New solar system, maximum yield test. How much can we expect? ☀️⚡

[@romeowhiskey1146]

Andy, Please consider installing 4 video camera UP on the various roofs so you won't have to CLIMB up each time. 64 Kwh....insane.

[@XcrGaming-1]

Or a submarine periscope....just a quick peek up there....

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

I thought about cameras but was worried about the additional shading of the poles 😂

[@junkerzn7312]

I don't have enough thumbs for the thumbs-up. Awesome!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Thanks a lot!

[@defjamsgreen]

EVEN THOUGH THE CLOUDS🌥⛅ THAT MORNING WAS OF SOME NEUCENCE , YOU STILL WAS ABLE TO GET SOME GREAT PRODUCTION TO DO THIS AWSOME VIDEO CHARGING THE TESLA . AWSOME .! MAY THE SOLAR BE WITH YOU .

[@dirk_p]

Andy, watching your Videos down under in suny hot Australia is Always Like having a little vacation for me

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Great, thanks Dirk. Thanks for the sub to all my channels, man. That's great support.

[@butchwilliams7637]

OK! It's time for a contest. Which roof can produce the most. 😊😊😊😊👍Cool set up.

[@clarencewiles963]

Letting all the sun go ! Well you need to start somewhere. Thanks again for your work!

[@UnkyjoesPlayhouse]

we have had wet-overcast weather for the last few days, my last good solar day was the 16th when I generated 2.3kw from 4 100w panels, I have more panels to install, just waiting for the weather to clear up here in South Texas. Love seeing your hard work pay off.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

You can never have enough solar, I guess. OK, except for me at the moment. 2.3kWh from 400W panels is pretty good though.

[@excillisbank2611]

Impeccable production ! 😊

[@jasonhensley947]

Awesome test! This really helps when looking at how much solar you really need. Thanks for doing this!

[@catch22frubert]

Great test Andy! I would say a regular cloudy/sunny/cloudy day is just as interesting as full sun all day. I would say its more useful to know what an average day will produce vs knowing what a perfect day will produce. You will have a lot more average days than you will have perfect days. 65Kwh is a lot of energy and the new solar panels are working great. I would like to see you get a nice air compressor and a long air line so you can blow off the leaves and clean the panels for tests like this so you have perfectly clean panels and maximize your power generation.

[@john_in_phoenix]

I use a rechargeable leaf blower.

[@catch22frubert]

@@john_in_phoenix Also a great idea. If you collect some rain water when it Rains this summer, maybe you could use the combination of a leaf blower, a squeegee and some of the collected rain water, and you could get the job done very well in as short a time as possible

[@vallentin-h9p]

@@catch22frubert I think you can the use water only at sunset, when there is no direct sun on the panels and only if their temperature dropped quite a lot from the usual 50-60C. Because using cold water on hot panels can crack the glass. And that is a fire hazard! In Andy's case, as long as there is not a lot of dirt on the panels, a battery operated leaf blower will suffice.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

The leaves come and go with the next breeze. Not worth doing anything about it. It depends on the weather and if the trees drop a lot and wind blows them directly on the roof. They don't affect the production at all.

[@modernnomadtechnology9252]

Nice test. It's hard to run the batteries low on a sunny day:P I feel ya.I run just 1kw of solar. I will soon be bringing online a 1160 ah battery, but I doubt I will fully capacity test the battery. I get just about 5 hours of sun a day. Less than 3 kWh on my best day. It would take me about four days to refill my pack, and we are in the cloudy season for my part of Texas. Tests may have to wait until my summer in Colorado:)

[@wayne8113]

Thanks Andy

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Thanks Wayne.

[@mw0lge]

Andy, such a brilliant system ! Amazing results. Stay charged ! :)

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

I am charged! I need more load😊

[@wideawaketotruth5301]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Hat's off to you Andy

[@1over137]

Andy. A suggestion. Put a remote temp sensor on the back of the central panel in each string. I'm fairly sure you will be impressed by what temperature the panels get to in direct sunlight.

[@antoniopalmero4063]

That’s a great setup, nothing more addictive than looking at electricity being made by your own panels 😊.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

I found the same, could watch this all day long...

[@taulli1]

Oh wow, that is impressive Andy!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Yeah, can't believe how good this works. Even the sparky is excited...

[@georgestoica9916]

Dear Andy! I watched all your episodes. Alwaysed I was impressed! Now with new pannels also. That why I wondering how is it possible even the panels are new. Why you produce so well. Even they have not a good orientation. I recommend to mention in your video your location benefit much better solar irradiance than many other places and this could be one of the reasons you produce so well I've study your case. Great job and keep going !

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Hello, the new panels are far more efficient than the old ones. I'm impressed myself. Orientation and shading have less negative effect then with the old panels. This was something I didn't consider when I was hesitating if I should go with the new panels or not. It was totally worth it.

[@linoliebmann]

Thanks. I am so much looking forward to see results in your Australian Winter. What I am always wondering when watching your Victron System: Could you explain what exactly are your biggest loads during the day and what load is behind DC-Loads and AC-Loads?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Winter will be interesting. We usually have pure sunshine during winter as well but the trees will throw some considerable shading on these roofs. I'm still not convinced it will be enough power to run the whole house during this period. Sure, I'll do a video about AC and DC loads soon...

