Before I moved I use to have solar panels that produced about 80% of my energy every year. I recently had a new roof put on and use to think about solar panels and a battery backup system. With the solar credits being eliminated I am now rethinking solar and been looking at battery backup systems. Original thought was Tesla batteries but now I am really starting to like the Anker Solix 3800 with smart home panel kit. I could use this to run during PEAK power times to save some additional money. Looking for some real world advice that isn’t from a paid influencer. Thanks!
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I dont have any ideas or opinions but Loyal posted a couple days ago on X that he is redoing the power storage system on the ranch so that is coming.
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I think it’s a great idea to get serious about solar and hopefully cut off the grid entirely. The Grid Death Spiral plus data centers plus inflation, it’s just a losing proposition having that connection. In a couple States, people are paying more for their electric bills than they do for their mortgages.
We have about 20KW of bifacial solar panels on ground mounts in Alaska and 80KWh of lithium batteries. We’re off grid and it supplies all our power and even heats our cabin with an electric heat pump 90% of the time. In the deep winter we’ll burn wood or diesel to heat during the day and use the heat pump at night. But outside of that month to two months each year, we heat with electricity and most of the year we have more power than we know what to do with.
If you have snow, I’d recommend not doing a roof mount. And for your batteries, if you’re in a place that is cold, consider how you’re going to keep them warm since they can’t take a charge (and you don’t want to charge them) when they’re around freezing or below. Also, you might want to think about the hydrogen explosion risk from an LFP battery that goes into thermal runaway (perhaps from overcharging them when they’re cold).
Good luck, energy independence is a nice thing to have.
This is what it takes to put solar ground mounts up at our place…and it’s the easy part… My back still hurts from thinking about the concrete. But I would recommend you DIY it because so many companies fleece customers, and it’s something you can do yourself for much cheaper.
[Moderated: promotion]
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I wasn’t promoting anything. I was sharing a useful resource for somebody who was “looking for some real world advice that isn’t from a paid influencer.” That forum is dedicated to exactly that. Will Prowse’s forum isn’t commercial, I don’t get any money or anything for sharing it, so I’m not promoting anything.
I hope this decision will be changed, being censored on day one isn’t a good look and will lessen my motivation to help out your project here.
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Don’t take offense! This forum is all new… and in the past with our Discord, the moment we opened the doors tons of people show up and flood it with all of their content or their buddies content, and it just becomes a mess. I had given the moderators strict guidelines to delete that stuff, but I saw it and let it slide, then they came along and followed the rules I had set!
We’ll get it worked out, but again, don’t take offense! Glad you are here.
LM
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Thank you for your response, it was very informative. I have been watching a lot of youtube videos and have narrowed my choices down to a couple. It is new infrastructure for LM followers and the kinks will get worked out. Make suggestions, I am sure LM and the moderators will work to make it a great community.
I’m not offended and I hope to help your forum grow since you’re highlighting important things with your YouTube channel and I imagine you’d attract a valuable group of people here. I didn’t see anything in the Guidelines about sharing links to useful resources (admittedly I didn’t look until after my post was edited by a moderator). I understand growing a forum is difficult and moderation even more so.
Thanks for reading my feedback.
I like the Enphase systems for battery backup. They are much cheaper
Enphase is nice, my only beef with them is their support. I’m an electrician and have had to deal with their solar and storage solutions- their transfer switch is a pita if you don’t call them first and tell them your turning off the rapid shutdown. Like the whole point is to be able to shut it off quickly… had to deal with 15 minutes of elevator music to be able to shut it off so support could tell the system on the back end that it’s ok to actually work when I turned it back on. Not sure how I feel about buying a system then they control it…
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On the other side of things the solix system is pretty solid, Ive done a half sub- panel solution powered by by solar panels on the roof of an rv with the other half powered by the 30amp plug in from an RV stand and I’ve done homes with multiple battery stacks.. I will say while the pricetag is appealing in my experience stay away from jackery. Their just not ready for prime time with their battery generation panel combo systems yet. All 3 jackery systems my company has installed have failed within the year. Best of luck to you
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Thanks for sharing your personal experiences Aaron. I am sure it will help someone with their decision.
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Thank you for this information! It is awesome.
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People are always surprised how little solar panels you need as soon as you introduce some batteries to store some energy.
For example, I have built a solar cargo bike about 2 years ago. The canapé supplies around 600W peak. Which is enough to change the battery in about 12h. The battery alone is enough for an entire week.
And I can haul about 800lbs 350kg of cargo on the bed. Go to a festival or camping in general and have AC power from the integrated inverter.
During a summer day, it doesn’t even depend on the battery at all. And I can just make a hot coffee on the go.
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I particularly like your rider you got there… a stuffed wolf, is it? hehe! Good stuff, good stuff.
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I mean, that’s my boyfriends bicycle. The picture was taken on the way home from a long camping trip. It was the first test for the solar collectors on a long ride.
We can now safely say, that the range is not limited by the energy storage, but by my saddle and bumpy roads.
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We have a boat that is now 9 years old. When we put it in storage we have a solar panel (50w Renogy) that keeps the cgm batteries trickle charged. (We remove the lithium batteries that are for the trolling motor off the boat for winter) we see solar not just as a backup but also as an everyday use item. We added two 100w panels to our cargo hauler and added lighting inside. The inverter and battery are nicely installed on the building we made. Now when we do shows and expos it is nice and lite up for unloading, packing, or selling out of.
So look at solar as your norm. Even a small setup can make impact and teach you so much.
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Yes, this. I want to get to the point that this IS my norm. We can take this to DMs if we are supposed to, but maybe there are more like me that are late in coming to the party, and have no idea what is the best fit for them!
What is the best kind/brand/size/wattage for a travel camper, in your opinion? I am ADDICTED to frugality so I love to find the best value for my dollar. (I am benefitting so much from someone else’s topic thread they started!)
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There are online calculators that can help you size solar for your needs and environment
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Yes, definitely, but you need to really plan ahead. Most people see Wp and assume this is what they get. Some people don’t understand why it’s important to oversize the infrastructure (cables, charge controllers, inverters) or even understand how important it is to keep expandability in mind.
All those things are something a online tool wouldn’t do either. And most people who paddle their bad experiences are exactly the kind of people who do not grasp the basics of engineering.
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