Starting this thread to document the process of designing and building my solar system. My scheduled off-line date, now that the line is running again, is July 13. I expect most of my solar work to be done in August and/or September. I plan to do as much as possible myself. I've been researching for about 4-5 months and am nearing completion of my design. Many times in life, I've been tempted, and sometimes failed to resist said temptation, to "cheap out". That will not happen with this project. While I am able to afford to pay cash for this project, it is important to complete this year, while the solar rebate is still 26%. When you see the picture, you'll understand.
I initially decided to build around Battle Born 24V 50Ah batteries because of their performance record and long warranty. But, 8 batteries takes up a lot of space and requires a lot of heavy, expensive battery cable. This week someone asked why I wasn't considering Victron batteries. I looked into the solution (25.6V, 200Ah per battery). The cost of the batteries themselves is basically the same for 8 Battle Born or 2 Victron. Obviously with only 2, I save the cost and weight of 6 sets of cables, 6 battery disconnect switches and 6 fuses. The Victron batteries are a little heavier than the Battle Born batteries, but take up much less precious floor space...almost half. Between the cost, weight and floor space savings, the decision was easy. My near-final drawing is in the first comment below. At this point, the only thing missing is the communication and monitoring connections between all the components.
If you have any questions about the configuration, I'd be happy to answer them. Note, however, I'm really not interested in any debate or discussion of "why didn't you use brand x which is so much cheaper".
The approximate MSRP of components (not including cables or labor) is $16K. Since I intend to do it myself, it'll be mostly slave labor. I may pay my son to help some.
I initially decided to build around Battle Born 24V 50Ah batteries because of their performance record and long warranty. But, 8 batteries takes up a lot of space and requires a lot of heavy, expensive battery cable. This week someone asked why I wasn't considering Victron batteries. I looked into the solution (25.6V, 200Ah per battery). The cost of the batteries themselves is basically the same for 8 Battle Born or 2 Victron. Obviously with only 2, I save the cost and weight of 6 sets of cables, 6 battery disconnect switches and 6 fuses. The Victron batteries are a little heavier than the Battle Born batteries, but take up much less precious floor space...almost half. Between the cost, weight and floor space savings, the decision was easy. My near-final drawing is in the first comment below. At this point, the only thing missing is the communication and monitoring connections between all the components.
If you have any questions about the configuration, I'd be happy to answer them. Note, however, I'm really not interested in any debate or discussion of "why didn't you use brand x which is so much cheaper".
The approximate MSRP of components (not including cables or labor) is $16K. Since I intend to do it myself, it'll be mostly slave labor. I may pay my son to help some.
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