[@eingeordnet]

INSANE!!! VERY GOOD so far!!!

[@dc1544]

Actually I do not know what my panels will produce. in the AM they pull in fast till batteries are topped off. Then just my loads are covered rest of day. Now I see why you did this test. I moved rest of my brakers to off gird panel thinking I should see spikes in usage. only when Water heater, microwave or a big draw appliance is running my solar intake covers my loads and that is it. How much free energy am I loosing. I may have to do a test like yours. The first day I got my system running I did 33kw into batteries since then It is only what I pull the solar puts back in. You are showing me so much thank you Andy. I will buy you a spat next week when my earning go into account.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

It will be interesting to see what your results are. My system was working the same way as yours and once the batteries are full, the MPPTs throttle down and further energy was 'lost'. With this test, I really wanted to see how much I can expect from the system.

[@FutureSystem738]

Thanks Andy, great stuff! Love it. 👍

[@LarryL619]

I’ve been following you for some time. Made a few battery packs and a small portable solar generator (24v Growatt 3kw) inspired by your videos. This is my dream - to have land, DIY solar roofs and power walls to charge an EV and a partial off grid home. I want to be you when I grow up. ❤

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Hahaha, great to be an idol! You will get there eventually. Star small and expand over time.

[@XcrGaming-1]

Wow 64Kwh in one day!!! I would love to get even half your system installed one day.... Keep up the great videos!!!!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Thank you. I started small but wanted to do this experiment to compensate for shading. Let's see how it goes over time during the seasons. Summer is easy...

[@Dutch_off_grid_homesteading]

Heya, oh wouw that is great to see so much power is produced by those panels. very nicee very very nice

[@tujuprojects]

Get an AC for carage, it eats a lot energy. And lithitum likes cool temp, it gets damaged in too hot.

[@antoniopalmero4063]

I only have 8 x 410w panels 😢, if I get 3kw output I’m doing cartwheels 🤸‍♀️ 🤸‍♂️ .

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That's quite a big system already and a lot of power.

[@hummmingbear]

thanks for adding more charge cycles to your battery for...science!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That does nto matter. I cycle the battery between 60-90% on most days. It will last forever...

[@pawpawcar]

Have you talked about the DC bus and I missed it? Mark 13:50 in video. Thanks Andy. I have followed and set up with the many helpful assists for gui mods. Still new at this!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Not in details. DC load is pretty much everything which does nto go through the Multiplus. It's just a calculation the Victron software does. DC System = Smart Shunt - Multiplus so to speak.

[@dc1544]

Awesome. I learned remove plastic form inverter face so I can read what it was on. Volts and has a decimal point. Turns out in late fall 43 latitude I get 13-16 kw a day. I need to test all panels as one of them is not performing right and it brings all down to 80 watts(on 1 string which also brings amps down on parallel string) so I am loosing 5-6kw a day because of this. Thinking I will just order new panels in the spring to replace 20 of the worse ones. I am learning so much. As you have just get new panels from the start. I only use 13-16 kw a day so this almost covers my load. next summer I am going off gird as your name says.

[@martehoudesheldt5885]

i see more batts in your future. to keep up with the panels. for winter. how long could you run it all on the system as is? days ? hours? weeks?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That's still to be determined. At the moment, I'm burning through energy like crazy as it is free. I would not do that normally (leaving pool pump running 24/7, computer runs all day, ...). I really need to connect the house at some stage to find out, I guess...

[@ronwest7930]

Really nice Andy but I'm more interested in what can be done with 2000 watts of panels and a 200ah battery at 48 volts. Maybe gearing down your system and testing it would help out many lower-budget folks out here.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That is pretty much what I had when I started with the battery 1.0. Should be heaps of videos on the channel with that.

[@peters8080]

I love the infectious enthusiasm you bring to this subject. I am curious have you done any study of the pay back / ROI / LTCO ? There are some that say that electic cars while inexpensive to operate, because of their high capital cost, are not necessaryily cheaper to own over all. And, I have not done the math recently, but 10 years ago any solar system involving batteries had negative pay back times, where the grid was an option.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Thanks Peter. I never did a ROI calculation. It's a bit difficult as I don't have the house connected yet and don't really see the whole potential of the system and what it can deliver. Same with the vehicle, the initial cost was higher but since, I never had a service, maintenance and paid only very little for charging at home (which is now $0 with the new solar system). I'm working on a solution to connect the house to the battery and then we will see how much power and money it really saves. The whole project is more to show what is actually possible from a technical perspective.

[@martijnheeroma5492]

that is a lot.of energy, you could mount some electric veranda heaters, oh wait its bloody hot in Australia. Keep up the good work, greetings from.frozen Sweden

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Yeah, hahaha, heaters are not really that helpful right now. except for a pool heater maybe...

[@cods41]

Very interesting to me as we have have a new ~15kw system here in Bay of Plenty New Zealand. I have 36 x jinko N type 410w panels and I think I have very similar production to you. Mine is grid tied though and supplies our house and charges two electric vehicles.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Nice setup, Matt. Great you already have two EVs. Looking into that right now...

