Must-Have Elements for Off-Grid Power Systems / Solar Power

In this video I will cover the basic components of an off grid power system or solar power system. You'll learn what you need and why 'solar panels' aren't really the main component!
So you think you start with solar panels eh? Well, think again and watch this video on basic components of solar power systems or off grid power systems.
From generators to batteries and Charge Controllers to Conductors all of the components required to build your off grid power system will be gone over in this short video to help you understand what you must have.
#solarpower #offgrid
Need a good water purifier? Check out this one and use Erik40 for a $40 discount here: itehil.com/collections/on-sal...
Lightening can destroy your power system components but this will protect it! tinyurl.com/4mh5p5us www.empshield.com?coupon=oldjarhead
Here are some of the tools I use on the mill, to seal logs and the camera's I use to film videos:
Split Duct for railing: amzn.to/3OSGG7c
Solar panel battery Maintainer: amzn.to/3GQc69G
amzn.to/3MHJWkJ -- My Rite In The Rain note pad, pens etc. It's awesome!
amzn.to/3ILpmNG -- Juice Box Battery (keeps my cameras running)
amzn.to/3uRVubU -- Jackery 500 (how I charge up my batteries)
amzn.to/3ONBa4b -- Anchorseal 2 -- it's what I use!
amzn.to/3tfLGur -- my big cant hook (now in Blue)
amzn.to/3LvOvfm - my small cant hook
amzn.to/3oVnPuK - my main camera
amzn.to/3QoXwZO - This is the media mod I use to get better sound and more
amzn.to/3Umbtur - GoPro Gooseneck Mount
amzn.to/3nXKlpJ - This is how I attach my mounts.
amzn.to/3nOgeRk - Granberg Portable Chainsaw Edging Sawmill
My website www.manleyportablemilling.com
[As many of you may know, making KZbin videos is hard work! It can take this Old Jarhead 10 to 12 hours of editing (and a liberal amount of cussing) to edit one video! To help pay for this the Old Jarhead is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com which may help cover some of the cost of camera gear etc in order to bring these videos to you!].

[@MississippiHomesteadJourney]

This advice is Golden! I've been using solar since 2012. People come up to me and say that they bought 2 Renogy(or another brand) 100 watt panels and ask what can they run with those? lol I always tell people to measure the watts of what they want to power with a Kill a watt meter, then size the batteries and inverter, then the panels and charge controller(s) and tell them that they need a generator for when it's cloudy. From now on I will tell people to watch this video. lol

[@TheOldJarhead]

It's like trying to run a marathon with a pair of flip flops - you need the right gear for the job! Sizing your system properly is key to getting the most out of your solar setup.

[@timothyalanogrady]

Good morning great video on going over the different aspects of solar and pretty much batteries. You should write a book on your experience we're doing the off-grid systems. Thanks for taking to time to share. You and the family have a blessed weekend

[@TheOldJarhead]

Hey thanks!

[@rickreese5794]

Thx ol Jarhead😊

[@TheOldJarhead]

You bet!

[@Ms.Frankenbuilder]

I increased my panels in one area to 600 watts and renogy suggested a 60 amp charge controller. Another interesting video.

[@TheOldJarhead]

I run a 45amp Cc fed by 615 watts of solar that's sending 11.27a at it, but it's sending 35 to the batteries at peak. Then I have an 80amp Outback Cc that I'm sending about 51amps at peak 😀

[@jimmurphy5355]

A lot of people may think “heated” means comfortable for a human. But LFP batteries only have to be kept above 32F. I need my living space to be a lot warmer than that, but lithium batteries can be in an un-heated space if your climate rarely if ever gets below freezing.

[@TheOldJarhead]

Correct and great points.

[@jimmurphy5355]

A bit on the difference between an MPPT controller and a PWM controller would be helpful to the newbies you are addressing.

[@TheOldJarhead]

True. I was thinking that later, as I realized not everyone watched earlier videos where I discussed that! I'll have to remember to do that in future vids. Thanks!

