Really nice videos and I really appreciate your hard work put in here, but I see a mathematical flaw in this video. When you add up percentage losses you just sum it up like 2%+10%+5%+3%+7%+30%=57%, but that is wrong, because if let's say you have 100W of energy - 2% power tolerance = 98W, then 98W gets 10% heat loss = 88,2, then 88,2 - 5% because of dirt = 83,79, then those 83,79W go through wires and loses 3% more and go down to 81,28 then - 7% = 75,6W - 30% (batteries) = 52,9W left (100 - 52,9 = 47,1W and 47,1% lost from 100), so instead of sum of 57% this should be around 47,1%. You just can not sum up %, because your next loss will always lose some part only from that amount which is left from previous losses not from full primary amount. It can look like a little mistake, but sometimes numbers can differ radically if you just sum up percentages, just imagine if you have four losses of 25% each in a row, then by adding up you get 0 energy left, but in reality there is still 31,64% of starting energy left after it goes through all those four losses of 25% in a row.
Inga Ramaskaite Interestingly the way his mistake ocurred, it means that his loss calculation is more conservative than doing the correct math. So his calculated loss is higher than the actual loss. That would be good news once I get up a solar system going. However the proper way would be what you indicate Inga.
The mistake could also have been from the individual percentages too making the overall at 57%. Either way he is taking losses into consideration and adding it to the total consumption. In addition he did inflate at a few stages of the calculation. Better safe than sorry. Better a little more than a little less.
You hit the nail directly on the resonating head with this! This is a very comprehensive presentation on the big loss variables. Thank you for continuing to share this information. Nice job!
I am still enjoying watching these videos...i am aiming to install my own solar panel in my house after all these videos...let me come back and comment once i have finished..so far so good.
This is a great video, I have just set up / setting up a small grid tie setup @ 600w and a separate 800AH battery bank and MTTP controller. The info you have given here has made things much easier to understand. Thanks for the video. Paul.
Correct, thanks for pointing that out..some of the losses need to be calculated after the initial losses. I will put something together for that. Cheers, Martin.
Completely thorough and exceptionally communicated to the laymen. Brilliant. I am learning and studying all the knowledge you are sharing with all of us including careful research and planning prior to investing into a home solar system to maximize my ROI. Thank you. Steve & Michelle South Florida USA
this is the most thorough explanation i`ve heard so for on this subject,,,well said !,,,people dont understand the variations of solar panel systems,with battery bank or grid tye,,or direct invert,,as you said 3 to 1 ratio is a safe bet,,,better over kill as under kill on the size of your array
Hello good man...I appreciate the nag. I have just posted the 1st working version on the forum...there is a link to it in the video details as well. Cheers, Martin.
I must admit that your video is on point and one of the best I have seen so far. Only one noticeable misquote is your mention of "Liquid Crystal Batteries" at and after 26:11. I believe it you mean Lead Acid Batteries.
Hi MJ, I don't know if anyone has pointed this out previously, but you can't add percentages together to come up with the total power loss. You have to consider the power loss over each item. For example, a 40% loss on 100 units leaves 60 units. A further 25% loss (on 60units) leaves 45 units. However, you added the percentages together which would have given the result as 65% loss leaving only 35 units. So the overall losses are not quite as bad as you calculated. Hope this helps.
13:05 - i am sorry, i think that at STC in the lab the panels tested at 1.5Am where the light not perpendicular on the panel bet tilted at 48.2 degrees
I've been debating on whether to buy a grid tie inverter or batteries. It sounds like grid tie might be the best way to go. I've seen on ytube people saying you must size your grid tie at least twice that of the panels because the efficiency loss of the grid tie is much more when the size is closely matched to the panel size. Thanks for the info!!!!
Martin, thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and insights with such generosity, patience and eloquence. You're a great teacher! I would love to see an index to your many youtube vids - the regular youtube interface doesn't do justice to your series and topics. (Maybe there is such an index and I've missed it!) Cheers!
Have you though about fabricating a mount for a car window washer and wiper on your solar panel? when they starting to get dirty just flick the switch and let the wiper clean it, i think this would come in very handy if your panel is mounted high up and hard to reach. Just a though.
Hi Martin. I have checked the forum and cannot see it there yet. Please take this as a very, VERY, humble "nag" (as you pointed out to someone else in the forum to do). Kind regards
A very good video and thank you. I have done so much research myself. Prior to seeing this video, I have had installed 20 panels and have done calculations every day on our consumption. I agree that a good professional install is worth the extra cost. We live in Thailand and are lucky as our hours of sun light per day is high plus the roof on the back of the house is due south, so the install is ideal. I will add to your blog and yes, I want the spreadsheet you did and if you wish I can share my information that I created on a spreadsheet.
Hello Mjlorton - Good job done on solar setup. I am impressed. What i reckon from your video is that you are running your house at night through battery banking and in day through on-grid direct supply to your house. I am bit confused. Could you please help me in understanding.