[@DaniPacha]

Incredible !!!!!!!

[@cbromley562]

Very impressive.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

It is mind blowing what this system can deliver. I would have not expected that.

[@davebutler3905]

Good stress test of the new gear! You could set up a public charge point on the roadside!?!?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

No, that would involve going into public space. All the safety regulations 🤦‍♂️ It's a rural area as well, nobody would us it, there is nothing to do here. Such chargers need to be closer to town.

[@davebutler3905]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia You're right... Far too much hassle and red tape. Could you sell the spare power back to the utility grid?

[@jbjensen11]

Great test Andy. I get excited with you. If it was not wintertime here, I would do some experiments myself. NOW I know what a man sounds like, when he simply just can't think of anything else to load his system: 9:52 😀

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

I know, I'm getting far too excited 😂

[@jbjensen11]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Don't change! 🙂

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

@@jbjensen11 I probably won't 😂

[@davesoton20]

It would be interesting to see the output if you had optimisers to allow current to bypass the shaded panels better. Wonder if your daily yield goes up 10% or more.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Optimizers will not help in this situation at all for two reasons: 1. I don't have one long string but many small parallel ones 2. Optimizers only help a little bit when you have panels in one string facing different directions Everything else, they don't bring any benefits. See also this video here from Andreas Spiess more information: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2qxh394lLSMibc I have tested optimizers already with some of my panels and could see huge voltage spikes when combined with a MPPT solar charge controller. They basically fight for the best max power point.

[@XcrGaming-1]

Yes he only has 2 panels in series. If he had 8,9 or 10 panels in series optimizers may help but he would need different charge controllers. I think he built his system and chose components wisely. His daily kilowatt hour average proves that with his heavy shading. I'm glad no trees were harmed during your solar testing Andy!!!

[@TheRonskiman]

Victron actually states not to use optimisers with their MPPT solar charge controllers, as they may damage them.

[@effbee56]

Just a thought- strategic lopping of branches rather than felling trees!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

It won't make a difference and too expensive. There are trees everywhere. It's not just chopping off a branch here and there. They need to be cut in firewood size pieced, removed, cleaned up and the garden to be restored. I have spent all this money for that now in panels instead to start this experiment. I have enough energy even with the trees. For now at least...

[@effbee56]

A bit tongue in cheek! Amazed how good your output with the new panels is despite the shading!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

@@effbee56 Yeah, I'm blown away every day. This morning dark clouds, rain, still outputting 3.5kW. I would have never thought the new panels are that much more efficient than the old ones.

[@einzelkampfer2006]

Nice to see the pool fence solar still in place. 😅 Obviously it's not connected anymore. When you need more load for the next test: dump some heat in the pool water ;-)

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

It is actually still connected to the MPPT inside the garage but not connected to the battery anymore. Would be another 1.7kwh at this point of time. We will use it for the PowerWall 2.1 soon, hence I didn't remove the panels yet. Yeah, a pool heater is on my list...

[@TrevorFraserAU]

Awesome sauce!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Juicy! 😏

[@jamest.5001]

You need to build another battery! Double the capacity!! 💪😆, Then maybe get another charge controller, and build a ground mount for the PV, maybe get a few more of those new panels, maybe a tracker with 8-12 panels on it, if you did that, I'd run a line to the house and a sub panel, allowing a few smaller loads be off grid,

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

I need more load, not more capacity. A bigger battery would not help. The electrician is working on a plan to connect the house but leave the grid solar connected. With the contract in place, it's complicated as you know...

[@jmaus2k]

Looking good. You can also just use some space heaters to use up energy on these tests. A lot easier than trying to run a chipper or find things to charge.

[@stijnmartens9952]

True. Another option: use an electric water heater to store hot water to be used later

[@XcrGaming-1]

Do they have heaters in hot and sunny Australia? I could send you one from Canada... If not 🇨🇦

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

We do have heaters but what would heat up in 40°C🤷‍♂️ The hot water system takes only 3-4kWh/day, less in these hot conditions. Pool heater would be an option, Crypto Asic, AC for the garage maybe...

[@XcrGaming-1]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia I think a nice little mini split a/c unit would be a good DIY project for the Off-Grid Garage and useful in your climate... You gotta find a way to use that power...and make more videos...

[@jmaus2k]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia I am talking air heaters. Commonly used to heat a cold room, but you can just let it run outside and it will still work(as in waste energy) in hot weather. I guess you could also turn on the Tesla heater or AC and leave the windows down.

[@IanSHarrison]

Will be interesting to see what you get at the Solstice. Of interest I used the NREL prediction tool to look at typical energy production mo th by Month and with 30 degree arrays (a bit further south of you at Canberra latitude, December daily production is actually less than Oct, Nov, Jan and Feb. But the NREL Tool does consider a lot of factors and does under predict my system.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That will be interesting. I use the Victron MPPT calculator which gives you a prediction over the year as well. It's under reporting a bit as well which is good. It does nto consider shading from trees though, so that's a factor which I cannot really predict atm...

