Off grid house power help please

 

We are building a house in a National Park in Southern Spain. Trying to
be as off grid and eco as possible. Not possible just yet to go solar
for electricity. We are starting with a generator and batteries to
power our house with usual household low power appliances, but
unfortunately we know very little about generators and batteries , the
makes, models and what exactly to buy .
If anyone out there can help us with their off grid experiences and if
possible provide advice on wat models to buy or amoutn of batteries we
shoudl use etc.
. Please visit our website:
www.zufre.info/housebuild.htm
Many thanks
Seb

 

On 16 Aug 2006 13:26:46 -0700, "sheppard.sebastian@gmail.com"


The very first step has to be to characterize your electricity usage.  You
need to calculate how much electricity you will use during the day (in
kWh/day), and also what the peak electrical usage (kW) is at any given
time.

You will need to know the actual consumption of the various appliances that
you may be using, and how long they will run per day.  This will not be the
values on the dataplate -- that usually only reflects the maximum possible
draw of the appliance, with a safety factor.

For example, a laptop computer that draws 30 watts ordinarily and is on 4
hours per day would have a daily consumption of 120 Wh or 0.12kWh per day.

It would be best, also, to not use electricity to heat or cook -- rather
use gas.

Once you have done your "electricity audit", a system can then be designed
to meet your needs that will be sized appropriately.
-- ron  (off the grid in Downeast Maine)

 

Hi Ron,

It sounds like you've been up and running for a while and undertsand the
value of not spending 10 to save 5. I'm thinking about setting up a 25HP
Liston and a 15kv genhead and I was wondering what your setup was including
consumables?

TIA!

--
Please check your files, update IG3 Tags & Post Artwork. TIA!

 

wrote:


We are off grid.  Our setup includes:

Bergey XL-R wind turbine (7 meter diameter)
100' Tower

Sharpe 165W PV panels -- 12  (1.98 kWp)
Outback MX60 controller

Batteries -- 48V @ 1640AH (20 hr rate) Surrette 8CS25PS

Trace SW5548 inverters (2) series stacked as 120/240 VAC

Generator -- Kohler 12RZ propane, water-cooled, 1800 rpm, 12kW output
  I don't know the HP of the engine; it's a 4-cylinder 1.3L Ford engine.


-- ron  (off the grid in Downeast Maine)

 

Does it make a difference if one uses 48V batteries or is it better
with 24v?

Thanks
Seb

Ron Rosenfeld wrote: