Would it not be better to have the solar system and have the mini split run off that? That way you get all the power from your solar panels. That is how I do it. Works great.
Eg4 mini split and charging batteries
- Thread starter AtomicPhil
- Start date
Sundog33
Sun Bather
Sundog33
Sun Bather
Again a lame attempt to discredit the facts.For $624 I can purchase eight 280Ah cells and build a 24V battery and use any excess PV to charge it.
I'll beat you to the next step as you will say I need a BMS , but I will counter and say you need a mount for your panels. You will respond I will lay the panels on the ground, my response will be the grass will grow tall around the panels leading to shading. You will respond you will lay the panels on concrete, which will drive up the cost unless you lay them on your driveway. I will respond your wife comes home from the bar drunk one night and runs over the panels laying in the driveway. See, you should have just purchased that $4000 battery.
I'll be making money years before you pay off your system. End of story.
Sundog33
Sun Bather
Sure you can do that. But if you are just starting out from nothing and want to get into Solar. A mini-split and a few panels is all you need to get started on saving money on HVAC.
I just don't understand why you guys don't want to help these people jump in without beating your chest of how great your expensive, complicated system is for someone just starting out.
Battery Systems can always come down the road I'm not saying its a bad thing.
But again, Heating and A/C are the main draws on a home and not everyone needs to be 100% self sufficient.
Start saving money today on a Hybrid Mini-Split and tinker and learn the Battery engineering for future savings.
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
Agreed.
Dump all the extra power from the panels the solar mini split doesn't use into the batteries to run other loads and the mini split at night.
My 12k BTU rarely uses more than 500W when it's running... What's the minimum panels required to run one of these solar minisplits?... It just doesn't make sense to me wasting all that potential energy the panels could be producing.
Plum Crazy Rob
Solar Enthusiast
@Zwy had some somewhat more expensive special requirements for his ground mount, but otherwise his system is not very spendy and all DIY. Be careful, his numbers might surprise you , especially if he were to theorize apples to apples on a cheap ground mount
. Since I have 3 of the hybrids, obviously I agree with you in the short term. My position is why can't the Solar hybrids be used to reduce the cost and size of the "remainder of house future system" ??
I think in GENERAL the AVERAGE guy will have a longer payback on a whole house system. Many , even MOST, people here ARE NOT average!! As well as, any shmo can hook up this hybrid mini split. Not all people can successfully DIY a whole house system.
RCinFLA
Solar Wizard
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2020
- Messages
- 3,565
They are perfect for destroying compressor, dropping out each time a cloud goes by and restarting again when sun gets full illumination again, unless you have grid supply to keep them running when PV output drops off.
Sundog33
Sun Bather
There are no "extra power from the panels" if you size it right. There is no "wasting all that potential energy"
in my system. I have 1200 watt of panels. I run my mini-split at full blast using all the power the panels will provide.
When the dinning room gets too hot or cold I turn on the House HVAC Fan to circulate it thru my home.
This is what people are not understanding. There is no loss that could be used elsewhere.
Sundog33
Sun Bather
42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
As long as you're happy with it that's all that matters.
I'd be amazed if it used all the power available all the time and I'd also say it's not very efficient if it does.
It still pulls 40W from the grid?
Sundog33
Sun Bather
Well obviously I've stirred up a hornets nest of people taking this personally.@Zwy had some somewhat more expensive special requirements for his ground mount, but otherwise his system is not very spendy and all DIY. Be careful, his numbers might surprise you , especially if he were to theorize apples to apples on a cheap ground mount
Since I have 3 of the hybrids, obviously I agree with you in the short term. My position is why can't the Solar hybrids be used to reduce the cost and size of the "remainder of house future system" ??
I think in GENERAL the AVERAGE guy will have a longer payback on a whole house system. Many , even MOST, people here ARE NOT average!! As well as, any shmo can hook up this hybrid mini split. Not all people can successfully DIY a whole house system.
Panel mount BS should not even be included in this conversation. You need to mount Panels for any install you decide to undertake. Wheeew!
Again, this post is not about me and not about you, Folks. This is about a Guy asking for help about a EG4 Mini-split. Double Wheeew!
I'm not sure if you are calling me a shmo here . whatever that means, but you made my point.
Not all people need to have a DIY a whole house system.
Plum Crazy Rob
Solar Enthusiast
Oh my. Certainly not, so sorry. I'd be calling MYSELF a shmo as well then
Sundog33
Sun Bather
Plum Crazy Rob
Solar Enthusiast
Someone with an Emporia checked it to be 18W or something like that. One of the times I "discussed" hybrid mini splits with @Zwy he said I'd see this all differently if I had a whole house system. I'm sure that is true, and works both ways. Unless YOU own a hybrid mini split, you don't have all the data to compare.
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
I'm sorry I missed all the fun today, was busy installing a heat pump water heater ahead of my propane water heater for a dump load. Not done yet, I prefer sweating copper and had to make a platform for the water heater to get it plumb/level so the condensate drains off it.Someone with an Emporia checked it to be 18W or something like that. One of the times I "discussed" hybrid mini splits with @Zwy he said I'd see this all differently if I had a whole house system. I'm sure that is true, and works both ways. Unless YOU own a hybrid mini split, you don't have all the data to compare.
