How I Just Built My Own Solar Cheaper!! 

Here are links to everything in the video The aims Inverter Charger amzn.to/3O3p5rK The Morningstar Charge Controller amzn.to/3OwY5m9 The Combiner Box amzn.to/3DzhnRm The Wiring for the panels amzn.to/47bCR4n

I’ve been watching for awhile now and love the channel and what you have done.I think this is a great video for someone who don’t know about solar.Keep up the good work.

I think this was your best video yet . Love your content. Keep up the awesome work. God bless 🙏

Good video, Thanks for keeping it simple 👍👍👍

Really good info. Much appreciated.

This was really well done. Thank you for sharing your set up.

You're Totally Awesome Bro! Thanks for sharing the Knowledge! 👍

Simple explanation and understandable!!!! Thanks for the video

I really liked your video. It’s nice to see a job as its first put together before everything is neatly put away. You do a very good job of explaining yourself. Keep up the good work.

Actually learned about solar. Thank you man.

Thanks for showing this video.

You can buy an all-in-one solar controller/inverter. EG4 makes a 6000 watt controller that sells for around $1500. Just plug your solar panels into it. It puts out 48V to your batteries, and 240v/120v AC output. One component controls everything.

Yep! Exactly what it sounds like! Brother I like how you get straight to the point.

Really helpful video, thanks.

Great video

You could also run all those panels in series, as long as your charge controller can handle that much voltage, which is more efficient..And you don't need a combiner box, but an in line fuse is a good idea..My system has 450 Volts of solar going into my charge controller, it can handle 500 volts, my system is a 48 volt system though..The best deals these days are all in one inverter/charge controller from mpp solar, and Lipo4 server rack batteries...Much easier, cheap, more reliable with ten year warranties..But, nice system, I had one just like it, a few years back, before going Lithium..

Western Oklahoma here, dig your setup so much we have decided to pull the plug ourselves on anything and all mainstream . Thanks for the motivation brother This world I feel is about to go dark for a bit so folks better get their affairs in order and get prepped today...

Wow! Thank you.

U explained that perfectly!!!!!! And i understood 😂

Nice setup.

This gave me a idra to try planels i. Srires of 2 right now i am doing them in 3 s

Thanks for the story. I don't agree with all of your numbers. I am not saying you are wrong. I just have a different understanding. Lets start with 45. Your controller have 45 amps. To me this is the max amount of amps that go to the battery. Not the max amount of input amps. Your input PV is MAX 150 volts and 2400 watts for a 48 volt system. Now having extra watts helps on cloudy days but on sunny days it is just burned up. Anyways that is my understanding how things work.

Find your local CED Greentech renewables distributor, ask about their graveyard modules and scratch and dent modules. You can get really good deals on solar mods this way. They may be a year or 2 old and be a lower wattage than the new stuff but just check the price per watt. Other open box parts may also be available.

This looks like the guy who held his wife hostage in his bigrig because he thought she was cheating then tried to take out the cops but gto his engine shot by a 50 cal gun and made him come to a stop, then he soent 7 more years in prison after a nice tazing lol good job on the solar setup man, glad to see you doing better!

Justin, many thanks. You made it so easy to be able to install everything. I checked the links you gave and it was worth the visit. I am wondering how you would go about checking the batteries when one or a couple are failing or drained out. To see which ones are shot. With a sharp-ended light-up fuse tester or ? Unhooked, hooked-up? If you unhook any lines, would it be best to cover the end which hooks onto the battery or the post, to prevent a mishap?

Those wires going into the charge controller without some sort of protective shielding against the sharp metal edges is a fire waiting to happen.

aw, nuts, did i miss it?? hey, buddy, what was that website you were talking about with the discounted solar panels? thanks!! 🙌

Awesome setup. The panel racks are fantastic, simple, clean and cheap. A few questions, how many watts is the inverter, how many amp hours of batteries did you say you have and their costs? What is the maximum wattage you use in your home and average wattage? Being in Oklahoma do you worry about hail? BTW, I use to fish Broken Bow quite a bit until they damn near killed me and a buddy of mine. Good video Justin.

I like the inverter. And charges too? Wow, cause I was wondering about the system like thinking does it store a charge when there's no sunlight till the source becomes available. Nice system Brother....

New to batteries, when hooking up a battery, 1. Positive first 2. Negative only after Positive. Black is negative which is ground ( grounding, makes the wires come to life). Unhooking batteries, 1. Negative first, always. 2. Positive last. Hooking up wrong can explode the batteries and damage you.

You got any earthing/grounding on that system big dog? Id recommend it.

Hello, best "Off-grid Solar for Dummies" I've seen, after Many, in only 16min. However, I was still left a little dumb. Nothing mentioned about suitable switch/s in the combiner box (guess it was only one). 48v into 45amp charge controller, "have to be careful", what happens if your not? Should 65amp be used instead? Why 6v batteries vs 12v (lead). And what would the equivalent of lithium be for your set-up? Is 3000w inverter enough for you? Can you plug in one of those portable camping ones in the house if you need a little extra? What's your opinion of the equipment today, vs similarly priced Victron Energy MultiPlus-II ?

I never observed any circuit breakers also wires were not protected going into charge controller? Be careful! Over all good deal!.

🎉

"...literally." 🤣

Also I’m looking at aptos DNA 440 watt solar panel bifacial Batteries is between fortress batteries and ark And inverter and stuff either Schneider or sol ark But I here sol ark has some issues . And plus I have no clue what other things I need etc Like wire or ground mounts Fuses , breakers Etc I might higher but I would love to do it I’m probably making it look worse than it is But right now I’m saving up to slowly piece it together

I paid $26 for each of my 235w panels from santan solar.

