Off-Grid Solar EV Charging Station. Stand-alone solution for EV.

[@Bubba54321]

I was an electrician for over 35 years. You did a beautiful job on everything. If you are not an electrician.... wow! WELL DONE!

[@wickedmessenger1]

I was not expecting to hear anything positive about my wiring. It seems that everybody on KZbin makes a huge production out of elaborate conduit use. I thought about conduit and decided that it's just me in the shed and I'm not going to swing a hatchet around wildly and chop into wires so why do conduit? I am not an electrician, but I have a good understanding of it and I've done quite a bit of residential wiring for my rentals, mostly replacing knob and tube. I wanted it to be tidy but not go overboard with bling. Thanks for the compliment.

[@stevewhitaker1474]

@@wickedmessenger1 Conduit to protect it from squirrels and chipmunks chewing through the wires.

[@dennismyles8450]

Very nice setup sir, we appreciate you showing it to us. Sure is better than $100k for utilities.

[@GeoFry3]

This is the strength of EVs. You can set it up your own power just about anywhere. Little less difficultly/mess than an oil refinery.

[@rangerbob42]

I would have a gasoline ⛽️ vehicle for my EV backup. EV aren’t sufficient enough to fully depend on all transportation needs! Fact! 😊

[@GeoFry3]

@rangerbob42 variety is always best. The EV truck that I am waiting for is one that will let me throw a generator in the back and charge while i'm driving, not just when I'm stopped for those occasional needs to drive 6+ hours away from home. I'll probably have to build my own. Edison trucks have the right idea. A diesel generator and batteries with an electric power train.

[@rangerbob42]

@@GeoFry3either way you would still be using gasoline ⛽️ that defeats the purposes of driving EV’s. 😢

[@GeoFry3]

@rangerbob42 wanting to be able to have the flexibility to use gas 5-10 days a year is hardly an argument to just forgo having an EV the other 355 days. My cheap 2.2K generator can easily add 6 miles of range per hour and takes up hardly any space. My idea is charge up the truck and take it out to a campsite. Use the generator to charge the truck and the truck battery to power everything at the camp.

[@wickedmessenger1]

Exactly! And it's much easier on the environment.

[@MakingStuff]

Awesome! This is exactly what I have been wanting to build for some time now. Glad to see that its working for your needs.

[@SmithOffGrid]

All these comments with advice are cracking me up 😆 Very nice setup! Thanks for sharing!

[@wickedmessenger1]

Thanks, everybody's an expert, apparently.

[@dan32one44]

Love the gasoline ⛽️ sign lol 😂 good job 👏

[@powoxi]

It's quite cool and practical. It can add a nice touch to any setting.

[@john-sea]

Love the setup! I had a big grin on my face when I saw the old fuel price sign. Your setup made me think it would be nice to build a similar structure on each end of the pv racking on the high end that serves as both inverter/battery storage and structure for pv racking.

[@randya9143]

Great setup. Now your probably addicted. Time to do the house !

[@wickedmessenger1]

Yes, it is addictive. Right now I'm trying to think of ways to use energy when I'm not there. After the batteries are all charged up, it just sits there wasting sunlight.

[@randya9143]

@wickedmessenger1 In my "solar shed" I plugged in a porta-cool to keep everything under 85 in the middle of summer.

[@joelchang9589]

@@wickedmessenger1 Mine bitcoin

[@colormaker5070]

You got the solar bug be careful its very addictive. You started with great equipment well done

[@s13ef9]

Thanks for the overview. Im working on something similar at our rural property with the goal of powering a few critical circuits in the house full time using solar. Im torn between an EG4 6000 and a server rack battery or two vs the anker solix 3800 and 1 expansion battery. The cost for awesome products appears to be at a near low and it feels like a good time to start picking up some components. Im in central FL, so we have amazing sun exposure year round. Your setup came out awesome, cheers!

[@randya9143]

If you are able to set a system up like this, you will save a good bit of money. I have the 6000xp and the power pro 14.3kw battery for less than an F3800 with the expansion battery, only 6.8 kw. (Which I also have) The 6000xp has way more pv input, so the battery charges up faster. The Anker Solix is plug and play. Choose wisely.

[@Snerdles]

Have you seen the new Jackery Explorer 5000 Plus? It just recently launched and looks like a pretty good competitor to the Anker.