The advantage of whole house system is you will find many days there is much excess power that you can't use up. I actually wasn't planning on heating my house with mini splits, I just needed somewhere to go with the power. I harvest as much as possible to get the fastest return on my money. The heating aspect with the mini split is icing on the cake, so to speak, and I have cut my propane usage in 1/2 this winter. That's 400 gallons at about $1.50/gallon so I gained an extra $600 to spend on a heat pump water heater. The numbers actually were 390 gallons of propane used since August when I had summer fill and the 390 gallons includes domestic hot water. We usually use 800 gallons from summer fill into spring.
There are some days when there isn't enough sun to probably run a EG4 hybrid mini split, but with a battery bank and whole house system you get to heat using the mini split. Or there are days with sun in the morning like today, then the clouds rolled in with high winds and eventually very little PV.
My preferred locations for PV with no shade are limited, I'm certain many others are in the same boat. I need to maximize the usage of that space by using mounts where I can go 4 rows of panels in landscape and limit the length of array. I also want to maximize harvest, if those panels are not powering loads, then the power should be put into a battery. I can decide later where I want to use it. Those are the main problems with the hybrid, not maximizing production from the panels and location plus one does not have a choice on how/when to use that power. If you can make it work for you or don't have a large enough system/inverters, then do it. But I would rather spend those resources towards the big picture- total energy independence.
Zwy
Emperor Of Solar
There certainly is, heat loss/heat gain is higher exponentially when temp is increased/decreased depending on whether you are heating or cooling.
As for turning on a whole HVAC house fan, the problem with that is if the ducts run in an unconditioned space or areas where heat/cooling isn't needed/desired, then you will have losses due to heating/cooling the duct work. It's not a free lunch. It is more desirable and more efficient to zone areas of a home and heat/cool the zone as needed. For example in my house, I will be adding 2 more mini split heat pumps, one in my kitchen and the other in my bedroom. This allows zoning of the main parts of the house separate from the bedroom which I don't need to maintain at the same temp as the rest of the house. I can have my living room warmer/colder than the kitchen and vice versa.
Sundog33
Sun Bather
Ok so I want to start having an ac system and something I cannot get off my head. Is it possible to use solar panels to start the eg4 hybrid mini split and charge batteries at the same time instead of having a separate panel system? Just going to start buying parts here and there.
So, to answer Phil’s question:
No. You cannot charge batteries with dedicated Panels for a Hybrid mini-split.
And there is no reason too. As, if you size your Array properly you will have little if any power left over.
There is no reason to buy an expensive machine to lick the Peanut Butter Jar clean. Just buy a new jar. You’d only be saving peanuts.
I understand Zwy and Tim’s quest to be 100% self sufficient and how good that must feel to accomplish that,
But not everyone needs to go down that road.
If you do not agree with the use of Hybrid Mini Splits then stay out of the conversation of people who want to use them
And stop jumping in on every Mini Split Post and bashing them and people who use the technology.
So, to answer Phil’s question:
No. You cannot charge batteries with dedicated Panels for a Hybrid mini-split.
And there is no reason too. As, if you size your Array properly you will have little if any power left over.
There is no reason to buy an expensive machine to lick the Peanut Butter Jar clean. Just buy a new jar. You’d only be saving peanuts.
I understand Zwy and Tim’s quest to be 100% self sufficient and how good that must feel to accomplish that,
But not everyone needs to go down that road.
If you do not agree with the use of Hybrid Mini Splits then stay out of the conversation of people who want to use them
And stop jumping in on every Mini Split Post and bashing them and people who use the technology.
DigitalAdrenaline
New Member
Looking at these for myself. Overall, I think the IDEAL situation here would be having the option to backfeed any extra solar output into the grid power line. That might be 0w, and it might even get up to 1200w theoretically, but most of the time it wouldn't be very much, but more than zero, and it would likely balance out power used by the lights or whatever else was running in the house.
I suppose that would mean it needed a rapid shut down, and whatever else too though. But that would seem like the ideal situation. To me at least.
Interesting thoughts on both sides.
I suppose that would mean it needed a rapid shut down, and whatever else too though. But that would seem like the ideal situation. To me at least.
Interesting thoughts on both sides.
Sundog33
Sun Bather
Again,
The average cost of electricity in the United States is 12.88 cents per kilowatt hour (kWh).
A lot to do for nothing. Just peanuts. Just set it and forget it. No need to worry bout every drop unless your on a battery system counting your chickens.
The main bulk of the power youll see in real time beating your gas and electric bill down Nicely! And paying off your investment quickly.
Sundog33
Sun Bather
So to break it down:
If you were using the hybrid mini split for 6 hours of good sun per day drawing 1000watts for 30 days a month that would be 1000x6x30=180,000watts or 180kw
At 12.88cents per Kw that would be a savings of $23 bucks a month. But that’s not the end of the story.
If you were using your inefficient central air and heat instead of this high efficiency mini split than you can expect to use more power.
I average a savings of $50 bucks a month using this hybrid system. Not only is it saving me money but the air smells great! Like cleaner coming out of this. I suppose because it’s not running thru a vent system but smells ionized or something.
I ask my daughter; “Do you smell that?”
And say; It smells like Free! Lol
Anyway, power that’s lost in the sauce would be negligible. Maybe a couple bucks a month at most. Don’t sweat it.
