recharging from a solar source

oh ya, tons. are you specifically talking off grid?

 

Recharging 2 vehicles in a daily basis.
I have a 10K PV System (look at my signature) and very happy. I'm NOT off grid and not planning to.

 

Nope but I'm interested. Are you looking to recharge directly from the solar panels or just the battery?

 

I have grid-tied solar and a PIP. Can't say I really charge off the solar because I charge mostly at night. But I would say charging a PIP with off-grid solar is probably a misplaced use of both technologies for that very reason. Better to charge a battery bank during the day and use the power at night, no?

 

Whatever you do to keep the electricity cost down for charging the PiP is a good thing. Battery bank, on-grid, off-grid, whatever is a matter of designing a solar system for your particular situation. However, designing your solar system should certainly take into account your EV charging needs now and in the future. I did mine "backwards", solar system first, PiP second and ended up with a solar system that could have been 50% larger for optimum cost savings.

 

the smaller the system, the less cost effective, if you're grid tied. maybe that doesn't apply to off grid diy, but i doubt you can charge the pip from batteries very effectively.

 

I have both solar and a PIP. That said, when I charge my PIP, i plug it into the wall in the middle of the night. The electric company charges me 12cents per kwh to do that. Now during the day (in the summer ) they pay me around 30 cents per kwh to produce more than I use..

I have heard of some people plugging a fit directly into the panels and charging via the dc that comes off that..but have not see it first hand.

 

maybe there's some info over at fit chat.com?

 

Well the batteries would be the most expensive part. If you are looking to only discharge the battery bank about 25% (to keep the reliability high) then you're are looking at 4 batteries in series with a 250Ah rating as well as the charge controller to keep them charged. You would also need an inverter capable of 3.3 kWh because that's how much the PiP requires. Mind you, this would also double as a nice backup for your house that could run more than just a few lights. Last time I priced 250Ah deep cycle AGM batteries they were going for almost $450 each. If you wanted to make sure you could recharge your PiP for more than a couple of days and keep a nice backup then you're looking 2 parallel banks of 4 250Ah batteries or 8 batteries.

Yes its expensive, but think of this way, an in line backup generator for your house, like a Nat Gas Generac would be about $1500. But once you add solar panels you're looking at getting 30% of the entire cost back as a tax deduction.

 

I think that putting power into the grid by day and charging off of the grid at night is the most environmentally friendly solution.

 

Agree
been doing that for the last 24 months, no regrets, full of joy