[@stalwart56k]

build looks great! You may want to invest in an small window AC unit for the shed to keep the ambient temperature of the equipment low. The new EG4 units are much better than the earlier MPP Solar clones but all solar charge controllers generate heat. Between the generated heat and the outside temperature I could see the inside of the shed getting over 100 degrees in the summer in South Carolina. My EG4 6500 melted on me and developed a short. Even running a box fan, the case temperature was 95 degrees and my basement was 85 degrees every day the summer it died. My replacement Sol Ark 15k is much better and doesn't generate nearly the same amount of heat.

[@Nova-m8d]

Why didn't you raise the solar array another 3 feet and use it as a carport?

[@fuckthisksksjjksdfjd]

That was my first thought. It is a very cool setup but but it could use a few feet.

[@Pooches]

Same reason he bought a VW.

[@rangerbob42]

I was wondering the same thing! He did everything else very well! 😊

[@wickedmessenger1]

My plan was to make it a carport, but as I was getting started I started realizing that the work involved was exponentially more difficult if it were as tall as it would have to be. I was working in an isolated place with only hand tools, no water supply on the property, and Lowes is an hour away. I decided to make it shorter to make it easier. One advantage is that I can clean the panels very easily with it being short.

[@Firephosure]

@@wickedmessenger1 Good reason. Still haven't explain why a VW EV ? Tesla is better in every way and probably cheaper.

[@r.b.l.5841]

Time to change the posts so the space under the PV is useable for the EV and storage. Good for viewers to learn early! Free Advice: if you want to build a car port, and are wondering how tall to build, - open the hood and trunk on your car/van/truck and measure the max height. add about a foot extra and be sure you have this much space under the soffit level. Some LED light strings under the framework is handy - just saying. Also - do not ground the PV separately from the main system ground. Make one ground for the entire system and connect all grounds to that system.

[@wickedmessenger1]

My original intention was to make it a carport but I changed my mind for good reasons. I have no regrets. And everything is grounded to one ground rod.

[@Tumbleweed5150]

The ground from the PV is only from the FRAMES, which need to be grounded, not the negative of the panel itself. The way he did it is fine. All other grounds should be run seperately, but he did run it to the same rod, which is also fine. The only reason to ground the frame is so that someone doesn't get shocked when touching the frames of the solar panels. I didn't know this step when I put in my own off-grid power system, and got a tingle when I touched the solar panel frame, even though the rest of my system was grounded from my breaker box to the ground rod.

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@Tumbleweed5150 I became aware of the need to ground the frames of the panels from watching KZbin videos about how people got shocked (mostly mildly) when touching their ungrounded panels. I still do not understand how this happens. Why do the frames have a charge? One guy said his were charged with AC voltage.

[@r.b.l.5841]

@@Tumbleweed5150 The ground from the PV SHOULD only be the frames. and these should connect to the single Earth Ground for the property. Muliple grounds can result in ground-loops - dangerous. The NEC permits a separate ground for the PV arrary - but doesn't recommend it.

[@eastmanwebb5477]

This is very cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@ChandlerManly]

Wow! This set up is really nice and clean 👌

[@ryanfagan4563]

Nice Job! Perfect setup

[@tmhall9]

Thanks for sharing the details.

[@mzimmerman1988]

cool project, thanks for sharing 👍

[@wickedmessenger1]

Thanks for your nice feedback.

[@matthewprather7386]

Better to charge the car battery first and then the shed batteries second.. That saves one round of charge - discharge through the shed batteries and inverter. Any excess energy from solar after charging the car can go to charging the batteries. You’ll get more EV miles from your solar.

[@johnahart9538]

How would you set this up?

[@matthewprather7386]

@ limit the charge current to the batteries - I believe most chargers are configurable in this way.. Increase the charge current on the EV - most EVs support adjustments on this.. Doesn’t have to be a hard cutoff - just scale the currents / power to maximize the EV charging.

[@racingtogreen2023]

Nice. We have a similar system charging our Ford Lightning. 3.6kW, and were using an older version EG4. It had issues, so we switched out to Victron, dual multi-plus 2’s. I’ve heard good things about the XP6000’s, though.

[@asus12351]

Nice clean setup good job.