[@evil17]

Nice. I had to check my output for today after watching this. With a 9.7kw PV grid tied system in Hervey Bay today, pretty much full sun all day, my total output was 60 Kw, to give u some comparison. It will be interesting to see what you produce on ur best & worst days in the next 12 months. Maybe have a go at welding up trailers or something using a homemade 48vdc welding setup to use up a bit of extra juice, Im sure 48vdc welding would probably get a lot of interest on ur channel too. Give me a thumbs up if ur interested in 48vdc welding. Cheers

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That is fantastic output. You have a 5kW inverter, I guess but 10kW of panels? The welder I have is actually running on 48V DC. It' s a bit hard to control the current though when you don't have a transformer.

[@evil17]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia I actually have 2 x 5kw inverters on a 10kw pv array.

[@geraldgrogan]

Does it matter if your panels are mounted vertically or horizontally? Is one way better than the other? Why would it matter?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That does nto matter at all. There is no difference.

[@DavidCheok]

Great setup you have there! I have just recently installed an APS microinverter system on my roof here in Brunei. We have very inconsistent weather here consisting of a mix of clear, cloud and rain throughout the day. I oversized my 30 panels by about 38% using 600 wp Risen mono percs to 13.2 kW max system inversion to make up for the cloudy days. So far the average and median per day is about 60 kWh per day with max at 82 kWh and lowest at 38 kWh. Our NEM provides a 1:1 kWh exchange so there is no need to use a battery for now as excess during the day is exported and reimported back for use at night. So far the system is reaching about 85% of total energy usage. I am getting an average of 4.62 kWh per kW of inversion per day. Would be good to compare how this compares between our two countries. My system consists 24 panels are on a 22 degree west facing roof so early morning is mostly reflected light until about 930 and direct light on them ends around 5pm due to shading from trees and buildings at sunset. 6 panels on South so these drop off around 4pm. We have 3 months each where the sun is in the north and south too so it is a headache when planning around this.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Thanks a lot for sharing, David. Interesting to hear how your system works. I think being so close to the equator, it does not really make a huge difference where you install panels in this location. The feed in is insane and a very fair deal. That really makes a battery obsolete for the moment except if you have frequent power outages. I never did a ROI calculation for my system as this was not the main goal to be as economical efficient as possible but more to show what is possible from a technical perspective.

[@DavidCheok]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia The ROI on my system is over a decade 🤣 Brunei has very cheap subsidised power and fuel. I implemented it for a 3 in 1 as heat insulation for the roof as well as to generate power while reducing carbon footprint. I am sure you can guess from a system this size, our use of airconditioning here is extensive. 😅

[@martink9785]

Here in cold dark England I'm only getting about 80Wh per day from my 330W panel 😂 So thankful for my 20A DC to DC charger

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Oh, wow. That is what I'm not looking forward to. We will have these occasion very dark and cloudy rainy days, but usually only for one or two days in a row. Then the sun is out again...

[@the_schmue2973]

Hi Andy, die neue Anlage läuft gut. But in the end...du brauchst mehr kwh. 😁 LG Stefan

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

I need more load. More kWh will only help once, until they are fully charged as well. Them, I'm in the same situation again.

[@markmark9532]

Fantastic Video, I really enjoyed it - I want o see the 75 kWh or more! Schöne Grüße aus Bad Kissingen!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Thank you, Mark. I guess 75kWh should be realistic....

[@markmark9532]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia I`m just before to lanche my 20 kWp 3 phase victron system - THX for all the good information which helped me alot!

[@jensthomsen3334]

cool video as always, i love em. so good to watch. could you explain how you connected your victron shunt, i have one also, but got problems that the % never show correct, do you have your littel red cabel on your main buss bar or on one of the batteries ? thx.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Thanks Jens. I think I have a few video about that here on the channel. Teh red wire needs to go to your battery positive or if you have more than one battery, to the main positive busbar. Check the settings of the shunt. I made a video about all the settings of it. It's here on my website with all the settings as well: off-grid-garage.com/my-settings/

[@nn858121q]

Andy you have to much Load , hier in Germany is Nov. we have too less

[@kuhrd]

It boggles my mind that the Victron inverter can't hit full power without overheating in the ambient temperture of the Off Grid Garage. It looked like the VRM was saying it was 33C(91.4F) indoors and was 37C(98.6F) outdoors. I would expect the design of any inverter to be able to handle it's full output rating well past an ambient temperture of 40C(104F) before hitting overtemperture and needing to be derated. They probably need to improve the airflow path or increase the static pressure of the fans to compensate for the increased ambient temperture. In order to meet the 3KW output rating that they claim the inverter can do.

[@markeh1971]

Hi, they de-rate when hot, so need a little 12v 12w snail fan on each to keep them cool when you are working them. Could wire them to a thermostat or timer. Take care M

[@asderven]

We don’t have victor on here, but there are two types of hybrid inverter. IP 65 and IP 20 or 22, can’t remember, the weather and water resistance rating. The ip 20 ones don’t have the same cooling features, fans etc that their ip 65 counterparts have. This also means that the ip 20 ones heat up much quicker here and an additional fan is necessary but that will still cause problems as ambient temperature in rooms hits 40~50 degrees Celsius. Ip 20 inverter are cheaper by 300-500 US dollars compared to the same spec ip65 one.

