Added: 4 months ago
From: texasprepper2
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  • hi i live in new york can u put me in contact with the guy you bought those batteries from BC i am designing and looking to build a completely off the grid system so if u can put me in touch with the guy that would be great...nice setup by the way good work .. but never stack batteries it over heats the battery and destroy the cells inside

  • those batteries are a steal

  • It would cost $43,000 to install a system for my home based on my usage. A system configured like this would allow me to be off grid entirely.

  • Nice battery bank, but I believe those type of batteries are not intended to be cycled, that is discharged and recharged, like a Trojan L-16. I would look into it....

  • Try not to stack the batteries close together. Leave some spaces between them. Charging batteries cause them to heat-up. making spaces is good for ventilation for cooling them.

  • I've Installed thousands of those batteries in Sprint and AT&T sites. If it sat in a warehouse for a year It would be a real good Idea for a refresh charge. Look on the Deka website for a refresh charge voltage and time. The higher charge should burn off the crystals that formed in the plates from sitting off charge for so long. Also, If you got them from a Sprint warehouse check the MFG date. Ive seen batteries in there warehouse that sat for over 2 years.

  • @cage695

    Hmmmm... not sure what you mean by "refresh charge". these have been on the solar controler since I bought them. Are you saying I need to hit them with a big Batt charger to "refresh" them...?

    BTW... since you have installed so many of these, you are a good resource to have !

    Thanks in advance, for any additional info you may be able to give me.

  • @texasprepper2 A "refresh" or "equalize" charge would be charging them at a higher voltage for 24 to 48 hours I think around 14.6 volts per jar. East Penn battery makes the Deka series. I'll do some recearch I'm not sure that equalize voltage is correct. Here is a link to some general info. I'll get back to ya.

  • Have you thought about using a grid-tie inverter? You can use a charge controller with a dump load, so when your batteries are charged the power would switch to a grid-tie inverter. That would reduce your electricity bill and keep your batteries charged. If the grid goes down, you have the charged batteries for off-grid power. You should get a grid-tie inverter than can handle your maximum wind and solar power output.

  • Those are great batteries. With a larger inverter you could run your house for a couple of days, depending on what electricity you use. Central air and electric dryers use a lot of electricity. Your well pump would probably use a lot of electricity. Obviously if the grid went down in a storm or something you would try to conserve electricity. Some inverters will shut off when the batteries get down to 11 volts to prevent draining the batteries, so get some 12-volt LED lights.

  • Try not to set batteries on concrete From what im told it drains batteries

  • @urzaspath1234

    Look close... you'll see that I have them sitting on wolmanized 2X6's, not directly on the concrete. I read that concrete draining the batts is a myth... but I'm not willing to take that chance, so I put wood under them.

    thanks for the comment...

  • @texasprepper2 that's what i was saw was a myth i don't understand it but i agree why chance it i like your setup btw

  • @urzaspath1234

    Today that's not necessary. Years ago, batteries were contained in wooden/glass containers. Setting the wood on concrete would allow for water and moisture to expand the frame fracturing the glass in the process and ruining the battery.

    Don't believe me -- look it up.

  • @pmgodfrey I'm not challenging you at all sir i just heard it discharges the battery somehow

  • Very nice set up man. Your battery bank made me drool. LOL I was also without power when Ike came over and also did solar and wind back up. Mine is a lot smaller but maybe great minds think alike. - Brett

  • First class video & audio production, first class backup power station. Concerned about an EMP from the sun? Good worry. I wouldn't change a thing but would add 2. An 8 gauge 220v outlet next to your inverter would be better for back feeding your box. #2 A 12v DC generator or a ambulance style alternator installed in your pickup for efficient charging. You'll be running your well pump in no time. Shoot, I can easily see a couple window shakers hanging from your system in the near future too.

  • I love how the off grid community has made you feel you must apologize for being a 12v guy. You think you're doing good by everyone & the planet then whammie, our niche community makes you lower your head & eyes to the 24 & 48v knobs.

  • EMP only burns out your computers your solar cells will still be ok they dont have any computer boreds in them

  • do you use this to power your house normally or just for emergencies?