I worked at Siemens Solar, Shell Solar, and Solarworld for over 17 Years. At the time they where the largest manufacturer of photovoltaic solar modules in the Unites States. Heat and air cause more loss (and damage) in solar arrays than anything else. Solar cells are tested for output at 24 to 25 degrees Celsius (75-77 F). They produce about 0.6 volts with no load (Voltage open circuit) and put out their most power at about 0.484 volts. I will post more on the forum if there is interest.
Hello, great series. I have a question about not feeding power back into the grid (with a grid tie system with no batteries). How do you prevent feedback into the system? This is (a) as it's not allowed, and (b) can be dangerous for city power technicians working on lines outside your home if they think the power is off?
great series on solar. In 2014 , in South Africa, let Eskom be your battery. If you have an old spinning disk kWH meter , then you can feed back into the grid , when you have more power than you need and use your utility at night when you need power. Just one question , why do display 15 Multimetes behind you ? One is enough.
***** With the ever increasing costs of living and global warming, there should be better time when we stop throwing money out the window and save some by starting to generate our own electricity. Go here ==> earth4energy-new1.blogspot.com/
So many great pieces of information. Thanks for the excellent and clear presentation. Can I have a battery charger connected to the battery bank at the same time as the charge controller or will they conflict? My reasoning: If all my loads are run off the batteries and periodically my solar panels (and I can't buy more right now) can't keep up with the demand to recharge the batteries I would like an automatic way to charge the batteries via normal grid (power company) power. Thanks again.
Hi MJ. Excellent vid. I'm planning a modest home in Elgin in the Cape and need to design my home as energy efficient as possible. Part of this process is deciding on a PV system setup and I believe integrating a heat pump for geyser. I'll study the rest of your vids ... mind if I call on you for fine-tuning?
Great info. hopefully in the future i plan to build a portable generator for power outages. Probably I get a 100ah lead crystal battery from ex solar. Those batteries sound safe.
It would be great if someone could make a spreadsheet with the power loss formulas along with a power meter to measure energy used in sampling the daily, weekly and annual consumed energy. It would help to figure out the power needed. On the other hand I read a average household uses 80kw a year. Maybe work it out by each countries average energy consumption figure and take it from there...
Great video. In addition to issues already raise about the math, to compensate for 40% loss you need to divide 8200Wh by 60% which equals 13667Wh. Not 11480Wh. So when you remove 40% from 13667Wh you get 8200Wh.
You're simply adding up percentages which somewhat gives an order of magnitude, but correctly accumulating the percentages of the individual losses 2%, 10%, 5%, 3% 7% and 30% would be to do 1 - (0.98 * 0.9 * 0.95 * 0.97 * 0.93 * 0.7) ~= 47% losses But aside from this nitpick: thanks for the info, I didn't realize that there are so much losses in the battery.
I heard on the video that in cold climates you can get a 30 % plus solar panel gain.Does this mean that at - 40 celcius a 250 watt solar panel will potentially put out 325 usable watts. I live in Canada and we do occasionally see this temperature. If so it is a nice bonus
I knew a guy in the states who walked me through his set up. I literally was at his house. Here's what he did. He had a metal freight container on the side of his house with 12 forklift batteries inside it. Each forklift battery hooked to each other with cables and they ran to a digital read out on the the freight container wall. He used to produce enough he sold back to the electric company. He never paid for electricity from the electric company.I think he had 24 panels on his rooftop. Might have been 12?
I have a portable solar generator I bought from Solutions From Science. It has 2 - 100 watt panels and 3 - 80 AH batteries. I was trying to get it to run a chest freezer and a battery backup sump pump charger, it provided power for both of them for about 3 days when it showed the batteries starting to weaken. the unit can be expanded up to 4- 100 panels and 4 - 80 AH batteries. Just was trying to figure out how much power I can get from this setup without using the AC charger the unit comes with to charge the batteries. Thanks for the video !
It depends on where you are located and the time of year (Google "Solar insolation" for your area). It will probably vary from around 5 sun-hours in the summer to 3 sun-hours in the winter (Seattle is much worse, Arizona much better). If you have a PWM charge controller (most likely), you'd get from 300-500 Watt-hours per day of energy. That's like running a 60 watt light bulb from 5 to 8 hours if you have an efficient inverter converting your power to AC. You'd need to figure out what your loads require in watt-hours per day. An easy way is with a "Kill a Watt meter". I think they cost around $25 and they are perfect for figuring out how much energy your stuff uses. I have one and like it a lot. As far as battery size, typically it's done like this: Figure out the daily watt-hour usage, multiply that by five, and that is your battery size in watt-hours. Divide that by the battery voltage to get the amp-hour size you need. That gives some extra battery capacity to account for 2-3 cloudy days.
Would this be a decent solar battery for a home system? Just found a 12V Duracell AGM battery (31DTMAGM) at Sam's Club for $169. Seems to have good specs for a Marine/RV battery. Most of the Solar AGM batteries I've looked at are $300. •100 amp hour rate:110 •20 amp hour rate:105 •3 amp hour rate:85 •5 amp hour rate:86 •6 amp hour rate:87.4 I know you want to stay away from car batteries with lot's of cold cranking amps because they are not built for solar applications.