[@crankydavesmylfs4787]

To be fair Victron put the rated outputs at different temperatures in their specs.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

The Venus inverter in particular gets hot when running in this climate for hours. It's not overheating though, just an alarm. It will overheat eventually though, hence I dropped the current by 1A when I saw this alarm. The Multiplus seems to be better handling the heat. The space in the garage is certainly not ideal for these devices but that's just what it is.

[@taulli1]

Three days Andy! I need more data!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Coming...

[@taulli1]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Oh man, television is a wasteland of garbage. I am so grateful for this channel!

[@gumpster6]

Impressive production for a good but not great weather day. I'd guess you might make 10-20kWh on a really crappy weather day.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That would be the goal, getting at least 15kWh per cloudy day would be a good outcome.

[@ElectronTinkerer]

That's impressive. Very well done. I own a Multiplus II as well and wonder whether or not the Generator freue you use would be useful. Would you mind explaining in detail how you configured that? All the documents I can find don't show how you can trigger that by load condition....

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Sure, video is coming...

[@panospapadimitriou3498]

christmas ia comming and that update might be geting ready... many banks to charge this year

[@pyawallah7080]

impressive

[@geraldgrogan]

In my area of the USA ( northern midwest) they require panel installed optimizers such the Tigo TS4 optimizers. Can someone please explain why this is a requirement? The stated reason is "Tigo solutions meet US NEC Rapid Shutdown compliance and other safety codes that protect first responders and are required in many countries." Is there any other reasons that you may want these installed? This topic was never mentioned on this channel. Can you cover this topic and explain? Did you get optimizers installed on your new system?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Hi Gerald. A bit of googling and it seems to be the new requirement in the US for having panel strings connected to a grid connected inverter. For me, it seems like another unnecessary regulation where a few companies like Tigo make a good profit from. You not only need the optimisers behind each panel but also the trigger transmitter which sends the signal to the optimizers to shut down. More money for Tigo... And it's not a voluntarily installation. It seems it is mandatory for all new installations and also upgrades of older systems! This does not affect me as I'm staying below 120V DC with my panel strings (effectively, I'm under 100V DC). It's a bit more effort in cabling all these parallel strings but most of the regulations don't affect me and it is still considered as a low voltage DIY system.

[@geraldgrogan]

It seems to me that if optimizers are so important they would come built into the panels already. I did find RSD hubs that make the RS system work. I didn’t see where making the panels grid connected was a requirement however. Perhaps I missed that detail. Also the latest NEC rules typically don’t get adopted right away and some areas of the US never adopt them at all. In my area of Wisconsin they only recently adopted the NEC 2017 rules, so you can see it may take decades to get to 2020 rules where I live

[@SkypowerwithKarl]

Right now it seems like overkill, but in six months with the sun low and a string of days with clouds, it’ll be about right. It’s the weather I’m seeing now. Thinking of bumping my storage from 32 to 48 kWh.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Yeah, I think the same. It is so much power and storage right now but the season will change at some stage and then we will be glad to have all this setup and ready to go. It'll be great.

[@gubbernl]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Andy, how much do you think you produce in the winter? Can you sell the excessive power (off grid, hmm, guess not...?) So, what's the plan? Maybe you can also share some numbers what plans there are for purchasing and selling power? Thx!

[@laurentsantaibambu7324]

Hi Andy! Your solar installation is great, very powerful, and you'll see when you have bad weather you'll still be happy, of course when it's very sunny, half a day will be enough to fully charge your batteries. I think you now have the installation that will give you full satisfaction! Andy, did I forget? your Tesla car, can you charge it directly with the DC? and also with the inverter? Thank you again for all these videos, always great! I also liked the new BMS with the active balancer coupled! Too bad they don't do it in 16s, but I think if we ask JBD they will make it? The control screen I've been using it for over a year, it's really good (from JBD too) Thank's again and see you Next Video....

[@stefanvanzyl9090]

Tesla does not allow charging direct from DC from any devices we could afford to buy in a residential space. The DC charger bypasses the vehicle's internal charger and needs to communicate with the tesla bms and provide at least 72kW (up to 150kW) at 480VDC, neither of which is remotely reasonable from a 50kWh battery like Andy has anyway. Just the DC-DC converter to go from 48V to 480V at these power levels cost in the tens of thousands of dollars US.

[@alexsimmons1803]

Hey Andy - I tended find the weather around solstice in nthn NSW is often stormy/rainy (it's the season for it) and so I've never actually seen the best production day coincide with the solstice. Often there is a good day within a week either side of it though.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Yeah, I need to see what we will get and if it is worth repeating the test. It just gives me the most hours of sunshine...

[@paulhardie9450]

The big question is Andy should QLD change over to Daylight savings ? I know ya curtains will fade 🤪🤪 but think of the Daylight savings. The Sun will be higher longer in the Arvos/evenings Andy Mate start a movement Save Andy’s Sun-Shine ! What do ya think Mate Good or Not so Good 😊 😜😜😜

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

I used to live with Daylight saving for the last 20 years in Germany. I would love to have this here as well. Super annoying to have to listen to all the birds at 4:30 in the morning. An hour later would help already.

[@dig1035]

Thumbs up and subscribed!

