Bringing the solar array online
This project has been a few years in the making, but now it is functional and providing almost all the buildings here on the farm with power. My friends from Alabama came back for a second time to get it all working, the first time we had some issues with the inverter I bought. So this time I got a Sol-Ark inverter and very happy with it.
With a battery bank I can dial in how I want to consume power. By charging up these batteries I can pull power any time I want without needing to dip into the grid power if the consumption is low enough. As of right now I have only pulled around 1000w-2000w from the batteries but that is a great start.
The red box by the batteries is a BMS (Battery management system) it keeps an eye on the cells and makes sure they do not over charge or get under charged. Those wires going to each battery monitor them.
Getting the inverter all wired up I left the job to them, but me and my foreman trenched the wires, set up the solar panels and put the batteries in place. So it was a mix of work between all of us.
Luckily we had a disconnect switch at the back of the home, otherwise I would have had the utility company pull the meter. But that did not need to be done for my house.
Going to have the wires cleaned up in the future, but for now its functional and I am glad.
Also going get a electrician to get those wires poking out of the wall property secured. For now we taped them up good and cut the power off at the disconnect switch for those wires. When I wire up a second Sol-Ark inverter I will need those grid wires but now for now we do not need them as everything is going through one service.
I have two distrubtion panels in my house, but only one inverter. So we joined them, but long term I plan on having it done properly with one panel and one inverter for each.
We also need to build a second solar array. Due to me only running two 6 guage DC wires to my house I can pull up to 5500W of power. Though my inverter supports up to 15,000W so I think I am going to add more panels in the future to make use of it all. The farm house is getting most of the power right now as that is how we ran all the wires going through that house. So all the panels are being used, but most of the power is going to a smaller house which is not ideal. My house is limited to one channel of PV, so 5500w is all I can get at the moment. But I will change that by adding more panels and running more PV lines to get the full amount of solar energy.
So lots to do on this still, but its working and helping to offset my power consumption from my utility.
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Wow this is so amazing. Congratulations first for the successful project. Now all the building in the farm will have constant light. I am happy for you. Weldone
Thank you, its really all coming together.
Wow, it such a nice work, I can imagine that solar connection is not an easy work, my brother go through this, he's learning on a very big company, nice work 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 and more grace.
Much appreciated, oh that is cool.. best of luck to him in his career.
I love your self-made version. I just installed mine and went a little more high-tech on the microcontrollers and main control unit. The race is on to see who is fully functional first! I've got more red-tape from the required city and power company inspections. I think you'll beat me on that count, but I may overtake on production later.
https://ecency.com/hive-168869/@ksteem/weekend-solar-install-with-battery
Thanks, very cool! I looked over the post and looks like some heavy duty infrastructure you got installed for that build. I need to calculate my specs and compare.
Ah yeah, I am on agricultural land so the red tape is very minimal for me.
Hope you get yours up and running soon.
Wow big bro, Congrats on getting your solar array up and running. Looks like a lot of hard work paid off. The Sol-Ark inverter and battery system sound impressive. Very good work bro wow
Thanks man, yeah it has been a few years in the making but its all paying off now.
I'm so happy for you big bro.... Keep pushing and you're going to do wonders man
It is a lot of power! I installed in my home solar panels and I dont regret! We feel some independence from the system hahaha
Oh very nice, glad to join others doing the same thing. Seems to be a wise investment.
Very cool! I'm quite a bit jealous of you. I've been wanting solar for quite some time now.
Thanks man, well you can always start small and work your way up. I built a few 300w 2-3 battery arrays before I took the plunge into running my home on it.
I think if I started small I would like to build something for our travel trailer so we could do some dry camping without having to take a generator along.
Hello @solominer
How great that you have all this equipment to create your own energy and have independent electric light when you need it.
You have bought a great investment with a lot of capacity
You are doing a great job processing your own healthy energy.
Thank you, I think it will be well worth it and glad I was able to get my friends to come out to set it all up for me.
How are you dear friend @solominer good morning
This is a real dream come true, your solor equipment is great
I have always wanted to generate my own solar energy. congratulations on having a great inverter, and I hope you can make the second part of the solar panels soon
I take this opportunity to wish you a great weekend.
It sure is amazing, really thankful to have it all working now. Much appreciated, hopefully I will get the rest done eventually.
Hope you had a good weekend too.
This is an amazing project, I hope this bring your power bill to zero. I am planning to do something like this too in the future.
I do hope i can get to zero or near zero soon on my power bill.
Best of luck getting yours set up.
thats a cool setup you have there, I have been thinking about building a backup battery bank for my apartment, blackouts are very common from time to time and peak on power so I got UPS all over the apartment, I cant setup solar panels but a battery bank likes yours wold work so good, is it complicated to get the BMS setup? I have seen many videos and some need to be configure to manage the cells, congrats on the setup 😎✌️
Oh cool, you can surely charge the bank off grid and store the power for when its needed when power goes out.
The BMS had zero configuration as far as I know. Just plug it in and the system works. I know there is a serial port, but we did not use it as far as I know.
We also installed solar plates...but the solar invertor is still remaining...
Your post is great 👍
Oh cool, nice you are working on getting solar power as well.
thank you
Yeah ..this is really so beneficial 😄
With the solar inverter, constant power supply is guaranteed. That is great. I do hope you eventually get the extra inverter to match with the two panels.
Sure is, and thank you.
Great and amazing project. I have read some articles about this multiple solar panels wired at the top of the roof to produce energy and power for home. It's quite expensive but I guess this could help save a lot of money. I hope I can have this one in the future.
Ah nice, yeah I see many people doing roof top mounting. Luckily I had the space to do a ground mount setup.
Hope you get one too.
One day I want to have solar power, I hate to pay 400-dollar light bills.
I feel ya, during the summer the power bill was quite bad here too.
It is very important that you cultivate technology together. Technology can increase the productivity of farmers. The farmer should cultivate with that technology. You are increasing your farming facility by installing solar panels in the field. Your work is very commendable. @solominer
It has been a lot of work but well worth it I think.
I’m curious though how do you learn to do so much? You can literally pass as a FIXER
Oh the guy that installed my solar told me this.
wow it's great can i ask how much the cost for these devices is
The inverter costs around $7000
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STOPI appreciate your work on renewable energy. I also want to make breakthroughs and studies on this subject. It is necessary to reduce dependence on the state and institutions for energy.
Thank you, best of luck getting there as well.
I went on a sort of vacation over the weekend... and ...
WOW!
Thanks for the education, solo!!!