I only use a computer and one Led Light at night. But I have a fridge and a water heater that run all the time. I spend at least 5 hours on my computer when I get on my computer. I don't use a microwave like many people. It might take 3 minutes to heat my food. If I use it. Most of the time I head my food on a stove. I use an oven maybe once a week. I think I would do well on solar, just getting it all hooked up, and the price I wonder about.
excellent info!!!.......ive fabbed 3 tracking solar arrays for the back yard and your numbers will definatly help in the tweaking of the system....what the heck..its a hobby...Lol
Hey can you charge your batteries with the inverter and solar power simultatneously? Working on a project in Nigeria, with epileptic power supply. Thing is, I would like the mains to charge the batteries when there is mains supply, and for the solar to keep charging the batteries when the mains supply is cut off.
Hello, I live in joburg and was wondering if u know of a place i can buy this equipment (solar panels,inverters etc) from? or a website to order it? and awesome videos, please continue making more :)
Sorry for not being clear. I meant that no-frost or frost-free or auto-defrost systems do use heating elements in order to melt ice covering the internal heat exchanger. (at least some of them, can't speak for all defrost systems out there) I know it sounds counter intuitive, but the heat exchanger is placed it a way so it affects the freezer temperature only when a fan forces air through it. Though, In high energy class fridges, the defrost cycle runs once every 6-12 hours. on the rest I agree.
I suppose it requires elaborate products and agreements but it should be possible to give your excess electricity to your neighbors and use them as buffers instead of battery storage. But of course your grid should also allow back flow, that would be much easier.
Hello MjLorton. I am facing a problem. My array size is 29kW and my grid tie size is 37kW(array size +30%). I cant find a suitable grid tie converter for this size and i am wodering can i use multiple grid tie converters attaches to the same solar panel system. For example 4 grid tied connectors with a rating of 11,500 W tied together. Thank you
Thanks for the informative videos sofar. However The VA calculation seems incorrect. I have a 2000VA inverter that ends up with 1200 Watts so with a 5000VA inverter you end up with only 3000 Watts and it is also important to note whether you use a pure sine wave or modified sinewave inverter and explain the difference between them as far as what you can/cannot use on them
I'm off grid with 30-33kwhluthium ion battery, and 4.4kw solar, and working on a DC generator, to charge batteries through a midnite classic150, limiting it to about 90 amps, in an emergency. And plan to build a few wind turbines, to hopefully generate around 1kw on breezy days, and about 2.5kw on windy stormy days, but I hope to get some hydroelectric going, even if it's only 200 watts, but 24/7!
Hi Martin! Great tutorials! Appreciate the power usage calculation suggestions! Just a thought about the overheating effects of the solar panels - would it be helpful if one could either a) redirect the cooling air from a heat pump to help cool off the solar panels or b) Temporarily place for example a 30% shade net or similar cover in place to minimize the overheating effects that one may incur? We live in Potchefstroom and during the summer months - November to March we have average temperatures of between 15˚C and 29˚C and in Winter - May to August we have average temperatures of between 2˚C and 18˚C.
+Albert van Heerden. Pardon, I neglected to mention that it does get much colder in winter and hotter in summer. I have experienced temperatures from -13˚C in winter to 37˚C in summer. Hope to get your response.
hi, i am currently doing some computation for my home (to be built) and i ended up looking at 5kw inverter. i am planning to go hybrid while doing best effort not to push electricity back to the grid (as much as possible). since financing is a concern right now, my initial plan is to lay all the pv first and plus using an all-in-one inverter/with built-in battery charger. this is so, so if time comes that i'd have enough cash, then i can add the batteries, then next would be the generator (the generator will be auto initiated by the inverter). at the moment, i am not sure what good brands that are available market currently, that addresses my requirements. and... this is the part where i listen to your valuable input. many thanks, GaryS>
These tutorials are awesome. I want to incorporate a wind turbine into a system not unlike yours also to assist with charging the power bank. and a back up source of energy. Would this be possible??
I would love to see you do a video on how to pick a solar installer all the folks I've had come by my house or like used car salesmen are all real sleazy
Well you have an efficient one! One I have is a so called efficiency rating of 98% and it uses 1/3 more. It runs around 1.5-1.8kw per day. So I would say stick with your fridge you have!!!
mr. mjlorton well done for all contribution especially to a student like us, but i dont knw if you can helf me with schematic daigram of solar charge controller that can withstand up to 40-50 amps, program with ardunor. thank u sir
Shouldn't the battery loss be calculated on 73% in your example? That means 30/73 instead of 30/100 which then raises the total loss from 57% to 41+27 = 68% loss? I mean the battery don't know how much you lost before doe to heat on solar cells etc.
thank you for the nice video. Quick questions: can i use Airconditioners on solar systems running with batteries? what are the challenges? what's the difference btw 12V, 24V and 48V? thanks again
So what output do you get on a dull overcast day mate,Let me answer that one from personal experience =10%. here in south wales in November 80% of days are dull and overcast
Hi there, I a bet confuse about how to calculate my needs from off-grid solar syetem, by the end of this year I want to start my farm in South Sudan and I want to use several electronics items such tv, ps3, small forge , dish receiver, computer and self phone. I want you to advise me how much kw I will need to have. Thanks.
great videos thank you, I would like to ask a questions. wouldn't running off batteries exclusively, and have the sun recharge batteries during the day be a viable solution as you would get consistent power as opposed to all the fluctuations that come with clouds, changing sun position etc.
