Quietest Set-And-Forget Off Grid System For A Few Lights, TV and Internet.

[TGJR]

I have been tasked to help a friend add power to a remote 10'x10' room. Nobody at the property after the install will have any technical know-how. So the more reliable we can make this system, the better. The only concern is noise as the inverter will be located inside the same room being occupied. The quieter, the better. The room will be used primarily during daylight hours in the winter months and only a dozen weekends out of the year.

No heat or AC will be needed. No generator backup. No grid tie. Just enough power for some lights, a fan, TV and Starlink internet. So very little power consumption. Overkill is fine if it means the system will be more reliable.

What would you recommend?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Link #1 in my signature.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Please more specifics; including your general location, how many hours in a day (and night) will the Starlink, fan (wattage?) and TV (what Size/power requirements) be used? In a quiet room, an inverter functioning will make some sound. It could be turned off when not used. That would not make any noise, but comes with issues.

This is an opportunity for the users to gain knowledge about solar electricity instead of writing them off as helpless/disinterested. Empowerment is what we humans do, right?

 

[TGJR]

The location is about an hour south of Atlanta. I would like the Starlink to run 24 hours a day so there is no waiting while it boots up but turning it off while not in use isn't the end of the world if that is better. The small oscillating fan would only be during the warmer months which would be rarely. And the TV would be a small one, 32" at most.

Seems like very low power usage under normal conditions. But there will certainly be times when it will be used for days straight during rainy conditions. I just want to be sure there's enough battery backup for when there is no solar production for days.

An outdoor rated inverter and battery is also an option. There's a good spot completely covered and out of the elements on the outside of the room. My main concern is a system that just works without needing frequent attention.

 

[Shimmy]

Stick with DC for the loads listed. Ideally get a 400W panel to make sure you have as much capacity as possible, and keep all the loads 12V. Might want to use a higher voltage for the battery and MPPT. Local power converters for things other than 12VDC.

 

[OffGridForGood]

I may need to double check this, but our starlink is using (I think) about 1kWh per 24-hours (ie rather high consumption) I can isolate it from the other loads to be certain, but since we added SL I noticed the increase in background consumption.
To check some of the other loads, I like the P3 Kil-o-watt (look it up online) just plug it into a wall outlet and then plug in the TV or Fan or whatever else you want to check consumption on - the P3 tracks power used and hours running. Great for tracking things like a fridge that cycle.

 

[50ShadesOfDirt]

I would say get a solar generator system (these are everywhere on Amazon and elsewhere). If anyone (you) has some diy skills, build a solar generator yourself to save money ... youtube videos abound. If nobody does, and you don't want to take on the task, then have them buy a solar generator system from one of the many vendors.

A solar generator will be clean, quiet, and the potential is high for you to score big points, because it will look sexy as all get out.

All it takes is your friends' money ... the bonus is that they won't be calling you for support, they'll call the vendor instead. The system can grow as needed, when they start bringing in more power things into this room/cabin.

Hope this helps ...

 

[sunshine_eggo]

I may need to double check this, but our starlink is using (I think) about 1kWh per 24-hours (ie rather high consumption) I can isolate it from the other loads to be certain, but since we added SL I noticed the increase in background consumption.
To check some of the other loads, I like the P3 Kil-o-watt (look it up online) just plug it into a wall outlet and then plug in the TV or Fan or whatever else you want to check consumption on - the P3 tracks power used and hours running. Great for tracking things like a fridge that cycle.

My V1 uses about 60W steady. That's 1.4kWh/day. I hear V2 uses less.

If the dish heater turns on, it's a lot more.

 

[OffGridForGood]

Just enough power for some lights, a fan, TV and Starlink internet. So very little power consumption. Overkill is fine if it means the system will be more reliable.

LED lights 10 hours per day x 30W =300Wh
Fan also 10hrs per day x 90W = 900Wh
32 inch TV 5hrs per day x 70 = 350Wh
Starlink 24hrs per day (per Sunshine Eggo) 1.4kWh
say about 3kWh
add for some headroom 4kWh per day
three days autonomy (rain days) 12kWh - pretty big for a solar generator. Set the starlink to 'sleep' for 8-10hours per night. (it is programable for this) would cut the power needed to about 2.4kWh per day, allow 3kWh per day with some headroom.

