Short-term Fix for Off Grid Battery Bank

[koselig]

Hi all,

We are in the process of relocating to our remote forest homestead. With all the possible last-minute costs (e.g. surprise $xxxx road repair), I'm trying to be as economical as possible now, then planning to update and upgrade in a few years once we get settled in.

The place was completely off-grid when the solar setup was installed by a previous owner. The panels are:
8 x Kyocera 62W 2 x Photowatt 105W
1 x Isofoton 150W

I know these are pretty well out of date and mismatched. I feel like the panels should be sorted when we have more time and money.

The charge controller is DIY (here is the inside):
IMG_3738.JPG.jpeg

The inverter is an apparently modified 3000W unit:
IMG_3743.JPG.jpeg

Batteries are 20 x Interstate U2200's, 6V golf cart batteries 232aH (this is showing up upside down in the forum... they are not upside down ):
IMG_3741.JPG.jpeg



So, long-term I think the right setup would be grid-tied with backup so we retain off-grid capability (100A grid power was run by a previous owner in order to get their mortgage). I am assuming a setup like that would take a whole lot more money than we can dedicate at this time. In the meantime, the batteries are far overdue for replacement. When we got here they took 22gal of distilled water, and are still turning the lights on, but the charge controller relays are clicking loudly every few minutes (apparently to prevent overcharging, detecting the high internal resistance I am guessing), so I need to turn the entire system off each night so we can sleep.

So as a short-term fix I'd like to replace the batteries at the very least. What would be a comparable AGM (or other alternative) setup that would get us by? Are any of the non-toxic saltwater and other more environmentally friendly batteries ready for primetime? The key here is it has to be a battery bank we can use with our current off-grid setup, then also with a future grid tied with backup setup.

If we have to replace either the charge controller or inverter or both, assuming we're not ready to invest in a full system upgrade, what would be comparable units that would get us by for now? I wouldn't feel bad having an extra off-grid setup on hand, as we could use it later on in our shop or elsewhere if/when we can afford the grid-tied-with-backup.

Thanks all!

[organic farmer]

...
We are in the process of relocating to our remote forest homestead.

I live in a forest also, welcome

... So, long-term I think the right setup would be grid-tied with backup so we retain off-grid capability (100A grid power was run by a previous owner in order to get their mortgage). I am assuming a setup like that would take a whole lot more money than we can dedicate at this time.

We started with grid power, then we went to solar. We still have the grid available to us. We use grid power as an 'Aux In' where a generator might be wired in other setups. In our area, the grid commonly goes down a few days every month and a few weeks every year. So it is not very reliable.

It sounds like you have a functioning solar power system, and you also have grid power on-site. So I am not sure of what you want to do that would be expensive.

The cheapest method is to do it all with breakers. One breaker to put you onto grid-power, a second breaker to put you onto solar power.

My 'E-panel' came with the 'aux-in' breaker already wired.



I am interested in hearing how the discussion goes for troubleshooting your system.

[koselig]

I live in a forest also, welcome

thanks!

We started with grid power, then we went to solar. We still have the grid available to us. We use grid power as an 'Aux In' where a generator might be wired in other setups. In our area, the grid commonly goes down a few days every month and a few weeks every year. So it is not very reliable.

It sounds like you have a functioning solar power system, and you also have grid power on-site. So I am not sure of what you want to do that would be expensive.

The cheapest method is to do it all with breakers. One breaker to put you onto grid-power, a second breaker to put you onto solar power.

My 'E-panel' came with the 'aux-in' breaker already wired.

We currently have 2 main panels. The original, fed from the solar, and the grid-fed one. A previous owner did wire up a few breakers to switch various circuits between grid and solar, but your 'Aux In' setup sounds much smarter.

We don't have outages generally as all the power out this way is buried (along with fiber, thanks to Lake County MN). But I definitely don't want to go simple grid-tied without batteries.

The big problem right now is the toasted batteries, but I'd rather not replace them with new flooded batteries if I can help it. What would be an acceptable AGM replacement, or better yet, what would be a non-toxic alternative that wouldn't cost a fortune?