Thank you very much for your wonderful video on solar energy, I really appreciate it. I have an important question and you touched on it in your videos but did not explain it fully. It is how do I use the Solar Radiation gotten from any weather station here in my area, it is given in (MJ/M^2) to calculate amount of energy required to power my panels in my own area. Thanks
Great Videos!! One question on the loss for batteries: Is there any difference in the loss if using more or less batteries of lower or higher voltage? For example I am considering either a 24 or 48V system using either a combination of 6V or 12V batteries (not a mix but either/or). I wonder if I can minimize the loss with 6V batteries over 12V, recognizing that I would need more of the 6V's but would possibly save me in terms of replacement cost over the long-term.
Thanks a lot for the videos sir.. quite informative.. When it comes to any form of free energy my thinking is focused simply on this: How much "Instantaneous Power" will my house, office, environment etc. need? I mean to really enjoy the comfort of free energy one must have a system that can support the potential maximum electric needs of a place at any given time. In other words, the desire is, if I would switch on all the electrical equipments in my house at the same time, I would like to have no issues no matter what (may it be day or night). Therefore I would need to know what my peak kW needs should be (not kWh). Considering today's solar/wind/etc technologies the prices are still extremely high for such desire. Therefore (for now) I prefer to stay away from all the complications and headaches of the way you try to make it easier for people. I would focus more on how I could increase my income to pay my bills, since it seems to be less complex than installing and maintaining any free energy system. Sorry, but in my opinion it is still nonsense for 2017. Oh and looking from the bright side, I hope and pray that at least 100 times cheaper free energy technologies come out soon to make my dreams come true. Kindest Regards
I would like to build solar for my iMac the specification is Electrical and operating requirements Line voltage: 100-240V AC Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz, single phase Maximum continuous power: 365W (27-inch models) Could you tell me how big solar panel I needed. unfortunately I have no that much electrical background :(
Check out the ZenithZolar Z20, a hybrid solar-thermal-photovoltaic device with autodirectional mirror array! They claim 70+% efficiency (15.5Wp) and low costs! AMAZING!! Thumbs up so people know. Go Solar!!!
All info is educational but I'm a licensed master electrican through out California and have been installing solar for about 15 years now i have done commercial and residential solar jobs and have assisted in that solar project as a solar consultant for the Mojave desert solar project plant ,that supply's power for the city of Riverside Ca . but when all is said and done you will loose what you loose but for the most part if you size it correctly and add deep cycle batteries for a home all will be A OK at most you will have more worries when a solar panel breaks and having to wait a week for another one to get ordered in.
The other worry is paying five times more for the batteries and long-term replacement costs than you's pay for grid power :-) That's what takes some of the fun out of it.
Awesome,i really like how you explain everything.I have question about the geyser?does the temp affect how much power is being use.I mean if my geyser is 3kwh and i turn my temp down from 70 to 55 will that affact the 3kwh or just the boiling time
Really nice videos and I really appreciate your hard work put in here, but I see a mathematical flaw in this video. When you add up percentage losses you just sum it up like 2%+10%+5%+3%+7%+30%=57%, but that is wrong, because if let's say you have 100W of energy - 2% power tolerance = 98W, then 98W gets 10% heat loss = 88,2, then 88,2 - 5% because of dirt = 83,79, then those 83,79W go through wires and loses 3% more and go down to 81,28 then - 7% = 75,6W - 30% (batteries) = 52,9W left (100 - 52,9 = 47,1W and 47,1% lost from 100), so instead of sum of 57% this should be around 47,1%. You just can not sum up %, because your next loss will always lose some part only from that amount which is left from previous losses not from full primary amount. It can look like a little mistake, but sometimes numbers can differ radically if you just sum up percentages, just imagine if you have four losses of 25% each in a row, then by adding up you get 0 energy left, but in reality there is still 31,64% of starting energy left after it goes through all those four losses of 25% in a row.
Thanks Inga, big mistake on my part so I appreciate your post. I'll add an annotation to note this. Cheers, Martin.
thank you Inga and you too Martin, for the constructive criticism
Inga Ramaskaite Interestingly the way his mistake ocurred, it means that his loss calculation is more conservative than doing the correct math. So his calculated loss is higher than the actual loss. That would be good news once I get up a solar system going. However the proper way would be what you indicate Inga.
The mistake could also have been from the individual percentages too making the overall at 57%. Either way he is taking losses into consideration and adding it to the total consumption. In addition he did inflate at a few stages of the calculation. Better safe than sorry. Better a little more than a little less.
You hit the nail directly on the resonating head with this!
This is a very comprehensive presentation on the big loss variables. Thank you for continuing to share this information. Nice job!