  • @joshbulldog1661

    Only if the power goes down. Thanks for watching...

  • You can search on ebay for a 3000 watt step up transformer. It will take 110V input and put out 220 volts at up to 3000 watts. Should be enough to handle the well pump. You might have to get a 3000 watt (6000 watt surge) inverter to handle it. I've seen the transformer for $100 delivered and 3000 watt inverter for $250 delivered.

  • @rclewis01

    I'll check that out, thanks.

  • you think i have this setup i whouldd me fine b/c i grow my own marjuana b/c i cant sleep and i have A.D.D do you think if i do this setup you think i whouldd me fine?

  • how heavy are those batteries and how much was there I guess I could look them up they sure look nice and i love the battery set up

  • Great work man,, keep it up :)

  • Good work. thanks for sharing . Sound like your ducks are in a row. I like your thinking on putting the other solar panels away , just in case and inverter. Great thinking .

  • nice video, I know you mentioned concern about your well pump.. I've been using one for a couple years now which is 12volt dc powered/ uses around 50 watts, It only pumps a couple gallons a minute but if you have an uphill storage tank to pump the water to for the water pressure back to the house then the pump is great. I got mine at nemosolar com/dcsubmersiblepumps..... hope this helps :)

  • enjoyed you!

  • You need to get you a grid tie inverters and set it up so they will dump to the grid when its not charging your batteriesyou could probably produce around 60kwh a month. you can a 600watt powerjack inverter for about $130 or so

  • Thank u for the info , I enjoy it! :> BLESSINGS.

  • a mix and match, all the acid type, like 4 from wallmart, 3 more from the automotive store, all deep cycle, but some are 4 years old. ps. u have a very nice system and good and tight wiring too.. ike never mind the fire ins. lol

  • uhh i wish i had just 4 of those at a reasonable price. any suggeston for in need in northern pa?

  • Wow.... How many amp hours are those batteries?

  • contact OBXSOLWIND ,, he is very good at solar & wind set up very knowledgeable and will give great advice...

  • Hurray for you ... aww Remember that friend of mine in Colhoun Ga The trailer that she is living at this winter She fell thro the floor and broke the pipes going to the bathroom. Please prey for a over weight Ga. hill-billy..... back in the 1970s She was oh so thin and a good friend Now I wish I could help but I am out of any money until the third again

  • thanks for sharing; realllllllly nice.

  • Engineer775 would be a great person to ask about well pumps he has been installing solar well pumps. Blessings!

  • Not sure if it is covered in the comments, (first, nice job, thank you for showing). When Hurricane Irene came through, I had to fall back on generator power. I rewired my generator to do 220 volt and attached directly to well pump set up. 4000 watt max, 3500 watt running generator by Champion would almost stall when "starting" the well pump, otherwise, once started would run just fine. I purposely put a larger water tank for power situations. Nice job, again. Just to give you ideas on needs.

  • @MrRchitty

    When Ike came through a few years ago, we were without power for about 5 days. I did not have the solard up, but did have a gen.

    The 4000w Lincoln welder/generator ran 2 freezers, lights, fans, fridge, big screenTV, and other incidentials, just fine. When the well pmp would kick on I could hear it grunt a little... but not much.

    I was impressed with the gen. That is why I would like to get an inverter that is about 4000w... because I think it would do the essentials in my home.

  • @MrRchitty Hello! I do have a 24 Volt 400 Amp-hours battery bank! Now the thing is.. I charge them with 24 volt 30 Amp-Charge-Controller meaning it takes 13,3 hours to charge them... Now some guys said i ll never get thoss batteries fully charged. Do you agree or disagree that 14 hours of charging would be fine or should i go back to 200 Amp-hours. Is it trua that i should charge the 24 volt system up to 28,8 volts? Wouldn´t that be overcharging? Please reply! Thanks! Greetings Tom

  • @FUNNYTOM10 I am an automotive guy, for the most part with an interest in learning other things mechanical. Car batteries, depending on temperature, need to be charged between 13.5 (warm temps) to 14.5 (cold temps). For 24 volt setups, 28 volts is double the voltage of the 12 volt system and seems logical. I am not knowlegeable in the time to charge batteries. I would do some research on line, I am sure, you can get something that is reasonable. Nice job here.