[@SirFartsAlot1]

Very cool setup. I am genuinely surprised as to how loud that all in one is! My delta pro ultra is completely silent by comparison and its running my entire home. But then again its twice as expensive.

[@wickedmessenger1]

Yes, it's loud. For a residential situation, you'd have to plan where you're putting it so it wouldn't bother you. I should add that it's not so loud that I feel like I need hearing protection, just loud as far as what I would have expected.

[@andrievbastichy8551]

Good video.. i enjoyed it!

[@rangerbob42]

I really like your system! It’s very neat and well thought through! Mine was put together with older equipment like the 3,000 watt 48 volt GroWatt 120/240 split inverter s. I have them in parallel of 4 to equal in voltage of what you have in that one inverter. Technology is advancing rapidly. I started building my system in small stages and by the time I installed mine The EG4 were out and being displayed on KZbin everywhere. I will keep what I have for a few years to get something out of it before I redo it again. Who knows what would be available then right? 😊

[@wickedmessenger1]

With technology moving so fast, I think all of us will have obsolete equipment long before it stops working. But you have to use the stuff that's available at the time you need it.

[@5885ronny]

Sieht sehr gut aus 🤗👍 gutes Video gutes System

[@MNGermann]

Amazing job!

[@RedBatteryHead]

Very nice setup. So max you get 10kWh to run on without the PV gaining Solar. You can charge at 1,4kW minimum on slow days to match the PV input.

[@michaelsmithers4900]

One nice thing on Teslas is they allow you to adjust the amperage from your app or inside your car. Just a thought for anyone else looking to match an ev to an off grid system…

[@peteinwisconsin2496]

I suspect that most EVs allow setting the charging current from inside the car. How else would the car know if it was connected to 15, 20 or 30 amps of 240 VAC?

[@michaelsmithers4900]

@ ​​⁠That would be logical but as of yet Tesla is the only one I know of that allows this. I have recently driven polestar 2, Ford Mach e, and my wife has a Nissan leaf, none of which allow this.

[@keithjacobson4493]

@@peteinwisconsin2496 to my knowledge our EV6 and Ionic 5 don’t allow such a setting however they do permit charging from 120v and 240v and within those setting an adjustment from 25% to 100% of the energy entering the car.

[@billysturgeon8616]

Great video sir.

[@wickedmessenger1]

Appreciate the compliment, glad you liked the video.

[@clayrich749]

Nicely done!

[@goodcitizen4587]

Cool setup!

[@YD-ESS-Factory]

You did a great job

[@wickedmessenger1]

Thanks!

[@ultraviolentblue529]

Wow! How much did this run you? You did a good job.

[@bretthaddock8954]

Do you have an emergency heater in the shed to keep the temp above freezing? Or, do the batteries have self heater?

[@peteinwisconsin2496]

I am holding out for the DC-DC converter to send the power directly from the PV array to the EV battery. I already do this with my e-bike, boosting from a 31 Vmpp panel to 36-42 volts to charge the e-bike battery. Bucking or boosting DC power is easy. I know this because I built the charger myself. Connecting directly to the battery terminals of the EV seems to be a difficult challenge to overcome. Once that part is solved then DC slow charging an EV directly from PV will be a reality-- without inverting to AC only to come right back to DC inside the EV.

[@wickedmessenger1]

EV DC chargers run between 400 and 1,000 volts.

[@joelchang9589]

You need a DC car charger.

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@joelchang9589 Send me a link to where I can buy one.

[@keithjacobson4493]

@@peteinwisconsin2496 it seems like there should be DC direct power to vehicle soon. It just makes so much more sense. And potentially skips the expensive interim battery.

[@peteinwisconsin2496]

It is true that EVs run at 360 to 800 volts, but the solar array runs at something around 400 volts so the boost ratio only needs to be 0.9 to 2.0, which is no big deal. The difficulty in making PV-->EV happen is not the DC-DC converter. It is the software hack to get the onboard electronics to close the HVDC contactor so that charging pins are alive. This "handshake" is exactly what happens with DC fast chargers. The MPPT algorithm is built in to the DC-DC converter, with the boost ratio (aka duty cycle) being optimized to produce maximum amps without dragging down the array voltage, which would reduce the charging amps. Been there, done that. No big deal. Communicating with the car is the tough nut to crack.

