off grid system

[blueogangejuice]

im making my double decker bus off grid and thinking of building the "Off grid home 48v System" with the 5kw inverter.

Q. how small can I start, with regards to panels and batteries?. that's if I can expand as I go...?

 

[gnubie]

Yes, you can start small. The question largely boils down to how much energy are you going to be using per day. If you don't really know step 1 would be to audit what you use with a watt meter.

You'd meter each appliance separately for a 24 hour period to get an idea of how you actually use it and then total that up for everything to get how many watt hours of power you need to generate and how much you are likely to need to store to get you through the night, as well as spare capacity to tide you over on rainy days.

 

[blueogangejuice]

thanks Gnubie, ill plug the whole bus in to a watt meter an see what im using...