Jest Went Off GriD

[jazzy]

i own my place and have been on an enphase grid tie system that worked pretty good. alwasy wnted to be grid free and finally was able to get it done. it is a good feeling.
for heat i use a wood stove, hot water is electric, no dishwasher or dryer. propane stove for cooking. i use some small fans in window from end of may to end of sept or so,.

i got a couple jackery solar generator and solar panels that ive used for years for when the power is out in winter to recharge things.

this is a new adventure.

id like to add a moderate verticle wind turnbine to do a trickle charge for the larger jackeries so i alwasy have one charging and 1 for use. i get alot of wind up here. im thinking it could be a half way decent backup.


the longest ive been without power was 4 days in a winter storm. wasnt fun but i wAs ok.

any tips or pointers qould be welcome.

 

[LadyLocust]

i own my place and have been on an enphase grid tie system that worked pretty good. alwasy wnted to be grid free and finally was able to get it done. it is a good feeling.
for heat i use a wood stove, hot water is electric, no dishwasher or dryer. propane stove for cooking. i use some small fans in window from end of may to end of sept or so,.

i got a couple jackery solar generator and solar panels that ive used for years for when the power is out in winter to recharge things.

this is a new adventure.

id like to add a moderate verticle wind turnbine to do a trickle charge for the larger jackeries so i alwasy have one charging and 1 for use. i get alot of wind up here. im thinking it could be a half way decent backup.


the longest ive been without power was 4 days in a winter storm. wasnt fun but i wAs ok.

any tips or pointers qould be welcome.

I just wanna say Rock on! Good job. You’ll be better off in the long run getting the glitches worked out now.

 

[angie_nrs]

'hot water is electric'
Is your electricity produced by solar?

How do you wash and dry clothes?

 

[jazzy]

'hot water is electric'
Is your electricity produced by solar?

How do you wash and dry clothes?

i have a hot water heater for dishes, showers, etc. i have an electric washer for clothes but usually only use cold water for that. i hang clothes-sheets-towels up to dry. got a clothes line out the back door and some hanging rackes inside. havent had a dryer for almost 20 yrs--just dont need it

all my electric is produced by solar. my grid tie system worked very well and i usually made more than i used and it got sold back to the elect company for about half wehat they charge customers. on average it did well but i had to pay a $30 month service fee and then wahtever i might have used above what my panels produced--never too much.
but now i have more panels and a big battery bank
its kinda neat..

 

[Magus]

You go Jazzy!

 

[viking]

I avoided anything to do solar wise with the power company, no grid pay back, don't trust them in that regards and as it is, presently our grid bills are still not that bad and when the time comes to stop using grid power I'll to come up with maybe a demand hot water system or do a heat coil bonded to the wood stove, probably just put a big metal container on top of the stove for hot water. we'll survive.

 

[SLADE]

We have a stainless loop in our wood cook stove that feeds into a 40 gal hot water tank.
It makes more hot water than we need.

 

[Pearl]

We have a stainless loop in our wood cook stove that feeds into a 40 gal hot water tank.
It makes more hot water than we need.

Sonya's woodstove heats her hot water! Guess I need to look into that!!

 

[jazzy]

We have a stainless loop in our wood cook stove that feeds into a 40 gal hot water tank.
It makes more hot water than we need.

wow ive heard of that before but didnt know it wrked that good. gonna look into that, thanks!

 

[Peanut]

wow ive heard of that before but didnt know it wrked that good. gonna look into that, thanks!

I'm happy for you! Thought this was interesting... a rectangular stainless tank. Could you strap this on the side of your wood heater, maybe something smaller?

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/camp-chef-cylinder-stove-hot-water-tank
--------------------------------------------



Here's some 'diy' info, interesting. Copper pipe is pricey though, don't know where to get stainless tubing. Stainless tanks are fairly common, used everywhere.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/wood-stove-water-heater-zmaz76ndztak/

 

[jazzy]

I'm happy for you! Thought this was interesting... a rectangular stainless tank. Could you strap this on the side of your wood heater, maybe something smaller?


View attachment 117535


https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/camp-chef-cylinder-stove-hot-water-tank
--------------------------------------------



Here's some 'diy' info, interesting. Copper pipe is pricey though, don't know where to get stainless tubing. Stainless tanks are fairly common, used everywhere.

https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/wood-stove-water-heater-zmaz76ndztak/

THAT is way cool! gonna show this to my son and see if he can help me. my wood stove is my only heat and its in the living room but there is room on one of the sides i might be able to fit this.
thank you so much!
i like the idea of simplifying things as much as possible.

not gonna give up my electric kettle tho, lol its spolied me having almost instant hot water for my coffee in the morning

 

[SLADE]

The loops are available online. We have a single u loop and don't need more.
It goes in the fire box on the side.
About 400 bucks for that simple little thing but pays back big time.

