# The Scoop on Solar Equipment



## Goin Home (Aug 15, 2021)

OK, so I'd like to start researching how to and costs for setting up a portable solar system (I rent a house and cannot put panels up on the roof)

I'm thinking on putting some panels along a fence line which is out in direct sunlight

Not sure how much juice would be needed to run my whole house (about 1800 sq feet nothing out of the ordinary) with it's central AC unit (I have a fireplace / firewood so I'm good for winter)

So, can anybody point me to where I can find some turn key kits of different sizes maybe with batteries, and without (is it cheaper to buy my own batteries?)

I do have a water well on property run by an electric pump so that's going to be one of the main things I want to run off of solar along with my refrigerator and freezer 

Central AC unit may be too much to try to run (depending on what can be generated by my solar efforts), but maybe a window unit in one of the bedrooms

Any advice / suggestions on vendors that sell solar equipment would be appreciated as I'm a newbie on the solar scene. Thanks!


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## Goin Home (Aug 15, 2021)

Just for charging cell phones, a laptop and possible running the pump for the water well...

What about something like this unit?



Amazon.com



Is this a good brand? Or should I be looking at some other brand?


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

GoalZero, Blutetti and Jackery are good brands. Three YouTubers that review those sorts of things are Bob Wells, Will Prowse and HoboTech.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

Take a look at all your electric appliances, fans, electric mixer, etc. Decide which are most important, like the refridgerator, etc. Read the spec sheets and find the wattage. Figure out how many hours a day each actually runs. Take the wattage for each and multiply by the number of hours. As an example, my fridge runs about 3.7 hours a day, under normal conditions. So, my fridge consumes about 1200 watts times 3.7 hours= 4400 watts per day. Do this with all your stuff. Now the big caveat, any appliance like a fridge, A/C, air compressor, water pump uses about 3 to 3.5 times the rated wattage for a few seconds at start up. I can not take a 1200 watt generator and get it to start my fridge. The generator just can't do it even though my generator says it can handle a 1800 watt surge. I would need a generator with a 4200 watt surge to start the fridge. My 3600 watt generator has a 5000 watt surge capability, so it will start the fridge and run it. Since my 3600 watt gen. has 2400 watts left over, I could turn on other stuff totaling 2400 watts after the fridge is running. Once the fridge is cold and stops running, I have the whole 3600 watts available for other stuff. So lets say I have the same 2400 watt load still connected to the gen., and 2 hours later the fridge tries to start. With 2400 watts being used, the gen can't supply the surge of 5000 any longer, only 2600 watts is available. So, the fridge turns on and kills the gen. because it can't handle 4200 watt start up for the fridge plus the 2400 watts for my other stuff already operating. The same goes for your water pump.
I would need to unplug the fridge for the time I think it could stay cold, to prevent it from killing the gen. When I feel it's time to run the fridge, I shut down the other stuff and reconnect the fridge. All of this stuff would have to be figured out before you need to run the gen.
Ok, you're talking about solar. Let's say I'm using batteries to store the power produced by the solar panels. If I use 12 volt batteries and an inverter, the inverter would need to have a surge capacity of at least 4200 watts. And the batteries would need to have suficient amperage stored to supply the 12 volts during that surge without dropping the battery voltage so low as the shut the inverter down due to low voltage. You might need a lot of batteries to do the job. 
Trying to run straight off panels into an inverter would have problems any time the sun is blocked by a cloud because solar output drops off significantly. So, batteries are a necessity in this scenario. 
In a real SHTF scenario, I would not use a gen. due to noise. In hurricane areas, gens. go missing all the time because the get stolen. I went with a 12 volt refrigerator. It's small but can even ran as a freezer if necessary.
If you need more info, I would need real time data from you appliances. PM me if necessary. I've wrestled with this problem for some time. The 12 volt refrigerator or a propane operated fridge were the only viable solutions with in my budget. Wish you luck.


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## Linedog (Jun 29, 2015)

Solar is a trickle charger for your batteries, solar runs nothing. You need to do a ton of research on batteries and how many amps you will need to run things. And then size your solar panels to charge that.


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## paraquack (Mar 1, 2013)

You could always put 8.5 kilowatts of solar. Just expensive. By me the wanted $18,000.


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## 7515 (Aug 31, 2014)

The above posts are what make this site worth coming back to everyday. 
thanks to you all. 
BoF


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

Being able to run your central AC is going to be a big ask with this.
Running that compressor for an unknown length of time (depending on efficiency, outside temp vs. inside temp), and the large blower inside, you're going to be sucking down a lot of watts. Startup wattage will be huge, and will have to happen every time the unit kicks on. Running wattage will still be high, but significantly lower than starting.

