DIY emergency Solar generators on the cheap

[jason1]

This is a discussion for people looking at Building emergency solar systems on budget.
With all the possibility of black outs thanks to our Incompetent government policies that didnt sure up self reliance in our energy sector, likely many people are thinking of ways to help get some protection for emergency power, outside of a generator that requires fuel to run.

So I
thought if people have some questions to build a budget system, maybe I can help a bit with some advice, PLEASE NOTE, this is not about huge systems built with the best of the best. this is about ways to build systems from a few hundred bucks to a say $2k max.

you can build something to say power a fridge, or freezer during black outs and things like that.
So if your thinking about it, I might be able to offer some advice and others could also. Get prepared.

 

[jason1]

first thing to save money, buy secondhand panels from solar installers. you can buy them for like $20 a panel.
There are a number of good quality budget controllers that work great.
You can buy fairly good PWM controllers for around $30-$50 that would do the job if your really tight on budget, Or fairly good MPPT controllers around $100-$200 range, Brands like EPEVER, Renogy and Kickass, (kickass is a rebrand of the older renogy controller), those brands all do the job extremely well without breaking your bank. you can get away with some of Kings gear from 4wdsuperchenter, some of their stuff is good some not so good, but would do the job and cheaply.
somethings to consider.
Without getting into it to much and confusing people, the following is basic explanation.
PWM or MPPT. thats the way a charge controller charges your battery, some controllers are PWM some are MPPT.
So to consider which one suits you? we will look at it like this, with out any complexity what so ever lol
PWM are cheaper types of charge controllers,  they do work well and can save you money using them. MPPT is a slightly More efficient type of controller, when I say slightly, on small setups you wouldn't notice that difference much, on big systems its a massive difference as that slight difference is magnified, you typically get better returns on your charging power than a PWM of the same rating will, but down side is MPPT controllers do cost substantially more.
you also need tobe careful that you are getting a true MPPT controller not a PWM thats been sold as a MPPT, so you need to buy proven brands. many ebay sellers dishonestly say their cheap PWM controllers are Mppt, to get a few dollars extra on the price, but they are full of shit so dont fall for that one.


If your buying solar charge controllers you need to figure out the watts and amps is required to match those panels.
Batteries are important, so you need to figure how many amps is required to run what inverter.

Obviously Lithium is best, but not every one can budget lithium so AGM and Gell are going todo the job fine.

eg if your just wanting to run some 12volts stuff, like a camping fridge-freezer, maybe charge phones and other devices, and run some 12v lighting you can setup very cheap and extremely easy to build no frills emergency systems, for a few hundred bucks.

Which might look something like this Below, basic and any idiot can do it. and would definitely charge your USB devices and keep a camping fridge freezer running. which is a hell of allot better than having food go bad from no power. 


when you start looking at being able to power 240v appliances reliably you could do that for under $2k using fairly good gear.

figure out what you want it todo and build to that. if your doing on a tight budget, then build something with realistic expectations, your not going to power your entire house.

So if you have questions feel free to ask.  again this is about budget systems and scratch built

 

[jason1]

for something that can handle 240v thats basic.
would look something like this.

you need heavier cable as your playing with more amps. which ads to the cost. you dont skimp on wire gauges

for say something like a 1000watt inverter, which is plenty good enough for many application you would likely look at, 40amp MPPT, at least 200ah of battery bank, 400-500watts of solar panels, running at that 1kw of inverter you will drain batteries fast, so you likely be running things like a fridge or freezer that would likely draw around 250 watts from your batteries when the compressor kicks in. so 300ah would be better.

when buying multiple panels, you must always buy the exact same panel for all panels, so they need tobe the same specs and brand, other wise the system does not work as it should

if your running a 2000watt inverter, you need to beef that entire system up, solar wise, cable wise and battery wise. the mistake people make is putting huge inverters on their systems,and they wont last long. you would want at least a 60amp MPPT and well over 300ah of batteries,and 800watts of solar or more, even then 2kw will drain that battery fast if you run at max for very long.

heres a basic look at things if your thrifty and doing things very basic.
rough prices im basing off Renogy and EPEVER price ranges, and secondhand house panels

 

[jason1]

when doing batteries, anything over 350ah, best to look at doing 24volt banks or higher as you dealing with less amps and draw, so less cable is needed.

