Location: Cant tell you
Size: 14.4KW Solar 19KW Gen-set
Battery Bank: 8,000 AH
Material: MidNite, Outback, Hoffman, SolarOne and Gillette
I am currently designing and installing the electrical and data systems for a powerhouse, the project involves all the systems necessary enabling the customer to live completely off the grid. The structure is located at the base of the Rocky Mountains.
Systems include:
propane generator 19KW , Outback stack quad 14.4KW inverters, 48 volt 2,240 amp hour battery bank with temperature monitoring, Z-Wave control, DIN mounted PLC computer, construction of a Hoffmann control panel, battery watering system, RV 30-20 AMP outdoor receptacle panel, hydrogen sulfide gas alarm with exhaust fan, heating and cooling control, satellite internet uplink, satellite TV, well pump controls, high pressure jet pump, security system, tilt and pan indoor cameras, Ethernet network, 48 to 12 volt conversion, general plugs and lighting.
On the side of the building we have erected a 30 foot communications tower with lights, camera and small solar panel for generator battery.
The site is expected to be inexcusable during the winter months; every system parameter will be monitored over the internet.
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Why such a big genset, are you going to be doing electric heat?
why that large of a battery bank? that would be a nightmare to wire something that big. you are also shy on charge current to properly charge that battery bank with the pvs as batteries should be roughly in the 5% to 13% charge rate range and you are just over 4%. even at 5% it will not mix up the electrolyte well on a standard flooded battery so a means of giving the bank a good shot of extra current every now and then should be given to properly stir the electrolyte. in smaller battery banks that are too large for the pv arrays i would recommend splitting the battery bank in 2 and just switch between them. one charges while one is used, but i would be scared to switch that high of a current source in and out routinely and that would be a very special switch.
of course, you do know that you shouldn't take a battery below 50% dod to preserve the battery's lifespan which makes 192kwh available from that bank. :o i would have preferred a smilely with 2 bulging eyes to stand for wow.
Yep electric heat... yes i agree that the bank is too big, vary hard to charge. The customer supplied the (30) 235watt panels, batteries, Outback and the MidNites. I supplied all the other controls, Hoffman boxes and gutter, like that gutter? :)
The bank
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Another view
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Now i"m just being a show-off... :)
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Lots of pictures are welcomed! Personally I'm learning this off grid stuff on the fly. Running a small cabin off of a 1kw genset and 400ah of agm's. Can only go up from there! :) This fall/winter i'm looking at wind, and then some solar in spring/summer.
If you start another topic, ie cabin with 400 ah battery or ? there are lots here to help you out.
IMO start with ALL expected future loads and then work back to the battery and PV needed for a healthy robust system.
check out this site for lots of info too
http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/index.php
cheers
I just love Hoffman
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;D
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For safety I installed a hydrogen alarm ($900) that will energize a inline 6 inch FanTech at 1% hydrogen sulfide.
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Quote from: egozoogo on November 12, 2011, 09:49:10 PM
;D
Hey, in the picture with the electrical stuff like I seem some circuit breakers. What are the fiddly bits on the bottom section?
Egozoogo
How about a picture of those 2 Classics hiding in the middle ;D Also whats in the box with the Mate 3 on the door? Pretty darn impressive install.
Ryan
Thanks Ryan,
I have a picture above of the contents of that box, look for the one with white Panduit gutter inside and yes here's the MidNite pics
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Quote from: Docteh on November 13, 2011, 02:51:48 AM
Quote from: egozoogo on November 12, 2011, 09:49:10 PM
;D
Hey, in the picture with the electrical stuff like I seem some circuit breakers. What are the fiddly bits on the bottom section?
I think what your seeing is the ether the extra DIN rail mounted wire terminal blocks (Siemens) or the Panduit white gutter fins. I have high res pictures if needed. Thank you all for the kudos, this was a long job flying back and forth in the customers private plane spending weeks and weekends away from home.
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Quote from: niel on November 12, 2011, 12:44:01 PM
why that large of a battery bank? that would be a nightmare to wire something that big. you are also shy on charge current to properly charge that battery bank with the pvs as batteries should be roughly in the 5% to 13% charge rate range and you are just over 4%. even at 5% it will not mix up the electrolyte well on a standard flooded battery so a means of giving the bank a good shot of extra current every now and then should be given to properly stir the electrolyte. in smaller battery banks that are too large for the pv arrays i would recommend splitting the battery bank in 2 and just switch between them. one charges while one is used, but i would be scared to switch that high of a current source in and out routinely and that would be a very special switch.
of course, you do know that you shouldn't take a battery below 50% dod to preserve the battery's lifespan which makes 192kwh available from that bank. :o i would have preferred a smilely with 2 bulging eyes to stand for wow.
I used (4) 4/0 welding cables with crimped sliver plated ends and stainless steel hardware.
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One cool detail I forgot to share was that I used a 48v to 12v converter to operate the room lights directly connected to the battery bank via a DIN rail mounted circuit breaker.
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electric heat isn't the best thing to do with solar, but i've always said that you can do just about anything with solar if you have enough money. wood burning stoves and fireplaces would be a better way to produce heat and even propane can play a good role. the heat from solar could also be handled in a thermal way rather than an electrical way and it would be more efficient. electric heat from solar could be fine as an emergency backup heat source and remember it's about 3.4btus per watt. to get a rough perspective a little 5000btu electric heater is in the area of 1500w and they do a so so job in heating an area.
i would expand on the pvs by at least 4-5kw just to get to the 5% charge rate area or reduce the battery bank size to match the pvs better or get a very hefty switch to split the battery bank in 2.
Quote from: niel on November 13, 2011, 12:10:19 PM
electric heat isn't the best thing to do with solar, but i've always said that you can do just about anything with solar if you have enough money. wood burning stoves and fireplaces would be a better way to produce heat and even propane can play a good role. the heat from solar could also be handled in a thermal way rather than an electrical way and it would be more efficient. electric heat from solar could be fine as an emergency backup heat source and remember it's about 3.4btus per watt. to get a rough perspective a little 5000btu electric heater is in the area of 1500w and they do a so so job in heating an area.
i would expand on the pvs by at least 4-5kw just to get to the 5% charge rate area or reduce the battery bank size to match the pvs better or get a very hefty switch to split the battery bank in 2.
I totally agree Nial, note that this building is just the "powerhouse" with on home built yet and the only reason for heat is keeping the battery bank warm. The banks are 12 volts and splitting them would only give 24vdc. we'll just need to see how this winter affect's the battery temps.
this pic is the under floor gutters one for high, one for low voltage.
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I was looking at those four inverters and wondering why not use one or two big ones like the new Radian series inverter from outback. It use very similar tech to the FX series so reliability has to be good and it surges to 16000w with a continous rating of 8000w (which is nearly three of those outbacks put together).
Cheers...
Damani
Correction battery bank 2048AH
What tool did you use to bend the PVC conduit?
The electrical work looks clean, but I am not that impressed with the framing job from what can be seen from the photos on this structure. There should be blocking on the floor joists with these spans.
Quote from: dapdan on November 13, 2011, 05:33:56 PM
I was looking at those four inverters and wondering why not use one or two big ones like the new Radian series inverter from outback. It use very similar tech to the FX series so reliability has to be good and it surges to 16000w with a continous rating of 8000w (which is nearly three of those outbacks put together).
Cheers...
Damani
I use a torch to bend the PVC :)