Off-grid solar systems are an excellent solution to getting power for your out-of-the-way property. Depending on your needs and wants, off-grid systems can come with a large upfront cost. But there are ways to reduce the overall amount you will spend both on your off-grid power system and in ongoing fuel and maintenance costs. Here are Fire Mountain Solar&#;s tips to help you save on your off-grid power system!
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1. Energy Efficiency
It&#;s cheaper to reduce your power consumption than to produce power. Spending a little more upfront on high efficiency appliances and devices will reduce not only the cost of your power system and energy storage equipment, but also on the ongoing fuel costs for a supplemental generator. Consider using power strips to reduce your phantom loads; the power draw that comes from certain devices &#; like a DVD player &#; even when they are turned off. When you&#;re off the grid, even that little bit of power use can add up to more frequent running of your generator (and increased fuel costs).
2. Purchase & Install your System in Phases
Starting with just a generator and batteries, then adding the solar array later is just one way you can install your system in phases to save yourself money when you get started off-the-grid.
3. Package Pricing Pays!
When you buy all your equipment and/or services from Fire Mountain Solar we discount your package off our already competitive component pricing. That means you don&#;t have to spend your valuable time shopping around for the best price on individual items.
4. Mounting of the Solar Panels
Pitched roof mounting a solar array is less expensive than ground or pole mounting because it eliminates the cost of trenching and longer wire runs. So if you can, mount your solar on the roof of an existing structure.
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit Best Batteries for off Grid Solar Power.
5. Start with a &#;Beginner&#; Battery Bank
If you are using AGM or FLA (flooded lead acid) batteries, you don&#;t want to add new batteries to old down the road. Instead, you can start with a small or lower quality battery bank and replace it entirely later. If taking advantage of the substantial benefits lithium batteries provide, a significant benefit is they allow you to add additional batteries later without affecting the efficiency of the new equipment.
6. Shipping
If you are local to us, or one of our suppliers, picking up your product yourself may help you save on your shipping costs. Another way to save on shipping is to have your items shipped to a local freight terminal. This can be much less expensive than shipping to your home where freight companies charge residential fees, and where you may also need to pay additional for lift gate service to get the product from the truck bed to the ground.
No matter where your adventures take you, Fire Mountain Solar is here to support you on your off-grid power system journey. If you have questions about your existing off-grid system or a planned project, need technical support or want to discuss possibilities, we are here to help.
If you want to learn more, please visit our website Balcony Power Plant.
It is demonstrating the Peukert-effect of a lead-acid (wet per their spec) battery.Thank you for your reply, the seller is advertising this battery as 130AH, is it in fact 100 AH in old spec ?
If you discharge at the C/5 rate, expect only 80ah usable. The faster you discharge, the voltage falls faster than if you drew down at the C/100 rate, where you could expect 130ah usable before the voltage drops.
Quality batteries usually have charts at different constant-draw rates to better fit your application, but most people aren't doing constant-draw.
Typically this trigger is upon reaching about 10.7v, about zero-percent left. NOT zero volts!
Long ago, the C/20 rate became the standard upon which a consumer could compare batteries casually, so to see it specified this way at different rates, is more for industrial planners, not consumers.
Note that there are some exceptions, even in modern times. For example, Enersys/Odyssey usually spec their agm's with a C/10 rate, to be more in line with what one would expect to get out of a given work-shift, rather than a long 20 hour rate.
The main reason why LiFePO4 is so attractive over that of say leisure-agm batteries, is that even though the up-front cost is less, 99% of the public doesn't know how to keep lead-acid fully charged properly.The panels are south facing, we do get a lot of bright days, in fact the Cornish song goes "It Never Rains in Cornwall we have a constant bright blue sky" : )
Hence the claim "I'll just buy my lead-acid's twice" as compared to LFP is for naught when you prematurely murder the leisure batts. The lead-acid store loves your many visits!
The only exception are those rare few who actually know how to keep wet/agm/gel properly charged. They usually have holes in their pants, with a mini-voltmeter in their shirt-pocket, hydrometer, timer, and calculator at the ready.
Oh wait, that's me. Seriously, if you aren't charging your agm to where current dribbles down to C/100 at least, in a daily-cyclic routine, you are prematurely walking them down in capacity by sulfation. For a 100ah battery, that means reaching 1A of current at the end of absorb. Most daily-cyclic users can't do that simply due to the lack of sunshine, so other methods to mitigate this need to be taken.
Thank you for your reply, the seller is advertising this battery as 130AH, is it in fact 100 AH in old spec ?At that price (99 british pounds, $112USD), I have a very hard time believing you are not throwing your money away. It doesn't even list what kind of battery it is. Surely lead acid, but is it flooded or sealed? And what is the weight? Weight will often give you at least some indication of a quality (or not) of lead acid. Mysteriously the weight is not listed for this battery.
LISTED AS 130AH
Regarding the life of the battery, it will be charged with three MPPT controllers from four 340w and one 290 w solar panels.
The inverter just cut out at 11.5v, at the moment we have two 75 amp batteries in parallel.
With three 130 amp batteries in parallel, it is unlikely they would be heavily discharged with our intended use.
Alanna and I have spent a couple of days so far online looking at batteries.
This is the best result we have come up with so far at £160 : )
100Ah 12V Deep Cycle AGM Battery for Leisure, Solar, Wind and Off-grid 12 volt&#;
Lithium I know is better, but is very high cost and is daunting in the short term, but still we may go that way.
I think a lot of the low cost lead acid leisure batteries listed, are more starter batteries than deep cycle ?
We are going for four batteries at 100 amps each to start with.
Any opinions would be appreciated and help us proceed further. : )
Thank you for you time and interest. God Bless Chadd
Having now read Reviews on Face Book and Truse Pilot for Photonic Universe, it apears their products can be prone to fail and replacing faulty items is not some thing they do a lot of the time.
We still feel that AGM batteries are the way to go, but are lost as to who to purchase from ?
Alanna and I have spent a couple of days so far online looking at batteries.
This is the best result we have come up with so far at £160 : )
100Ah 12V Deep Cycle AGM Battery for Leisure, Solar, Wind and Off-grid 12 volt&#;
Lithium I know is better, but is very high cost and is daunting in the short term, but still we may go that way.
I think a lot of the low cost lead acid leisure batteries listed, are more starter batteries than deep cycle ?
We are going for four batteries at 100 amps each to start with.
Any opinions would be appreciated and help us proceed further. : )
Thank you for you time and interest. God Bless Chadd
Having now read Reviews on Face Book and Truse Pilot for Photonic Universe, it apears their products can be prone to fail and replacing faulty items is not some thing they do a lot of the time.
We still feel that AGM batteries are the way to go, but are lost as to who to purchase from ?