[@mr.makeit4037]

Have you also considered harvesting rainwater off of those panels?. Add a gutter, ibc tote or similar, etc.

[@glenith50]

What a nice setup. As I’m thinking of doing something similar could I ask a question. How are the pv panels connected to the ground mount?

[@wickedmessenger1]

The frames are screwed down to 1x4 wood boards that are attached to the rafters. Between the 1x4s and the panels, I used vinyl flashing so that the frames never are in contact with the wood. I am concerned about corrosion of the aluminum if it contacts the pressure-treated wood directly. At times in the video you can see those horizontal boards look bright-white--that's the vinyl flashing.

[@LesRCnmore]

Wow this is nice 👍!! Do you have anything else in this property? Is there a house or is it just land?

[@mallermedia]

Very nice setup. But I'm curious about how much charge you can get into your ID4. We have one as well. If I add up the juice that you've got in your two batteries, that's roughly 10kW, right? My ID4's capacity is about 77 kW, and it gets roughly 3.5 miles per kW. Your solar panels at max efficiency give you about 5kW per hour, too. So I'm wondering how long it typically takes to get your ID4 charged up enough to make your round trip. Thanks!

[@wickedmessenger1]

The first thing I do when I arrive is to get it charged to 50%. That can be done that same day--possibly (but rarely) taking part of the next day if the first day is very cloudy. I don't do a lot of driving once I arrive, but when I do I bring it up to 50% when I get back. That's a happy place for the battery if you want maximum battery life. Then on the day I leave I go from 50% to 80%. That's doable with good sun, but once I had to deal with a cloudy forecast and charged as much as I could a day before departure, I think up to 67%, and did the rest on the day of departure. So far, I have racked up over 1,000 miles driving purely on solar power and I never had to rely on the backup plans I mention in the video. So I can say that for my circumstances, this works perfectly. I should also say that for my ID.4, which is the smaller battery model, the shed batteries without any solar input (like at night) can give me 7%.

[@TomiasM911]

Nice. Im thinking it cost about 25k which is way cheaper than 100k. Awesome build.

[@wickedmessenger1]

Ha! much, much less than what you're guessing.

[@TomiasM911]

Even better.

[@Justin2Nguyen]

All should be around $12k plus his work out. excellent works.

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@Justin2Nguyen It was less than that.

[@seymourpro6097]

You've certainly enough space to install another row of six panels, which would increase your number of self sufficient days, even a couple of panels on the shed roof could assist with battery charging.

[@wickedmessenger1]

So far so good, but if I decide I need a longer charge, I can add another battery or a few more panels. I'm going to wait and see.

[@dohmarau]

Excellent job, but I note you've got room for capacity - by my calculations you could easily double the solar array and add a third battery.... that would seriously beef up your charging ability - any plans for that?

[@wickedmessenger1]

I'll add another rack battery before I add solar. You don't understand just how difficult it is to build anything out there. It's an hour to the nearest lumber yard. There's no water source so no way to mix concrete. I suppose it would be easier now because I have a source of electricity, which I didn't have when I built this solar station. I cut every single piece of wood by hand before. Now I could use power tools.

[@dohmarau]

@@wickedmessenger1 Not judging you at all man, but I'll add, I've done this in South Australia at a few remote govt sites that had to get the parts airdropped, because it was a 2 hour drive on a dirt road to get to the sealed road that took another 2 hours. I know exactly how challenging the logistics are. In your case I would suggest asking someone who is able to weld alum frame with a tig welder and bring a generator for that brief time. Here in australia, I use 'hills hoist' clotheslines to build the hoisting section on the top section of frames. I think you've done incredibly well and I think your 3rd battery will help immensely (though, they are very expensive)

[@amayer171]

Solar rack looks great nice job. Curious how you did the mounting brackets

[@wickedmessenger1]

The panels are each attached in 4 places to wood 1x4s with 1/4" galvanized screws. The panels are isolated from touching the wood directly with a thick vinyl flashing. There is no place where the wood touches the aluminum, as treated wood is highly corrosive to aluminum, even though it's annodized.

[@andrievbastichy8551]

@@wickedmessenger1 nice.. i just learned something.