Very informative for this 71 year old Geezer to try to self diy & pay less to energy thieving companies!!! Thank You very much!!!!
My pleasure Cindy....thanks for the feedback.
Martin, I found your channel a few months ago and have really enjoyed going through a lot of these videos, some very educational gems here.
I am still enjoying watching these videos...i am aiming to install my own solar panel in my house after all these videos...let me come back and comment once i have finished..so far so good.
Cindy R. You are not alone. I will be installing my own. And these video are the best.
This is a great video, I have just set up / setting up a small grid tie setup @ 600w and a separate 800AH battery bank and MTTP controller. The info you have given here has made things much easier to understand. Thanks for the video. Paul.
Correct, thanks for pointing that out..some of the losses need to be calculated after the initial losses. I will put something together for that.
Cheers, Martin.
Thanks. Hope to have it posted on my forum in a week or so.
Completely thorough and exceptionally communicated to the laymen. Brilliant. I am learning and studying all the knowledge you are sharing with all of us including careful research and planning prior to investing into a home solar system to maximize my ROI. Thank you.
Steve & Michelle
South Florida
USA
stevemichelle1203 Thanks for the feedback. ROI will be the next video in the series I do. All the best with your system.Cheers, Martin.
Just want to say how much I appreciate your video Martin, you're helping a lot as I try to get my head around this
this is the most thorough explanation i`ve heard so for on this subject,,,well said !,,,people dont understand the variations of solar panel systems,with battery bank or grid tye,,or direct invert,,as you said 3 to 1 ratio is a safe bet,,,better over kill as under kill on the size of your array
My pleasure, thanks for the feedback. Try Exsolar, they sell and install in Africa.
Hello good man...I appreciate the nag. I have just posted the 1st working version on the forum...there is a link to it in the video details as well.
Cheers,
Martin.
My pleasure, thanks for the feedback.
You are explaining very well. I have understood you more than the past
I must admit that your video is on point and one of the best I have seen so far. Only one noticeable misquote is your mention of "Liquid Crystal Batteries" at and after 26:11. I believe it you mean Lead Acid Batteries.
I'm new at this idea and want to learn more. Thanks and will watch your videos to learn. Your easy to listen to.
My pleasure Robert, thanks for the feedback.
Hi MJ, I don't know if anyone has pointed this out previously, but you can't add percentages together to come up with the total power loss. You have to consider the power loss over each item. For example, a 40% loss on 100 units leaves 60 units. A further 25% loss (on 60units) leaves 45 units. However, you added the percentages together which would have given the result as 65% loss leaving only 35 units. So the overall losses are not quite as bad as you calculated. Hope this helps.
Hi Dave, thanks...and yes it has been pointed out in another comment and I added an annotation explaining that. Cheers, Martin.
13:05 - i am sorry, i think that at STC in the lab the panels tested at 1.5Am where the light not perpendicular on the panel bet tilted at 48.2 degrees
I've been debating on whether to buy a grid tie inverter or batteries. It sounds like grid tie might be the best way to go. I've seen on ytube people saying you must size your grid tie at least twice that of the panels because the efficiency loss of the grid tie is much more when the size is closely matched to the panel size. Thanks for the info!!!!
No problem. I had no idea about the magnitude of losses before this video though! Great video as usual.
Hi Martin, fantastic video, clear, up to the point, pragmatic and clearly explained: thanks!
Thanks very much for the feedback.
Martin, thank you very much for sharing your knowledge and insights with such generosity, patience and eloquence. You're a great teacher! I would love to see an index to your many youtube vids - the regular youtube interface doesn't do justice to your series and topics. (Maybe there is such an index and I've missed it!) Cheers!
Thnaks for the post Garry.
Have you though about fabricating a mount for a car window washer and wiper on your solar panel? when they starting to get dirty just flick the switch and let the wiper clean it, i think this would come in very handy if your panel is mounted high up and hard to reach. Just a though.
@Tim If you want a great solar energy system then go here now: HootPower.xyz
Hi Martin. I have checked the forum and cannot see it there yet. Please take this as a very, VERY, humble "nag" (as you pointed out to someone else in the forum to do). Kind regards
A very good video and thank you. I have done so much research myself. Prior to seeing this video, I have had installed 20 panels and have done calculations every day on our consumption. I agree that a good professional install is worth the extra cost. We live in Thailand and are lucky as our hours of sun light per day is high plus the roof on the back of the house is due south, so the install is ideal. I will add to your blog and yes, I want the spreadsheet you did and if you wish I can share my information that I created on a spreadsheet.
Many thanks for your great lesson. You're an expert in your field and pedagogy also.
Hello Mjlorton - Good job done on solar setup. I am impressed. What i reckon from your video is that you are running your house at night through battery banking and in day through on-grid direct supply to your house. I am bit confused. Could you please help me in understanding.
I worked at Siemens Solar, Shell Solar, and Solarworld for over 17 Years. At the time they where the largest manufacturer of photovoltaic solar modules in the Unites States.
Heat and air cause more loss (and damage) in solar arrays than anything else.