But lets assume your wanting a 12v system this is fairly typical for wiring one.
these are 3x110ah batteries, when wired like this it keep the batteries at 12v and ads the battery amps together in parallel.
so you would have 330ah total of battery, 

wired in series it ads volts together keeping amps the same, so if you did that with say 3 batteries you would make a 36v battery bank with still 110amps total


picture below is parallel which is positive to positive to positive and negative to negative to negative when joining batteries, 12v and 330ah total

 

[jason1]

this is my backup emergency solar system that has cost around the $1600 mark, including panels as i used secondhand house panels.
Ive designed this to keep devices charged, run 12v lights, power a 12v 60lt camping fridge freezer, but can power my house fridge and chest freezer in black outs.
Its done a budget.
But It could definitely have been striped down further to do the same job.

really to have even the most basic of solar systems would come in handy with power shortages, anything that can power a camping fridge, charge USB devices and run some 12v lights would be huge benefit in an emergency or prepping situation at home. hook it up in a garden shed even make it portable,  you would be better off than having nothing at all

 

[STKR]

I've been looking at a portable lithium generator for a while. It's actually not for SHTF, I want it to help run some equipment for  a business I have.

I wanted something that's approx. 1500-2000wh with a lithium battery. There's a company called Bluetti that do an AC200P (2000w 50AH) but it's 28kg!

ITech have their 1300p model which is (1254wh and 100Ah) only 17kgs. Much more portable than 28kgs and much smaller than the Bluetti.

Does anyone else know of other companies that sell lithium generators?

 

[jason1]

I've been looking at a portable lithium generator for a while. It's actually not for SHTF, I want it to help run some equipment for  a business I have.

I wanted something that's approx. 1500-2000wh with a lithium battery. There's a company called Bluetti that do an AC200P (2000w 50AH) but it's 28kg!

ITech have their 1300p model which is (1254wh and 100Ah) only 17kgs. Much more portable than 28kgs and much smaller than the Bluetti.

Does anyone else know of other companies that sell lithium generators?

there are a few but they are bloody expensive for very low power, ecoflow is another one.
anything that is going to power something for a decent amount of time wont be very portable.
If you want something serious, there is a product By Renogy called Lycan. but this is going off topic from DIY solar systems built on the cheap.
which you could easily build bigger more powerful systems than those portable systems and for the same money, 100ah isnt very much.

 

[Administrator]

I was looking at this one for running small appliances. Mostly emergency backup power for a water pump.

https://au.ecoflow.com/products/delta-max-portable-power-station?variant=41762129150150

 

[jason1]

I was looking at this one for running small appliances. Mostly emergency backup power for a water pump.

https://au.ecoflow.com/products/delta-max-portable-power-station?variant=41762129150150

Man my suggestion, go and build something, its a very good learning curve, I know a few people who have built systems that are portable, built on trolleys so they can be wheeled around to provide a house with a good long running emergency power supply.

obviously those things are very compact, and Those things charge fast on mains, But ive seen videos of them and allot of the time they surface charge when they get pumped with fast charging, and they do over heat if you go from fast charging to heavy use.
With solar they only have a 13amps solar controller, which is really not that good so they wont charge fast with that, even basic charge controllers would pump out at least 20amps.
it says it can take 800watts of solar but you would be flat out being able to find panels that make 800watts with only a 13amp inbuilt controller.
so realistically you wouldn't be that capable of charging the battery from solar while using most 240v appliances as you wouldnt be taking many amps in to supply both charging and appliances. so thats something to consider. 

another issue is the inverter it is way over powered for a battery storage that compact, to run something that 3000watts, it would only run for a few minutes only and after a while you would cook the battery bank.
but if you were camping or for using for very short periods of use, that thing would be fine, not something you would rely on for say a day or two of constant use. 
but even still they would be better than nothing, just not great for the price tag IMO, you could build something todo the same thing for less, but build something way better for the same money, so its well worth building your own.

If some one wants to build something, and doesnt know where to start, im happy to help with advice. there seems tobe allot of people here who have concerns with whats going on with the world who might want some emergency power thats not reliant on fuel. so happy to help with advice on where to start, even help come up with a parts list for you, so you can source that stuff

 

[jason1]

So for every one who is interested, and a bit of additional info on the basic system I showed with a wire diagram before. to make it easier to visualize how cheap and easy it is to build a very very basic 12volt solar system to say charge USB devices and power a camping fridge, (this is a bad MS paint image). but should make it easy to see.
this is about as basic of a setup as you can get.  but if you were wanting to keep food cold and wanted to charge things like camping lights and things, this would be do on a very tight budget. No soldering needed and no complex wiring needed, mount to a piece of MDF if you want or what ever bit of wood you have laying around, It doesnt need tobe pretty lol. its no frills
If you wanted to make a basic system that is portable you just get a cheap battery box and mount all the shit to it.

Ill post some parts lists as well.


30amp PWM controller
https://au.renogy.com/rng-ctrl-wnd30-li/

12volt USB socket ebay
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/224829732290?