 

[Sanwizard]

The location is about an hour south of Atlanta. I would like the Starlink to run 24 hours a day so there is no waiting while it boots up but turning it off while not in use isn't the end of the world if that is better. The small oscillating fan would only be during the warmer months which would be rarely. And the TV would be a small one, 32" at most.

Seems like very low power usage under normal conditions. But there will certainly be times when it will be used for days straight during rainy conditions. I just want to be sure there's enough battery backup for when there is no solar production for days.

An outdoor rated inverter and battery is also an option. There's a good spot completely covered and out of the elements on the outside of the room. My main concern is a system that just works without needing frequent attention.

I use an inexpensive MPP LV2424 connected to five 100W panels and some SOK batteries to run a small out building by my pool. The LV2424 includes onboard outlets, so a normal extension cord works for all 120V appliances or lights.
VERY simple setup, minimal wiring, and cost effective. 2.4KW and 24V.
The fans have a low hum that does not bother me.

WATTS247.COM has one on sale for $485.

 

[rhino]

The only concern is noise as the inverter will be located inside the same room being occupied. The quieter, the better.

MorningStar Suresine inverter is probably quietest off-grid inverter you can get (no fan). Comes in variety of capacities and is top of the line. You can get the smaller ones either hardwired or with outlets directly on the inverter. You'd still need a separate solar charge controller which Morningstar also makes as well.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Morningstar is great. I have the original 300W, been performing for over 25 years my calculation. When under significant load it has a quiet hum but if your room fan is on and/or the TV it would not be heard.

There will still be a need for a little diligence, some checking/possibly tightening connections.

Getting a lot of battery storage will see them through cloudy days but a conscious being still needs to be looking at battery health on occasion.

We simply watch less TV when the storms roll in because our system is not lavish, and we want to treat our batteries for longevity.

 

[Kiwi2000]

If you go with Victron components you could also add remote monitoring with a Cerbo GX. (since they want to keep Starlink on all the time anyhow)

Their solar charge controllers are dead quiet and very reliable.

Their small 12v inverters are also very reliable and have a very small idle load. A Victron SmartShunt would be able to monitor battery state of charge. The whole system could be networked together and all the info available remotely.

I have a 12/1200 and a 12/500 Victron inverter. The bigger 12/1200 makes a bit of audible transformer hum under certain loads. The 12/500 is much quieter.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Our Victron 24 volt 1200 VA Phoenix inverter fires up a fan when under significant load. No one would describe that fan as near-silent. Morningstar does not use fans.

We have a substantial Midnite Solar charge controller that will energize a fan but our Xantrex and 2 Victron solar charge controllers seem to make no noticeable sound.

 

[Rednecktek]

If you're looking at prebuilts with that kind of capacity you should look at the Pecron E2000LFP and 2 of the expansion batteries. That'll get you the 8Kw for 2 days and still supports a really healthy size array.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

How quiet is the Pecron?

 

[RobertoJJJ]

How quiet is the Pecron?

I've been using it for a couple of months and there's no noise, I'd estimate around 60 decibels, and they're on sale on Pecron website for $859 on Black Friday, use a coupon ALLCPMOR can get $816, which is a crazy discount.

 

[RobertoJJJ]

Has anyone tested a collapsible waterproof solar panel versus a regular folding one? Are they close in conversion performance? I've heard some anecdotal evidence that waterproof performance panels will have worse conversion?

 

[k490]

Starlink converts 120V to 48-56 volts DC no need to have an inverter. Just buy a charge controller and run one of these that converts 12V to 48V. RV lights are 12V I would just go with that most charge controllers like the Renogys, or EPEVER don't have fans this would get rid of any noise. You could add a small 1500W inverter only needed when you want to use it not on 24/7. The Renogy Rover inverters have a 12V load output you can monitor how much power is being used through their BT app. I would go with a decent 12V lithium battery has low temp charge cutoff detection keep the battery from charging below freezing still able to discharge. Could also had a small heater or buy a decent server rack battery go up to 48V if you want that give you lot more buffer when it comes to power. If you went with 48V battery you could power the starlink right off the battery pack.

Solar panels you want to get as much as you can out of them go with 400+ watt panels angle them gets the most sun.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Starlink converts 120VAC to 48-56 volts DC no need to have an inverter.

Fixed.

Just buy a charge controller and run one of these that converts 12V to 48V.

Assuming you have 12V available.


I used that PoE unit but since my battery voltage is potentially outside 48-56V, I went 38-60VDC to 12V (for 12V stuff) and then back up 48V with a 12-48V converter.