solar

[jwhite]

Bruce I have central AC for my house = but I guess I should crawl before I walk so I don't think I am going to plan for the house needs for now and try and learn on the trailer. then move up to the house after I get a grasp on what I am doing.
I have a 5000 BTU AC I am not useing and the 8000 BTU AC that is in my trailer, I have been running with the generator,I could swap those around ? I think the 5000 uses 400 watts?
I have a 1100 watt inverter and 2 gold cart batteries that run the small things like the stereo 12volts plus the TV laptop and sometimes a small fridge after my ice is gone.
I was hopeing I could buy some high output panels that would run the AC during the day and then run the generator at night.
Thanks for the help

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Hello jwhite

Contact to earth...are you there ????

LET ME SAY AGAIN - I have the 100% exact system you are talking about for a cargo trailer UP & Running with 840 watts solar !!!!
all the details are on this form & my blog.

http://overthetopcargotrailer.blogspot.com/


Sorry I don't have a supper nice Mickey Mouse video for you to watch....
BTW that guys system is FREEKING .....hilarious...
this guy is about 10,000% CLUELESS - with his mickey mouse components
the best part was that he thinks his CRAPPIE golf cart batteries will last 30 YEARS - LOLROTF

Thank you so much for the entertainment

[bdosborn]

Lets run the numbers on a 5000 btuh a/c.

I looked at a few and I think we can figure on a load of 5 amps at 120V. Figure on running 8 hours a day and the energy demands would be 600 watts*8 hrs =4800 watt-hrs. According to PV Watts, to harvest this much energy in a day in south Georgia you would need:

4800 watt-hrs/5.5 hours (peak sunshine hours in Georgie)= 872watts. Throw in a deration factor for conversion losses of .77 and the array size would be 1133. Let's round up to 1200 watts. This is for a fixed, non-tilting array and doesn't include any other loads. It also doesn't account for cloudy days.

You could minimize the battery bank size to only support starting of the A/C but you'd need to be careful to turn the A/C off as soon as the sun went down. Otherwise your batteries would be dead in an hour or so.

I would start looking around for panels and I would stay away from the cheaper type if you plan on using the panels long term. NAWS is a good source for PV stuff:

250 watt solar panel

5 of these would work.

Larger panels are cheaper per watt but are usually at a higher voltage than a 12V charging panels. You'll need an MPPT controller to charge the battery and I like Morningstar

Morningstar Tristar MPPT

We can look at battery voltage, bank size and inverters next if you aren't scared off by the numbers so far.

If you want to shoot for the moon, here's grid tie, battery backup inverter that does everything. That way you could sell your power back to the utility if your not running the A/C and still have complete battery backup.

Outback GTFX Series

Bruce

P.S. That reminds me, I've got 560 watts total on my trailer now, maybe I'll try running my A/C from the array sometime...

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Hey Hey Electro Master Bruce

I am now adding supper insulation 100% walls, floor & ceiling R8 - 1.5" Dow blue board & its reducing my power load in actual use by est 50%
I am about 99.99 % sure I could now cool my 7 x 16 with 3,000 Btu a/c or running my 5,000 Btu ac 65% of the time in the full sun at 95 deg....
but that is a low humidity for Calif.... Not Georgia humidity, more humidity equals more run time.
from my 840 watts laying flat I am still pulling about 670 watts at 4 pm during the summer.

Im using a Outback 80 amp charge controller.
(2) 530 Surrette L16 batteries. 400 amp hours - about 1000 max recharge cycles.
Morning star 300 watt pure sine Inverter
1500 watt Magnum Modifine sine inverter - starts a/c no problem

http://www.wholesalesolar.com/products.folder/inverter-folder/Magnum-MM1512AE.html

On my new trailer - I will kick the system up to 2,000 watts and 800 amp hour Surrette Batteries,
1270 on the roof, 420 on each side of the trailer on 2 charge controllers.

The magic is only possible due to the insulation

photo 3-2.JPG (84.17 KiB) Viewed 2394 times

[bdosborn]

Morning star 300 watt pure sine Inverter

Hey, I forgot you had a Suresine, have you tried starting your A/C from it?