Great video! I have a cabin near Antlers Oklahoma i’m working on but just doing 12v system for now

At minute 7:58 when you mentioned your total watts from all your 48Volt panels is 3100 Watts, but is this just the peak wattage for 1 or 2 hours of strong sunlight ?

You’re funny 😆

have you ever thought about adding a Tesla power wall to store more power...

Surprisingly, I liked this video. There are some things I definitely think you could improve upon, like burying the wiring in a conduit to protect it from damage, but overall this was a really good video on how to build a simple solar setup. The one thing where I strongly disagree with you is on the batteries you chose. These days, going with any lead-acid battery solution, over lithium iron-phosphate, just isn't a smart move, money-wise. You bought 8 of those 6 volt, 200 amp-hour batteries, but because they are lead-acid you should avoid discharging them below about 50% state of charge, if you want them to last more than a few years. That means you have about 100 amp-hours worth of capacity. You could buy four, 12-volt, 100 amp-hour, lithium iron-phosphate batteries for just a little more than you paid for those lead-acid batteries, but you'd get the full 100 amp-hours worth of capacity, plus they'd last a good 8 to 10 years. I'm willing to bet that in 3-5 years, when those lead-acid batteries are no longer able to keep up, you will sharpen your pencil a bit and realize you should have gone with the lithiums. The only exception to this is if you are often at risk of charging your batteries while the cells are at a below freezing temperature. Even that is very easy to fix with a heated battery box. Other than the batteries, I think you did a good job putting that system together.

I WONDER DO YOU GET 3 SHADING

I’m in Oklahoma trying to a solar thing Can’t decide off grid or hybrid Plus trying to figure out all the cost I not sure if I can do it myself as well Kinda scary

how many acres is that?

May I suggest you mention DC to AC sometime? For beginners it might be handy. Just sayin'...

You just can't do a solar system these days with lead acid batteries. Lifepo4 batteries are too cheap. You mentioned that money was in issue when you did this system and then you mentioned that the batteries were $1k-1.2k. This video is 3 months old. 4 decent 100ah lifepo4 batteries should run you ~$1k. Much better alternatives.

Dumb question time: Why the trouble of connecting two 24 VOLT panels instead of a sinlge 48VOLT panel? (do they not make them that large for residential application?)

How long can you run your window air conditioner

Where's the video of going from the battery shed to your house breaker box?

7:58 - That should be 2,100 watts. 48 volts X 44 Amps = 2,112 watts.

Does two 33v panels not make 66v? Not 48v. Does that mean you could run a 52v system instead of 48v?

How much does this whole system cost

Walmart has Chins 100ah Lifepo4 12v for $266. I'm running two in series for a small 24v system. 8 of them would be $2128. You shouldn't run lead acid down to 10/15/20 % like you can Lifepo4. So you really don't get the AH like you do with Lifepo4. Lifepo4 should be good for 10yrs or more. No maintenance.

At 8:00, the message says 48 volts at 44 amps is 3100 watts. My math says it's 2,112 watts. That's assuming 100 percent efficiency, which doesn't exist in solar.

May I ask why you put your combiner box on the tree when you should've put it right there on your panel frame or the flagpole? Is there a reason you're using lead acid instead of lithium? Lithium is more cost effective.

Really should not get in the habit of thinking of those as 24 or 48 in series, they are 33 and 66, as you go upward in series combinations that math really can bite you overloading an inverter, if an inverter can take in 145v, your math says 6 panels ....but the actual math might lead you to put 6 in series and that would actually overvolt the inverter with 198v

Your system is doing ok, not great, as far as voltage drop/power lost in wires. 2 panels in series has 68v output mpp and probably 10amps so using 10g solar wire and 40' to combiner box you lose just .95v or 1.4%. DC going from combiner box to shed- 68v, 40amps, 10g wire and 40' distance leads to 3.8V drop or 5.6%. This is ok but not very good. Shed to house- 120v AC, 30amps est, 10g wire and again 40' distance leads to 2.9v drop or 2.4% drop. All these calcs is via Calculator net. You can do your own calcs if my numbers are off. The DC loses would be cut in half if you put 4 panels in series, bringing voltage up to 136v mpp (if your controller can handle this and near 150v VOC). 3 panels in series might be safer/better in line with controller max VOC, reduce voltage loss from current situation, but requires panels in multiples of 3 (3, 6, 9, 12). Note- if you need to go with higher MPPT controller on a budget- MakeSkyBlue has 60A one for $150 (but has fan) and HQST has 60A one for around $200 (no fan) both can take more PV input than your current controller and both have 150v max VOC.

One tip if you use mppt controller you don't have to match the voltage of the panel with the battery just don't exceed the voltage limit of the charge controller. So it's possible to use 12 24 or 36 volt panels if you wish.

too bad i cant use tin foil for solar panels..

you mentioned that hooking them positive to negative is in series ...it is not it is in parallel secondly why would you run six volt batteries when you can run 12-volt batteries and have two Less batteries in the system?

Way over my head.

Number 1. There's no such thing as 12v, 24v, 36v or 48v panels. You cant hook up your panels to the battery without a charge controllers. Please lets stop calling anything a solar panel is for

~ Now thats one of the reasons County life can be Better. Where I live ~ they would pick U clean Take your whole set up .... and then steal your Truck to Drive it all to the Thrift Market . and it would only take them 20 minutes to do all that...