    Randall

  • Nice battery bank setup, I would recommend grounding the equipment at a minimum. A good idea is to also have DC disconnects, etc. Just to add a bit more safety to your system.

  • If you keep them charged up most of the time, they should last you more then 10 years. I've got 2 of the same size from a different manufacture that are ~6 years old (I got them a few months ago) and they are doing great! I have a 600 watt inverter that powers everything in my room. Like you said, you don't need much power in an emergency. A cfl is 23 watts after all!

  • Correction on my math.

    170ah x 10 batteries= 1,700ah x 12v = 20,400w hrs. -50% depletion

    10,200 watt hours of use. So you could run 400 watts for 25 hrs.straight, on paper anyway. LOL

    Great vid.

  • Comment removed

  • @leamyelectricinc1

    Thanks for the info...!

  • @leamyelectricinc1

    BTW... it is a good idea to keep the panels charging the batteries, even when I am not using the power? I don't think I am overcharging them, but I don't have a dump load to divert any excess power. Thanks again.

  • @texasprepper2 Thanks for the replie. Have you thought of dumping any excess power to the grid to slow your meter down a bit or heating water?

  • That is a really nice battery bank, those are big honkin batteries. I had roughly the same bank for awhile in a 12 volt setup.It will definetly run your frig, freezer, lights etc. Mine were also about a year old from a cell company.

  • @Theidiotsearcher

    What kind of batts do you have now?

  • Really cool setup wish we all were as prepared as you

  • @MarshmallowVogt

    One step at a time, sweetie... you can do it...!

    :)

  • When it's sunny it should be windy due to hot air rising?

  • @MarshmallowVogt

    Not necessarily... most dog days of summer are still and hot.

    There may be an updraft due to heat, but it does not seem to effect the turbine.

    Like I said in the vid... I think solar is a much better solution for evergency power... not wind... unless you are in a very windy place.

    thanks for the comments...

  • Really cool setup

  • Thanks for sharing.

    Your 'small' setup is freaking insane compared to mine, 1700Ah vs around 300Ah in mine heh

    I'll use your suggestion for batteries here in the Uk and see if I can source batteries from the phone companies.

    Feel free to check out my videos :)

  • I feel ya man. Stuck on 12V too. Works the same just needs a lil thicker wire . Not that much more. Looks great!!-Nate

  • You have 1700A x 12V about 20kWh energy stored when fully charged but to be safe you can only discharge the batteries to 50% that is 10kWh so if you use 1000W close to max of what your inverter can provide you can used it for about 10 hour

  • @electrodacus

    Well... that's a nice bit of information... thanks...!

    I assume that if I am not using all 1100 watts (which I know ain't much) it might last longer... yes...?

  • @texasprepper2 Yes if you use 500W it can last 20 hours this dose not include the efficiency of your inverter but if is 80% then at 500W on the AC side the inverter will use 600W on the DC side so it will last for 16 hours.

    You can actually discharge the batteries completely and last for close to 30 hours but this will damage the batteries so you should monitor the batteries and do not discharge them for more than 50 to 60%

  • Also as for your question of the solar combinor box, you would need to keep the panels at the same voltage, and wit respect to there properties amp ratings... I would recomend a seperate charge controller for the other pannels because they most deffinitly have different specs and voltages. Just to keep your system stable and reliable. Good luck and if you have questions feel free to ask...!

  • from what i see your system is good... Especially that battery bank!!! Wanna trade lol... Only concern i have and so would the electric company is that when you plug in your inverter to the 110volt 15amp ac socket in barn to feed your home when power is off, your backfeeding not only your house, but also the mains that are supplying your home, thus creating a live lines where a linemen could be working to restore power back to the grid. Look into a dedicated trasnfer line back to ur home.

  • @struebel232

    No worries... If / when I use it I ALWAYS pull the meter so no one gets fried. Thanks for the comment !