[@TheOldJarhead]

A PWM, Pulse Width Modulation controller must have an array that matches the voltage of the battery bank and is less efficient than an MPPT controller. It utilizes pulses to the batteries, of the power produced by the panels in order to control charging. They are cheaper than MPPT controllers but less efficient. There are some uses however generally for an off grid cabin build MPPT is a better option where efficiency matters and cable runs might be longer than desired. An MPPT controller (Maximum Power Point Tracking) can utilize voltages that are much higher than the battery bank thereby allowing lower amperages and thinner wires/conductors to get from the panels to the controllers. They track the voltage and amperage along the VI curve in order to provide the maximum power they can to the batteries despite production conditions (hazy sky, bad solar angles etc)....in a nutshell. So with an MPPT controller you can charge a 24v battery bank with a 100v solar array :D

[@vincentsgaming]

Hello Jarhead, i had a few questions. Im having issue with my 1/0 9" cable from the battery to the inverter. It is HOT HOT HOT to the touch when i am running my portable ac unit. It runs at 1032watts-1100 watts. So like 80-90amps maybe? I bought it direct from windynation and even their chart shows 1/0 can EASILY support 80-90 amps no problem. Yet my positive cable is super hot. And has even melted some of the rubber for the inverter. Even if its cool and night time 75° outside and no solar input it runs hot. The negative 1/0 cable runs just fine and barely warm. Idk what the issue is. I do run 3 cables to the batteries though as i dont have a busbar yet could that be the issue? The 3 cables running the batteries are the charge controller, the inverter, and another set of 1/0 gauge for the 2x 12v 100ah systems to be in parallel for 12v 200ah total.

[@andysmith8544]

What if I just want to light an unheated, off-grid sawmill shed?

[@TheOldJarhead]

Then a battery, solar panel, charge controller, and some breakers and/or fuses, I'd think. I'll be doing that in the future.

[@andysmith8544]

Yeah, I'm thinking I'll just stick with a 12v system, close to what I'm powering my electric fence with at the orchard.

[@TheOldJarhead]

@@andysmith8544 Basically its all the same minus the inverter

[@jogalingtv.4716]

Nice info im from philippines

[@TheOldJarhead]

Thanks and welcome

[@jamesdiggs6742]

I've got a 24v redodo 100ah battery my old solar went out so im wanting a new one for my ambulance box build not up on solar but trying my bodega12v 75qt and my coffee pot is all i have to power. I've been looking at a victron 100/30 and the Phoenix 1200 getting another battery same everything. What would you do is good enough for what I need sure Thank you for your honesty videos great advice wish i could get it to stick in my head this solar stuff😅

[@TheOldJarhead]

First, thank you for the kind words! Second, Victron seems to make good stuff though I've not used them I've only heard good things. Now, I'm not sure of the average draw off the Bodega but I have to believe it's close to my Smittybilt 75l fridge/freezer and the coffee pot I'm guessing won't be used for a long time? Still, the coffee pot is the worry over the fridge as they can often use a lot of power. A 1000 watt coffee pot will drain 100AH of 24v battery in 2.5hrs whereas the Fridge might take a week to do that. So I guess I'd ask: why not get a percolator? Or camp style drip coffee pot? Use the LPG instead of electric? It's just those coffee pots can be hogs. Maybe yours doesn't use that much power?

[@MississippiHomesteadJourney]

@@TheOldJarhead Great advice, battery power is not good for heating things up. lol

[@jimmurphy5355]

100 watt panels don’t necessarily give you a lot less watts per square foot. I’m helping a friend put together some solar for his double wide mobile home. He’s going to put a total of 24 of 100 watt semi-flexible panels on his carport and porch roofs. The roofs are lightly framed corrugated metal. The 100 watt panels are very light, and suit this application. The larger number of smaller panels also tiles better than a smaller number of larger panels. The larger number of small panels also makes it easier to created strings the are the optimum voltage for the MPPT controller. The downside is a bit higher cost per watt (his panels are costing $64 for 100 watts) and a larger number of connections to make.

[@TheOldJarhead]

Renogy 100w panels are ~42" × 21" vs Solarever 410w panels @ ~68" × 45" So twice as wide and 1.5x taller for 4x the power and that's just the first I saw. Now, yes if 100w panels are in a series parallel config the 4ea needed to get close to this panel would be pretty huge.

[@TheOldJarhead]

So, since I'm a geek ;) -- those panels take up 172 square feet and deliver 2400 watts. A set of BIPro 550 Bi Facial panels delivers 2750w in 139 sqft of space. Again, just being a geek but I don't see yet, a convincing reason to go with 100w panels. I'd rather get 5 panels vs 10 and use less space and get more power. But I realize that doesn't work for everyone :D

[@jimmurphy5355]