Solar cable from controller to panels with MC4 connectors, Which you could also use some of it to do the connection from controller to battery
EBAY
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/274804194315

you could buy battery lugs from any car parts store, for two it would be around $10

Solar panels, Market place, they are cheap secondhand, best bet is look for a seller who is a solar installer as they know the panel is good, with that controller you could easily use a 250watt house panel as long as its max voltage is under 25volts, and typically they sell from $20-$50 for working panels secondhand

Battery, you could buy new from 4wdsupercenter for around $240 or buy a good secondhand from marketplace if money is tight, usually an almost new secondhand AGM 100ah battery costs around $150,

so total, you could build a 250watt solar system with 100amp AGM battery for under $300 if you thrifty.

 

[jason1]

For a very basic cheap system to create 240v power, this would power some small appliances and a bigger appliance within reason, It could backup a home fridge or freezer for a few hours with out sun, power them completely during the day with full sun, using two AGM batteries for around 200ah, you could add another if you wanted for more power making it around 300ah, or use lithium, but we are talking cheap systems here so AGM or gell will do.
Ive suggest a 1000watt inverter  as you really dont want tobe running more than that with a 200ah battery bank, it will power most appliances with in reason. putting too big of an inverter in can cook batteries, and they drain fast, so bigger isnt always better.
also I like this inverter as its a good price, they work great and they have a UPS function, so you could hook mains power up and it will run off mains power, if the power is cut off it will switch over to battery and use the battery power.

AGAIN this is a no frills system, you can put it on a piece of MDF or what ever you have laying around. no real wiring experience needed, just some common sense.

PLEASE NOTE, I do suggest you use a battery Isolator and some Breaker switches when dealing with over 100amps, I have not put them in the graphic but you can buy them cheap from ebay or jaycar. if you want that added safety, I suggest you do but many people dont do it.


40amp renogy mppt controller, can take 520watts of solar panels, and pump 40amps of charging into the batteries. you could use a EPEVER or Kickass MPPT of this size and all are around the same price point
https://au.renogy.com/rover-li-40-amp-mppt-solar-charge-controller/

12volt USB socket ebay
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/224829732290?

Solar cable from controller to panels with MC4 connectors, Which you could also use some of it to do the connection from controller to battery
EBAY
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/274804194315

Inverter 1000watts, renogy around $200 and includes the battery cables
https://au.renogy.com/renogy-1000w-12v-to-230v-pure-sine-wave-inverter-with-ups-function/

you could buy battery lugs from any car parts store, for two it would be around $10

Solar panels, Market place, they are cheap secondhand, best bet is look for a seller who is a solar installer as they know the panel is good, sell from $20-$50 each panel and you could use 2x 260watt panels

Battery, you could buy new from 4wdsupercenter for around $240 or buy a good secondhand from marketplace if money is tight, usually an almost new secondhand AGM 100ah battery costs around $150 each, PLEASE NOTE, when connecting two batteries to make a battery bank, both batteries need tobe identical brand and specs. if you dont the batteries want last, make sure both batteries are charged completely full before installing. and charge with a smart charger.
connect batteries in parallel with heavy duty battery cable, you can buy this at supercheap, and when connecting controller, connect them via opposite terminals, this makes for a more even charge

 

[jason1]

I Might do another mock setup that would cost around the $1.6k-$2k mark, thats a bit more advanced, similar to my one.
talk about fuse placement, where to install battery isolators, and things like shunt type battery monitors ect

Happy Prepping guys. and hopefully this helps make it a bit easier to do, its not as scary as you think

 

[Administrator]

If some one wants to build something, and doesnt know where to start, im happy to help with advice. there seems tobe allot of people here who have concerns with whats going on with the world who might want some emergency power thats not reliant on fuel. so happy to help with advice on where to start, even help come up with a parts list for you, so you can source that stuff

I'll take you up on that one. I'll get the specifications for my water pump and see what can be built.

 

[Administrator]

Can you suggest a solar system that needs to power these two appliances:

1. Water pressure pump.

Technical Specifications:

Motor power rated: 750W

4 stage(four impellers operating at the same time,lot more efficient and stable flow and pressure)

Voltage: 240V

Frequency: 50Hz

Ampere: 5.5A

2. Chest freezer (specifications: https://www.westinghouse.co.nz/fridges-and-freezers/freezers/wcm5000we/)

 

[jason1]

Can you suggest a solar system that needs to power these two appliances:

1. Water pressure pump.

Technical Specifications:

Motor power rated: 750W

4 stage(four impellers operating at the same time,lot more efficient and stable flow and pressure)

Voltage: 240V

Frequency: 50Hz

Ampere: 5.5A

2. Chest freezer (specifications: https://www.westinghouse.co.nz/fridges-and-freezers/freezers/wcm5000we/)

your pump how long does it run for typically? its a fairly power hungry item going by those specs, and were you wanting to run both freezer and pump at same time?

do you have a picture of the tag on the freezer that show how many watts and amps it uses, or you havent bought it yet? If you havent bought one yet, i would suggest buying the most efficient one you can so it uses less from your system.

what sort of budget roughly?, will try and come up with a good value and reliable what ever it is.