 

[jazzy]

things have been going pretty good . the batteries on average are fully vharged by around 12 noon after night usage. but i noticed something odd the solar guy says hes not heard of before


om occasion--mostly mid afternoon the light in my room--led bright white sometimes starts flicker. today while vac sealing some things someone used the microwave to heat a sandwich--2 min cycle--the sound of the vac sealer machine started to warble and the light inside the microwave started to flicker. dont know about my room cause the light was off.



lasted a very short moment--its happened a couple times when the washer is on using hot water, the led lights in upstairs bathroom start to flicker. it does end but its annoting.

any ideas? my wiring?

 

[Weedygarden]

Good for you, Jazzy!

Do you cook on your wood burning stove, or do you have somewhere else to cook?
My concern about wood burning stoves is the heat in the summer. I think an outdoor kitchen or a summer kitchen is a good alternative.

 

[Mountain trapper]

We went solar on our place when we built our house. We're about 4 miles from grid power so there wasn't any other choice. First I put up 10- 295 watt panels on a tall 8" schd 80 pole mount, inverter, battry bank and a 12kw diesel generator with an auto start. They provided about 80% of our electric needs year round. During fall, winter and spring the generator would run an average of 4 hours a day to supplement our electric needs. This summer I added 4 new panels at 420 watts each. Last summer I added a new battery bank of 12 - 2 volt batteries with 1169 amp hours each.
We have a propane tankless water heater, our stove and dryer is propane, we heat with wood and we have backup propane furnace with a heat pump for central AC. Our well pump is run off a separate 12kw propane generator, also with an auto start.
With the addition of the new solar panels and the battery bank, we're getting about 99% of all the electric we need.
Our house is about 1700 sqft, with 2 refrigerators, washer/dryer and 2 chest freezers. All modern appliances. Plus this system powers the shop and my fur shed too. We're very happy with this system. We're able to live like anyone else does that's on the grid.
I've thought about installing a wind turbine too. We get a lot of wind in the fall, winter and spring. Need to do a little more research to figure out what to buy.

 

[Neb]

things have been going pretty good . the batteries on average are fully vharged by around 12 noon after night usage. but i noticed something odd the solar guy says hes not heard of before


om occasion--mostly mid afternoon the light in my room--led bright white sometimes starts flicker. today while vac sealing some things someone used the microwave to heat a sandwich--2 min cycle--the sound of the vac sealer machine started to warble and the light inside the microwave started to flicker. dont know about my room cause the light was off.



lasted a very short moment--its happened a couple times when the washer is on using hot water, the led lights in upstairs bathroom start to flicker. it does end but its annoting.

any ideas? my wiring?

Based on what you observed I would your inverter is getting over loaded.

Did U say you had an electric water heater?

Ben

 

[viking]

things have been going pretty good . the batteries on average are fully vharged by around 12 noon after night usage. but i noticed something odd the solar guy says hes not heard of before


om occasion--mostly mid afternoon the light in my room--led bright white sometimes starts flicker. today while vac sealing some things someone used the microwave to heat a sandwich--2 min cycle--the sound of the vac sealer machine started to warble and the light inside the microwave started to flicker. dont know about my room cause the light was off.



lasted a very short moment--its happened a couple times when the washer is on using hot water, the led lights in upstairs bathroom start to flicker. it does end but its annoting.

any ideas? my wiring?

What kind of inverter do you have? I noticed in the owners manual of our Magnum Energy inverter it has some warnings about interference, this comes from the FCC, it's probably because of the pure sine wave frequencies being generated for 60 hertz may have harmonics that can effect other electronics in a home and being that LED bulbs are a diode they might pick up on those harmonics, if you continue to have problems you may need to install a suppressor from the inverter to the electrical feed to your home, suppressors are usually made up of copper windings around an iron core, called a choke and often use capacitors to smooth out any spiking or odd frequencies.

 

[kd4ulw]

lasted a very short moment--its happened a couple times when the washer is on using hot water, the led lights in upstairs bathroom start to flicker. it does end but its annoting.

any ideas? my wiring?