@@TheOldJarhead I wasn't in a place where I could look up the specs for the 100 watt panels my friend has ordered - but now I have. Each 100 watt panel is 5.74 square feet. 24 of them add up to a bit under 138 square feet. The bifacial panels you mention are virtually the same area, but make 350 more watts. That's not a trivial difference, but not as large a difference as the 100 watt panels you were assuming. But what is a big difference, is that the semi-flexible panels are very light. About 4 pounds each. 24 of them weigh 96 pounds. A single unit of the BiPro 550 weighs 70 pounds. The BiPro panels are the clear winner in price per watt, and installing 5 big panels is a lot less mounting and wiring than installing 24 little panels - but my friend is pretty sure the tin roof he wants to put the panels on is not strong enough to carry the heavier panels. He's also, for bugetary reasons, starting small and adding panels incremenatlly. He will be putting 6 panels in series. That just about maxes out the input rating of his MPPT controller. His plan is to add 6 more panels at a time as he can. BTW - per your advice, he picked his battery first. I encouraged him to build a 48 volt system, and he's getting a 5.1 kWH rackmount battery as his initial configuration. I helped him find an MPPT charge controller that can handle (with a little margin) up to the 2400 watts of solar he eventually plans to have. His inverter is a hybrid that most of the time will be grid interactive and offset some fraction of his utility power, but can also operate off-grid if there is a power outage, to keep the fridge cold and some lights on. Bottom line - the weight is the dominant factor in his special case - but for most people the big panels would be the better deal by far.

[@TheOldJarhead]

Now that's a great point! Weight on the roof does indeed trump other possibilities and those 100w panels do sound small. Sounds like he's getting good advice!

[@AverageJoe2023]

How many 12 volt 100amp batteries together to run a 3000watt inverter?

[@TheOldJarhead]

You can run the in verter off a 20AH battery. It's just a matter of how long and how many amps it will draw. Usually a 3000 watt inverter isn't pushed too long so unless you are running it at or near max for long periods you don't need much power.

[@neolithicnobody8184]

How many breakers are needed for a system and where do they each belong? Are the breakers the same as household breakers? I have all of the components except the breakers. FYI, the controller is a 100A MPPT, well capable of handling my 400W panel and 2x100Ah LiFePO4 batteries. I have deliberately held off on assembly due to suspecting I'll need the breakers and I want to make sure I DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. I don't want to screw anything up and I want to avoid having to disassemble it once it's put together.

[@TheOldJarhead]

Do you know the amperage of the panel? VoC voltage? Typically, you place the 1st breaker between the solar panel or array and the charge controller. This should be higher than expected amperage. so an 11amp panel could get away with a 15amp breaker. Then, there is a breaker between the charge controller and the battery bank (usually in the main disconnect box) and finally one between the battery and inverter. Same rules apply for breaker size. Look at midnight solar for options

[@neolithicnobody8184]

@@TheOldJarhead 4 panels, 23.6 VoC, 6.8 A per panel. 100 A MPPT, 2x100 Ah LiFePO4 and a 5KW PSW Inverter. Most of what I run is 12V, but I want to be prepared to run something big if I need to. I have 2 other smaller setups without breakers and they do fine, one is 750W Inverter and the other with 1500W, both have 200W Solar input with PWM Control. The one I'm building now will have 400W input with a bigger, better Controller and a Pure Sine Wave inverter that wasn't cheap, so I'd feel safer if it was better protected. I just want to make sure the right stuff gets put in the right place.

[@MississippiHomesteadJourney]

@@neolithicnobody8184 Make sure to get DC rated breakers. I use Midnite Solar as Mr. Jarhead recommends.

[@TheOldJarhead]

I ran a 250a main disconnect (which admittedly is a bit big for what I'm doing but I started at 12v and went to 24v so it was sized for my 12v bank originally). If you have 100a batteries, 2 of them in parallel than you could use a 250a breaker as the main. The solar panels are based on amperages -- so a 7amp string would need at least a 10a breaker (assuming you ran the panels in series) the rule of thumb is to size breakers by multiplying the amperage by 1.25 so 6.8 * 1.25 = 8.5a and as such you could run a 10a breaker.

[@MississippiHomesteadJourney]

@@TheOldJarhead 250 might not be too much for a 24v system. If you look at the surge of the inverter versus the low voltage disconnect of the inverter, it could be that high or higher. Say a 3000 watt inverter that surges to 6000 watts and a 23 volt battery bank and that's 260 amps. Now that is highly unlikely to happen in real life, but theoretically possible.

[@1GREATDANE]

Great Video on Keeping It Simple - I like My 24 Volt Systems, Yes Multiple Systems Implemented Here - Semper Fi @ Indian Creek Ranch o Southern California High Desert 🌴 💦 🌵 ⛩ OOHRAH

[@TheOldJarhead]

Thanks brother! Semper Fi!