 

[Administrator]

Can you suggest a solar system that needs to power these two appliances:

1. Water pressure pump.

Technical Specifications:

Motor power rated: 750W

4 stage(four impellers operating at the same time,lot more efficient and stable flow and pressure)

Voltage: 240V

Frequency: 50Hz

Ampere: 5.5A

2. Chest freezer (specifications: https://www.westinghouse.co.nz/fridges-and-freezers/freezers/wcm5000we/)

your pump how long does it run for typically? its a fairly power hungry item going by those specs, and were you wanting to run both freezer and pump at same time?

do you have a picture of the tag on the freezer that show how many watts and amps it uses, or you havent bought it yet? If you havent bought one yet, i would suggest buying the most efficient one you can so it uses less from your system.

what sort of budget roughly?, will try and come up with a good value and reliable what ever it is.

The pump only comes on when the water is on. It's typical domestic use. I would say it may come on for 5-10 minutes every hour while we're in the house. Possibly longer while the shower is in use.

I've attached the power consumption stickers for the chest freezer. Typically this won't turn on much because it's used for long-term food storage. It doesn't get opened very often. Maybe once every few days.

 

[jason1]

If some one wants to build something, and doesnt know where to start, im happy to help with advice. there seems tobe allot of people here who have concerns with whats going on with the world who might want some emergency power thats not reliant on fuel. so happy to help with advice on where to start, even help come up with a parts list for you, so you can source that stuff

I'll take you up on that one. I'll get the specifications for my water pump and see what can be built.

I would suggest the optimum would be
60amp controller, would allow 800watts of panels with a total of 150v
https://au.renogy.com/rover-li-60-amp-mppt-solar-charge-controller/
as panels have avolt rating on them, so you have three main ratings, Amps, watts and Volts
the amps will stay the same when joining in panels in series, watts and volts get added together when joined in series. so both watts and amps will be multiplied by the number of panels in the chain. The total number of volts and watts will need tobe at max the 800watts and 150volts the controller is rated to. I can explain how to join in series.so when buying panels you look at the rear of them and do that calculation.

The MPPT controller will convert all that wattage,voltage and amperage collected by the panels into higher amps, It brings down the high volts into lower volts of say 14volts towards your battery banks and coverts it all into a max of 60amps. thats the charging part of an MPPT controller, why its a 60amp controller.
you could get away with a 40amp controller, but the 60amps would power your pump easy off the sun and meaning in full sun you could likely see it charge your battery slightly and still run the pump at same time, the 40amp wouldnt, so it would only charge a battery when the pump stops running. but if the pump doesnt run often and for long then that helps with charging and so its possible with the 40amp you could keep up and charge in those periods the pump isnt running, but obviously the 60amp would be better with the extra solar panels it can take.
if that makes sense?
there is also the option of going a 40amp controller and if that doesnt do the job, you can add a second controller like a 20amp MPPT  and running extra panels off that. you can run two charge controllers. I run two controllers on my system to the same battery bank. so you always have room for more upgrades in the future with out replacing entire system.

as for inverter it seems like you could get away with 1000watts if your only running one item at a time, it may run your fridge as well but would be at max, which is not optimal.
the 2000watts would easily do both, https://au.renogy.com/renogy-2000-12v-to-230v-pure-sine-wave-inverter-with-ups-function/
on a 12v system I wouldnt run any more than 2000watts of inverter, any more really puts pressure on a battery bank and its cables.
both inverters have USP function and so you could plug in 240v into inverter and when power cuts off it switches to battery bank.
now there is this beast of an inverter, if you have the budget, its UPS, but also charges the battery bank off mains. I mean you can buy a smart charger from Kickass for $100 to keep batteries topped off mains. but this is a good option for a single unit to be a UPS, battery mains charger and Inverter.
https://au.renogy.com/2000w-12v-pure-sine-wave-inverter-charger-w-lcd-display/
so there is a few options for the inverter type and size

I would say for batteries between at least 300ah to 400ah, lithium allows you to use more of that battery storage over say AGM, but they are way more expensive.
so lithium is best option but most expensive option. AGM is fine
running 12v you dont want tobe running much more than that 400ah, if wanting togo bigger you would look at say 24-48V battery system which that 60amp controller can handle, you can turn 12volt batteries into a 48 volt battery bank by the way you joined the batteries together.
you would need a different inverter to run off 48v battery bank, as that one wouldnt handle 48v
this is why I questioned the use of that ecoflow portable battery bank handling your pump for long periods of time. it has a big inverter but not much storage and doesnt allow many amps of volts from solar arrays.


