My Home Solar Setup in Florida- Update #2

[flavomarginatus]

Thanks for doing this. I just bought a Rogue MPT 3024 and will be hooking it up next week. The controller provides a lot of information on the display that most cheaper Ebay MPPT controllers (many are fake I hear). Knowing how much the panels are producing and other important system diagnostics is just as important as the other hardware items because it enables one to tweak the system accordingly in order to optimize power.

[LDSPrepper]

I looked all through your fav vids and could not find the vid on how you setup your wiring box. Could you please put the link here? Thanks.

[bowtau9]

Hello great vid . On your generator, Have you consider hho to run the generator ? there are some vids on making a hho set up . Thanks for sharin .

[dracos78]

nice ! I would like to have a tower like that for my wind gen.

[js111410]

i think you sort of over did it i got 245 watt system and a charge controllar to my 6 batteries into a grid tie inverter and i got a pure sine wave 400 watt inverter for when the power goes out and the grid tie turnes off but that 3,000 watt on a 200-300 watt system is overkill it is awalys better to use less power then the system puts out

[mrbuki77]

I am growing my system as I find good deals. Why get 3 or 4 increasingly larger inverters? My next upgrade will be to the panels. I have enough power to supply my emergency needs during all daylight hours, and about 4 to 6 hours after dark. My goal is to create enough power to fully charge my batt bank by 2pm every day, and have enough power reserve to use all night. So, I do agree that using less than what you produce is better. So I try not to over-drain my batts at night. Thanx!

[kingtut210]

@mrbuki77 I have a bank of batteries that consists of (now) 28 marine batteries, 8 golf cart batteries and 2 forklift batteries. All 12 volt to 5000-10000 watt inverter and I run off of 30 amp total solar panels. I power 2 full sized fridges a 55" plasma tv, a 10 foot chest freezer a250 watt flood light that runs 24/7 and a window air conditioner that runs about 4 hours a day 8000 btu. I have it on cloudy days hooked to a 45 amp commercial grade charger and it stays up.130watts from electric co.

[mrbuki77]

Also, I run 12v lights on the exterior of my home when its dark, straight of the batteries.

[dpdevil1]

But for the price and for what is doing it Works

[MrWeedluv]

id luv to see your setup in 2 years from now keep up the good work im gona work on some thing my self soon .. but coz im in a cold country i think i might go wind and solar to mabee power a hydrogen genrator ,, Free Energy Rocks

[shartne]

I bought a simalar xantrax 3000 watt inverter and I am getting ready to put to gether a system. Can you run your refridgerator with it thats what I would like to do. Also when I run my wires from my panels should I use about 10 guage wire?

[mrbuki77]

Yes, you can run a frige with this, and then some. As for the wires, I am about to rewire mine, b/c I used solid copper wires. There is more loss of voltage with these. I recommend multi strand 10 ga. The best priced would be 12v landscape wiring. A 100ft section is about $30 to $40. If you have more questions, I'll answer them as best as possible. Thanx for the comments and questions.

[OBXSOLWIND]

great video Istarted the same way. Iv seen your comments all over youtube thats great to take an intrest in this. check out my vids from windy north caolia CHEERS

[michael970]

great video I missed this one some how. I think this is the first time I have seen it. I will have to check out all you vids I am sure I will learn something thanks TAKE CARE

[mrbuki77]

If you subscribe to my page, you will get any videos I upload on your home page. By the way, I just got that same 250w grid tide inverter you have yesterday in the mail. I will connect it this weekend.

[crossbowox]

I like your MPPT charge controller, more efficiency. Where did you get it?

[hooptejoe]

I wouldnt keep those different types of batteries hooked up together. Your best battery will go down/equal your worst battery.

[mrbuki77]

You are absolutely correct. I am removing the standard 12v car battery. The rest are deep cycle batteries. I have done some cleaning up. And done some other things to bring my system up to code. I am going to do another update in a couple of weeks. Thanks for the advice.

[7501234]

So this will record the wh u are producing or does it show just a few days kw hours

[mrbuki77]

The Rogue MPPT 3024 will display real time information. Volts In, Volts Out, Ah made, AMPS from panels, AMPS after MPPT modulation, battery temp., watts being produced, and Wh made....as well as keep the last 30 days of daily production. It also has an Equalize feature to charge the batteries to 14.4v to ensure that the voltage is the same through out the batt. bank. This is done about every 60 days. This unit is well worth the investment. And the manufacturing plant is in the USA.

