Sweet I'm off grid best decision ever

@wilsworkshop

2 жыл бұрын

I'll get there one day, one step at a time. I have this same setup running another mini-split in my house. It deffienetley helps with the overall heat/AC bill.

Very interesting...so much less, $, then what other KZread videos report. I'm finishing my desert cabin this year and need a similar system to stay cool in this West Texas heat.

@wilsworkshop

2 жыл бұрын

The biggest part of cost is the type of components. Nothing I'm using is grid tie certified/legal, so it's a lot cheaper. It's not that it's poor quality, but it doesn't have any of the extra electronics or testing to play nice with grid power. Also I'm not sponsored, so I don't get free high end equipment to "review". As long as you're insulated decent and the mini-split is sized correctly for the living space, it would work in Texas, it gets +100*F here and works fine.

@AZ-vb6zz

2 жыл бұрын

Question, My sketched cabin/tini house/shed will be arround 416 square feet. Do your setup will work on my tini house.

@wilsworkshop

2 жыл бұрын

Yep, the 12,000 BTU mini splits are rated for 600 sq ft. The AUX one I used has an inverter compressor which basically means it will ramp up or down depending on the size space it's cooling/heating. It also makes it friendly to solar power since it's a soft start. It would do 416 sq ft no problem and wouldn't be "oversized" since it would just ramp down to cool the smaller space. I've installed 3 of them on different sized buildings and they work great. I get them from Lowes.

I'm interested in your setup? Trying to figure out my options. I already have a Daikin mini split installation at my house. It has 2 internal units and one external unit model: 2MXS24RMVJUA. Unfortunately it takes 240V ac input power. The label says "compressor motor 15.5A" so 3720W I guess. I'm assuming I'll need a 4000W+ setup to power it once I add in the power consumption of the internal units. I don't know how much power is used when it is run as a heat pump vs when it's run as an air conditioner. If I got 400W panels, how many do you think I'd need to be able to run this year round. I'm in southern CA, so generally pretty sunny year round. I'm considering a 120/240V split phase inverter to give me the option of potentially powering other 110V things as well but I'm still researchign and learning. Another question I have is, what happens when the cloud cover is such that the panels don't generate enough power. If the battery runs low will it just underpower the minisplit system or will it shut itself off? Is that bad for the minisplit system? I'm currently on the grid and am hoping to set up a DIY solar system that never feeds the grid. Is there a way that the minisplit system could automatically be switched back to grid power if my solar/battery system isn't providing enough power? Do you have any tips for me as a noob? Thanks!

Thank you for this video! Extremely helpful. Is there any other option as far as which battery you could use ?

@wilsworkshop

2 жыл бұрын

Yep, lots of battery options. You can use any 48v battery system with the inverter, it just needs to be a big enough battery bank that it can put out the amps needed for the AC.

Hello, I’d like your set up, very simple looking. I’m totally new in the subject and learning; can you tell how did you connect solar panels together? How many volts and amps coming to each solar charger?

@wilsworkshop

2 жыл бұрын

The panels are 3 in series, for 90ish volts depending on sunlight, and 2 strings in parallel to each charge controller. So 6, 250 watt panels per charge controller. 1500 watts @ 90 Volts x 2 controllers.

Nice setup. I'm looking at installing a 12volt marine air conditioner and running it off my solar. I have one in my sailboat that keeps it cool on really hot days. I'm just trying to size up a good system to keep up with it and the 12volt freezer I'm installing in my shop. How long does it run off just a single battery, and do you have problem's getting the A/C compressor to kick in?

@wilsworkshop

2 жыл бұрын

The compressor comes on fine, I picked this unit specifically because it has a soft start feature which is actually a DC compressor that runs off of vfd even though it uses AC to power the whole unit. To size your system you'll need to figure out your Watts requirement and how long you need to run it, then convert that to a to size the battery Bank. The kill-a-watt testers are really handy for that.

One more question if I may.... On that one battery how long will it last you once the sun is down and you want some heat?.. thanks

@wilsworkshop

Жыл бұрын

Each battery I'm using is roughly 1kwh, the mini split uses 1300 watts at peak power, so roughly 45 minutes per battery If I ran them down all the way.

I've seen some mini split units used less power on heating and cooling between 300-600 watts once they reach the set temperature does yours go down further than what you showed us ??

@wilsworkshop

Жыл бұрын

Yep, it drops down to a couple hundred watts once it's at temp. 24 hours of runtime is usually around 6000-8000 watts total.

@diysolaradventures7894

Жыл бұрын

@@wilsworkshop Ok cool I can't wait til mines get here I'm out here digging a spot for it now..

@diysolaradventures7894

Жыл бұрын

@@wilsworkshop if these cloudy days will go away maybe I can run mines it will be here Wednesday but it's so cloudy here in northwest Ohio I'm scared to run the thing.

So this is a 120volt mini split?...

@wilsworkshop

Жыл бұрын

Yep, the AUX 120v soft start/vfd.