Solar Charging My Tesla 120 Miles Per Day for FREE on my Diy Solar Generator!
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- Опубліковано 11 вер 2022
- check out my solar setup where I can charge my Tesla up to 120 miles per day! up next: using this same system to fully run my home including 5 ton a/c system!
Heck yeah! That's how you do it.
Thanks Will! Your channel is why I did this! You are awesome!!!
Do you use a "low frequency inverter" to charge your EV's like the guy in the comments wrote an essay about?
@@UA-cam_username. Have you seen my channel? I have had 10 EVs and I've charged for years with hf and LF inverters. Go look. All the videos are there
Well done. Sure beats oil and coal.
Yes it does!
Thanks for making a difference, and letting others see there are other ways. I too have solar, EV and moved to Heat pumps. My utility bill is minus $350.
Thank you very much! minus $350?? wow!
Nice tour of your system.
thank you!
Love what you did!
thank you!
Nicely done! :)
thanks!
cool setup
Thank you!
It is a cool name! Very nice I have similar setup just with nissan leaf batteries
interesting! I would love to see that battery setup. You should do a video!
Super. Shows how modest a solar array you need to fully offset your driving - you don't need a huge, grid-tied, roof mount system. In fact 120 miles per day is 3-4 times more than the average person drives. Even if your large system cost $20k you are offsetting $4k or more per year in gas so it will pay for itself well within the lifetime of the components, not even counting the benefit of the backup power you have.
Exactly!! My wife and I both have Teslas, so we each get 60 miles per day (on a sunny day). I also have the ability to feed the power into the house using an interlock on my breaker box where my gas/propane generator can also connect.
Ready for grid down 👍
haha! I have not lost power one time since I had it all up and running..... it's depressing! When there is a storm I always hope for an outage, but nope! lol!
Good job
thank you sir!
fantastic result, FREE 🙃
Thank you! Cheers!
Best of luck with the channel
thank you!
Your car went from right side drive to left side drive, nice. Which additional option is that from Tesla?
hahaha! you like that? that's the transformer package!
Impressive set-up. Do you normally charge your Tesla 3 beyond 80%? I thought beyond 80% was not good for battery longevity.
no, I usually charge to 80%. I think I took it past that in this video to show the charging in progress. I was already at 80% when I started the video!
I would add a few fire extinguishers to that setup.
I have automatic fire extinguishers and I have a normal fire extinguisher on the wall. You should check out my safety video.
How long until it’s paid for itself or should I say how many miles KWh?
Also, thank you for showing me the video I’ve been looking for. It’s just a shame it’s circa 20K. Sounds stupid, but for half the system you have is it basically 10K?
I’d spend 7-10k on a home top up with batteries and then have a few panels at works that go directly into the car - as no need for batteries at work, although in total it would probably cost more.
Thank you for the comment! Yes, you could probably build half the system for half the price. Also, these prices are always coming down, so today it is most likely less expensive to build. I can also use it to power my house in the event of a power outage, so it is also a whole home backup generator. I will show that in a video soon.
cool video
thank you!
I like your set up. If there is no sun can you charge your Tesla off of the battery system?
if I still have power left, yes! otherwise I just use my house power.
If you intend to charge an EV with a standalone (off grid) or emergency backup power solar system. It's important to consider the technology that's used in the inverter. High frequency, transformerless inverters provide a much lower surge capacity and a shorter life expectancy than heavy duty, low frequency, transformer-based inverters. Additionally. high frequency, transformerless inverters do not provide any galvanic isolation between its DC boost stage circuitry and its AC output which can allow high amperage DC current to pass through to your EV's onboard charger and damage it. You may be able to use a high frequency inverter to charge an EV short term, but it would just a matter of time before the MOSFETs or IGBTs in this inverter fail and you can kiss your EV's onboard charger goodbye.