Wiring, the inverter will have the cables needed.
you would need the Mc4 plug solar cable I posted previously for you solar to controller.
you would need some very heavy battery cable to join batteries.
when your talking such high amps you would wire in an emergency isolator switch. which are about $20 on ebay.i can supply link to one I use
I would also use a breaker switch which are about $15-$20.

so
if you could do say 60amp controller
you could have say
800watts solar
300-400ah batteries which is equal to 3600Wh-4800Wh
1000-2000watts of 240v power

with room to upgrade. and fancy helpful things are the following
renogy also has Bluetooth devices, so you can monitor your system remotely.
if you want that feature when you buy the MPPT you just select the bluetooth device, thats usually like $30 extra.

Now this is a very useful item, the battery monitor which reads your battery info by a shunt. this type of monitor is the best. everything is hooked upto the shunt, which is located right at the battery, so everything that draws power, or puts power into the batteries is being read as a total. so you can see how many Amp hour is left in your battery
https://au.renogy.com/500a-battery-monitor/

hope that gives you a bit of an idea. if you want advice at wiring stage I can help you with that.

for solar panels of that a number, you would permanently mount them, either make a structure to mount them to, put on a shed roof or house roof, in a location that gets the best sun.
nothing stopping you building the system on a custom trolley so you can, unplug solar from the battery bank via Anderson plug or MC4 and move the battery bank with inverter around to different locations to use the battery and inverter elsewhere to power things, then return it to the solar panels to charge. but if you were going to power that pump Id suggest having panels close to the pump area, so running solar while operating the pump. as thats a power thirsty item, and you would likely want to use the sun power to its max.

this would be as close to as cheap as you could get for a system this size, again you dont have to use renogy you could us EPEVER or Kickass for around the same money, they are good reliable brands also But the Renogy Inverters are good, its hard to find better at that price point or even slightly above.

the wiring would be fairly simple as shown in previous post with MPPT and multiple batteries, just with some breakers added in and an isolation switch. I could draw you a diagram with where to put all that stuff, if you wanted to build a system,
any way i hope that gives you a bit of an idea on what is needed and what the main parts would cost

 

[Administrator]

I would suggest the optimum would be
60amp controller, would allow 800watts of panels with a total of 150v
https://au.renogy.com/rover-li-60-amp-mppt-solar-charge-controller/
as panels have avolt rating on them, so you have three main ratings, Amps, watts and Volts
the amps will stay the same when joining in panels in series, watts and volts get added together when joined in series. so both watts and amps will be multiplied by the number of panels in the chain. The total number of volts and watts will need tobe at max the 800watts and 150volts the controller is rated to. I can explain how to join in series.so when buying panels you look at the rear of them and do that calculation.

The MPPT controller will convert all that wattage,voltage and amperage collected by the panels into higher amps, It brings down the high volts into lower volts of say 14volts towards your battery banks and coverts it all into a max of 60amps. thats the charging part of an MPPT controller, why its a 60amp controller.
you could get away with a 40amp controller, but the 60amps would power your pump easy off the sun and meaning in full sun you could likely see it charge your battery slightly and still run the pump at same time, the 40amp wouldnt, so it would only charge a battery when the pump stops running. but if the pump doesnt run often and for long then that helps with charging and so its possible with the 40amp you could keep up and charge in those periods the pump isnt running, but obviously the 60amp would be better with the extra solar panels it can take.
if that makes sense?
there is also the option of going a 40amp controller and if that doesnt do the job, you can add a second controller like a 20amp MPPT  and running extra panels off that. you can run two charge controllers. I run two controllers on my system to the same battery bank. so you always have room for more upgrades in the future with out replacing entire system.

as for inverter it seems like you could get away with 1000watts if your only running one item at a time, it may run your fridge as well but would be at max, which is not optimal.
the 2000watts would easily do both, https://au.renogy.com/renogy-2000-12v-to-230v-pure-sine-wave-inverter-with-ups-function/
on a 12v system I wouldnt run any more than 2000watts of inverter, any more really puts pressure on a battery bank and its cables.
both inverters have USP function and so you could plug in 240v into inverter and when power cuts off it switches to battery bank.
now there is this beast of an inverter, if you have the budget, its UPS, but also charges the battery bank off mains. I mean you can buy a smart charger from Kickass for $100 to keep batteries topped off mains. but this is a good option for a single unit to be a UPS, battery mains charger and Inverter.
https://au.renogy.com/2000w-12v-pure-sine-wave-inverter-charger-w-lcd-display/
so there is a few options for the inverter type and size