A quick search turned up this page: What Size Generator To Run 5 Ton AC Unit? (5,000+ Watt)
It's good for reference, even if it only deals with running a generator. Power is power, and you'll need a battery bank capable of supplying the same power as a genny.
You likely won't get this from any system considered "portable" that doesn't involve a trailer to haul it in.
For this example from the link, you'd need 5-8 deep cycle batteries in the 100-155Ah range that will sustain a surge long enough to start the AC, and that last long enough to keep it running. Then the DC to AC inverter that can withstand the load and output 240v. Then the battery bank charge controller(s) and cabling, which will vary depending on how you build the bank (series, parallel, hybrid), and the panels of sufficient wattage to charge up the bank in 1-3 days of expected sun exposure (full/partial).
All of this needs to be able to run at least 2-3 days without sun, for those inevitable times when it's overcast or raining for prolonged periods. (likely times that require less AC, but still some)

You'll need to do your own number crunch to nail down what you'll need for your specific situation.

And that's just to sustain a central AC unit...
If you want to run anything else, you need to total up the necessary wattage of all other devices and add it to the calculations.

In short, solar is a bad way to run a central AC unit that needs to be "portable". Not impossible, but very expensive. @paraquack's total is likely accurate for a system this big.
A window AC unit would be MUCH easier on the numbers. Or a fan and your own sweat.


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

The trick to running ANY AC is to set the thermostat as low as reasonable. Not "Well, 78° is cool enough". It takes a lot of power to start that compressor motor up. Once running, the power draw is a fraction of the start current. So fire it up and cool the house down to 60-65. Then shut the whole thing down until it gets unbearable again. Don't let the thermostat cycle the AC on and off dozens of times a day. Once or twice and you'll use far far less power.


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

Here are some big boy batteries!




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Shop All - Batteries - EG4-LiFePower4 - Signature Solar







shop.signaturesolar.us





They showed up in the following video that popped up in my YT feed after I did a few search engine queries:





Big setup for a full house install...


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## Goin Home (Aug 15, 2021)

Great info and food for thought guys, thanks!

I was considering a propane powered generator until I realized that it would be useless when the time comes that no gas company can come fill up the tank I have out in the yard.

And, to be honest I wouldn't plan on having central AC at all. But, I would like to run one window unit if possible

But, most important is I'd like to keep my fridge and my freezer so I can do some deer hunting / small game hunting and keep the meat in storage

I'm off to check out the video on the big boy batteries 😎


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## Back Pack Hack (Sep 15, 2016)

If you have the space, you can buy free-standing propane tanks. Propane stores for a very very long time... infinite compared to plain ol' gasoline. 

I always recommend a dual-fuel genny for my customers looking for back-up power. Use gasoline for short-term outages, propane for the long haul.


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## Goin Home (Aug 15, 2021)

But, someday when they prevent people from buying and selling... once I run out of propane, I'm skrewed

I'm thinking at some point we may have to live off the land like the old timers did during the early says

They got along just fine and we can too


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## Weldman (Nov 7, 2020)

My advice short and to the point, buy a dual fuel or propane generator, not worth the panels and system unless you own the home. I live off grid and speak from experience as I won't get in the numbers. Anyways propane generators last longer even though don't put out as efficient as gas of watts per btu, diesel gensets can be had but fuel can grow algae and stagnate after awhile. 
If you still want to go down this rabbit hole I say go with 48V system for running a house of that size and you might as well start digging into LifePo4 batteries with a BMS which in your calculations you need calculate battery size for 3 to 4 cloudy days and your location in the US.


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## Goin Home (Aug 15, 2021)

I'd love to get a nice generator that runs on propane.

But, the day will come when you can't get propane either due to the environmentalist, or due to government confiscation of everyone's bank accounts or if that one world leader pops up and demands we take his mark to buy and sell... which I'm not going to be doing


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## Weldman (Nov 7, 2020)

Goin Home said:


> I'd love to get a nice generator that runs on propane.
> 
> But, the day will come when you can't get propane either due to the environmentalist, or due to government confiscation of everyone's bank accounts or if that one world leader pops up and demands we take his mark to buy and sell... which I'm not going to be doing


And when that day comes I doubt you will be worried about electricity in general much alone what's in the fridge if it can stay cool and not spoil. Batteries have a life expectancy at best ones 3000 to 5000 cycles on 20% DoD question should be what are you going to do then cause there sure won't be any of those left from supply and demand...


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## Goin Home (Aug 15, 2021)

Then I may need to blow off all those plans and focus on living like a settler in the old west!


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