A much better and safer choice if you want to charge your EV with solar is to use an inverter or power station that uses low frequency, transformer-based technology in its design. Low frequency inverters can handle high surge loads for at least 3x their continuous rated capacity and they can do this repeatedly, without sustaining damages to their MOSFET transistors, for minutes, rather than the milliseconds that a high frequency inverter offers. And because low frequency inverters use a transformer, they provide galvanic isolation which protects your EV's charger. That's why the big-name brand inverter manufacturers like Schneider Electric, Outback Power, Sigineer Power, Magnum Energy and Victron Energy and others, all use a low frequency topology in their design.
The output of my inverters feeds a sub panel. That panel has a 50 amp breaker in it that feeds the car charger outlet. The breaker will not let more than 50 amps pass through, so I will be fine if there is a malfunction in the inverters.
This is awesome. Could you give a rough estimate on the total cost of your system?
I would say it’s about $20k
Funny how the INSTALLATION COSTS of these systems is rarely mentioned in respect of running cost savings and do not provide for ANY SAVINGS until the claimed savings have paid these installations costs off which is often upwards of ten years.
Most of these sort of reports come from people living in areas having long sunny days and would not be possible in most areas of latitude.
If you read the comments and watch all the videos you would know what the costs are. Right now you can get it all for less than $20K. That is your cost to set yourself free from the control of the electric companies. It's like buying or starting a business. Are you saying you are not making a profit until all of the loans are paid off when you start or buy a business? No, no one does that. This is a business. Also, I can power my entire home when there is an outage. That has a lot of value to me.
Also, I am in Pennsylvania. It that enough latitude for you? More than half of the country is south of me.
Those two, low cost, transformerless inverters don't provide any galvanic isolation between their DC boost stage and their AC output, so all its going to take is for a MOSFET to short to ground and you'll send high amperage DC current straight into your Tesla's onboard charger which will not only fry it, but also void your Tesla's warranty.
My warranty will be just fine. Tesla's powerwall is also high frequency transformerless inverters. Did you not see Will's reply to your rant??? So, explain that smart guy! Also, how many times are you going to spam my comments with this chicken little "the sky is falling" narrative? Have some faith my guy!
Did you need to do anything special for the ground neutral bond? Sometimes my Tesla charger shows the red led with the lv6048. Have you run into that issue? Thanks
Great question! Yes, Tesla's require a ground-neutral bond. The output of my 6048s goes into a sub panel. I have made the bond there just as it is done in your typical electrical panel. Because of this, I do not keep my system connected to my house electric. It is not good to have more than one ground-neutral bond in a system. You can do it, but there could be issues if you had a short.
@@SolarCannon I will make the bond at the subpanel as well. Thanks for the help.
@@Code_hack_ any time! Happy FREE charging!!! LOL! They really hate that I call it free and I love it! hahaha!
Just to clarify, it does not take a fault to cause issues with multiple ground neutral bonds in your homes electrical system. The point of having the ground and neutral bonded is so that fault current has a low resistance path back to the source so as to trip overcurrent protection devices and clear the fault. Your neutral conductor is always carrying current, but your ground should only carry current momentarily during a fault. If you have 2 neutral ground bonds your ground conductor will share current with the neutral between the bonds, possibly energizing equipment and posing a shock risk.
TL,DR only ever have one bond in an electrical system, and in a system connected to your utility it will be at the first point of disconnect by code. In a completely self derived system, as in one not connected to utility at all, the bond should be either made by the inverter itself or at the first point of disconnect from the inverter. Also, in the case of parallel inverters it is important to make sure that only one inverter is making the bond.
Are you using both inverters in parallel? So you have a 12kw output?
yes, 2 inverters currently in parallel with 12k output. I have a 3rd I can install and get 18Kw output They are MPP solar 6048
Can you share your settings for your lv6048? I just got my one setup and still trying to dial in the mppt settings. How are they working now that it’s been about a year since this video? Thanks for sharing.
Also, does it go right from the panels into the car? Or does it go from the panels, into the battery, then into the car?
it goes panels to inverter/charger to 6 110 KWH 48v batteries. Then when I come home after work it goes from batteries through inverter to car.