I would say for batteries between at least 300ah to 400ah, lithium allows you to use more of that battery storage over say AGM, but they are way more expensive.
so lithium is best option but most expensive option. AGM is fine
running 12v you dont want tobe running much more than that 400ah, if wanting togo bigger you would look at say 24-48V battery system which that 60amp controller can handle, you can turn 12volt batteries into a 48 volt battery bank by the way you joined the batteries together.
you would need a different inverter to run off 48v battery bank, as that one wouldnt handle 48v
this is why I questioned the use of that ecoflow portable battery bank handling your pump for long periods of time. it has a big inverter but not much storage and doesnt allow many amps of volts from solar arrays.


Wiring, the inverter will have the cables needed.
you would need the Mc4 plug solar cable I posted previously for you solar to controller.
you would need some very heavy battery cable to join batteries.
when your talking such high amps you would wire in an emergency isolator switch. which are about $20 on ebay.i can supply link to one I use
I would also use a breaker switch which are about $15-$20.

so
if you could do say 60amp controller
you could have say
800watts solar
300-400ah batteries which is equal to 3600Wh-4800Wh
1000-2000watts of 240v power

with room to upgrade. and fancy helpful things are the following
renogy also has Bluetooth devices, so you can monitor your system remotely.
if you want that feature when you buy the MPPT you just select the bluetooth device, thats usually like $30 extra.

Now this is a very useful item, the battery monitor which reads your battery info by a shunt. this type of monitor is the best. everything is hooked upto the shunt, which is located right at the battery, so everything that draws power, or puts power into the batteries is being read as a total. so you can see how many Amp hour is left in your battery
https://au.renogy.com/500a-battery-monitor/

hope that gives you a bit of an idea. if you want advice at wiring stage I can help you with that.

for solar panels of that a number, you would permanently mount them, either make a structure to mount them to, put on a shed roof or house roof, in a location that gets the best sun.
nothing stopping you building the system on a custom trolley so you can, unplug solar from the battery bank via Anderson plug or MC4 and move the battery bank with inverter around to different locations to use the battery and inverter elsewhere to power things, then return it to the solar panels to charge. but if you were going to power that pump Id suggest having panels close to the pump area, so running solar while operating the pump. as thats a power thirsty item, and you would likely want to use the sun power to its max.

this would be as close to as cheap as you could get for a system this size, again you dont have to use renogy you could us EPEVER or Kickass for around the same money, they are good reliable brands also But the Renogy Inverters are good, its hard to find better at that price point or even slightly above.

All of the below I can source locally (except the controller, from China).

Would the following major components be suitable:

Controller x 1:

EPever Tracer 6415AN 60A MPPT Solar Charge Controller 48V/36V/24V/12V Negative Ground Backlight LCD Max 150V PV Input Regulator

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32977567457.html

Inverter x 1:

MODIFIED SINEWAVE
Input    24V Battery/Vehicle (10-15 Volt DC)
Input Current: (Max DC Amps)    60A
Input Standby Current (+/-5%)    400mA
Output:    230/240V Volt AC
Continuous Output Power:    2000W
Peak Output Power:    4000W
Efficiency:    85-90%
Low Battery Alarm/Shutdown    Alarm 10.5 Volt/Shutdown 10.0 Volt (+/-0.2 Volt)
Cooling Fan:    Automatic Temper Control
Thermal Shutdown:    65? (?5? C)
Replacement Fuse:    Standard Auto Blade Fuse
Fuse Quantity & Size    6x20A
Fuse Location    Internal
Connection Cable:    25mm/1100mm
Dimension:    20.5 x 29 x 15.5
Weight:    4.8 Kg
Product Code: 61 IM2000-24

Battery x 2:

Voltage: 12V
Capacity: 260Ah
Charge voltage: 13.8-14.0V
Float voltage: 14V
Cut-Off Voltage: 10.8V.
max amp:150a
current amp:125a
LiFePO4 (LFP) chemistry
Discharge operating Temp : -20 to 80 C
weight:28kg
size :380mm L x 300mm w x 230mm H

Solar Panels x 3:

Manufacturer: Canadian Solar
Product: Hiku
Polycrystalline: 144 Cell
Power Outage Range: 400-425 W
Maximum Efficiency: 24 %
Positive Power Tolerance: 0-+10 W
Dimensions: 2108mm x 1048mm x 35mm

 

[jason1]

I would suggest the optimum would be
60amp controller, would allow 800watts of panels with a total of 150v
https://au.renogy.com/rover-li-60-amp-mppt-solar-charge-controller/
as panels have avolt rating on them, so you have three main ratings, Amps, watts and Volts
the amps will stay the same when joining in panels in series, watts and volts get added together when joined in series. so both watts and amps will be multiplied by the number of panels in the chain. The total number of volts and watts will need tobe at max the 800watts and 150volts the controller is rated to. I can explain how to join in series.so when buying panels you look at the rear of them and do that calculation.

