Off Grid Solar Power System-Arizona

[mdd0127]

SOLD!


If you've been thinking about installing a solar power system here's an excellent deal.
I could probably get all of this stuff shipped within the continental US for $500-700 but I'd much rather deliver it in person so this is really a deal for those in central Arizona. Located in Camp Verde, AZ but can be delivered to Phoenix or Flagstaff. The price is $3400.

I used this system for the last year to power a mobile machine shop and never ran out of juice. It uses top quality components and is designed for an off-grid application. I sold the truck that it was installed in and I need to downgrade to a smaller setup now so this system is up for sale!!! This system will power some lights and a small air conditioner all day and can also power large power tools and appliances intermittently.

System consists of:
10 Kaneka 60 watt, 67 volt, .9A panels = 600watt array
Midnight Solar Combiner with breakers and ac/dc lightning arrestors
Outback MPPT60 Charge Controller
Battery Bank with box and wiring using 8 Trojan T-105 6v 220ah batteries Total capacity 12v 440ah!!!
Sunforce 2500 watt continuous, 4500 watt peak, Pure Sine Inverter
AC breaker box
Trimetric RV Battery/usage monitor

This setup cost well over $5k and has performed flawlessly!
I can also install the system at your location for a very reasonable fee!

I'm open to offers/trades so if you need this setup, don't be shy and just make me an offer!

Here's a video showing most of the major components. Please skip to the end for the solar stuff. The machine tools and truck have been sold.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BW2Hlz2X2FU&list

Video of the panels:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jotdl3kq ... re=channel

[mdd0127]

New Price!!! If you can bring cash and come pick it up within 7 days....... $3,000!

I need to sell this stuff asap!

Will sell solar panels with combiner ($950) and or battery bank ($850) separately!

[amberwolf]

That would be a really good deal for someone that uses little power, like me, as it could likely supply nearly half of the power used most of the time, and save a fair bit of money on electric bills.

As an example, I typically have a bill of $40-$50 from November thru May-ish. June goes up $10 or so. July can double June's, and August easily triple or quadruple June's, with September a close second, and October up to double June. Depends on the weather and what me and the dogs can handle.

That's 260-410KWh/month Nov-Jun, peaking at up to nearly 1500KWh/month in August. The "smart meter" was only installed this past July, so I don't have daily data before that, and only the last week of July, but even in August the daily usage isn't more than 60KWh and that's a big peak, with most days at only 30-40KWh max. During times like now, it's about 8KWh/day average usage, and peaks of 10-12KWh.

That means that if i did my math right, this system on battery only could probably supply a tenth of that usage in summer, and more than half of typical usage for a lot of the cooler months.

Personally, I could probably cut my power consumption another couple hundred watt-hours, but not much more without some serious rethinking of how I do stuff here. Still, I could run quite a lot of my household off a system like this, most of the year, and shave a significant amount of cost off the electric bill. If I could save $40 a month on the power bill (optimistically speaking, probably), this system would pay for itself in 75 months, which is a bit more than 6 years. As electricity costs go up, it would actually pay itself off faster, too.


I bet a number of others around ES could, too.


It's too rich for me, personally, but someone here could probably both afford it and use it's capabilities.

[parabellum]

Battery Bank with box and wiring using 8 Trojan T-105 6v 220ah batteries Total capacity 12v 440ah!!!

I think you under specified your battery bank a little. If there are 8 bats 6V 220Ah, then you must have 12V 880Ah or 24V 440Ah bank. Good luck!

Edit: Yeah, thanks AW, edited to mdd0127.

[amberwolf]

Battery Bank with box and wiring using 8 Trojan T-105 6v 220ah batteries Total capacity 12v 440ah!!!

I think you under specified your battery bank a little. If there are 8 bats 6V 220Ah, then you must have 12V 880Ah or 24V 440Ah bank. Good luck!

Not sure how you have my name in those quotes, as I didn't write or quote that in my post....

[mdd0127]

I did under quote the capacity of the battery bank! Doh! Thanks for pointing that out. It is 880ah at 12V.

Someone is coming tomorrow to pick up everything but the battery bank to it will still be available.....or I might just buy heavier axles and install it in my rv!

Thanks for the input AW. I'd be willing to bet that 90% or your energy usage is for air conditioning. Conventionally built homes are really difficult to convert to solar without making major lifestyle changes. If you put a small window ac like 8000 btu in the room you used and only ran that and some lights, this system would provide for all of your power needs.

For those interested in solar that live in the desert, here are some tips to drastically reduce power usage.

