My Home Solar Setup in Florida- Update #2

This is an update of my do-it-yourself home solar system. I have added a generator for consecutive cloudy days. Also have wired the 3kw inverter into some new outlets that I placed inside my home; one in the utility room and the other inside the playroom. I got the two 130watt panels from sunelec.com a company out of Miami, FL. Great price at $1.98 per watt- best price I've found online. The charge controller is a Rogue MPPT 3024, which I also highly recommend. Please email me with any questions you may have. The panels are 12v, and I will be wiring them into a 24v configuration to minimize the amps I'm loosing in the wiring coming from the panels to the charge controller by about 75%.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• solar
• diy solar
• home solar
• survival
• diy generator
• home generator
• emergency backup
• backup power
• free power
• sun power
• green living

[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!

[mrbuki77]

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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 .

[dpdevil1]

But for the price and for what is doing it Works

[dracos78]

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