On these small projects, its very important to nail down the exact load,
to keep the pricing sane. I list on the estimate what the system is
designed to do; for instance 18 w load 24 hrs/ day. Then if something
goes wrong and they are running more than they should you just gently
point out that that was not what the system was designed to do.
I learned a long time ago, that you can't take name plate power draw
numbers, or count on the manufacturer to provide those numbers; you've
got to confirm it with your own monitoring equipment.
R.Ray Walter
CTO, Solarray, Inc
Nabcep Certified PV Installer,
Licensed Master Electrician
Solar Design Engineer
303 505-8760
On 1/21/2014 6:07 AM, Jason Szumlanski wrote:
That's the answer I thought I'd get from most. It's hard to explain
the "days of autonomy" and extended bad weather to people. Most just
say, "why don't you just make a recommendation." That puts me in a
spot where I want to overbuild, which drives up cost.
The other challenge is getting people to tell you the real story about
what they plan to plug in. They think 100W @ 120V continuous load 24
hours a day sounds like a very small load. When you hit them with a
~1kW system with a ~10kWh battery (with ample reliability factors
considered), they freak out. Then you find out that the camera they
wanted to plug in only draws 18W @ 12V (no inverter required). That's
a big difference.
Jason
On Mon, Jan 20, 2014 at 3:46 PM, Larry Crutcher, Starlight Solar Power
Systems <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>
wrote:
Jason,
We get quite a few of these from US Border Patrol, GM Proving
Grounds and other agencies. I always do custom design since every
job has different parameters like days of autonomy or remote
monitoring/control (SCADA).
Larry Crutcher
On Jan 20, 2014, at 1:17 PM, Jason Szumlanski
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
What do you do for very small off-grid systems that people want
for specific equipment? Do you have a "go-to" configuration, or do
you size and design everything custom?
For example, I frequently get, "I want to run cameras at a remote
site and the total requirement is 100W, 24 hours a day."
It's not economical to reinvent the wheel every time.
Jason Szumlanski
Fafco Solar
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