  • I think you have done a great job..The only things I would do is build some thing over your batterys. If you ran into that bank with a metalic object it would be exiting. Looks Good Brother.

  • @OBXSOLWIND

    Thanks for the advice, from what I have seen in your vids, you da man...

    Yea, I thought about some kind of protection covering the terminals. The batts came with them, but when I put on the cables, they did not fit.

    What about DC disconnects. I don't know anything about them, but all the systems I see online seem to have one (or 2).

    And what about a "combiner box" to connect the new panels to the controller? Someone wrote me and said they should have a separate box.

    Thanks again.

  • Very Cool... keep it up..

  • EMP is vastly overrated. Lets say its a laptop. If it's unplugged & off, nothing will happen. Unplugged & on, you may have to restart .001%. If it's plugged in & off, 99.9% of the time, nothing will happen. Plugged in & on it will act like a lightening strike or transformer blowing. I've had hands on exp with military hardening & it's all joke. Main point of hardening is to keep whatever system running through the event without restart or performance degradation. Long power lines are the worry.

  • I think you should check out OBXsolwind { Kevin} Videos

    He is a really wonderful person to communicate with and you will learn a lot from him.

    He is one of the best to talk to.

  • @BigAlxr7007

    I am a big fan of his, and HAVE been wanting to get his opinion.

    I just figured he was still dealing with the effects of the hurricane, and did not want to bother him.

    Thanks for reminding me...!

  • If you are worried about EMP, you should have a nice big diode and a heatsink for it ready. Then you can connect your panels directly to the battery in an emergency and not have to worry about back flow at night. You will probably be using your inverter at that point so overcharge would not be a problem, just have a OLD type meter handy and keep an eye on it. Feel free to drop by and post any energy "prep" knowledge you have at the forum at techluck.com to help others who are just starting out.

  • Great video. Thanks for sharing. From what I have heard and read the solar panels are EMP proof since there are no electronics on them. I am building my new array for an emergency only situation too. Sounds like we are very like minded on prepping.

  • The problem is you loose a ton of efficiency...ie your 100w panel will preform like 30w panel and possibly cause a fire hazard. Match em and put em on thier own charge controler. Second point. The well pump will surge at start up to 5 to 7 times greater than the listed watts on the pump. In other words even though your pump may say 1000w to run it...you will need an inverter that can surge (for several seconds) to at least 7000w. Your inverters are not capable of that surge unfortunately.

  • very jealous of your bank. Couple things. Dont waste money on a 12v split phase inverter. It will NOT have enough power to start up a 1/2hp submersed well pump. Do NOT hook up diffferent voltage panels in the same string to the same bank. Each string should be like voltage and have its own charge controller. The array you currently have will take you about 10 days to charge your battery from 50%. Again, your work looks clean...but keep researching before you buy.

  • @bpd894 Ok... you sound like you know a lot more than I do, so I've got a few questions. Can I put up the (2) 130 watt panels and combine the old panels with the new ones in a "Combiner Box" and use only one controler? Wouldn't that take care of the difference in watts? And... though I had never heard of a "split phase" inverter till you mentioned one, why wouldn't it work on the well pump (3/4 horse) if it is rated with high enough watts? I think normal load on the pump is about 7 amps. Thanks

  • if it was me I would hire a pro to install a "trasfer switch" because for one safty.. two its not that expensive and you can make it work with generator solar all of it..

    people worry about emp way to much..

  • Good video! DIY is truly the way to go. Your video was informative, full of great info and definetly NOT boring, thanks for sharing.

  • Man i would love to get some of those batteries

  • sweet system...and I have to thank you for being so patient with my critical comments on the christianity thing.....very human/christian of you..it gives me hpe in christian american people...very nice vid..but please show us what you can do with your system...TY TP2

  • Check this guy out EcoNewPower, he has a nice setup

  • Like that setup. I don't find much on craigslist here in Fort worth.

  • Its better to have something rather than nothing, cause a one eye man is king in the land of the blind

  • @ElCoyotefromTexas LOL. I love that. I have never heard that.

  • Nice battery bank! Now, that's a bank I'd trust putting my money into. :)

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