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Apr
26

Sizing Your Solar System

Understanding exactly how much power is stored in your batteries and how much of that you can use on a daily basis. This video also covers how power gets fro…
Video Rating: 4 / 5

For more information on SquareSpace, please visit: squarespace.com/geekbeat *PROMO CODE*: “Geekbeat9” Considering adding solar panels to your home and maybe …
Video Rating: 4 / 5

50 comments

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  1. Marvin Double says:

    Excellent information, clear and entirely useful. Thanks for the great
    video

  2. larry underwood says:

    I am setting up my solar at my RV this weekend. I will add a video to my
    channel if you would check it out and critique me on it lol. Any advice
    would be appreciated lol

  3. electrodacus says:

    2:40 You are actually using electricity directly from the solar panels and
    if some difference is needed is taken from the battery.
    Lead Acid are actually expensive compared to Lithium when used for energy
    storage .
    I also live offgrid and use about 2kWh/Day in average maybe a bit more in
    the summer just because there is more produced.
    I have 3x 240W solar panels as main solar panels and a small 300W wind
    turbine to help in winter and cloudy days so I only need a 100Ah 24V
    LiFePO4 battery that can be discharged down to 20% for a few thousand
    cycles so I can use as much as 2kWh from the battery from the total
    capacity of about 2.5kWh
    I usually use way less just because I use most of the energy during the day
    directly from the sun.
    If you have say 800W from the solar panels going to battery and you connect
    a 1000W load your battery will discharge at a rate of 200W the rest of 800W
    will come directly from the solar panels and in that way much cheaper.
    At 1$/Watt for solar panels and say just 25years life the kWh will cost
    just under 3cent/kWh depending on how much sun you have where you live.
    Battery on the other hand even the cheapest that is Lithium will cost
    around 20cent/kWh.
    I need to make a video soon explaining and demonstrating this.
    There is one problem and that is that you can not find a charge controller
    for Lithium so I designed my own and I will have soon on Kickstarter. 

  4. JamesMichaelDoyle says:

    +Wick3DPimP thing is, its not a matter of “just stay on the grid” he
    mentioned building an earthship house, which means hes in the middle of
    nowhere, and the design of the house reduces the need for temperature
    control. and lots of natural light use. there are also a lot of low power
    alternatives to a lot of things. its really not as big an adjustment as you
    think.

    you also priced it at $15, but forgot the “delivery” charge they bill you
    for each month.

    Earthship houses are actually cheaper in both construction and maintenance.

    also you are forgetting the whole rv and boating thing.

  5. Penyo311 says:

    I am in a tiny apartment and use 15.8, on average and most of the days I am
    not even home!

  6. jesse banke says:

    A Charge Controller will have a shutoff that cuts your “load” output when
    your battery bank gets beneath a manually set voltage.

  7. Robert Riley says:

    I’ve watched several dozen solar videos. This video by far has given me a
    lot of great information about how amp hours on batteries relate to how
    much practical energy you can get out of them. I will have to reference
    this video in the future when I build my system. I am hoping to build a 1
    KW system in my yard, but now I will be better prepared at buying better
    batteries now after seeing this. Thanks for making this video.

  8. Nathaniel Hall says:

    When you connect a battery in series you don’t simply double the voltage.
    You increase it by the value of the two batteries. 6+6+6+6 gives you the 24
    volts. The same thing for amperage, you increase the amperage capacity by
    the capacity of each battery, you don’t simply double it. In your case you
    are doubling, but you could have a 6v and a 12v, which would give you an
    18v supply.

    I know it is semantics in this case, but it is important that it not be
    explained as doubling.

  9. oebien00bie says:

    How much did your panels cost? Because over here in the Netherlands I find
    it hard to find any cheap big panels..

  10. sunharvester says:

    Super informative , thanks for sharing!!

  11. mike hogi says:

    Thanx 4 sharing and the explanations r very helpful. nice job

  12. Timothy Arnold says:

    thx

  13. Mike Warren says:

    Don’t you need 110 V to run your house?

  14. Solar Companies Gold Coast says:

    Exactly. Before installing solar panels, you need to watch this video first
    to fully understand the things you need to consider when using solar
    system.Thanks Offgridbuild.

  15. Mark Gailmor says:

    great video but there are better batteries for off-grid systems. 

  16. John Steel IV says:

    I have 1 120 watt pannel, Would a 200 amp hour AGM battery work ( 12 volts
    x 200 amp hour = 2,400 watt hours ie 2.4 kw/hrs right? What
    converter/invrter do i need to take 12v dc to turn it into 110v AC? any
    recommendations

  17. vin al says:

    is this correct?

    (source) electricity—>battery charger—>2 battery 21plates—> 3000
    watts power inverter–> 3 desktop computer, 1 wall fan, and 1 xerox copier.

    3 desktop = 600 watts /each
    1 wall fan = 50 watts
    1 xerox = 500 watts

    question:

    how much kilowatts do i need to use?
    how many hours to charge my 2 battery?

  18. David Harper says:

    Excellent instruction. 

  19. Shahzad Khan says:

    good tutorial. what would be estimated cost on these batteries?

  20. John Doe says:

    I can hardly believe you only use that much. I cut everything i can off and
    try not to overuse anything while using it and i still run at least 20 to
    25 KW a day. Hard to believe this.

  21. Hermans Bart says:

    I’m using a Nedap Powerrouter. That invertor makes it possible to use
    direct power from the solar panels without using the batteries. Even
    without batteries, on a sunny day I can let my home running on direct
    sunlight.