1. Open all of your windows at night.
2. Close the windows and the shades in the day time.
3. Get reflective shades or better yet, awnings that shade the windows from summer sun.
4. Add more insulation to your roof and south facing walls.
5. Only cool the rooms you regularly use.
6. Water misters are amazing!

My ex and I rented a 2 bedroom house in Cottonwood last summer and other than adding insulation, we practiced the tips above. Our electric/ac usage was 8% of the year before and it was 106f and muggy for weeks at a time.

If you're more proactive than this and actually design a small, functional, highly efficient space to live in from the beginning, it's very easy to live comfortably on around 5% of the electricity that a conventional 2 bedroom home uses.

The solar system I was selling here would run the window ac in the shop during the heat of the day along with the lights and a computer. I was even able to use larger tools like the lathe and cnc mill intermittently and the battery bank never went below 50%, even with some cloudy days and late nights. Getting by with a relatively small solar system is all about maximum use of minimal space, insulation, and load staggering.

[amberwolf]

I'd be willing to bet that 90% or your energy usage is for air conditioning. Conventionally built homes are really difficult to convert to solar without making major lifestyle changes. If you put a small window ac like 8000 btu in the room you used and only ran that and some lights, this system would provide for all of your power needs.

I use no heating or cooling, other than a box fan or small computer fans, for any of hte low-cost months. I then use the evaporative cooler for the middling months, just whenever it is beyond what I or the dogs can handle. I never use the main house AC, as it would cost about $400/month to run to keep the house at 78F.

Instead, I have window units in the two opposite-end bedrooms. I have a small unknown-BTU unit (3000-4000 I'd guess, at most) in the front window of my bedroom, but it's internal fan does not work, so I have four 115VAC case fans from old 1" VTR rack units on the outside to cool the heated coils, and a high-CFM 48V fan from some server rack case on the inside to pull room air past the chilled coils. It does not work as well as it did with the original fan, but I haven't found a motor I can replace the original with due to space inside it, and axle lengths needed to run the existing fan blades, etc.

I have a similar-sized unit in the other bedroom (the bike parts storeroom, intended to be a workroom but too full of stuff to do that right now), and it is still in good enough shape, or was as of last summer.

Then I have a 10K BTU unit in the bathroom window of my bedroom, which is what I use if I need to seriously cool the bedroom. Since it is shaded by the carport (neither of the others has much shade most of the times of day I'd be using them) it can shed heat a little better than the others and so is probably more efficient. But it does take more power than the other two, even though it runs for less time. I wish the compressor seal and motor connection glass hadn't failed on my original unit, because it was the optimal one for this bedroom, and worked great for years.

I finally have material to make awnings from, but have yet to have time to make them. (the old wood awnings I'd made from scrap fencing disintegrated some time ago). What I'd like to make, if I could do it so that it would survive the winds when they come (like tonight), is to make an awning over teh whole roof, so it basically has a foot or two between the layer of material and frame, and the actual roof. But this would have to be retractable so that in a windstorm I could roll it up and not have it ripped off and swept across the neighborhood. Preferably without having to climb on the roof every time to do it, or having to motorize it (which while a cool idea makes it a lot more complicated). I have ideas for this, but so far insufficient time and energy to attempt a test of the theory.


I have had a plan for years to automate the opening of the windows once the temperature outside drops below that inside, but have never gotten past the basic idea stage. Right now I still go around and do it manually, and setup a box fan in the window next to me here in teh bedroom so that it pulls cooler outside air into the bedroom, and pushes the hotter air inside to the main front room, where there is more natural airflow from front to back of the house to push it (or pull it) outside, replacing it with more cool air.

[dnmun]

the roof above the roof idea is great, my shed would get so hot when we had the hot streak 2 years ago that i would spray the roof with water to cool it off. but it is almost flat with roll roofing on it and the shock of cooling caused the roll roofing to shrink and it tore a crack along the lower edge of the roof. i had to goop up a patch for the crack, seems to have prevented water from getting under the roofing so far. this is the first warm weather we have had since october, barely getting to 65, last week we had a high of 47, low of 30. snow on the hills around portland town. supposed to be a cool spring again this year. how about 8" of rain in march? that's like an entire year in phoenix!!!

[yopappamon]

Someone is coming tomorrow to pick up everything but the battery bank to it will still be available.....or I might just buy heavier axles and install it in my rv!

Glad you were able to find a buyer. I'm still passing through your area around the en d of may. What do you want for the batteries?

[mdd0127]

I'm installing the batteries in my new to me 1977 rv today. It's time for me to get my scene back together!