# 1025 Amp Hour Battery Bank Test Run



## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

Last Sunday from just after 11:00 Saturday evening until Sunday at about 11:00 AM the power company had a wide area power shut down for equipment upgrades, perfect for me to do a test run on the solar backup system batteries without having the solar array set up yet. The power was supposed to come back on at 6:00 AM but didn't and so the batteries got a good test. I ran the two refrigerators for awhile after the power was shut off and once we got everything we needed out of them for the evening I ran them for a little while and shut them down for the night. We watched TV for quiet awhile and in the morning since the power had not come back on, I turn the power back on the the refrigerators, I checked the discharge rate of the batteries with both of them running and it was around 12 amps at 25 volts and when the power came back on the inverter/ charger had automatically kicked into a charge mode the Bulk Charge amps was 111 amps, next time I checked about an hour later it had dropped to 57 amps and a little later it was in the Float Charge setting with just a few amps. The system never got below 24 volts so I suspect I could have ran on batteries for two days without a recharge. Before starting up anything in the morning the battery voltage was still at 25, the starting voltage the night before was just over 26. The 4,000 watt inverter had no problem starting both refrigerators at the same time, so I'm very pleased with the systems basic performance. I'm looking forward to setting up the solar array with it's 1560 watts output to do a charge recovery test on just solar. I'm going to try and get the posts and frame for the array as soon as we get some rain to loosen up the soil for digging holes for pouring the concrete post anchors.


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## jnrdesertrats (Jul 3, 2010)

I have been considering what it would take to do an off grid system with a back up generator for extended cloudy days on our Oregon property. The power company wants about 20k because of how far we want our home off the street. My thinking is that amount would be a good start on a solar system and I can use the genny to run a welder and other equipment as needed. At least I think that is a reasonable plan. I need to consult a solar professional.

Good luck with your system and keep us posted.


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## Viking (Mar 16, 2009)

jnrdesertrats said:


> I have been considering what it would take to do an off grid system with a back up generator for extended cloudy days on our Oregon property. The power company wants about 20k because of how far we want our home off the street. My thinking is that amount would be a good start on a solar system and I can use the genny to run a welder and other equipment as needed. At least I think that is a reasonable plan. I need to consult a solar professional.
> 
> Good luck with your system and keep us posted.


$20K would put together a very good system, but do some research on who can do an honest solar consult. I've done some research on "Solar Generators" because of a friend talking about them and I found far better systems at half the cost by doing research. I happened to run across a good business when we wanted to install a solar system on our 33' motorhome, that business is AM Solar of Springfield, Oregon, I learned about getting higher cell count solar panels which put out higher voltage than is needed for charging a 12 volt system and using MPPT solar charge controllers with those higher voltage panels to facilitate better charge rates on less than perfect sun charge days, this paid off on fall and spring trips to Northern Nevada while out gold detecting, the batteries always got a good charge even when the sun was low in the sky or on slightly cloudy days. I did a bunch more research when looking for a solar standby system for our home and found really good solar prices at Grape Solar in Eugene, Oregon, saved over $200 on shipping by driving a 100 plus miles to pick them up and also got a great saving on buying a 60 amp Morningstar TriStar MPPT solar charge controller from them. When is came to inverter/chargers I came across Don Rowe who runs a business out in the woods just North of Eugene in Monroe, Oregon, saved hundreds of dollars over buying the inverters from RV suppliers. It pays to do the research and along the way some of the businesses have good info on DIY. There are some here on PS that have far more solar system knowledge than I do because of working with whole house systems, I happen to have designed my solar backup for running just a few things such as two refrigerators, a freezer and a few lights. If I had $20K to work with, solar would be a whole house power as our system is well under $10K. One other thing, the batteries for the system are from Costco, golf cart batteries rated 6 volt @ 205 amp hour and they were under $100 each without cores to turn in, they seem to be very good batteries, I've heard that they are made by Johnson Controll, there are many better batteries and of course the prices reflect this, Trojan is very good and pretty much mid priced, Surrette has some very high amp hour rated batteries in the higher price range and there are AGM, Absorbed Glass Mat, sealed batteries which absorb vapors caused by charging and discharging in a fiberglass mat in a chamber on top of the battery case, when those vapor condense into a liquid it goes back into the electrolyte. AM Solar has a good tutorial on battery type on their website at www.amsolar.com just click on RV Solar Education.