The MPPT controller will convert all that wattage,voltage and amperage collected by the panels into higher amps, It brings down the high volts into lower volts of say 14volts towards your battery banks and coverts it all into a max of 60amps. thats the charging part of an MPPT controller, why its a 60amp controller.
you could get away with a 40amp controller, but the 60amps would power your pump easy off the sun and meaning in full sun you could likely see it charge your battery slightly and still run the pump at same time, the 40amp wouldnt, so it would only charge a battery when the pump stops running. but if the pump doesnt run often and for long then that helps with charging and so its possible with the 40amp you could keep up and charge in those periods the pump isnt running, but obviously the 60amp would be better with the extra solar panels it can take.
if that makes sense?
there is also the option of going a 40amp controller and if that doesnt do the job, you can add a second controller like a 20amp MPPT  and running extra panels off that. you can run two charge controllers. I run two controllers on my system to the same battery bank. so you always have room for more upgrades in the future with out replacing entire system.

as for inverter it seems like you could get away with 1000watts if your only running one item at a time, it may run your fridge as well but would be at max, which is not optimal.
the 2000watts would easily do both, https://au.renogy.com/renogy-2000-12v-to-230v-pure-sine-wave-inverter-with-ups-function/
on a 12v system I wouldnt run any more than 2000watts of inverter, any more really puts pressure on a battery bank and its cables.
both inverters have USP function and so you could plug in 240v into inverter and when power cuts off it switches to battery bank.
now there is this beast of an inverter, if you have the budget, its UPS, but also charges the battery bank off mains. I mean you can buy a smart charger from Kickass for $100 to keep batteries topped off mains. but this is a good option for a single unit to be a UPS, battery mains charger and Inverter.
https://au.renogy.com/2000w-12v-pure-sine-wave-inverter-charger-w-lcd-display/
so there is a few options for the inverter type and size

I would say for batteries between at least 300ah to 400ah, lithium allows you to use more of that battery storage over say AGM, but they are way more expensive.
so lithium is best option but most expensive option. AGM is fine
running 12v you dont want tobe running much more than that 400ah, if wanting togo bigger you would look at say 24-48V battery system which that 60amp controller can handle, you can turn 12volt batteries into a 48 volt battery bank by the way you joined the batteries together.
you would need a different inverter to run off 48v battery bank, as that one wouldnt handle 48v
this is why I questioned the use of that ecoflow portable battery bank handling your pump for long periods of time. it has a big inverter but not much storage and doesnt allow many amps of volts from solar arrays.


Wiring, the inverter will have the cables needed.
you would need the Mc4 plug solar cable I posted previously for you solar to controller.
you would need some very heavy battery cable to join batteries.
when your talking such high amps you would wire in an emergency isolator switch. which are about $20 on ebay.i can supply link to one I use
I would also use a breaker switch which are about $15-$20.

so
if you could do say 60amp controller
you could have say
800watts solar
300-400ah batteries which is equal to 3600Wh-4800Wh
1000-2000watts of 240v power

with room to upgrade. and fancy helpful things are the following
renogy also has Bluetooth devices, so you can monitor your system remotely.
if you want that feature when you buy the MPPT you just select the bluetooth device, thats usually like $30 extra.

Now this is a very useful item, the battery monitor which reads your battery info by a shunt. this type of monitor is the best. everything is hooked upto the shunt, which is located right at the battery, so everything that draws power, or puts power into the batteries is being read as a total. so you can see how many Amp hour is left in your battery
https://au.renogy.com/500a-battery-monitor/

hope that gives you a bit of an idea. if you want advice at wiring stage I can help you with that.

for solar panels of that a number, you would permanently mount them, either make a structure to mount them to, put on a shed roof or house roof, in a location that gets the best sun.
nothing stopping you building the system on a custom trolley so you can, unplug solar from the battery bank via Anderson plug or MC4 and move the battery bank with inverter around to different locations to use the battery and inverter elsewhere to power things, then return it to the solar panels to charge. but if you were going to power that pump Id suggest having panels close to the pump area, so running solar while operating the pump. as thats a power thirsty item, and you would likely want to use the sun power to its max.

this would be as close to as cheap as you could get for a system this size, again you dont have to use renogy you could us EPEVER or Kickass for around the same money, they are good reliable brands also But the Renogy Inverters are good, its hard to find better at that price point or even slightly above.

