I am creating this thread to spread knowledge about the possibilities of off grid growing systems and to find others who might be doing similar things.
when sizing a system you have to take your daily power consumption inTo consideration of course. for example
36 watt efficient refrigerator 24 hours
300 watt tv and xbox 3 hours
1500 watt toaster 5 mins
Tabletop dishwasher 700 watts for 20 mins.
lights fans chargers 30 watts 24 hours
About 2 kWh per day
this is a good example of A modest requirement. Where heat is powered by wood or natural gas.
Now you size your room.
Lets say a 2 foot by 5 foot grow tent.
This will require:
300 watts of cob led with dimming capabilities. 12 hours a day. And 150 watts 17 hours a day in veg. That is 3600 watts per day in flower and 2500 in veg. You can dim these lights though when necessary and i can talk about that if someone wants to know more. So then you add efficient fans and you have a total of about 4-5 kilowatt hours per day for your grow. Thats a lot.
Now to size your system:
We know you need 5-7000 watt hours per day for your whole house/cabin. I will cut to the chase and just do the math for you. This mean if you use lead acid batteries you will need a battery bank in the 15-20 kWh capacity range. This will take up as much floor space as your grow room, will weigh 1000 pounds, and will cost 1800-2500$.
if you get lithium it will cost about 4000$ but you need less battery storage, they weigh less, and take up less space.
to charge these batteries you will need 2000-3000 watts of solar Panels costing between 1 and 2000$.
you would also need a 2000 watt inverter 1200$
A charge controller 500$
And battery equipment and wiring 500-1000$
You will also need a backup generator to make sure you never lose power. If you are in a far north climate you will have to use this at
least weekly in thewinter.
So with installation
You are looking at somewhere between 7 and 10,000$ for your whole electric system.
Now a big thing that i should say is if you add a wind turbine that is bringing in a constant 200 watts or so, all of these costs and rewuirement go down dramatically. That is the next step for me.
i just threw this together so im sorry its a bit all over the place. Im sure i will edit as time goes on. Ask me any questions.
As requested i will include pics of my cats results.
when sizing a system you have to take your daily power consumption inTo consideration of course. for example
36 watt efficient refrigerator 24 hours
300 watt tv and xbox 3 hours
1500 watt toaster 5 mins
Tabletop dishwasher 700 watts for 20 mins.
lights fans chargers 30 watts 24 hours
About 2 kWh per day
this is a good example of A modest requirement. Where heat is powered by wood or natural gas.
Now you size your room.
Lets say a 2 foot by 5 foot grow tent.
This will require:
300 watts of cob led with dimming capabilities. 12 hours a day. And 150 watts 17 hours a day in veg. That is 3600 watts per day in flower and 2500 in veg. You can dim these lights though when necessary and i can talk about that if someone wants to know more. So then you add efficient fans and you have a total of about 4-5 kilowatt hours per day for your grow. Thats a lot.
Now to size your system:
We know you need 5-7000 watt hours per day for your whole house/cabin. I will cut to the chase and just do the math for you. This mean if you use lead acid batteries you will need a battery bank in the 15-20 kWh capacity range. This will take up as much floor space as your grow room, will weigh 1000 pounds, and will cost 1800-2500$.
if you get lithium it will cost about 4000$ but you need less battery storage, they weigh less, and take up less space.
to charge these batteries you will need 2000-3000 watts of solar Panels costing between 1 and 2000$.
you would also need a 2000 watt inverter 1200$
A charge controller 500$
And battery equipment and wiring 500-1000$
You will also need a backup generator to make sure you never lose power. If you are in a far north climate you will have to use this at
least weekly in thewinter.
So with installation
You are looking at somewhere between 7 and 10,000$ for your whole electric system.
Now a big thing that i should say is if you add a wind turbine that is bringing in a constant 200 watts or so, all of these costs and rewuirement go down dramatically. That is the next step for me.
i just threw this together so im sorry its a bit all over the place. Im sure i will edit as time goes on. Ask me any questions.
As requested i will include pics of my cats results.
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it was a learning curve. But so worth the time and money