[@albertperez7930]

Panel prices are constantly coming down, but charger & inverter systems still seem to be mega expensive! Am I wrong?

[@wickedmessenger1]

I'm not going to say you're wrong, but I completely disagree.

[@joelchang9589]

Assuming you got a 7KW AC car charger you could still charge your car while you are waiting for at least 30 mins with 46% of battery capacity and concurrent 1KW power from your 2 arrays. You dont have to wait till the battery is full

[@wickedmessenger1]

I started a charge yesterday when the shed batteries were at 46% with good sun and no clouds and it charged for 2.5 hours before the batteries were depleted. The battery alone, starting at 100% with no solar is only good for 30 minutes before it's spent.

[@thedudefromU]

Wonder if Tesla has considered putting these things around the country

[@tpistor]

Nice setup! Want to do similar. Question: are you concerned about that little utility room heating up? Is there ventilation?

[@wickedmessenger1]

I am concerned with that. I am going to see if there is a problem next summer and get a little AC unit if I need it. This past summer, which was mostly over by the time I got done with the project, I would keep the shed door open while the car was charging. It never got to the point where it shut down for high temps. And generally there's no problem with keeping the door open for those hours, so that's been my solution. Like I said, I am willing to go with an AC unit if that seems like the way to go. By the way, I fully insulated the shed and the roof is highly reflective, so it stays cooler than the ambient temp during the day if the inverter is not running (like when the car is charging).

[@tpistor]

​​@@wickedmessenger1 thanks for the reply, and please post any updates on this, I'm curious to know as I plan to build a similar shed.

[@keithjacobson4493]

If it was a sunny day could you charge even after the two 100 amp hour batteries are depleted?

[@wickedmessenger1]

So far, no. I think there is a possibility when the panels are in the perfect angle for the sun in the summer on a perfectly sunny day, the PV might just might be able to power the whole required amperage. As it is, the two arrays have each put in a third of the required power and the battery provides the other third. This makes the batteries last a long time and I usually get about 4 hours of charging from the day before the batteries are discharged and the sun is too low to charge them back up over the low threshold. I have wondered, however, since that Grizzlee charger can be set for different max amperages, that I could select a lower one that the PV alone could cope with. But that would also make the charging time longer proportionately. So in the end, whether it's slow or fast, I'll be able to get the same amount of charge on my car on any particular day.

[@keithjacobson4493]

@ thank you! I came across your video when searching for “panel to EV”. I’ve been wondering if it’s possible to use our car batteries (we have an EV6 and an Ionic 5) as the storage medium rather than investing in the rack batteries, which are still quite expensive. We can use our V2L (vehicle to load) adapters to power some of our important appliances during outages. Thanks again. And watch the end lumber exposed to the sun. Sometimes it will warp and the solar panels don’t like that. Best wishes.

[@12vLife]

how often you mow that lawn? did you plant seeds or its just what grew?

[@wickedmessenger1]

I was surprised to find that all that grass sprouted by itself and it all seems to be the same kind. I was expecting a replay of the mess of weeds and various plants that I cleared away.

[@stackmanstack]

A meter higher and you could have had a car port?

[@wickedmessenger1]

Yes. And if "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas.

[@GroovyVideo2]

Nice

[@deanervik]

You should keep an ear to the ground regarding bidirectional dc solar ev chargers, no batteries required, PV-to-EV!

[@nikosbarcelona]

how many watts does the car charge?

[@jdlutz1965]

He responded it is at 24 amps, so 5,760 watts.

[@litestuffllc7249]

seems like you could have mentioned the actual cost; even approaching $100k is far too much. Also how long it takes to charge on a summer day or a overcast day like you showed on your video. One source I read indicated 10 panels in Pheonix could only generate enough power to move a Tesla Model 3, 30 miles. So while you did have 12 panels; seems like you are talking several days to go 140 miles?

[@wickedmessenger1]

I don't know the details of that 10-panel system, but it must be nothing like mine. I can easily add 35% to my car's battery in one day, which is 80 miles for my car (I believe Teslas go further per kW than the ID.4). My cost was well under $10k, but I don't want people to obsess about it. This situation is an isolated location with no commercial charging stations nearby. I seem to be hearing from people with the idea that if this doesn't exactly match the convenience of driving an ICE vehicle, then it's useless. I do not want to continue burning fossil fuels. I believe it's wrong. Therefore I am taking the steps to cut down as much as possible in contributing to global warming.