[@regnerusb]

Yes a new video!

[@benoittheminerandgamer]

Wow 64kw for a partial cloudy day! You need more Solar panel, We want to see 100kw!!!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Hahaha, I need more load to start with. struggling to use all this energy.

[@jerrylefunk5402]

Hi, zeig mal bitte wie du deine Batterie abgesichert hast und wie die ganze Verteilung für den Ladestrom aufgebaut ist mit Schalter und Busbars usw.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

It's all on the channel here. Lots of video showing all this in all details.

[@brucekrisko4364]

Fabulous !

[@Do_the_Dishes]

good stuff!

[@klassichd10]

Congrats, looks great! That is the disadvantage of off-grid or zero-feed. You do not have the capability figures over the year.

[@mwolrich]

I have a 10KW grid tie system, at summer peak it produces 85KW/day, a lot of which is sent to the grid. You can heat water with the excess power for domestic use, or run the pool pump more, or consider grid tieing the system and send excess power after batteries are full to the grid (assuming you can get a net metering agreement)

[@andrewford80]

Is that 10kw of panels with a 10kw inverter or have you over provisioned your panels?

[@mwolrich]

@@andrewford80 enphase microinverters, they are Toshiba 370W panels with 230W enphase microinverters, they do clip some, but are driven hard most of the time

[@andrewford80]

@@mwolrich That's huge output. Id say the configuration is working well!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Exporting power is not an option with this system. I also have a grid connected system on a very high feed tariff and nothing else is allowed to be connected at the same time. The hot water heater would take 3-4kWh away/day, far less in summer due to not taking long hot showers. The pool pump is already running 24h but I thought about a pool heater maybe to dump 2kW of excess power and make it a 60.000l spa 😂

[@mwolrich]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia I like the massive Spa 😉 I was going to suggest you install more batteries, but if you don’t need the power, it’s just a cost that will never pay off. It’s very likely you are now “over panelled”, you could consider removing 1-2 of the roofs (of the 4), and storing the panels indoors, for future spares, but even that isn’t worth bothering with. Best suggestion is to just shutdown chargers, once the batteries are full.. power is one of those things, use it, or lose it. You could also offer “Andys Free EV charging”, put up a J1772 EVSE by the road 👏

[@patrickblake8983]

Andy, I think you will get as much as 84KW to 85KW and probably more. In Jamaica I got 35KW from a 7.1KW capacity of Solar Panels in the summer and my panels operated at an efficiency of 78% to 80%. With you getting as much as 107%, I think you may be able to harvest even up to 90KW.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That would be an insane number. I will need some more loads to use all this energy...😂

[@kevinmatthews2620]

you forgot to order the clouds on a test day Andy, i would have thought that was a given test day = clouds ordered :) :)

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

They always come when I do testing... part of Murphy's Law

[@jogi_54]

Honestly - it is not interesting what you can get in summertime, it will allways more, than you can consume. For me, it is interesting, how big has to be the battery in wintertime to fulfil my requirements at the given size of my PV Pannels without run out of energy.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Absolutely. Summer is easy, so seeing the system in winter will be interesting. I'm still not sure if it is enough to get through

[@XcrGaming-1]

Well he used 64Kwh in the time the sun came up until it went down say 7 or 8 hours under extreme testing. So I would say 90Kwh of total battery capacity would be perfect 👌 to create more videos....and never run out power storage ever.

[@evil17]

@@OffGridGarageAustraliait is like an addiction isn’t it Andy, uv got me hooked. I’m sure you should/will have plenty of PV power for now & all year round, what will probly change more, will be ur use will increase, mainly because u can or feel u need to, and this is why I do think another 45kw of extra storage for those rainy weeks, & extra backup for Tesla charging as well couldn’t hurt,especially when things are getting gloomy in the “Sunshine State”, more batteries = more days backup & more kms in the Tesla, and while ur contract may be 5-6yrs away, Ill bet ur still often thinking about when u will be able to hook up the whole house, Im sure I would be. Cheers

[@Raphael_Hofmann]

Your video is not listed for what ever reason. Great update!

[@BeezyKing99]

you weren't supposed to be able to see it 7 hours ago... you must've came through a playlist to gain early access.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Ah, is that how people sneak and see the video earlier...? There is always a way...

[@BeezyKing99]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia That is absolutely how one can sneak a peek at videos not posted publicly when added to a playlist at time of upload... set the video to private, not unlisted, because having it unlisted, still allows it to be seen, if found in a playlist, due to the simple fact, the "shareable link" embeds a passthrough (unlisted: anyone with link to video, can view it even if it wasn't meant to be public just yet.. even in a playlist)

[@Raphael_Hofmann]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Only true fans go that far 😂

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

@@Raphael_Hofmann Hahaha, appreciate that!

[@pulith5220]

Now ur creating electricity like crazy. I think even in winter u will be able to completely charge ur battery within 2days with normal usage. I am waiting for my batteries directly from EVE.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Yeah, winter will be interesting. I'm not convinced it will be enough due to the shading of the trees but let's see. I enjoy the moment 😏

[@wideawaketotruth5301]

50-51 !!!64kWh!!!, WOW my hair is blown back. That is a lot of juice!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Does the same to my hair!