  22. Grant Smith says:

    Thank You! I have a much better understanding now :)

  23. John Booth says:

    Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! I have been searching for a simple
    explanation on how to size a solar system for my needs, and this is
    perfect! Awesome video! I subscribed as well. Keep up the good work =)

  24. boat298 says:

    forget the batteries, you can buy 2- 240 watt panels with microinverters
    and a 500 watt wind turbine for each 350 amp hr battery.

  25. Steven Grey says:

    Very informative. How clean is your power from the inverter? Have you run
    into any power quality issues. Like clocks not keeping time or strange
    interference on radio devices… ect..

  26. USNVA says:

    This must be the “Defeatist’s” Channel. There are many MANY channels where
    people are living off grid on hybrid solar/wind or solar/charger or
    solar/wind/charger.

    This guy put his PV panels on his house roof?? He should’ve built a station
    off the house’s roof where he could place the panels. He’s just too dumb
    for the technology, but smart enough to talk other dummies out of going
    solar. He probably wasn’t even aware that the DC energy gained should be
    stored in batteries and fed through an inverter… with a small backup LP
    generator or wind turbines.

  27. Sekou Getrouw says:

    GOOD VIDEO THANKS FOR THE INFO. NO BATTERY STORAGE?

  28. Marek Stiltzkin says:

    also solar panels have become yet another energy industry conspiracy. 20%
    efficiency at most. indium gallium nitride, discovered at least a decade
    ago, gets almost 90% of the solar power and is drastically cheaper to
    manufacture. why aren’t we allowed to have it?

    there are so many lies around nowadays that we’re just constantly bent over
    taking it from behind. solar panel companies are almost the exact same as
    the oil companies. bleeding us til we die.

    free energy exists. there’s no such thing as limited resources or space.
    fiat currency has exactly no value, only faith-based value, it’s worldwide
    mental slavery, our souls are traded on the stock market. the orders from
    our masters are; wake up, go to work all day, come home, check facebook,
    beat the kids, drink, beat the wife, drink, pass out, wake up and do it all
    again. forever! 

  29. clayton gambrel says:

    I use it for back up power for ham radio and to power one room, because I
    use my radio for back up EMC work and Volunteer with NOAA it works great
    for all that

  30. Artjoms Pugacovs says:

    Nice, now just buy DC powered home electronics.

  31. Solar Companies Gold Coast says:

    Installation of solar panels needs to consider the amount of heat where it
    will be placed.

  32. Claude Taylor says:

    Great information, Thank you

  33. Scott Baker says:

    LOL @ “shutoff valve” on the inverter.

  34. De Cook says:

    Commercial Solar Panels are too Expensive !!
    If you want a Cheap solution to Power your Home,
    You have to Learn to Build your Own Solar Panels
    Go to *Google* and *Search* for:
    *Top DIY Solar Panels Review by John Sommer*
    Choose the First Result (Skip the advertisement on top)
    It is a Blog that Explains it in Details……

  35. Haleakala Solar, Inc. says:

    Cool video! The Complete Guide to Installing Solar Panels: The Complete
    Guide to Installing A PV (Photovoltaic) Solar Panel System

  36. HellBoundWizard says:

    What a horrible design. The thing about this design is it only works if
    there is sun. No sun, no power. Also if the grid goes down for any reason
    even if the sun is out, no power. And yes you can do it yourself minus
    whatever plugs in to the main breaker box. Granted I don’t like anything
    on the roof minus the roof. But my design is for off grid or semi off grid
    where I would have the electric company as backup. If you are asking, my
    design is for my future home out in the country.

  37. Lamark Taylor says:

    If someone wants to do it themselves, they will !!

  38. niklasxl says:

    so a mad neighbor can come and shut of your power :D

  39. João Vicente Scarpin says:

    Congrats! Nice green step! But I wonder if you guys are able to sell your
    carbon credits for this. Here in Brazil only companies can do do this, but
    it is a great way to compensate the investment some years before.

  40. Jeff Elliott says:

    In Ontario you can be a part of the microFit program and get much faster
    ROI’s. Also my friend used an enphase system which puts a microinverter on
    every solar panel. The benefit of this is you can put panels up that might
    get shade during the day and not effect other panels near them. My friend
    has panels on his east/west and south side roofs and has had them up for a
    few years with the system paying for itself in 5 years. ( without an
    electric utility paying for half the system )

  41. David Mercado says:

    Great video thanks so much for the detailed unbiased analysis! Any plans to
    add Battery storage for emergency backup purposes or is it not cost
    effective? Thanks!

  42. iAmThereThatGuy says:

    Check out his spreadsheet it list all that good stuff.

  43. Brother Scott Jetton says:

    Awesome! Really did like this Video… I’ve Waited Long Enough for it…
    Hopefully Soon I will be doing the same… Thanks Johnp! (And you too Dave
    for putting up with John) lol… Take care… -scott_jetton

  44. Van Tran says:

    Please tell us how many KW/h your system generate and how much money do
    you save per month. How much does it cost a KW/h to pay utility company.
    Thanks, it is most comprehensive video about solar panels i have ever seen

  45. Jeramie Curtice says:

    Ever thought about reducing your energy needs? 14kw is outrageous unless
    you own a business with walk-in coolers or something.

  46. Stephen Dolan says:

    7 TVs aren’t that much

  47. ig33ku says:

    It is worth it when the grid goes down and John is the only one that can
    access international internet porn while drinking beer in an AC cooled room.

  48. Cristobal Ortiz says:

    where i live in the carribbean we use baterries to store the energy :p
    still cool if you could still have some energy after power cut off.. XD

  49. John Pozadzides says:

    Yeah, its not for the faint of heart, or thin of wallet. 😉 It’s a real
    investment and it comes with a lot of hard work attached. But if you can
    pull it off there is something to be said about never having to spend a
    dime on the electric company again! 🙂

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