What do you guys think of this off grid package? | Alternative Energy | Forums

Dude, that is all marketing. That comes with 4 200 watt panels -- 800 watts. I have almost 4 times that and want more -- and we built our house to use less than a normal house.

You could seriously put something together so much better for the same money. E.g. you can buy the same amount of panels I have for ~$2000, buy an Outback all in one package for $3,500, buy a big battery bank for $1500, and with wiring of $1,000 you will still be ahead by $2k for mounting the panels.

2,880 watts from panels. The watts they list in that add is for how many watts the inverter can put out and they only provide 800 watts from panels. It is deceiving.

I forgot the exact math behind it all, but you have to have enough panels to fully charge your batteries or you will either a) damage them from low charging or b) need an additional source of power, like a generator or the grid.

I have 2.8KW of panels and only a 225 amp hour battery bank at 48V. That is 8 golf cart GC2 batteries. I really need a 16 battery 500 amp hour 48V bank to take advantage of all of the power of the panels when the sun is shining.

My rule of thumb, at 48V and for where I live, is you need ~1,400 panel watts for every 225 amp hour battery bank 48V series. I could afford to double the solar panels this summer but not the battery bank. Now I am trying to get that done soon.

That is a perfect scenario. I just friend my 8 batteries -- I never watered them and the lead plates inside got exposed -- they are barely holding a charge. I have had them for 1.5 years. I am hoping with better watering they would at least last me 3 or 4. So $1500 of batteries every 3 years would be ~$42 a month -- less than an electrical bill, probably. I think with monitoring, and it sounds like you have the time to do it, you can make them last 5 years. Or you can spend more on better batteries, or use forklift batteries, and get something like 15 years out of them. That requires a lot more $$ upfront, however.