[@wideawaketotruth5301]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia HAHAHA!

[@klausaengenvoort8792]

Hey Andy, früher haben meine Frau und ich "Wetten, dass..?" geguckt, heute bist Du unser Gottschalk :-), Grüße aus Köln, heute 15 kWh bei uns.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Danke Dir, Klaus. Nun hast Du die Messlatte recht hoch gesetzt. Gottschalk hab ich auch immer geguckt... Gruesse and die Frau Gemahlin.

[@klausaengenvoort8792]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Danke, Ich soll Grüße zurück ausrichten

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

@@klausaengenvoort8792 Bis zum naechsten mal dann...

[@mikejones-vd3fg]

Very cool system, as winter approaches here you forget sometimes its always summer and sunny somewhere on this planet, which is kind of wierd for us who dont travel and are used to waiting for weather to come and go, theres always perfect weather somewhere, like above the clouds for example, its always sunny 100% peak output all the time. But how do you do that? ... Some planets dont even spin, so the concept of time and weather is even stranger where you dont wait for noon you travel to it, and perhaps setup some panels and then travel to midnight to watch your neon lightshow lite up. Anyway 64 is impressive , but in a scale of 1 to 100 its abouta C- . Yes this scale is arbitrary but were so used to scales of 10 or 100 as a species i want to see 100kw, 1 million! I TRILLION! ok maybe not that much but i think theres room for improvement. It maybe not possible with this system now , but a similar one with solar tracking and even cooling i think could put the same amount of panel int o100k range. I heard that in the summer time heat plays a big factor upto 30% you lose due to heating of hte panels, which would put this system at 100kw if that were true, but probably not that much since its not peak summer yet. I noticed this wit my 2x80w panels during the fall the last few weeks as sun got less and less output seemed to stay the same if not more it seemed , i thought i just had a better angle but i think it was due to heat, less heat improved the efficiency. If the loses are upto 30% like some youtubers have claimed (where i got his info) it might be worth it to install a cooling system? perhaps water pump with heatsink tubing under the panels, even if it cost 5% power , if you got back 30% it would be more than worth it.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Thanks Mike. Always sunny above the clouds...

[@liberumsrb]

Good luck having entire day without clouds. Statistic show there are less than 10 days of completely clear skies per year. Guess what you had is definitely better than standard.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That could be true, 10 years back we used to have blue sky all day long for weeks but this all has changed since and we see more and more clouds nowadays. We had one on the weekend but the battery was full again at around noon time despite all the load I threw at the system.

[@liberumsrb]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia anyway I love how you made system and level of detail you have put in. Quite an inspiration for me, to a point where while constructing my own your videos kept me in check not to rush anything and not to cut corners. That led me to a path of installing systems for other and digging out new problems. One question, do you use Home Assistant for automation? In my apartment now everything runs on it and as I’m expecting my Hyundai Kona electric to arrive these days I’ll try to integrate its charging to have maximum production. Thing that aggregated showed me is self consumption of my inverters to be around 300W and overall around 4kWh daily goes on them and other inefficiencies. Is that normal or should I change my inverters?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

@@liberumsrb Thank you. Great to hear the solar virus is spreading everywhere! I looked into Home Assistent but could not find the time to get the SonOff switches connected for example, so I gave up quickly. I would love to have this running and connected to my solar system and house. On the other hand, Venus OS has got Node Red included which does similar things. This all feels like another huge project to get going, setup, configure and install sensors, actors, switches. HUGE! The self-consumption of your inverter seems very high and excessive. My Multiplus has around 15W, the Phoenix has 10W standby power. What inverters have you got and is it really self consumption or some stand-by loads connected to it?

[@liberumsrb]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia My inverters are EASUN, cheap Chinese and as tie goes by I’m getting closer in replacing them. Around 140kWh is difference between my production and consumption on monthly level. Now, question is what to have that I can just mint on the wall with minimum rework of existing system? I need 3 phase that runs on 48v batteries and can be connected to Solar Assistant. At the moment I have 7.3kW of panels but planning expansion there too. My biggest load is car charger. Rest is rather simple, water heater is 3kw 3 phase, dryer, washer, microwave….. What would you, or anyone else recommend to buy?

[@launacorp]

Oh ja, n Video und n SPAT 😁 Oh yes a video from you and a S.P.A.T.😁

[@TruWrecks]

I just got an Enphase AC 12 kw solar system with 20 kwh of batteries. Too bad it is the beginning of winter in the North. I only made 5.8 kwh yesterday.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Still pretty good.

[@USA-GreedyMenOfNoIntegrity]

I am at 38deg Lat 20.6kW pv. 45 deg array angle/180 deg azimuth. Max so far 125kWh. No shading during the 10-4 timeframe anytime of year. I’d guess your max will be 80kWh.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Nice, wow! Grid connected obviously.. Yeah, 80kWh would be the max from my system I would expect as well on a perfect day.

[@lhffan]

Can victrons charge controllers be overloaded?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

No, they can't. They cap the power output automatically at the max rate they are designed for. In my case the 150/70 can charge the battery with 70A max. The solar panels can be oversized by 130% for these controllers.

