Used or New panels, San Tan or whatever.. This is what I have

[Moretorque]

I roughly have 10 thou watts worth of panels, 1/2 came from SanTan the others I have just picked up here and there. I should have more? I just bought a Oupes 2400 watt because it's warrantied for outdoor use and a Rich Solar battery because of the warranty and it was 1234 shipped to my door so I am happy I hope. I need a charge controller/inverter, I want something rated for outdoor use. I could mount wheels on the bottom and have a E4G 18 hand truck called the Super Will and it would be outdoor rated. That would actually be cool but I am sure it would void the warranty modifying it with wheels and then another cart with 400 or 500 pounds of batteries. Just kidding but it would be cool..

 

[Moretorque]

I cancelled my battery order on the Rich because upon further reading I found the battery only has 15 cells vs 16... Any help would be great.. Thanks...

 

[Dagoth Ur Does Solar]

That is a heck of a lot of panels for a power station that can only accept up to 1000W of PV input at 12V to 45V maximum. If you bought large-format panels like 400W, you might only be able to do 1 or 2 in series max I would guess? Even my small 100W panels are a VOC of like, 24V or something along those lines. I wouldn't even be able to put two of them in series if I am reading their specs page correctly.

 

[Andrewr05]

I roughly have 10 thou watts worth of panels

10 thousand watts of solar panels?

1/2 came from SanTan the others I have just picked up here and there.

You can't (easily) mix panels that aren't similar VOC and ISC.

 

[Moretorque]

10 thousand watts of solar panels?


You can't (easily) mix panels that aren't similar VOC and ISC.

Well you learn something new everyday, by the way I have never been married but a detonate button would be fun...

 

[Moretorque]

That is a heck of a lot of panels for a power station that can only accept up to 1000W of PV input at 12V to 45V maximum. If you bought large-format panels like 400W, you might only be able to do 1 or 2 in series max I would guess? Even my small 100W panels are a VOC of like, 24V or something along those lines. I wouldn't even be able to put two of them in series if I am reading their specs page correctly.

I bought the panels years ago and they are 240 watt SanTan used and I have some 100's and 300's and have just decided to do something with them, my power company has the highest rates in the state. It's so bad the governor of the state has intervened into the matter, the banks have set my county up so it can only go deeper and deeper in debt to them and never pay it down at all.

 

[Dagoth Ur Does Solar]

I bought the panels years ago and they are 240 watt SanTan used and I have some 100's and 300's and have just decided to do something with them, my power company has the highest rates in the state. It's so bad the governor of the state has intervened into the matter, the banks have set my county up so it can only go deeper and deeper in debt to them and never pay it down at all.

Not that you asked for my input on this, but if I had 10kW of solar panels laying around while living in apparently an extremely high electric rate area... I think I would be looking at doing something like a ground mount for the panels, getting however much inverter and battery I could afford, and maybe setting up at least a critical loads panel with an interlock to try to run some of my home off the solar.

You can't (easily) mix panels that aren't similar VOC and ISC.

If the other half that aren't the SanTan panels aren't all a bunch of one-off snowflakes, he could at least get a multiple MPPT input AIO and try to use some of them, I guess.

 

[Bluedog225]

Stop buying stuff. Draft up a real plan. You will have a better system and save money.

 

[Moretorque]

Not that you asked for my input on this, but if I had 10kW of solar panels laying around while living in apparently an extremely high electric rate area... I think I would be looking at doing something like a ground mount for the panels, getting however much inverter and battery I could afford, and maybe setting up at least a critical loads panel with an interlock to try to run some of my home off the solar.


If the other half that aren't the SanTan panels aren't all a bunch of one-off snowflakes, he could at least get a multiple MPPT input AIO and try to use some of them, I guess.

The more I get into this the more I realize I don't know what I am doing and need to do a little more research before I start buying, I bought a battery today and then cancelled the order because I realized it was an impulse buy that may not work for me.. Thanks for the help and input.. My bill is not much because I use very little power because I'm not marries...

 

[Dagoth Ur Does Solar]

The more I get into this the more I realize I don't know what I am doing and need to do a little more research before I start buying, I bought a battery today and then cancelled the order because I realized it was an impulse buy that may not work for me.. Thanks for the help and input.. My bill is not much because I use very little power because I'm not marries...

Definitely follow the advice @Bluedog225 said- you need a plan. You want to start with what the load requirements are (i.e. is this just powering some lights, some circuits in the home, or an entire home?); The load requirements will dictate what you need to buy. Going in blind just buying stuff will end badly.

 

[Hedges]

Why can't he be more like me?
I have 10's of thousands of watts of solar panels lying around.
They were SO CHEAP!
And then EVEN CHEAPER!
And then ...

I need more yard and roof space to put them all up!

My bill is not much because I use very little power

Maybe 2000W of panels would have been enough.

because I'm not marries...

You should get out in circulation, not hang out with a bunch of nerd misfits like us.