Solar cells are tested for output at 24 to 25 degrees Celsius (75-77 F). They produce about 0.6 volts with no load (Voltage open circuit) and put out their most power at about 0.484 volts.
I will post more on the forum if there is interest.
Very informative and excellent production. Well done
Hello, great series. I have a question about not feeding power back into the grid (with a grid tie system with no batteries). How do you prevent feedback into the system? This is (a) as it's not allowed, and (b) can be dangerous for city power technicians working on lines outside your home if they think the power is off?
great series on solar. In 2014 , in South Africa, let Eskom be your battery. If you have an old spinning disk kWH meter , then you can feed back into the grid , when you have more power than you need and use your utility at night when you need power.
Just one question , why do display 15 Multimetes behind you ? One is enough.
+Renate Herbert Is it legal...
Thank you for your excellent explanation and how to calculate the needed array. Thank you again.
Please do a video about the tesla home battery
***** With the ever increasing costs of living and global warming, there should be better time when we stop throwing money out the window and save some by starting to generate our own electricity.
Go here ==> earth4energy-new1.blogspot.com/
I am new to this stuff , and there's a lot to learn ... but this is good expertise
Thanks, my pleasure!
So many great pieces of information. Thanks for the excellent and clear presentation. Can I have a battery charger connected to the battery bank at the same time as the charge controller or will they conflict? My reasoning: If all my loads are run off the batteries and periodically my solar panels (and I can't buy more right now) can't keep up with the demand to recharge the batteries I would like an automatic way to charge the batteries via normal grid (power company) power. Thanks again.
Hi MJ. Excellent vid. I'm planning a modest home in Elgin in the Cape and need to design my home as energy efficient as possible. Part of this process is deciding on a PV system setup and I believe integrating a heat pump for geyser. I'll study the rest of your vids ... mind if I call on you for fine-tuning?
25W is the defrost heater inside, along with the electronics in the thermostat and the circulation fan. Adds up to quite a bit.
Great info. hopefully in the future i plan to build a portable generator for power outages. Probably I get a 100ah lead crystal battery from ex solar. Those batteries sound safe.
Thanks for all your valuable info. However, could you please tell me which is the best solar panels out of so many solar panel suppliers here in US?
It would be great if someone could make a spreadsheet with the power loss formulas along with a power meter to measure energy used in sampling the daily, weekly and annual consumed energy. It would help to figure out the power needed. On the other hand I read a average household uses 80kw a year. Maybe work it out by each countries average energy consumption figure and take it from there...
Treasure trove: Here. Thanks for the great intro.
The above calculations to the sun every day is good, but the actual experience for several days of bad weather, how to calculate?
Great video. In addition to issues already raise about the math, to compensate for 40% loss you need to divide 8200Wh by 60% which equals 13667Wh. Not 11480Wh. So when you remove 40% from 13667Wh you get 8200Wh.
Have you considered adding wind turbines to the system? Shouldn't that help at night?
You're simply adding up percentages which somewhat gives an order of magnitude, but
correctly accumulating the percentages of the individual losses 2%, 10%, 5%, 3% 7% and 30% would be to do
1 - (0.98 * 0.9 * 0.95 * 0.97 * 0.93 * 0.7) ~= 47% losses
But aside from this nitpick: thanks for the info, I didn't realize that there are so much losses in the battery.
I heard on the video that in cold climates you can get a 30 % plus solar panel gain.Does this mean that at - 40 celcius a 250 watt solar panel will potentially put out 325 usable watts. I live in Canada and we do occasionally see this temperature. If so it is a nice bonus
Thanks Jim.
Thank you for the tutorial. Very instructive and I cannot wait to build my own.
I knew a guy in the states who walked me through his set up. I literally was at his house. Here's what he did. He had a metal freight container on the side of his house with 12 forklift batteries inside it. Each forklift battery hooked to each other with cables and they ran to a digital read out on the the freight container wall. He used to produce enough he sold back to the electric company. He never paid for electricity from the electric company.I think he had 24 panels on his rooftop. Might have been 12?
I have a portable solar generator I bought from Solutions From Science. It has 2 - 100 watt panels and 3 - 80 AH batteries. I was trying to get it to run a chest freezer and a battery backup sump pump charger, it provided power for both of them for about 3 days when it showed the batteries starting to weaken. the unit can be expanded up to 4- 100 panels and 4 - 80 AH batteries. Just was trying to figure out how much power I can get from this setup without using the AC charger the unit comes with to charge the batteries. Thanks for the video !
It depends on where you are located and the time of year (Google "Solar insolation" for your area). It will probably vary from around 5 sun-hours in the summer to 3 sun-hours in the winter (Seattle is much worse, Arizona much better). If you have a PWM charge controller (most likely), you'd get from 300-500 Watt-hours per day of energy. That's like running a 60 watt light bulb from 5 to 8 hours if you have an efficient inverter converting your power to AC. You'd need to figure out what your loads require in watt-hours per day. An easy way is with a "Kill a Watt meter". I think they cost around $25 and they are perfect for figuring out how much energy your stuff uses. I have one and like it a lot. As far as battery size, typically it's done like this: Figure out the daily watt-hour usage, multiply that by five, and that is your battery size in watt-hours. Divide that by the battery voltage to get the amp-hour size you need. That gives some extra battery capacity to account for 2-3 cloudy days.
