to buy, what to avoid etc.

I just want 2-4 panels, battery, inverter and installation. I will add more panels as I go along. Its just two of us in a three bedroom home and already have a solar geyser. Want to get a starter kit that I can build up on later.

Will probably spend about R30-R40k for the whole initial startup if thats even realistic.
My had the Impi from BlueNova installed last week.
https://bluenova.co.za/

So far it has met his expectations.
 

swakop_toe

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Looks nice. Looks expensive. Inverter, Battery and MPPT all in one? What does something like that go for?
R54k VAT and installation included.
C.o.C. excluded.

2x 330W panels in series
The Impi, done.
 
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Sinbad

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even with 400W panels you will not get 2kWh on 5 panels, depending on backup time also it would change your costing massively.

imo you are looking more in the region of R80k~ and then your battery bank will be very small in comparison.
I have 10 330w panels and I get at least 10kwh in the middle of winter with a tree partially shading the panels for half the day. 18kwh in March. More in summer.
 

TheChamp

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Looks nice. Looks expensive. Inverter, Battery and MPPT all in one? What does something like that go for?
Looks like a good product at first glance but when you look closely you start seeing all the shortcomings. Check the data sheet.
 

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Steamy Tom

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I have 10 330w panels and I get at least 10kwh in the middle of winter with a tree partially shading the panels for half the day. 18kwh in March. More in summer.

yeah doesn't seem impossible? my point was more that you shouldn't just expect full potential always, like you are sitting at almost half potential if not less with 10kWh.

as a side note, did you know that partial shading on panels can sometimes spike output?
 

Sinbad

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yeah doesn't seem impossible? my point was more that you shouldn't just expect full potential always, like you are sitting at almost half potential if not less with 10kWh.

as a side note, did you know that partial shading on panels can sometimes spike output?
Cloud edge effect yes. Tree effect no.
 
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