Working on film script..need advice...

tnfilmgirl
tnfilmgirl Registered Users Posts: 1
Hello everyone. I am currently working on a film script..let me give you a brief synopsis of what we are doing.
Boy meets girl..boy is hedge fund trader, girl runs a small CSA. Boy lives in your typical high rise, girl lives in Tiny House on her farm and powers her place with solar.....here is where we need help. Girl is explaining to boy how her solar set up works...we need help wording this...we have been doing a little research and are thinking maybe 500 watts of panels, 35 watt charge controller, 2000 watt inverter and 4 - 12 volt, 104 amp batteries..we are totally confused on this battery thing, would the battery now put on 24 or 48 volts..ugghhh....oh, and location would be Georgia......



Thanks so much everyone,


Leah

Comments

  • Cariboocoot
    Cariboocoot Banned Posts: 17,615 ✭✭✭
    Re: Working on film script..need advice...

    Welcome to the forum Leah.

    Well you could have it anyway you like because no one said it was working well, did they? :D
    Besides, the audience isn't going to understand either! :D

    Okay, jokes aside. Let's look at what you proposed and see if it would work.
    She might have chosen a 12 Volt system. She'd get her ear chewed off around here if she did, but it can be done. So the four 12 Volt 104 Amp hour batteries would add up to 416 Amp hours, and then the system stops working because you'd want a 40 Amp or better charge controller for that with 650-700 Watts of panels to power it.

    Let's try something more likely. The 2kW inverter can stay. The batteries would be four GC2's @ 220 Amp hours & 6 Volts giving 420 Amp hours @ 12 Volts (two parallel strings of two in series). The charge controller ideally would be a 45 Amp or 60 Amps MPPT type, with the aforementioned 650-700 Watts of array. That would not be unusual and would be realistic.

    You might want to PM me to go into fine details. I don't think I'll get much argument if I say I'm the best writer on the forum, at least as far as proper use of language in explaining technology. ;)
  • mike95490
    mike95490 Solar Expert Posts: 9,583 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Working on film script..need advice...
    tnfilmgirl wrote: »
    Hello everyone. I am currently working on a film script..let me give you a brief synopsis of what we are doing.
    Boy meets girl..boy is hedge fund trader, girl runs a small CSA. Boy lives in your typical high rise, girl lives in Tiny House on her farm and powers her place with solar.....here is where we need help. Girl is explaining to boy how her solar set up works...we need help wording this...we have been doing a little research and are thinking maybe 500 watts of panels, 35 watt charge controller, 2000 watt inverter and 4 - 12 volt, 104 amp batteries..we are totally confused on this battery thing, would the battery now put on 24 or 48 volts..ugghhh....oh, and location would be Georgia........

    I guess you mean 35 Amp charge controller ?

    And for a small system, she has no fridge. Figure what her loads would be, and then design a system to match the loads. That's the way it's supposed to be done. And you can use 4, 6v golf cart batteries, building a 24V system. Please don't put a 12V system in the movies, it will be so much more work for us to undo later. (it worked in the movies, why not for me??)
    Powerfab top of pole PV mount | Listeroid 6/1 w/st5 gen head | XW6048 inverter/chgr | Iota 48V/15A charger | Morningstar 60A MPPT | 48V, 800A NiFe Battery (in series)| 15, Evergreen 205w "12V" PV array on pole | Midnight ePanel | Grundfos 10 SO5-9 with 3 wire Franklin Electric motor (1/2hp 240V 1ph ) on a timer for 3 hr noontime run - Runs off PV ||
    || Midnight Classic 200 | 10, Evergreen 200w in a 160VOC array ||
    || VEC1093 12V Charger | Maha C401 aa/aaa Charger | SureSine | Sunsaver MPPT 15A

    solar: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Solar
    gen: http://tinyurl.com/LMR-Lister ,

  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Working on film script..need advice...

    i will 2nd what mike said as it depends on what it is she is operating and for how long if this is to be off grid. this is no different than what is told to many that come here looking to have a system is they must know what it is they intend to power per day in watt hours or kilowatt hours and you work backwards from that. now a small place may not have room for many pvs be it off grid or on. so if on grid is it your intention that she windup generating more than she consumes over the year or just supplements?

    first thing we say though is to conserve electricity as it is easier to save a watt of power than to generate it.
  • Photowhit
    Photowhit Solar Expert Posts: 6,002 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Re: Working on film script..need advice...

    I'd worry about unrealistic loads as well, With a small array, under 1000 watts, you would want some sort of backup energy source if you had a fridge, NO air conditioner! Even a tiny cabin would require a larger array unless it were well constructed and designed correctly, thick insulated walls and built for low solar gain(built in the shade with panels arranged separately for full sun)

    Life style on 6-700 watts is dramatically different than what most people consider 'normal' forget any electric counter appliance, water heater would be by solar in south GA, a 55 gallon barrel exposed to the sun would work 8 months out of the year, gas(or wood) for cooking and heat, water pressure from county water (likely too little electric for pump unless it was opportunity pump(when batteries are full) pumping to a gravity fed cistern. I think there are some artesian wells in GA(water literally has pressure coming out of the ground), might make that claim...

    Good luck, Likely we'd be happy to help with dialog as we see terms used in correctly here all the time.
    Home system 4000 watt (Evergreen) array standing, with 2 Midnite Classic Lites,  Midnite E-panel, Magnum MS4024, Prosine 1800(now backup) and Exeltech 1100(former backup...lol), 660 ah 24v Forklift battery(now 10 years old). Off grid for 20 years (if I include 8 months on a bicycle).
    - Assorted other systems, pieces and to many panels in the closet to not do more projects.
  • ILFE
    ILFE Solar Expert Posts: 364 ✭✭
    Re: Working on film script..need advice...
    tnfilmgirl wrote: »
    oh, and location would be Georgia......

    Leah, I'm from Georgia - Savannah, originally. So, don't forget to add some y'alls and such in that script, now, ya hear? :D
    Paul