[7501234]

Thanks, I goggled it and found it on ebay, I will see were the bets price and warranty is at and get me one....I like it and well I rather have something to tell me how many kwh I produce monthly

[utilitykiller1972]

I am a motor head guy moon gearing means tall gearing ,You can use pullys and a belt ,or chain and sprockets from a motorcycle ,put the larger sprocket on the turbin hub and the smaller one on the gen,To make your turbine spin even faster in light winds ,Also the generator should be a high wind one,if your going that route,Glad to hear you cleaned up your wires ,wind mill are great ,mine will spin all night long during warm or cold fronts moving in.,

[utilitykiller1972]

Also you have a nice tower ,Put up a small turbine on the top of it ,check with your local city hall for ordinances,They might let you put up a small turbine,If you do that make a gear box for it and gear it to the moon!!

Keep me updated .

[mrbuki77]

I am looking to gather data on local wind speed. I will also be getting a personal weather station to place on top of the tower, to see what my average winds are. In my neighborhood, our pine trees average about 60 ft. And my tower is about 34 ft. Thank you for the advice. Also, is gearing it to the moon a phrase, or is that a way to minimize noise? I do not know much about windmills yet. But want to learn more.

[utilitykiller1972]

mrbuki77 nice set up ,I like your charge controller,I am sure that was a few bucks,Looks like you can grow with your set up ! I would try to clean up your wires ,so you dont spark a fire or hurt your self when your adding more to your set up,other than that ,its looking great!!

[mrbuki77]

I have actually placed all my wiring in water-tight conduit, since this video. And added a 60amp trip fuse between my charge controller and solar panels. And another one between my charge controller and battery bank. I will post an updated video soon. Thank you for the advice.

[Lanny615]

Switching to 24 volts is a good idea, but i am trying to keep my system at 12 volts as i will be adding some 12V appliances to eliminate the inverter which robs power. What do you think? Greetings from sunny Jamaica.

[mrbuki77]

Although there is some power loss using 12v wiring. You do loose more power inverting power. If you can get 12v appliances, then the further your power will go. 12v bulbs for light are expensive, but work very well. Later from sunny FL

[joe18370]

hi,is it normal to go from 13.0 to 12.2 when a cloud goes buy,while charging batts,if not why would this happen thanks.

[mrbuki77]

Yes, it's normal. Your 13.0 reading is what the charge controller is running through the cells inside the batteries to charge then. So that is what you see. But if the AMPS are lowered by clouds, rain or shadows. Then, the closer to the actual voltage is seen. The voltage from the panels is still the same, clouds or no clouds. But what changed is how many AMPS they are able to produce. If you would like a better explanation, I can elaborate some more. Thanx for the question!

[1kzrider]

Is this setup all off the 45 panel kit still or did you add more panels?

I have 3 kits and black friday HF is going to sell kit for 159.

As for everything so far it is looking real good. Wish I had the controller you have.

[mrbuki77]

I have added more panels, not from HF. I actually do not have any part of the original HF system. As I have upgraded every item, and added more items for safety. The HF system is a good way to get started and to start learning DIY home solar. I have given it to fy father-in-law, so he can start learning. He is attaching it to his RV

[joe18370]

nice tower,hook up a wind generator on top,cool alternator motor neat,still have the harbor freight panels.great job

[hooterman2828]

excellent video, nice idea having 24v stepped down to 12 which should give alot more amps. i'm about to be cruising. i've almot done with my 4th 64watt panel and my 5th one is going to be made of 6X6 cells at 8.3 amps. mmmm i should be set for a while so maybe i can concentrate on making it look better lol.

[mrbuki77]

I have my wiring coming through the center of the box and then runs outward to the bus bar. If the glue fails, this would push the bus bar away from each other....As for the 24v change; this is done to minimize voltage loss in the wiring. I have 80 ft of wiring, and I'm loosing about 0.5v and 13 watts. With the higher 24v push, I will only loose 0.14v and 1.8watts. Bonus my amps coming down are cut by 1/2, which means that my 30amp charge controller will handle 880w@24v vs 440w@12v from panels

[field16]

Those are excellent reasons to change to 24V. Thanks.

[field16]

Nice work-in-progress! I like the panels connected to your tower.

I also made one of those combiner boxes. Unfortunately, my super glue broke loose, releasing one of the bars, shorting to the other bar. I'm going to look for a different solution... maybe bolt the ground bar to the plastic box. Good luck with your box's reliability.

Why are you changing to 24V?