He showed his whole setup. He's using his Tesla charger so he's going DC to AC and back to DC. I really want to know if you can do direct DC to DC so it's more efficient. I can't seem to find an answer on that. You'd think you can go directly with the right voltage and charging adaptor because, after all, you're just charging batteries inside the car as you would normally charge in a home solar setup.
@@ChristmasEve777 i was looking at nacs dc fast charges on Alibaba a while ago and they started at around 8 grand for a pretty slow one
Is a Inverter needed though when the cars can take DC?
yes, unfortunately, no production electric vehicles (that I know of) allow you as a user to feed the vehicle straight DC current. They only have AC chargers.
Cool
thank you!
Hey Dave, does your Tesla charger blow away when it's windy?
Nope! Check out my ground mount video to see how it is anchored to the ground.
Oh man, you need more panels.
I know!!! Can't have enough panels in my opinion!! I am moving, and might have to use the roof on the new house (HOA), so I will be limited, but it is a single story house, so the roof is huge!
This is why our president needs to be pushing solar down the country’s throat right here 👏🏼 that’s a lot especially during summer time my AC sucks the battery in my Tesla but is still 3x cheaper to supercharge compared to combustion vehicle.
credits are definitely nice! I think we are still at 30% back as a credit.... maybe it went down a bit, but that is a nice incentive.
What watt panels are you using and where did you get them?
I have 10 BlueSun 460watt panels and 12 330 watt Trina panels. I got the BlueSun from signature solar and the Trina from watts247.com
@@SolarCannon Thanks for the reply.
@@SolarCannon I have 26 of the Blue Sun 460 watt bifacial panels and 2 of the SunGold Power 6048s at 6k each. You have more battery capacity that I do. I have 8 of the Ampere Time 200AH PLUS batteries. I ordered a model Y 3 weeks ago and take delivery this Saturday. Looking forward to ending my time at the pump and spending my $ on gas.
💪🏻
word up my friend!
How much did your system cost?
At the time, all parts were in the $20k area, but now you can get the same for much less. Signature Solar has an amazing kit including 12800 watts of solar with 2 inverters and (4) 100ah 48V batteries with cabinet for $14k. That is a LOT of solar power, and not enough battery in my opinion, but you could possibly call them to customize the kit. I have 8500 watts and 660AH of battery. here's the link:
signaturesolar.com/complete-off-grid-solar-kit-eg4-6000xp-12000w-output-48v-120-240v-split-phase-12800-watts-of-solar-pv-kit-e0009/
Imagine if Tesla offered to sell a solar top up system with the cars for say £$3000 - £$5000. Then, that gives people more incentive to choose a full home Tesla panel system, that could then add to something like this
That would be great!
Hi Dave i have ideas maybe we can talk about 💯💯
This is exactly what I want for my Hummer EV. Solar panels are cheap. I have 4kW worth of them on my roof. My problem is I live in suburbia with a TINY lot. I can't do much more than 4kW for the house and my vehicle. I really need to move so I can have my dream... to power my house AND my Hummer for free.
you could use used panels as fencing or attach them to your wooden fencing if you have that in your yard
look into tracking systems. They rotate to face the sun all day and can really multiply your ouput!
Cost for a system like that?
about $20K depending mostly on how much battery you need/want.
Yeah, how much did that whole setup cost? Willing to bet it’s not worth it for most people.
I agree that the ROI on this strictly for getting "fuel" for the cars is a loooong return time. However, the other thing this system provides is full home power backup (see my other video on this). I can run my entire house on this system in the event of a power outage. So, you could look at it as an insurance against power outages due to storms or maybe one day hackers? Knowing I am not reliant upon "the grid" gives me a peace of mind that makes it worth it to me.
I just love how everyone thinks and says "charging this" or "charging that" "running this" or "running that" for "FREE"...
You must've forgotten in your initial investment, just remember, NOTHING is ever "FREE", there ALWAYS a cost associated...
Sun is for free, just use it. Costs per kWh are much cheaper than other sources. And you're independent.
@@reviewmirror Nope...
@@wipatriot510 lol. Good point.
It's free energy because there is an initial investment. Cope.