Would this be a decent solar battery for a home system? Just found a 12V Duracell AGM battery (31DTMAGM) at Sam's Club for $169. Seems to have good specs for a Marine/RV battery. Most of the Solar AGM batteries I've looked at are $300.
•100 amp hour rate:110
•20 amp hour rate:105
•3 amp hour rate:85
•5 amp hour rate:86
•6 amp hour rate:87.4
I know you want to stay away from car batteries with lot's of cold cranking amps because they are not built for solar applications.
I only use a computer and one Led Light at night. But I have a fridge and a water heater that run all the time. I spend at least 5 hours on my computer when I get on my computer. I don't use a microwave like many people. It might take 3 minutes to heat my food. If I use it. Most of the time I head my food on a stove. I use an oven maybe once a week. I think I would do well on solar, just getting it all hooked up, and the price I wonder about.
excellent info!!!.......ive fabbed 3 tracking solar arrays for the back yard and your numbers will definatly help in the tweaking of the system....what the heck..its a hobby...Lol
Very useful information, thanks for taking the time to share it.
Hey can you charge your batteries with the inverter and solar power simultatneously?
Working on a project in Nigeria, with epileptic power supply. Thing is, I would like the mains to charge the batteries when there is mains supply, and for the solar to keep charging the batteries when the mains supply is cut off.
Yup...that will happen in a future video.
Hello, I live in joburg and was wondering if u know of a place i can buy this equipment (solar panels,inverters etc) from? or a website to order it? and awesome videos, please continue making more :)
Sorry for not being clear. I meant that no-frost or frost-free or auto-defrost systems do use heating elements in order to melt ice covering the internal heat exchanger. (at least some of them, can't speak for all defrost systems out there) I know it sounds counter intuitive, but the heat exchanger is placed it a way so it affects the freezer temperature only when a fan forces air through it.
Though, In high energy class fridges, the defrost cycle runs once every 6-12 hours.
on the rest I agree.
I suppose it requires elaborate products and agreements but it should be possible to give your excess electricity to your neighbors and use them as buffers instead of battery storage. But of course your grid should also allow back flow, that would be much easier.
Hello MjLorton.
I am facing a problem. My array size is 29kW and my grid tie size is 37kW(array size +30%). I cant find a suitable grid tie converter for this size and i am wodering can i use multiple grid tie converters attaches to the same solar panel system. For example 4 grid tied connectors with a rating of 11,500 W tied together.
Thank you
Awesome stuff. Where can i find the spreadsheet that you mentioned??
This is Great stuff! Well done...
Thanks for the informative videos sofar. However The VA calculation seems incorrect. I have a 2000VA inverter that ends up with 1200 Watts so with a 5000VA inverter you end up with only 3000 Watts and it is also important to note whether you use a pure sine wave or modified sinewave inverter and explain the difference between them as far as what you can/cannot use on them
I'm off grid with 30-33kwhluthium ion battery, and 4.4kw solar, and working on a DC generator, to charge batteries through a midnite classic150, limiting it to about 90 amps, in an emergency. And plan to build a few wind turbines, to hopefully generate around 1kw on breezy days, and about 2.5kw on windy stormy days, but I hope to get some hydroelectric going, even if it's only 200 watts, but 24/7!
Itz highly informative and helpful for newcomers in the industry!!!
Hi Martin! Great tutorials! Appreciate the power usage calculation suggestions! Just a thought about the overheating effects of the solar panels - would it be helpful if one could either a) redirect the cooling air from a heat pump to help cool off the solar panels or b) Temporarily place for example a 30% shade net or similar cover in place to minimize the overheating effects that one may incur? We live in Potchefstroom and during the summer months - November to March we have average temperatures of between 15˚C and 29˚C and in Winter - May to August we have average temperatures of between 2˚C and 18˚C.
+Albert van Heerden. Pardon, I neglected to mention that it does get much colder in winter and hotter in summer. I have experienced temperatures from -13˚C in winter to 37˚C in summer. Hope to get your response.
hi,
i am currently doing some computation for my home (to be built) and i ended up looking at 5kw inverter. i am planning to go hybrid while doing best effort not to push electricity back to the grid (as much as possible).
since financing is a concern right now, my initial plan is to lay all the pv first and plus using an all-in-one inverter/with built-in battery charger. this is so, so if time comes that i'd have enough cash, then i can add the batteries, then next would be the generator (the generator will be auto initiated by the inverter).
at the moment, i am not sure what good brands that are available market currently, that addresses my requirements. and... this is the part where i listen to your valuable input.
many thanks,
GaryS>
These tutorials are awesome. I want to incorporate a wind turbine into a system not unlike yours also to assist with charging the power bank. and a back up source of energy.
Would this be possible??