All of the below I can source locally (except the controller, from China).

Would the following major components be suitable:

Controller x 1:

EPever Tracer 6415AN 60A MPPT Solar Charge Controller 48V/36V/24V/12V Negative Ground Backlight LCD Max 150V PV Input Regulator

https://www.aliexpress.com/i/32977567457.html

Inverter x 1:

MODIFIED SINEWAVE
Input    24V Battery/Vehicle (10-15 Volt DC)
Input Current: (Max DC Amps)    60A
Input Standby Current (+/-5%)    400mA
Output:    230/240V Volt AC
Continuous Output Power:    2000W
Peak Output Power:    4000W
Efficiency:    85-90%
Low Battery Alarm/Shutdown    Alarm 10.5 Volt/Shutdown 10.0 Volt (+/-0.2 Volt)
Cooling Fan:    Automatic Temper Control
Thermal Shutdown:    65? (?5? C)
Replacement Fuse:    Standard Auto Blade Fuse
Fuse Quantity & Size    6x20A
Fuse Location    Internal
Connection Cable:    25mm/1100mm
Dimension:    20.5 x 29 x 15.5
Weight:    4.8 Kg
Product Code: 61 IM2000-24

Battery x 2:

Voltage: 12V
Capacity: 260Ah
Charge voltage: 13.8-14.0V
Float voltage: 14V
Cut-Off Voltage: 10.8V.
max amp:150a
current amp:125a
LiFePO4 (LFP) chemistry
Discharge operating Temp : -20 to 80 C
weight:28kg
size :380mm L x 300mm w x 230mm H

Solar Panels x 3:

Manufacturer: Canadian Solar
Product: Hiku
Polycrystalline: 144 Cell
Power Outage Range: 400-425 W
Maximum Efficiency: 24 %
Positive Power Tolerance: 0-+10 W
Dimensions: 2108mm x 1048mm x 35mm

the renogy stuff is here in aus so fast delivery, they are a USA company but like everything built in china.

The epever is a good controller also so you could definitely use that one as good substitute. Ive had both Renogy and Epever and they are as good as each other.

I would stick with the renogy inverter though, im using one of those and ive used more expensive inverters in vans when i used to build motorhomes And this renogy one is up there IMO. the quality of the build is good and ive run 2kw out of it, so it matched its rating. the uninterrupted power supply feature, switching from 240v mains to battery is bloody good, and likely suit your application well

the panels with a 60amp controller will need to make no more than 800watts max and at 150volts total if in series, so you could have say 4X200 watts, 3x260watts or 2x400watts and so on, being Mppt series is likely most suitable, not essential you could run parallel but the way a MPPT works series works best with them IMO.
I use secondhand panels, I have a guy i buy panels from, he is a solar installer, and is always pulling panels down he installed only a year earlier, allot of rich dipshit seem to constantly upgrade, and pull of perfect panels.
so thats saves a bloody fortune. allot of smart solar installer sell them on market place instead of binning perfect panels.
looking at that spec of those panels 3X400watts panels is to much for series in a 60amp controller, that info doesnt have amps on those specs so not sure if in parallel it would be to many for that even. parallel multiplies amps which means that total cant be over the watts and amps the charger is rated to, series multiplies watts/volts not amps so that total needs tobe no more than the 800watts and 150volts as the amps in series is only equal to one panel so amps wont be an issue, the mppt will do the conversion to higher amps when dropping volts to battery charging volts.


two of those batteries would be great, you would be laughing with 2X 260ah lithium, wont be cheap but if its in your budget definitely.
dont run any more than that on 12volt system though, your talking allot of current there lol

you have brands like redarc that i used to use in caravans when building them, honestly they are insanely over priced for what they do, the market is for the rich 4x4 van guy, the renogy inverter will compete with that, so look at the offgrid market for solar, not 4x4 or caravan stuff, its over priced.  its not that this stuff is cheap, its that their stuff is over priced, there is a reason off griders dont use redarc and the caravan guys do. the offgrid guys know whats a waste of money and what isnt

 

[jason1]

these are the isolators I use
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/304378006952?

and also use these 12v breakers for the mppt controllers, they are just easy to install and you can manually kill the circuit
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/383899303038?


Im just building a system for a friend, and the 40amp controller for it just arrived now  while I was writing this. well built unit
ordered it on thursday.