New and building

I tend to analysis paralysis myself when researching things if that makes sense and so now that I’ve talked myself in circles over the last year about what our system will be, I determined I should engage with those more familiar/experienced/the experts. 

I stumbled on this forum when researching Midnite Rosie inverters. I even made a comment on this pages fb today (thank you so much for your timely responses and forwarding the contact info to the engineers!) 

so here’s where we are/the potential gameplan. I feel a bit challenged as I am unable to do a proper energy audit at this time (the home is not built) 
what I did do, was take 18 months of electric data via APS from when we lived in Phoenix, acquired a family members energy usage whom is now in my immediate region (weather up here is vastly different than the valley), gather national “averages” and begun tallying what some of my common loads would be. 

1 story metal home (barndominium) 10ft wall height, 6:12 roof pitch (leaving a tall center section with the vaulted ceilings) 40x40 living/climate controlled space. (Structure is 40x80, the rest is garage bay and 12ft deep gable patio) 

Home on a monolithic slab, spray foam insulation on walls and ceiling (still debating open or closed cell). 

Home will orient due N/S. The 40x12 gable patio faces due south to provide a overhang/shade during summer sun and block direct rays thru the windows, and then in winter will be able to take advantage of more direct sunshine due to the tilt/placement of sun. There’s a 8x12 triple slider on that wall to bring in ambient light when appropriate, otherwise the majority of windows are on east/west walls. On the north wall, another door to promote a breezeway when warmer but not hot (similar to homes in the south in the late 1800s) 

Near center of home will be a wood burning stove for supplemental winter heat. HVAC will be mini-split units with a total of 4-5 air units inside, 
kitchen Range, water heater, and dryer will be run on propane. Everything else will be run off solar. 

The shop has a 60 gallon 3.7hp air compressor, I do have a well pump, a chest freezer, and a Hobart multi process 200 inverter welder. It is doubtful that these inductive loads would be run in unison at any point, although it is possible that the welder and compressor may be on, or the welder and household appliances. 

We have a champion 8.5k whole home standby generator that we hope to connect with an auto start to the solar. 

There seems to be a million options, some good, some bad. But we have to depend on this as we will not have grid feed backup. 

This leads me thus far to the following: 

either dual Schneider 6848 inverters with accompanying charge controllers, boxes, and accessories 
OR
dual midnite Rosie inverters, with the hopes that the firmware/software fixes will be available in the advertised 4-6 months to run them both in unison. 

I have concerns both ways. Both seem well respected, highly regarded, and historically dependable. 

I’m aware of Bob and Robins involvement (as well as others) in the past with Trace, Outback, and Magnum. This part is what tempts me to overlook potential issues with running dual Rosie’s. (I know it’s a new system). In the same breath though, I’ve also seen how delayed the Rosie, Barcelona, and still pending B17 hardware was to come out. But it seems they really do strive to provide timely support, and always try to improve their gear. 

Schneider on the other hand has zero questions for me about functionality. My concern with them revolves around other threads of people struggling mightily to configure them properly during install. As well as lack of phone/email support, especially for the diy type. 

For us, this will likely be a DIY install. My father in law recently retired as an electrician. He ran his own business and has done a few dozen solar installs on behalf of APS and just finished his personal grid tied install as well. So I won’t be flying completely blind hahah. 

Battery system I’d like to have something with comms for either inverter brand. Seems easier currently with schneider, but again I’m hopeful for future midnite software integrations and it doesn’t seem like lack of closed comms should be a deal breaker either. 

But my initial bank I was hoping to run 4-6 48v 5.12kw Lifepo4 batteries. I’d love to have a bank of 40k but this seems to add up quickly with the finances. I’ve also considered the similar style, but larger trophy batteries. These unfortunately don’t seem to communicate well with much of any system. But I do like how I’d decrease the physical number of batteries. Cost difference is a wash. 

The array will be ground mount, located roughly 60ft from the house. The plan was to put the solar equipment in its own power house/shed on the backside of the ground mount, unless the equipment would be better located in the house and I run wires DC from the panels to the house 60ft (idk which would be better) I’m shooting for an array of roughly 11k watts (30-380w panels) 


whew, now that I’ve just written a novel and shared all my life’s thoughts/plans. What say you all? 

I apologize for being so drawn out, this is just a decision that weighs heavily and can be a costly mistake to do wrong. 

Would this be a realistically sized system for a family of 4 in a typical homestead type property? I’m nervous of not having enough power, but we are a fairly low usage family outside of tools/projects/hobbies. It seems as though with 2 inverters of 6-7k watts, 11k in panels, and 30k battery that it would be sufficient but am I miscalculating? I will have the genie as back up and we do have a 500gal propane tank as well if I need to run it during welding or running the compressor….or if we have a week of storms 

We need to get going on getting the solar installed prior to erecting the structure so that we have power on site

What would you do differently? Any advise? Words of encouragement/discouragement? Lol