[@litestuffllc7249]

@@wickedmessenger1 You get 80 miles in a single day what time of year? That day you shot and it was overcast; how far under that senerio? You are in S. Carolina in summber vs winter? These are useful to know; I am in Seattle; so we don't get the sun you get; I have some remote property also so I am considering that same sort of thing for practical purposes - Maybe the range difference was the panels - you said you got a bit over 4K system - which is 400w panels? If you used 100w then I gather it would be more like the 20 miles correct? As for the burning of fossil fuel or other types of fuel; just as a check - you do realize that total CO2 is 440ppm and the human contribution is about 110ppm. That is 1/10,000th of the atmosphere. So worries about human produced CO2 doesn't seem too serious; those trees near your charger would like to absorb that CO2. For me it would be more the matter of independence. If can have transportatin for a period of years at similar cost; where I can get around without being dependent I'd like that but I could potentially make my own ethanol or bio diesel. To do those myself are not real cheap or realiable; solar seems possible but I am concerned that some days where it is rainy or cloudy; I'd not get very far.

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@litestuffllc7249 I never said in the video that "here is a solar charging station that everyone can use." I only wanted to show what I came up with for my circumstances. When I go to the farm I go for a week or so. The first day I arrive, the shed batteries are at 100% and I usually arrive around 11:00 a.m. when the sun is in a good position. My first priority is to charge the car up to 50%. I can easily do that on the first day and it takes about 3.5 hours of charging. After that, every time I go somewhere and come back, I charge back up to 50%. That's a happy place for the battery to get maximum life out of it, especially if the car is just going to sit for a while. As you can see from this use pattern, I don't have an urgent need to charge up to 80% or 100% in a hurry while I'm up there. If I get an overcast day, that's not going to be a problem, there's almost always enough PV to get the shed batteries back to 100%. As the day of departure nears, I keep an eye on the weather. I like to have 80% to drive home, even though I usually arrive with 17 to 19% still in the battery. I like the cushion just in case it's a windy day and I get lousy efficiency. If it's a sunny day when I leave, I can go from 50% to 80% in about 3 hours, then I drive home. Perhaps it's going to be overcast, so I start charging a day or two in advance. You don't have to believe in science of global warming to want to drive an EV. As you pointed out, it's about independence. And even though there's an initial investment, everything after that is free and eventually you'll pay yourself back and then it's all gravy. This is not to mention that there are no oil changes, air filters, oil filters, etc. to pay for. The EPA's calculations for my car said that I would save $6,500 over the first 5 years of ownership compared to an ICE vehicle. I spent that much making this station, so at this point I have pushed those savings out 5 years from now. Again, it's not about the money for me. I needed a way to be able to have this isolated farm and go there using my EV, which is the best car I have ever driven. I calculated that the electricity I use charging the car at my house, which comes from the grid, to get up to the farm costs me less than $5 for the trip to the farm. My truck needs 6 gallons of gas for that same trip, so even with gas being quite cheap right now, I'm saving about $17 dollars each trip to the farm. That adds up. And if there's a zombie apocalypse, there won't be any gasoline, but there will be sunshine. If there's no sunshine either, well we're all fucked.

[@uowebfoot]

Why don't you tell us how much it is? Must have been expensive.

[@wickedmessenger1]

Everybody has a different idea of what "expensive" means. I gave you links to everything I used. I think I spent $500 building the shed, which could have been much less but I wanted to make it look really cool.

[@quickquote1568]

One day that low cost, lightweight 6000XP high frequency, transformerless inverter is going to fry your EV's onboard charger and void your EVs warranty because it lacks any galvanic isolation between their DC boost stage and its AC output. The MOSFETs in all inverters eventually fail, when they short to ground, without a transformer to block DC current, it can pass high Amperage DC current through to your EV's onboard charger and smoke it. You should be using a transformer based inverter instead if you want to charge EVs.

[@wickedmessenger1]

The 6000xp is being used to charge EVs all the time. I really don't know what to do with your warning.