[@patrickblake8983]

Andy, @evil17 in Hervey Bay with 9.7kw PV harvested 60KW on a full sun all day which is at a rate of 6.1855KW per KW of Panels. With your 14.24KW PV, you would harvest 88.08KW under the same conditions.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

I have west/east orientation with some shading in the morning and afternoon, so quite happy what I received that day... I honestly don't need more but we will see under other conditions, how much we will get...

[@paulcurtis5496]

2 words Andy: Leaf Blower 😅

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

The next breeze and it's all gone, Paul. A few minutes later and it's there again. You would stand there all day long 😏🍺

[@paulcurtis5496]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia now I'm envisioning an auto blower for those pesky leaves. Since your installation is static, you could get one of those robotic panel washer!!!

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

@@paulcurtis5496 hmmmm... 🤔

[@paulcurtis5496]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia now that you have a boatload of panels… a robot panel washer sounds exciting, and with all of that extra juice… 🤔🙄🤣

[@netrocker9990]

Waiting for your video from last 3 days

[@DanBurgaud]

Here comes the irradiance meter; it objectively measures the solar strength (same location and angle of the solar) with or without clouds. Then compare it with your panels.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Yeah, I've got one and did this in previous videos...

[@stanislavmlcuch2085]

Andy, I doubt that you could get maximum production in December. I am in Europe and maximum production I had in May, around 22kWh from 3,3kWp solar array. During the summer months my max. production is around 20kWh.

[@anthonyrstrawbridge]

Ithe sun is closest

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

I have to wait for the day which gives me the longest hours of sunshine. That makes the difference. It's not the strength of the sun but the time it shines.

[@stanislavmlcuch2085]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Maybe in Australia, but in Europe no, based on my data. During the summer I have a lot of days with production around 18-20kWh, but in past 3 years the peak production was in May around 22kWh. I think it is because of less temperature of the panels, so the efficiency is higher.

[@TheRealAnthony_real]

@@stanislavmlcuch2085 in Australia is summer now ..

[@stanislavmlcuch2085]

@@TheRealAnthony_real :D I know about this. I just pointed out that I have maximum peak production in the spring not in the summer. Maybe in the Australia it will be different. I am sure Andy investigates this :)

[@jimmyg6215]

How about a Price is Right style solar production bid without going over for your longest day of the year😊 I say 91.375KWh.

[@USA-GreedyMenOfNoIntegrity]

80kWh.

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

75kWh is my expectation

[@Arishomestead]

Nice production in such a cloudy day. Have you thought about adding extra batteries to your 16s battery pack. I think it would be ok to add extra 2 batteries and make it 18s configuration. That way victron input battery voltage would not be increased as it takes up to 66v and 18x3.5 would be 63v anyway. So that way you would get more storage per battery pack. Only limitation would be that you can not set max charging value more then 66v for whole pack. But as I remember you had 3.5v at max. I am not an expert, but seeing all the Victron specification and battery cell setup makes me think that it can be pissbile to do. It would just save some space and equipment for adding new pack if we could increase storage of existing. What do you think? Maybe you have alredy tried that before?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Yeah, some have suggested that but I'm not a big fan of that and don't see much benefit of doing this. I would struggle to add two more batteries to my shelf without doing a major re-design of the space again. Not worth it. I don't really need more storage but more loads

[@kennethmoore117]

Wow I've only produced 131 and 71 on the 2 victoron 75/15 in a year only 5 100 watt panels

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

That's a much smaller system. That's how I started as well but wanted more... and more and more...

[@oogie-boogie]

ahhha the prob with to much solar,,,lol what a prob to have,,ahahahahahaahahahaahhaahaahah.. we will get there sometime in my life,,,(cross your finger here) great vid

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Thanks. Yeah, it's actually a great problem to have😂

[@killertomate1000]

How did you add the blue Victron box symbol to the pv charger?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

What do you mean?

[@larsmojo]

Hi Andy, watching with envy from the other side of the world paying 1.29 Aus.Dollar / kWh.... (And thats after paying 45% income tax first)

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Oh, wow. That's insane! You need a solar\battery setup...

[@larsmojo]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Yes thanks for your inspiration. When we get out of Putins shadow (record 10% inflation) I will DIY off grid with all I have.

[@nzdatsports9659]

WOW

[@caroman6761]

How often do you need to clean the solar modules?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Never. I used to do it in the past, spent 1h on the roof and cleaned them all. Never saw an increase in production afterwards.

[@SoutheastOhioSolarHaven]

Try cleaning the debris off the Solar panels. I have found just cleaning them can make gains big time !

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

I have found that cleaning panels does not do anything for power output. Especially the few leaves will blow away with the next breeze. The next one after will bring new ones, so it's a bit of wasted time doing that. I have to clean the gutters here and then though.

[@1dandandy1]

The key question is: What is the minimum production that you can survive with when off grid?

[@OffGridGarageAustralia]

Well, we don't know yet until the house is connected and we are fully off grid. I would say if I can get 20kWh per day (including hot water and vehicle charging) I should be OK. Will I get this in winter with the expected shading? I guess we will find out in 6 months...

[@1dandandy1]

@@OffGridGarageAustralia Keep up all the great work.👍