First day off grid!

Eric L

With a forecast for clear skies today and me and my wife home all day, I decided to try 'cutting the tether' (turning off all the main breakers) last evening for at least 24 hours and see how things went.

It was a warm day today (91F) and humid, with a heat index in the mid-nineties, but the house was a comfortable 77 F all day, and of course we had water and power for everything, except:

- couldn't use the clothes dryer;
- couldn't use the electric range (we cooked outside on a camp-stove);
- no hot water, except for what was left in the tank, some of which my wife admitted to using for her shower this morning :roll:
- we couldn't have both the window A/C units and the well pump on at once, but this turned out to be a non-issue (plenty in the pressure tank after the morning).

Apart from that Mrs. Lincoln, it was a normal day at our house.

I realize this probably sounds a bit like a joke, but ours is typical all-electric, well-and-septic American ranch house that was never designed to be very efficient. When we moved in, it was averaging 66 kWh/day of consumption in the summer under the previous owners (as we knew from the electric bill, which showed the past year's usage). This kind of consumption is not uncommon here on the Gulf Coast. So it's taken a fair bit of efficiency improvements and work just to get it to the point where it can be off grid for even one hot day and be comfortable and nearly normal.

Here was the day's production just before the sun set, 16.4 kWh, mostly from the A/C usage. This is exactly 4 times the panels' 4.1 KW STC rating in watt-hours (and no, my pv array cannot get anywhere near this on average, lol):



By the way, the absorption stage finished; but the controllers aren't synchronized so if there's a heavy load, after one finishes the other can't hold the abs. voltage, which is why the left controller still says 'bulk'.

ywhic

Re: First day off grid!

Good to hear.. looks like a massive V intake..

Hopefully my 12v tiny mess gets here and I can start testing my components for next Spring install in W. Texas..

Wxboy

Re: First day off grid!

Eric L, that is great. You are making me jealous though. You have two Midnite's to my one and 16 times my solar output. Many years from now I hope to be doing what you are doing. For now I settle for powering a tv, laptop, and other misc. things when the sun is out(not today).

Vic

Re: First day off grid!

Eirs,

Looks great! A nice large system, and dueling CCs. My Mn Classic pair share well, and when MN gets Networking multi CCs going, should be even better.

Live those Classics. Vic