Joel Terrell

First off forgive me if I'm asking what has already been asked in a different post.  I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and hoping someone can point me in the right direction (maybe hold my hand a little).  Feel free to post links instead of explaining what has already been explained.

My Story: My family and I have been working to move to the country for awhile and haven't had much luck finding land that we can afford yet.  We have a friend that is letting us move onto his land until we find a place of our own.  We are setting up 2 campers (both 30 amp) in his barn (it's a big barn) for the winter.  It has electricity.  We want to move the campers to a different spot that if my research is correct will cost several thousand to run electrical to so I'm exploring solar options.  My thought was to build a single ground array to hook both of them up to in order to share the battery bank.  Each camper will have a fridge and furnace.  I would like to use the AC, but it's not necessary at the moment.  I can grow into that.  We are working on changing all lighting to led.  NO microwave. Light laptop and mobile device recharging.  I will have a Desktop with large monitor that I will be using for work during the day.  Any tools can be kept and used at the barn.  There might be some kitchen appliances like a mixer or instant pot that we'll want to use (probably during the day)  I'm thinking I'll at least want a 24V system.  Will I need a 48V?  I can tell you how much I use now, but I don't feel like it will be an accurate comparison.  Also do I bother trying to hook up directly to the DC side of the campers or go ahead and convert all to AC so it can turn around and convert it back to dc for some of the lighting?

I probably forgot to tell you something.  Teach me wise ones. Please?

Michael Qulek wrote:

Joel Terrell wrote:I'm looking at an auction for some panels.  No brand just this as a description: 365 watt 72 cell Monocrystalline.  They are an open box situation.  What would you all recommend I should spend per watt?  I'll have to have them shipped.  What other things should I consider?

If it matters I'll be building a system for off grid living. Between 6kw and 8 kw.

That's a tough call because you have to ship.  That's  where the real expense lays.  I would not pay more than 50 cents per watt.  I think 1$/W is too high.  Local pickup is still the most economical way to get into solar.  What's your location?  Have you scanned Craigslist or another local venue for panels?

BTW, when you say between 6kw to 8kw, what exactly do you mean?  Do you mean you want 6-8kW worth of panels, or you intend to use 6-8kWh of power per day, or you want a battery with a capacity of 6-8kWh?

I've looked at craigslist and couldn't find any.  I'm in the Wichita KS area.  I'm looking at used at this point based on some of the experiences I've seen.  I know they won't last as long, but cashflow is pretty important for me right now.  I've decided to hold off on the auction as it's so far away and the guy doesn't seem to know what he's doing.  

I'm moving from a house to 2 campers so I'm struggling with what I'll actually need.  I know it's going to go down, but not sure how much yet.  We will go without AC if we need to.  We used 11,104 kWh in 2021 and averaged 32 kWh per day.  I was looking at 6-8kW worth of panels.  I'm just getting started and figuring this out as I go, so if I'm sounding like I don't know what I'm talking about, please correct me.

I am finding some used panels on ebay for 16 to 25 cents per watt before shipping.  Looks like shipping might bump it up 4 - 7 cents per watt. The cheaper ones are because of vinyl cracking on the back.  Can anyone tell me how big of a deal that is?  Can I reseal it?

I'm looking at an auction for some panels.  No brand just this as a description: 365 watt 72 cell Monocrystalline.  They are an open box situation.  What would you all recommend I should spend per watt?  I'll have to have them shipped.  What other things should I consider?

If it matters I'll be building a system for off grid living. Between 6kw and 8 kw.

paul wheaton wrote:

Joel Terrell wrote:I ordered this on the 3rd of Jan and haven't seen anything. Should I have at least gotten a shipping number?

I emailed the shipper and cc'd you.

Thank you Paul!

Anyone?  Haven't heard a thing.  Not trying to be impatient, but it's been 2 weeks.  Have I been missed?

Joel Terrell wrote:I ordered this on the 3rd of Jan and haven't seen anything. Should I have at least gotten a shipping number?

I ordered this on the 3rd of Jan and haven't seen anything. Should I have at least gotten a shipping number?

Not sure if you're still on here Pam or what you have going on but I'm looking to connect with people in Kansas.  Are you still doing aquaponics?

Did you finish this? Would love to know how it turned out!

Forgive the newbie question.  I'm sure it's been explained and I just haven't seen it yet.  As I'm doing some larger projects I'm not always alone when I do it.  For example this last weekend I framed out part of a shipping container so that I could put lumber shelving in and other shelving to make the space as efficient as possible.  However I didn't do it alone.  I had helpers (children, dad, wife) that would help hold, move, mark, and other simple tasks.  I planned, managed, and executed the project, but they helped with small things to make the job go faster.  Is that something I can post towards the odd ball or do I need to be the only one working on it?

Sorry, I must not be awake yet.  It didn't even occur to me to see if I could export the data from Trello to AirTable.  I'll look at migrating the data myself.