There is a cost of entry to any business. I like this cost because once I pay, it cannot be raised on me. Has your electric bill gone up every year like mine? Are the increases getting larger and larger like mine? I will not be at their mercy for the cost, or the availability. No outages for me! Also, by the time it is "cost effective" to buy solar panels because electricity has gotten too expensive, it will be too late because the panels will go up in price to offset. Panels are cheap now while electricity is cheap. Think about it. buy now!!! Remember what happened to gas prices? Electricity is the new gas. Once everyone is hooked on it, they will raise the prices through the roof. You will be saying "when I was your age, electricity was 15 cents per kilowatt hour sonny boy! I can't believe it is 3 dollars now you little whipper snapper!"
35 KW of battery power... You sick son of a ** hehe jk. Thats quiet a lot. Very nice
lol! I love it!! Crazy like a fox!
You say "free" in the title however I wonder how much per kw your paying after the cost of the setup and how long it will take to get to to the break even point. In either case it is very nice, and with that kind of battery power and solar you could likely run your entire house.
I can run my house with it! I have a video where I show all of those details. Check it out! As for the return, it would be a while just counting the mileage on the cars, but when you add in the fact that it also can run the house in the event of an outage, the value goes way up in my opinion.
120 miles a day for free! How do I get all that equipment (and the land to put it on) FREE? Isn't that like saying 'I won the lottery!' after winning $50,000 before taxes, after spending $162,000 on tickets?
well not really because there is no ROI on a lottery ticket. This will eventually pay for itself and then much more. In the mean time, I can also power my home in the event of an outage, and I am not victim to the constant price increases that the electric companies keep rolling out. At the rate they are increasing, this will be paid off in half the time I originally expected. They don't control me. I like that.
Nice video don't listen to the haters 😆
I love the haters too! Maybe even more! The best is when I run into someone who wants to tell me these electric vehicles are a scam or government control and then I have to remind them how dependent on that gas pump they actually are.
@@SolarCannon you making them cry friend 😆
It's easy to be green if you've got the money...
yeah, unfortunately they have us held down pretty well.... it takes a lot of effort to rise up and get out from under their thumb! If you want it bad enough, you can achieve anything. I was poor growing up. I fought hard and found success by never giving up. I am 49 now, and can finally make some of my own choices because of it.
It won't be long before you absolutely fry your EV's onboard charger by using that high frequency, transformerless inverter. Because there is no galvanic isolation between the inverter's DC boost stage and its AC output. All it will take is for the AC output monitoring circuitry to fail and one of the MOSFETs in the inverter's H-Bridge circuit to short to ground, and this high frequency inverter can send dangerous, high voltage, high amperage DC current straight to your EV's onboard charger which will not only damage it, but can also set your EV's charger on fire.
You may be able to use your high frequency inverter to charge your EV now, but it's just a matter of time before the MOSFETs or IGBTs in your inverter fail and you can kiss your EV's onboard charger goodbye. A much better and safer choice if you want to charge your EV with solar is to use an inverter or power station that uses low frequency, transformer based technology in its design. Low frequency inverters can handle high surge loads for at least 3x their continuous rated capacity and they can do this repeatedly, without sustaining damages to their MOSFET transistors, for minutes, rather than the milliseconds that a high frequency inverter offers. And because low frequency inverters use a transformer, they provide galvanic isolation which protects your EV's charger. That's why the big name brand inverter manufacturers like Schneider Electric, Outback Power, Sigineer Power, Magnum Energy and Victron Energy and others, all use a low frequency topology in their design.
Jeez dude! Such doom and gloom! You are harshing my buzz with all of that. I think assuming that evil combination of items happening simultaneously is enough of a low probability that I will just roll the dice. Output monitoring circuitry fail AND one of the MOSFETs in a completely different circuit to short to ground simultaneously..... I think I'm good. If that happens, I will play the lottery the same day and probably win, so I will buy all new stuff. Thanks for the heads up though!
😂😂😂 omg this comment is hilarious. Tell that to Tesla because their power wall is a high frequency tranformerless inverter. Man the ignorance in UA-cam comments is wild.