[@quickquote1568]

@@wickedmessenger1 Sure a few are but the 6000XP is a relatively new inverter, so their MOSFETs haven't started failing yet. When they do fail, that's when you'll start seeing this problem. Don't take my word for it. Ask Google Ai. " Can a high frequency, transformerless inverter damage appliances because of no galvanic isolation?"

[@Martinko_Pcik]

You are very handy. Impressive work. I will just buy hybrid and spend my time watching youtube of people building themselves awesome charging stations for overpriced cars.

[@wickedmessenger1]

I know people think that EVs are expensive, but I bought my VW all in (tax, tags, floor mats, dealer prep, etc) for $30,000. Brand new. Not a lease. It will pay for itself in what what I would have spent on gasoline. Plus I'm very glad to not be burning gasoline.

[@Martinko_Pcik]

@wickedmessenger1 That is a great price. I wish you will not need a mainenance on that VW. If it is to spend extra money to avoid burning gasoline I can understand. If it is to save money on fuel for transportation, I would love to hear what is your estimate of ROI ? How many kms driven to get money back from that setup ?

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@Martinko_Pcik What's my ROI on gasoline? I have been buying it for 40 years and I never got to the point where Anyone said, "You know what, you've spent enough on gas, so from now on it's free."

[@Martinko_Pcik]

@@wickedmessenger1 Free fuel ? Unless you got all the setup free, you have just prepaid 20 years of the fuel needs for one way home. My Prius burned $9074 CAD in the last 11.5 years.

[@tpistor]

I think it's awesome. And there's more than just dollars roi. He now has electricity on the property that could come in handy, running some power tools or maybe a future workshed. He also has the convenience of charging up while he's at the property rather than stopping on the way home. And finally gaining the experience on DIY solar will save him on future projects.

[@timandnatd]

So...doing some fun math. That would be 9.6kwh of power in those batteries. Assume you don't go below 10%, thats 8.64 usable kwh. At a average efficacy on the EV at 4 kwh per mile, that is almost 35 miles.

[@wickedmessenger1]

You're right. The batteries alone cannot be of much use. But the PV arrays alone can't charge the car either. With all three together, I can easily get 35% of my car charged before the battery is depleted or the sun quits. If somebody wanted to use a setup like this for charging their car overnight, they'd have to get a massive amount of batteries.

[@MyGoogleYoutube]

What kind of wood did you use?

[@wickedmessenger1]

It's all pressure treated southern yellow pine. I made sure that the panels do not touch the wood directly by placing a vinyl flashing between the panel frames and the wood. Even with the anodization, the aluminum would eventually corrode if left in direct contact with the wood.

[@MyGoogleYoutube]

@@wickedmessenger1 It looks really nice did you stain or treat the wood?

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@MyGoogleKZbin I stained it. You might notice from the video that I haven't completed everything under the panels yet, but I will.

[@MyGoogleYoutube]

@@wickedmessenger1 I like it :) Did you wait to stain it or just do it before you built it?

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@MyGoogleKZbin The wood was wet when I bought it and built it, so I had to wait until it dried before I stained it. Since it was the middle of summer and in full sun almost all day, that went pretty quickly. I didn't put any panels up until I had the equipment shed completely finished, so there was plenty of time for everything to dry.

[@joemizer]

How does the shed do in the weather? Hot/cold

[@wickedmessenger1]

I finished in the summer, so I don't know yet how it's going to be in the winter. I insulated it very well and the roof is highly reflective, so it didn't bake in there during the summer. Winters here are mild by most people's standards so I think it's going to be ok then. I might decide to add an air conditioner if it gets too hot next summer.

[@yankeedoodle7693]

whats the all in cost, $8,000?

[@jasoncork9661]

That’s about what I was thinking, maybe $10,000 max

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@jasoncork9661 It was under 10k. I spent more than most would to make the equipment shed cool looking.

[@randya9143]

PV around $1500 max. 6000xp $1400 Batteries $2600. Ball park but at Signature Solar prices are not super expensive.

[@jasoncork9661]

Plus $350 for the battery rack plus all the taxes and shipping, plus all the wood and then the shed, also the cables, the EV charger and the electrical panel etc.

[@Tumbleweed5150]

@@randya9143 True, Signature solar has great prices on their products, but their shipping costs are now way out of line, twice what it was a year ago, and even back then, too much for my liking! Luckily, I bought my products from them when they were doing free shipping for way less than now. Now they won't ship free unless you spend over a certain price, as I found out when trying to order a second 24V 200Ah server rack battery.

