Best learning sources for system design and NEC ?

Hi everyone, I was looking for a good book, handbook, web site or secret klingon telepatic transmission device to get solid knowledge about wiring, breakers, and best installation practices in general. So far my efforts brought nothing extraordinary in my net.
I think my electrical ignorance is not too abysmal, I know just enough to realize that there is a lot more to learn.
Thank you in advance for any cue in the direction of my technical and scientific enlightment.
Jordan from Québec, a really cold french speaking province in Canada.
6x265 watts Canadian solar poly panels, Morningstar 60 amp mppt, 4 6V Rolls batteries S-605, cheap 12V 3000 watts inverter (wish to change soon), 187 feet deep well, water at 34 feet (no pump yet). Freezer modified into a refrigerator. Wood and propane stove, solar cloth dryer (cloth line). We've been living with this solar system installed in our school bus for 2 summers and will be ready to move in the house this year, so I wish to make a better permanent installation.
List of the other dilemmas I have to solve :
- Wich type of water pump ?
- System voltage ?
- Off grid or hybrid inverter (cheaper $/watts) ?
- Small inverter plus big one in sleep mode for bigger loads ?
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If you're in a hilly part of Quebec, you may want to consider an uphill cistern for water. This would allow for slow pumping of water when solar is available, which avoids relatively inefficient use of battery storage. Water pumping sounds like it will be a big part of your overall loads, so I'd suggest getting that sorted before making any other design decisions on inverter etc. Will septic be gravity fed?
If you end up with a large-ish well pump, system voltage of 24 or 48v will make sense to support large surge current.
I do a small(12v) + large(stacked 48v) inverter combination, which works well for me, but is more complicated. It's arguably better and certainly easier to just add a bit of extra pv to cover tare losses on a single larger inverter.
As a general proposition, I'd limit inverter choices to the major brands (Outback, Schneider, etc.) sold by our hosts. Some people have had good luck with cheaper stuff, but I personally wouldn't risk it. In any case, knowing what water pumping needs are will be important in the choice.
Main daytime system ~4kw panels into 2xMNClassic150 370ah 48v bank 2xOutback 3548 inverter 120v + 240v autotransformer
Night system ~1kw panels into 1xMNClassic150 700ah 12v bank morningstar 300w inverter
Second system 1890W 3 × 300W No name brand poly, 3×330 Sunsolar Poly panels, Morningstar TS 60 PWM controller, no name 2000W inverter 400Ah LFP 24V nominal battery with Daly BMS, used for water pumping and day time air conditioning.
5Kw Yanmar clone single cylinder air cooled diesel generator for rare emergency charging and welding.
http://members.sti.net/offgridsolar/
E-mail [email protected]
http://forum.solar-electric.com/discussion/comment/99323#Comment_99323
-Bill
|| 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 ,
2.1 Kw Suntech 175 mono, Classic 200, Trace SW 4024 ( 15 years old but brand new out of sealed factory box Jan. 2015), Bogart Tri-metric, 700 ah @24 volt AGM battery bank. Plenty of Baja Sea of Cortez sunshine.
For example, code in Canada called for split circuits for duplex recepticles in kitchens, but I wanted a gfci duplex near waterworks. I did the gfci outlet. The split circuit thing is so you can't run a toaster and coffee maker on the same duplex at the same time. Seems to me the gfci near waterworks is safer than saving me a trip to the breaker box if the circuit gets overloaded.
Fusing and grounding isn't all that complicated, but grounding can get weird in mobile applications. I'd ignore non-NA methods (again assuming you're in Canada), as differences in grid AC systems around the world mean different risks addressed etc. If you have specific questions, the members here can offer advice on them.
I'd forget about finding a washing machine that "will run" on MSW. Not all MSW inverters are created equal, so the list would have to be which machines run with which inverters. "Run" would also have to be defined, as a motor might run, but hot enough that it fails early. I'd just get a machine that otherwise does what I need, and a PSW inverter to run it.
Main daytime system ~4kw panels into 2xMNClassic150 370ah 48v bank 2xOutback 3548 inverter 120v + 240v autotransformer
Night system ~1kw panels into 1xMNClassic150 700ah 12v bank morningstar 300w inverter