What else should I criticize. Where to start 😂
Comments like this are why my channel exists. So much ignorance
And why did people upvote this comment? Weird.
😅 . So has ai started to run your evertthing yet ? it did mine . 😅
not that I know of..... maybe they don't want me to know! lol!
Not free....... prepaid $45,ooo. dollars worth of charging capability. 7 years to recoup cost. in 10 years you will pay another $10.000.00 dallars in maintenance. how much is your time worth maintaining the system.
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Actually a system like this is around $20K. It also serves as a full home backup including running my air conditioning. I value energy independence. Has your electric bill gone up recently? I am sure it has, and will continue to do so. Now is the time to buy.
It’s cheaper bud. You’ve got more homework to do
We do not own an EV. The reasons are obvious. We have a large 16kw solar array charging two banks of LIFEPO4 batteries, storing 52Kw of power, with twin Sol-Ark 12k EMP inverters. The easy math on mileage for a Tesla is 3 miles per kilowatt. If you have an F-150 Lighting its 1.5 miles per kilowatt empty and as little as 0.5 miles per kilowatt if you tow anything meaningful. Depending on where you live and the amount of cloudless days with no Geoengineering issues overhead, the current cost for a DIY array and enough batteries to sustain a 60 mile round trip commute to and from work (not including the cost of the vehicle) and factoring in cloudy days, overcast days, and totally obscured days, means the DIY'r needs basically what we have as size and storage, or $50K in off grid electrical equipment to power ONE Tesla that has a 30 mile commute to work. Add a second Tesla and the need doubles ($100K). One F-150 Lightning is double ($100K), or more $$$$, which is more than double what we already have installed. Do a bit of research and you'll discover that the cost per kilowatt to charge an EV is 4-10X higher per kilowatt than residential power rates. Factor in the case where a Tesla needs 10 kilowatts to travel 30 miles. If you charge those ten kilowatts at home you might pay (on average - depending on where you live) 10 cents per kilowatt (we pay 13.3 cents per kilowatt) meaning I would pay $1.33 in residential power to travel 30 miles in a Tesla. If I were to charge at a power station, paying as much as 46 cents per kilowatt, that same 30 miles now costs $4.60. A descent gas powered sedan will approach 30 MPG, and at the current price of gasoline (in our area) $3.20/gallon we actually are saving $1.40 for every 30 miles traveled by NOT owning an EV. The cost of an adequately sized, properly installed, secured, UL approved, grid tied, covered by your insurance company, solar system is at least $50K for a DIY system and double for a turnkey installation. $50K buys (currently) 15,625 gallons of gasoline, which moves a car that gets 30MPG an astounding 468,750 miles down the road. That is five times the lifespan of a Tesla Battery. So, not only do you incur the cost of the Tesla (over $100K) you incur the $14,000 cost of the battery replacement when your Tesla no longer has the legs to get you reliably to and from your places of interest. Thats basically the cost of a engine and transmission replacement in a gasoline powered car or truck however, gas cars and trucks have twice (or more) the longevity of a Tesla battery. Its yet to be seen what the F-150 Lightning will need when it comes to a battery replacement.
I can power my house and my cars with this system. I am not reliant upon the powers that be who dictate the price of gas or electricity. At any moment those prices can skyrocket. They can also become immediately unavailable due to a power outage. Let's say a rival country decides to hack our power grid and take it down for an extended period of time. I will still be warm/cool. My food will stay refrigerated, and I will be able to cook it. I can watch TV, play video games, do the laundry, take showers, use the bathroom, and anything else I may need to do. I will also be able to get around town. Will you? I bought independence. That is priceless, especially after the disaster when it is too late. Pieces of paper or numbers on a computer do not help you when your umbilical cord is cut.
also your math on the system requirements to run a Tesla is incorrect. My system produces 120 miles of range on a sunny day, and you could buy it right now for less than $20k. Here is a kit that could easily do the job with a few more batteries and it is only $14,500:
signaturesolar.com/complete-off-grid-solar-kit-eg4-6000xp-12000w-output-48v-120-240v-split-phase-12800-watts-of-solar-pv-kit-e0009/
That's a far cry from the $50k you claim. Prices are constantly going down. You can also buy a low mileage used Model 3 Tesla for about $20K right now. So... your $50k also included the Tesla with money to spare!