Thanks,
Bruce

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

No it only starts with

1500 watt Magnum Modifine sine inverter - starts a/c no problem, a/c running uses 550 watts .

http://www.wholesalesolar.com/products. ... 512AE.html

P.S. this morning I had 44 deg cold rain and it was 59 deg inside empty trailer - with ZERO Heat inside empty trailer.... SWEET !!!
with the 3 layer R8 - when loaded up I am expecting 25-30 deg extra with no Heating

Jerry

I just gotta figure out how to get the whole thing into a Faraday cage - when electro pules comes

My design goal is to operate the trailer from 20 deg to 90 deg with a bare min of heating or cooling...
You know my motto....its gotta be OverTheTop

[jwhite]

Thanks for all the help I am book marking these sites to read. This all sounds complicated ? should get a
pre-packaged system ? and take as much of the guess works out as I can.
I planned my trailer for a year and thought I had it figured out and made 3 big mistakes on simple things,I really don't want to do that with this solar system.
I guess the good news is I am not in that big a hurry summer is months away and I have the generator already.
Like I said thanks for all the help.

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Hi jwhite

Really nice graphics on your trailer , can I ask where you got them from and how much ??
If you have link that would be great

ps there is no such thing as a pre package thing for what you want to run your AC


Jerry

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Here is a nice 2800 watt system for your house, only around $11k complete with batteries

http://www.wholesalesolar.com/solarpowersystems/medium-plus-ac-home-off-grid-solar-power-system.html

Don't forget another $3k for battery backup ......

If you use grid tie system it's cheaper, but is down when the grid is down

Jerry

[jwhite]

Jerry thanks for the link, I only have this company that's close to me in Tallahassee FL I guess I should go by, they have a store and have been there a long time.
http://www.simplersolar.com/index.html

BTW I bought my decals from a guy on Ebay a couple years ago. I bought just about everything he had.

[OverTheTopCargoTrailer]

Thanks

I spent a few hours looking at e bay decals, I found a wolf with lightning that I liked ,

Your trailer really looks great on the exterior

[jwhite]

I found this locally forsale and it's about 5 years old used very little it was sold by a local company that has installed solar systems for over 20 years so they do have a store I was going to go look at for more info.
I am not sure about any of this and I wonder if anyone would have any advice if I should buy this solar for 1000.00, only thing it does not have is the inverter.>> 500.00 for the freezer
is this worth looking at or pass ? this was sold and installed by this solar company so at least it should be matched and can be added to the system by this local company.
I was going tomarrow to take a look

this is what the AD says.>

Here's your chance to get major solar equipment that has been used to run an air conditioner, all electricity, as well as the refrigerator/freezer in a hunt camp lodge. We sold the lodge and property and therefore have no more need of equipment. Used for a year and a half and runs perfectly. Will not separate the solar package but will sell freezer separately.

2 - 58" x 26" panels
1 - 50" x 20" panel
1 - Go Power! Elec Inc. inverter switch
1 - Prostar - 30 solar charge controller by Morningstar Co. Version PS-30M
1 - Deka Battery Type 6D55-15 Ser #3248AM Full charge Spec Gravity 1.280 - 1.295
Nom Volt 12
Rated 6 Hr. Cap 385
Finish Amp rate 19 Made in USA

Refrigerator/Freezer for Solar hook up. 4' x 2' x 35". Will sell the solar separate from the Freezer.

Everything is in great condition.

Any advice would be great

[bdosborn]

You can't really tell what kind of a deal it is without the panel ratings. You need to find out what the wattage and Vmp of the panels are, it should be listed on the back of the panel. Size doesn't mean anything.

The Prostar controller is a pretty good one, costs $165 new. It should have a built in meter if it really is a PS-30M.

I would never buy a used battery as it's too easy to ruin batteries and hard to tell when they're bad without the right tester. You don't care what the 6 hour capacity is anyways, you want the 20 hour rate. 5 years is usually the maximum life for a battery.

Go Power! is a fairly cheap inverter, but again, you need more information. How big of an inverter is it? Is it a pure sine wave or a modified sine wave?

Bruce

[jwhite]

Thanks again for the help the guy selling this went to this company http://www.simplersolar.com/
I know you can tell much from the site but they are the oldest solar company in Tallahassee and he said he spent several thousand dollars on this system and I believe him he said he had the founder of the company set it up for him for what it's worth.
He did say that he didn't have the inverter didn't say why,.
This whole thing sound like a lot of work he said the battery is heavy 300 lbs he said he would not piece out the system except for the freezer but it was designed for a solar set up but would also run on AC.
I guess I will have to decide if it's worth even looking at.? I have read most panels last alot longer than 5 years but I am not sure about the rest of this system,
I would have to buy a new inverter and I guess have some one help put it together.

[bdosborn]

The panels will last 20 years, its the battery that generally doesn't go longer than 5 years. I went to the Deka website and can't find the catalog number that he listed. I would pass on the deal if you can't get the panel wattages.
Deka Batteries
Bruce