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## cowboyhermit (Nov 10, 2012)

jnrdesertrats said:


> I have been considering what it would take to do an off grid system with a back up generator for extended cloudy days on our Oregon property. The power company wants about 20k because of how far we want our home off the street. My thinking is that amount would be a good start on a solar system and I can use the genny to run a welder and other equipment as needed. At least I think that is a reasonable plan. I need to consult a solar professional.
> 
> Good luck with your system and keep us posted.


Situations like that (expensive hook-ups) REALLY make alternative systems an easier transition. The fact that you can spend x amount of $ to get bills for the rest of your life, really makes one think. I have worked in similar situations from the other side, where thousands were spent not that long ago to put in power, bills were paid constantly, and then it was figured out that an alternative system would still be more economical and reliable not fun thinking about the money down the drain.

Incorporating a good generator (or even welder) into the system can often make a HUGE difference in the sizing and subsequent pricing of power source and battery bank, compared to a purely solar system. Usually the generator is the least reliable link in a solar system though, so one has to either not count on it too much, be willing to mess with it, have redundancy, and/or spend some real $$$.



Viking said:


> $20K would put together a very good system, but do some research on who can do an honest solar consult. I've done some research on "Solar Generators" because of a friend talking about them and I found far better systems at half the cost by doing research. I happened to run across a good business when we wanted to install a solar system on our 33' motorhome, that business is AM Solar of Springfield, Oregon, I learned about getting higher cell count solar panels which put out higher voltage than is needed for charging a 12 volt system and using MPPT solar charge controllers with those higher voltage panels to facilitate better charge rates on less than perfect sun charge days, this paid off on fall and spring trips to Northern Nevada while out gold detecting, the batteries always got a good charge even when the sun was low in the sky or on slightly cloudy days. I did a bunch more research when looking for a solar standby system for our home and found really good solar prices at Grape Solar in Eugene, Oregon, saved over $200 on shipping by driving a 100 plus miles to pick them up and also got a great saving on buying a 60 amp Morningstar TriStar MPPT solar charge controller from them. When is came to inverter/chargers I came across Don Rowe who runs a business out in the woods just North of Eugene in Monroe, Oregon, saved hundreds of dollars over buying the inverters from RV suppliers. It pays to do the research and along the way some of the businesses have good info on DIY. There are some here on PS that have far more solar system knowledge than I do because of working with whole house systems, I happen to have designed my solar backup for running just a few things such as two refrigerators, a freezer and a few lights. If I had $20K to work with, solar would be a whole house power as our system is well under $10K. One other thing, the batteries for the system are from Costco, golf cart batteries rated 6 volt @ 205 amp hour and they were under $100 each without cores to turn in, they seem to be very good batteries, I've heard that they are made by Johnson Controll, there are many better batteries and of course the prices reflect this, Trojan is very good and pretty much mid priced, Surrette has some very high amp hour rated batteries in the higher price range and there are AGM, Absorbed Glass Mat, sealed batteries which absorb vapors caused by charging and discharging in a fiberglass mat in a chamber on top of the battery case, when those vapor condense into a liquid it goes back into the electrolyte. AM Solar has a good tutorial on battery type on their website at www.amsolar.com just click on RV Solar Education.


Just for information clarity, AGM batteries have the acid absorbed too, not just the vapours, pretty cool if you see one opened up. Have seen some cracked wide open down the side and still working


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## fteter (May 23, 2014)

Viking, a tip of my hat to you. 2 days on a battery bank without a solar array or generator...that's solid in my book. Very cool.


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## offgridcooker (Mar 5, 2012)

I like the idea of having a back up battery system, to power my electronics, tv, router, desk top computer, charge cell phones, and tablets.
It would be nice to have a system I could plug all my different battreys into. I have 2 40 volt lawn mower batteries, and a 20 volt, and several 12 volts, all lithium.
For the freezer and frigerator, I could fire up the generator for a while.


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## jnrdesertrats (Jul 3, 2010)

Thanks Viking, I will check out the places you mentioned. I was reading about the Tesla batteries. Maybe by the time we are ready the price will come down on those. Then again I have not figured out if those are a viable solution yet.


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