I've been in the solar power production world for 11 years now. I have plenty of experience with real world expectations, and I know perfectly well what the average power production actually is while living in the SE USA. Depending on where a person lives, along with numerous other factors, a system that is "rated" to produce XXX will not produce those numbers day to day. At best, a person should expect xx, and not xxx. So to say you can power your house and cars (plural) with your exiosting system is a bit vague. Power what exactly? Can you power your primary HVAC system , water heater, all of your lights, AND charge your cars with your system? I think not. In fact, I know for sure you can't. Your inverters cannot handle charging ONE Tesla and have enough surge capacity to start a HVAC compressor, much less charge TWO Teslas and start a HVAC compressor. Today, our primary system produced 73.5 Kw. The secondary system produced 23.8 Kw. We stored 42Kw of that power and sold the rest back to the grid at $0.04 cents per kilowatt. Even with all of that power, our twin inverters will only give us 75 amps @ 240 VAC, thats 18,000 watts. It might be able to sustain charging one Tesla and still have the capacity to start our HVAC system during the day, when we have PV and battery power. But lose the sun and its just battery power. Most inverters have a much more difficult time dealing with heavy loads on batteries alone. You should test your system and see just how well it will perform in a grid down scenario with all of your gadgets on, charging both cars, and have the HVAC system kick on. You'll need a flashlight.
@@donfrancis103 watch my video where I run my house from my system. I have a Micro Air soft start on my AC. It starts just fine as you will see in the video. I am not claiming that I run every single appliance and charger simultaneously. That makes no sense. I have 12kw of output at my disposal and actually 18kw if I install my spare inverter. If I needed to make it all work, I can and I have. I can select the amount of current each car draws. It is all about balance.
This Signaturesolar system you cite only has 20K of battery storage. Most homes in the SE USA use more than 40Kw of power every day. We use, on average, 60-100 Kw of power every day and our house is made with insulated concrete forms(very efficient). A system sized correctly for power storage will retain at least 50% of the average power consumed daily. The reason is to get the home through the night hours without the need to start a generator in a grid down scenario. 20Kw is not enough storage to manage all of the loads in any typical all electric home. Take for instance the EG4-LL batteries, each hold 5120 watts which is about the equivalence power needed to recharge a water heater for one 15 minute shower. Most water heaters have two 5500 watt elements (they don't operate at the same time) and the top element kicks on first. It draws 5500 watts (more than 1C on one battery, or 0.25C on four batteries) and depending on the inlet water temperature and the set temperature (typically 120 degrees) the top element will operate for 30 minutes and the bottom element will run for an additional 15 minutes to heat the entire volume to 120 degrees. That means the 45-50 minutes of water heater run time for one 15 minute hot shower will consume 25% of the storage shown in the listing you referenced. If three people take hot showers, 75% of the battery storage will be consumed heating water. The remaining 5120 watts will be insufficient to manage an HVAC system (heat or cool) for the 12 hours of darkness. A standby generator will be needed. 12,000 watts = 50 amps @ 240 VAC. This is not much power. Many HVAC compressors, especially units larger than 4 ton will have a starting surge current that will easily hit 50 amps to start the unit and "run" at around 20 amps or 4800 watts. If there are any other power consumers already drawing a modest current (a Tesla), the inverter will overload. So its not possible if there is not enough battery capacity to sustain that level of draw.
It would cost much cheaper with a gasoline car
Yes, it would be if all I was giving value to was charging the cars. This system can also power my entire house in the event of an electrical outage. That is why it is worth it to me.
Gas is a finite resource sunshine is not therefore cheaper, case closed.
Hoe much for the whole setup?
you can get a setup like this for about $20k. Check out signature solar's offgrid kits. They have a heck of a package deal going on!
@@SolarCannon 😬