Off Grid Living / Camping > Off Grid Living / Alternative Housing
New to solar and this board
556Phenom:
I've been looking all over for an answer to a question. Tired of getting condescending replies, so after finding this site and reading a few posts, I noticed there are some decent folks here, so decided to create an acct and ask away.
I bought a kit that contained 8 250watt monocrystalline panels, a MidNite Classic MPPT Charge Controller-200, a MidNite Solar Combiner Box, 2 MidNite Solar 12A Circuit Breakers, and 4 200ah batteries. Problem is that the kit didn't come with an inverter. I've spent some time looking at different inverters that Amazon sells, but there are a range of reviews, and a ton of them are from electrical engineers delving too deeply into technical jargon that's way over my head. They assume everyone has taken them apart and knows what each individual component on the circuit board is and does.
Never having had a solar system, I'm not familiar with the different brands of inverters, but I'm looking for a 24v, 5k watt inverter. It's for an off-grid system that I intend on using to power a cabin type building out on our farm. TV, PC, wall-mounted AC/heater, small fridge etc...
Any help on which brands aren't total junk, is greatly appreciated.
rossw:
Hi, and welcome to the forum.
--- Quote from: 556Phenom on January 14, 2016, 11:41:18 am ---Tired of getting condescending replies
--- End quote ---
There's a lot of it about, unfortunately.
--- Quote ---and 4 200ah batteries.
--- End quote ---
I'll make a potentially dangerous assumption and assume they're lead-acid.
--- Quote ---Problem is that the kit didn't come with an inverter.
...
I'm looking for a 24v, 5k watt inverter. It's for an off-grid system that I intend on using to power a cabin type building out on our farm. TV, PC, wall-mounted AC/heater, small fridge etc... on which brands aren't total junk, is greatly appreciated.
--- End quote ---
You haven't told us where you are (even a country) - which is probably important :)
Some of us run 50Hz/240V, I'm guessing (again, a dangerous thing!) that you're in the USA so 120V/60Hz ?
Things you might like to consider and add to your post include if you will be there all the time, want power constantly on/available or if it's just a "weekender", if you want an inverter that will go into "power-down" mode and periodically wake up to check for a load, if you know the difference between MSW (semi-square-wave, can be pretty hard on equipment) or PSW (pure-sine-wave, like the grid delivers - better but more expensive), if you want (or need) to be able to monitor and/or control it remotely etc.
Cheers,
RossW
bj:
Welcome.
Mostly just an echo of Ross's comments. Most of the time, too much
information is better than not enough.
WooferHound:
That's a nice setup . . . I would add more batteries to help get you through the bad weather
556Phenom:
Hi again. Thanks for all the replies. I live in the burbs north of Houston TX, but our farm is a couple hours away.
The batteries are UB-4D, 12v 200Ah, AGM. I'm looking for a pure sine wave inverter. The charge controller has remote access that I can use over the net to check up on the status of my system. Right now it's a weekend system, but in the near future it will have to be a full time system. I'd like an inverter that could go into a sleep/power down mode, that periodically wakes to check on things.
Hope this helps a bit more. If you need any additional info, please, just let me know, and I'll get what I can.
Thanks again
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