I would love to see you do a video on how to pick a solar installer all the folks I've had come by my house or like used car salesmen are all real sleazy
Well you have an efficient one! One I have is a so called efficiency rating of 98% and it uses 1/3 more. It runs around 1.5-1.8kw per day. So I would say stick with your fridge you have!!!
mr. mjlorton well done for all contribution especially to a student like us, but i dont knw if you can helf me with schematic daigram of solar charge controller that can withstand up to 40-50 amps, program with ardunor. thank u sir
Shouldn't the battery loss be calculated on 73% in your example? That means 30/73 instead of 30/100 which then raises the total loss from 57% to 41+27 = 68% loss? I mean the battery don't know how much you lost before doe to heat on solar cells etc.
thank you for the nice video. Quick questions: can i use Airconditioners on solar systems running with batteries? what are the challenges? what's the difference btw 12V, 24V and 48V? thanks again
I got a local store that sells the solar panels. They said about $50,000 USD to power a 1800sqft home. Any cheaper prices?
So what output do you get on a dull overcast day mate,Let me answer that one from personal experience =10%.
here in south wales in November 80% of days are dull and overcast
Hi there, I a bet confuse about how to calculate my needs from off-grid solar syetem, by the end of this year I want to start my farm in South Sudan and I want to use several electronics items such tv, ps3, small forge , dish receiver, computer and self phone.
I want you to advise me how much kw I will need to have.
Thanks.
You're so knowledgable!
Yup...a turbine would help...something I intend testing in the near future.
That ending... Conquered me.
great videos thank you, I would like to ask a questions. wouldn't running off batteries exclusively, and have the sun recharge batteries during the day be a viable solution as you would get consistent power as opposed to all the fluctuations that come with clouds, changing sun position etc.
Thank you very much for your wonderful video on solar energy, I really appreciate it. I have an important question and you touched on it in your videos but did not explain it fully. It is how do I use the Solar Radiation gotten from any weather station here in my area, it is given in (MJ/M^2) to calculate amount of energy required to power my panels in my own area. Thanks
Great Videos!! One question on the loss for batteries: Is there any difference in the loss if using more or less batteries of lower or higher voltage? For example I am considering either a 24 or 48V system using either a combination of 6V or 12V batteries (not a mix but either/or). I wonder if I can minimize the loss with 6V batteries over 12V, recognizing that I would need more of the 6V's but would possibly save me in terms of replacement cost over the long-term.
Thanks a lot for the videos sir.. quite informative..
When it comes to any form of free energy my thinking is focused simply on this: How much "Instantaneous Power" will my house, office, environment etc. need? I mean to really enjoy the comfort of free energy one must have a system that can support the potential maximum electric needs of a place at any given time. In other words, the desire is, if I would switch on all the electrical equipments in my house at the same time, I would like to have no issues no matter what (may it be day or night).
Therefore I would need to know what my peak kW needs should be (not kWh). Considering today's solar/wind/etc technologies the prices are still extremely high for such desire. Therefore (for now) I prefer to stay away from all the complications and headaches of the way you try to make it easier for people. I would focus more on how I could increase my income to pay my bills, since it seems to be less complex than installing and maintaining any free energy system. Sorry, but in my opinion it is still nonsense for 2017.
Oh and looking from the bright side, I hope and pray that at least 100 times cheaper free energy technologies come out soon to make my dreams come true.
Kindest Regards
It was very good informative and useful too, Thank you very much.
Thankyou for this informative presentation. Subscribed
My pleasure.
Great explanations. I now have a better idea of solar energy. Thank you!
I would like to build solar for my iMac
the specification is
Electrical and operating requirements
Line voltage: 100-240V AC
Frequency: 50Hz to 60Hz, single phase
Maximum continuous power: 365W (27-inch models)
Could you tell me how big solar panel I needed. unfortunately I have no that much electrical background :(
Excellent video,very informative.Thank you.
Check out the ZenithZolar Z20, a hybrid solar-thermal-photovoltaic device with autodirectional mirror array!
They claim 70+% efficiency (15.5Wp) and low costs! AMAZING!!
Thumbs up so people know. Go Solar!!!
Appreciate the lecture, looking legit! You got my like :)
All info is educational but I'm a licensed master electrican through out California and have been installing solar for about 15 years now i have done commercial and residential solar jobs and have assisted in that solar project as a solar consultant for the Mojave desert solar project plant ,that supply's power for the city of Riverside Ca . but when all is said and done you will loose what you loose but for the most part if you size it correctly and add deep cycle batteries for a home all will be A OK at most you will have more worries when a solar panel breaks and having to wait a week for another one to get ordered in.
The other worry is paying five times more for the batteries and long-term replacement costs than you's pay for grid power :-) That's what takes some of the fun out of it.
Awesome,i really like how you explain everything.I have question about the geyser?does the temp affect how much power is being use.I mean if my geyser is 3kwh and i turn my temp down from 70 to 55 will that affact the 3kwh or just the boiling time
+Fook Utube Sorry about my English,its just hard to explain,what i really want to say lol its easy say from mouth,but not in typing
thank you so much for sharing this video.. its very interesting and very informative.. keep it up..
Thanks for a very informative video. Can you recommend an installer in Johannesburg?