I would think it’s the load on the inverter. How many watts can it handle?

 

[jazzy]

thanbk you all for the idea of checking the inverter. solar guy is coming over monday to check on things and i will ask him. im sorry im not smart on electric stuff--i will ask him about the watts and etc. i did decide to get one more battery to add

just checked the paperwork---
says i got EG4 6500 X 2 SPLIT PHASE OFF GRID HYBRID INVERTERS

got no idea
i got 4 batteriesEG4 48volt lifepower4 battery
10 - 250 w panels added to the 10 200w panels i alredy had. so i got 20 now.

i do have an electric hot water heater. i use hot water for washing my dishes ands for showers. i rarely use hot water for the washer, mostly cold water.



weedy i only cook on my wood stove in cold weather id put the hot water kettle on there first thing when i start a fire in the am. during the day ill have a pot of stew going all day when its cold enough to keep a fire going all day. makes the place smell good. my sister in MO lives real rural and has a wood stove for heat and years back made an outdoor kitchen for canning and baking. she likes it alot.

i have a solar oven i use in hot weathger and learned to use it alot. works great on my porch getting full sun. i love mine.

 

[Caribou]

thanbk you all for the idea of checking the inverter. solar guy is coming over monday to check on things and i will ask him. im sorry im not smart on electric stuff--i will ask him about the watts and etc. i did decide to get one more battery to add

just checked the paperwork---
says i got EG4 6500 X 2 SPLIT PHASE OFF GRID HYBRID INVERTERS

got no idea
i got 4 batteriesEG4 48volt lifepower4 battery
10 - 250 w panels added to the 10 200w panels i alredy had. so i got 20 now.

i do have an electric hot water heater. i use hot water for washing my dishes ands for showers. i rarely use hot water for the washer, mostly cold water.



weedy i only cook on my wood stove in cold weather id put the hot water kettle on there first thing when i start a fire in the am. during the day ill have a pot of stew going all day when its cold enough to keep a fire going all day. makes the place smell good. my sister in MO lives real rural and has a wood stove for heat and years back made an outdoor kitchen for canning and baking. she likes it alot.

i have a solar oven i use in hot weathger and learned to use it alot. works great on my porch getting full sun. i love mine.

You have a 48V system. To enlarge your system you need 4 batteries. A single battery won't help you.

 

[jazzy]

i have 4 already and getting one extra. so far what i got is working. even on a semi cloudy day all batteries are fully charged by -1:30 after being used overnight.. i was thinking of 2 extra instaead of just the one---- would that be smarter?

 

[Bacpacker]

Batteries do better as a matched set.

 

[jazzy]

ive heard that before so ordered one more of the same i already have. is that what you meant?

i just keep thinking when things fdall apart i know all my kids and grandkids will come here--will have at least 12 folks and thinking extra would be a good idea.

 

[Biggkidd]

You can set your system up so that the panels are heating water any and every time you have more power than you need. I also recommend a larger than average hot water tank.

 

[viking]

Batteries do better as a matched set.

If you do add new batteries, they are best added where there are multiple batteries to a bank, I've done that in the past, say you have four banks with four 6 volt batteries each and you want to add another bank, pull one battery out of each older bank and use three of those batteries with a new battery for the new bank and put a single new battery in each bank, I recommend that you use a battery hydrometer to check on the three old batteries before installing them in a new bank, a hydrometer can show just what kind of condition the older batteries are, a weak or shorted cells can deplete other batteries in the system.

 

[jazzy]

thanks viking

 

[Magus]

things have been going pretty good . the batteries on average are fully vharged by around 12 noon after night usage. but i noticed something odd the solar guy says hes not heard of before


om occasion--mostly mid afternoon the light in my room--led bright white sometimes starts flicker. today while vac sealing some things someone used the microwave to heat a sandwich--2 min cycle--the sound of the vac sealer machine started to warble and the light inside the microwave started to flicker. dont know about my room cause the light was off.



lasted a very short moment--its happened a couple times when the washer is on using hot water, the led lights in upstairs bathroom start to flicker. it does end but its annoting.

any ideas? my wiring?

Sounds like your converter is underpowered for the load OR a bad wire. I'd try unhooking a source and see if it still flickers, if so its a bad wire somewhere.

 

[Magus]

P.S
You might have a bad battery!

 

[jazzy]

i got an old friend who is an electrician coming over to look at things for me just to double check things

 

[Magus]

Keep us filled in. My issue was a weak battery.