[@offgridwanabe]

Well done for a newbie lol

[@Constitution1789]

Too bad the electric company didn't offer to sign a one hundred year contract with you to help pay for power to your home. $1000 a year is manageable. 😂

[@MatthewBayard]

You can't set the charge limit via the car? We do this in our Tesla.

[@wickedmessenger1]

That's not an option with the ID4. The Grizlee turned out to be the perfect solution.

[@MatthewBayard]

@wickedmessenger1 some mobile chargers let you adjust the rate with a simple button on the charger itself. It might have been a cheaper option

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@MatthewBayard The Grizlee lets you do that but you have to take off the cover to get at the dip switch. Once it's done, I never have to go in there again. It was a very affordable charger and very well made, plus designed to be in all weather. I'm very happy with it. I think I paid about $350 all in.

[@Snerdles]

​@@MatthewBayardYou have to be careful with soft limits. I purchased 2 40A adjustable portable EVSEs so I thought I could set each to 20A and plug them both in to a 40A rated circuit and then use them both at max when I run another circuit at a later time. It turns out if power is interrupted for any reason they default back to 40A rather than the set 20A which if both are plugged in can trip the breaker or potentially start a fire. If you have something where a true limit is required you should always rely on hard switches that limit top output.

[@MatthewBayard]

@Snerdles the Tesla UMC always goes to the last amp settings

[@honumoorea873]

Add something to protect your wood from the elements. Fixing panels directly on wood...is a bad idea, wood will move depending on the local humidity level. i would go victron instead of those chinese eg4 that heat while consuming a lot of energy and make noise. Depending on how you use/need power you do not need much battery capacity. I charge my car with less then 3kWh of cells, panels are on the roof and the car park under them completly. A multiplus ii and micro inverters with a ev charging station and a small lifepo4 pack. Then the charge rate is automatically controlled depending on the available sun. Total cost in my case 12x500W bifacial panels (semi transparent, 900€), victron 5 kVA (920€), 3xmicro inverters hoymiles (890€), victron ev station (450€), 10kWh pack (1300€, diy, jkbms, concrete box), cables, fuses, breakers....(200€), wood (600€) structure is 3m*6m, 3.5m at the highest point, 1.5m at the lowest. Something like 5k€. Ho forget one mppt for DC charging that is connected on 2 of those 12xpanels, it's a security in case the battery would be depleted.

[@greyMDA]

why micro-inverters though?

[@AshleyMckendree]

I noticed he has some sort of plastic between the panels and the wood

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@AshleyMckendree It's a thick vinyl flashing. There is no place where any panel touches wood directly. That is very important.

[@Rock_Nemo]

@@wickedmessenger1 why is that, I've seen many ground mounted panels mounted to directly to wood.

[@wickedmessenger1]

@@Rock_Nemo Pressure treated wood has chemicals that are corrosive to aluminum. The annodized coating can stave off corrosion for a while, but eventually they will corrode. It doesn't happen overnight. I spent $15 on that vinyl flashing so I know for sure my panels are protected. Well worth the money.

[@benc1927]

This video be a whooooole lot cooler if it had a Tesla in it!

[@thewoz1234]

You should hook up a generator to the EG$6000 so you can charge your electric car with gasoline.

[@wickedmessenger1]

That's absurd. I have a 100% success rate with this setup. I have never failed to charge it up enough for my 144 mile drive home.

[@davefroman4700]

Nice idea, but wrong EV. Seriously the VW's are rife with software issues. Would not touch one with a ten foot pole. You honestly would have been better off buying a used Tesla.

[@wickedmessenger1]

What you would or wouldn't do is meaningless to me. I love my ID.4. It's the best car I've ever owned. Zero problems and 8,000 miles thus far. Please be sure to take any advice you might have for me, write it down on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope and throw it in the nearest trash can.

[@keithjacobson4493]

@@wickedmessenger1 good response!

[@michaelriecher5632]

VW has fixed those software problems that were on the earlier ID4.

[@BigDaddyInKS]

I wouldn't own a Tesla if they were free. The software is the only thing decent about a Tesla, everything else is cheap and low quality.