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Bryan1

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Joined: 22/02/2006
Location: Australia
Posts: 1884

Posted: 01:21pm 28 Apr 2026

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Well went down with my metal detector to try and find this gold necklace but more than likely the lawn mower ate it.

So after a few ales the talk got onto what is the power bill where for a moderate house the cost is about $1,000 a quarter. So I have been given the green light for my first on grid house to take it off the grid for most things.

Now when I have talked with electricians I generally lose them within a minute when I talk about sizing solar panels to fit a MTTP let alone talk about the inverters that I build.

The family I saw tonight is open to get a energy meter installed so they can monitor the house draw.

I did tell them a soldering iron will be their friend as the family will have to make the inverter themselves so they understand how it works and if it breaks they will know how to fix it.

The big cost in this project is the forklift battery and as 48 volts is considered a high voltage with the current draw being around 3Kw a 24 volt system would work so the wife and young son can learn.

Now try and get a lithium battery for 24 volts @600AH for about 5K. Forklift batteries are just right for a off grid setup.

Now Kanmantoo is a small town and once I do do a couple of these projects I can will contact my local federal member who is a personal friend too see if I can take this project further

Regards Bryan

Revlac

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Joined: 31/12/2016
Location: Australia
Posts: 1240

Posted: 10:11pm 28 Apr 2026

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Its good to see a new family getting interesting in going off grid, there is a bit of learning involved and an energy edit is a must, to know the power requirements and system to consider building.

from a personal view, I have always used as little energy as possible from the grid when we had it a long time ago, since off grid its so easy to keep adding more and more loads and so the system needed to grow as well.

My last 48v lithium battery was 314Ah and just on $5k with BMS and connectors with a few other things currently for the same 16 cells 624Ah 24v with all the gear is under $5k (local shop) while the energy capacity for these in 24v or 48v is about the same, a much more powerful inverter can be had at 48v.

They can go with whatever type of battery they like but it needs to be the right voltage and capacity to start with, especially when using Lead acid batteries. upgrading can get expensive

Still, an energy audit will tell how much they will need and find out what is the most power chewing appliance that is used, eg my air compressor starting the other day used 155A from a 48v battery.

Edited 2026-04-29 08:21 by Revlac

Cheers Aaron
Off The Grid

Solar Mike
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Joined: 08/02/2015
Location: New Zealand
Posts: 1204

Posted: 10:53pm 28 Apr 2026

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>> Now try and get a lithium battery for 24 volts @600AH for about 5K. Forklift batteries are just right for a off grid setup.

16 x 314 AH cells from China + BMS would cost approx US$1500 inc shipping, that's 628 AH @24v; heaps more efficient than any fork lift battery.....

tinyt
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Joined: 12/11/2017
Location: United States
Posts: 558

Posted: 12:55pm 29 Apr 2026

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For house loads(16 max.) power draw monitoring, I used this Fusion Energy Sem Meter . It is less expensive than Emporia Vue.

It can be used for pre-project power audit and post-project power monitoring.

Just sharing.
Edited 2026-04-29 23:01 by tinyt

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