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Wilbour
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2018 01:11pm - Edited by: Wilbour
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I have made the commitment to a Lithium Solar setup for my 10 x 16 cabin. Not that it's nessesary but it's a convenience. My first idea was to power a tv/dvd player but now i will be adding a small fridge.
One cannot justify the cost for these items but sometimes we just want them. 
I have enlisted the help of a local guy (Creeky), who has been praised up and down on this site, to do the full fabrication of the setup. The only thing for me to do is mount the pannel on my roof and plug it in. I will post his link on my YouTube channel once i have something to show so stay tuned.
As for the system: Victron inverter 375 and Victron controller. Canada solar panel 285w and a 1kw lithium battery from a volt.
Aside from the pannel, everything could fit into a heavy-duty wheeled jobsite tool box. That means in the dead of winter i can bring the theftable parts home.
After a crash course on fridges, i purchased a gently used dorm fridge from a student going back home after exams. Its the 1.7 Haier unit that is also sold by many other brand names.
It's really not a big fridge but my circumstances is a bit unique. Mostly just me and dog but occasionally my wife comes too. In addition, we are a 10 mins drive from the corner store for perishables.
My location is ideal as my roof is 45° and full sun on the southern exposure.
I supposed it's a good idea to learn and experiment with solar/lithium before you need it. Then you are ready for when it's truly required.
As i said before, i will post the link to my channel when i have something to show. There you will find the links where i bought the setup.
Stay tuned for more.
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bobrok
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2018 01:22pm
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Tagging so I can follow your updates.
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ColdFlame
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2018 01:48pm
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Likewise - excited to see this progress.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2018 01:51pm
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The Haier fridge was plugged into the Kill-A-Watt power meter at home and turned on. The initial surge was about 475w but dropped down to 55w while running.
These units are being cleared out of some Homedepots in Canada for $90 + 13% tax. I payed $50 off of Kijiji. Still has the stickers on it!
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NorthwoodsGuy
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2018 03:13pm
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Nice. Sounds like we are building pretty similar systems. Looking forward to hearing how it goes.
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rockies
Member
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2018 07:04pm
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Why not install your solar panels on a pergola?
https://www.homepower.com/articles/solar-electricity/project-profiles/pv-pergola
You get the added benefit of creating a shaded porch or deck, don't have to drill into your roof to install them and they are closer to the ground for servicing.
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Ontario lakeside
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2018 07:09pm
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Your going to love it!
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 18 Apr 2018 10:32pm
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Quoting: rockies they are closer to the ground for servicing.
Good point but to be honest, solar panels don't usually require much servicing, and anything within reach of grubby little fingers can more easily be taken. This is a great idea for someone's backyard of their full time home. IMHO
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LastOutlaw
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# Posted: 21 Apr 2018 05:53pm
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I went with a chest freezer modded into a fridge. Uses about 130 watts total in a 24 hour period. Will make ice in the bottom if need be. I love it!
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 22 Apr 2018 07:58am
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I like the freezer convert idea. We are fortunate that there is a well stocked corner store 10 mins away. And what they dont have we can get if we board the ferry into town. All we need is a place to keep our milk and eggs cool.
Neither of us drink so we have no need to store beer either.
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ILFE
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# Posted: 22 Apr 2018 03:50pm
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Wilbour, do you have inverter refrigerators available in your area? If they are, you could have a refrigerator that is quite a bit more efficient, and would offer considerably more storage space, not to mention a much larger freezer - than just large enough to freeze a couple of ice trays.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 23 Apr 2018 08:21am
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Thanks ILFE. Perhaps i will look into one of those as i upgrade.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2018 03:17pm
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Yes we are making progress. I have assembled almost everything i need for my setup. Creeky and I have made some last minute changes so we will get the alternate parts soon.
" You're in good hands with Creeky!"
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ILFE
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# Posted: 30 Apr 2018 03:22pm
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Wilbour, I certainly agree with your statement. Creeky certainly seems like an upstanding guy, for sure. He has provided a lot of valuable input on this site. And, I have certainly learned things from his posts here.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 3 May 2018 09:59am - Edited by: Wilbour
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Im still in the planning stages with regards to locating my battery and inverter box. Since the fridge will be a big draw (as it starts) i want it to be close to the kitchen. Unfortunately I also woild like a tv and overhead lamp on the other side of the cabin.
Is there an issue with wiring two outlet boxes and an overhead outlet, then wiring a grounded plug to the feed end?
I would be essentially "plugging in " my cabin wiring as if it were a long power bar.
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creeky
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# Posted: 3 May 2018 10:42am
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I would probably suggest putting in a small 4 circuit breaker box. Wire the inverter into that. And then pull your lines out from there.
You shouldn't have any trouble with a fridge on a plug within, say, 100ft of the inverter. Its all 120v after all.
Have you plugged the fridge into the inverter/battery to test?
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 3 May 2018 01:05pm
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Quoting: creeky Have you plugged the fridge into the inverter/battery to test?
Been too busy working
Have time off starting on Saturday. Besides, I'm over thinking the wiring. I have to keep reminding myself to "keep it simple stupid"
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 7 May 2018 09:33pm
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Well we now have all the parts together and running. I put everything together in a rolling tool box for portability but in reality I will be hauling it out to the cabin in the spring and back home in the fall. Since I don't frequent the cabin much during that time I figured someone cannot steal what's not there.
Although you can see the inverter mounted onto the side of the box, this is primarily for transportation. Once I set it up I will pull the board out and lay it on top of the unit. I'm a little reluctant to have the inverter run in a closed box anyways.
The intended location will be in the loft so it will be out of the way. The blue tooth feature is really cool. Not only does it make programming the inverter and charge controller simple, I can watch my progress from my phone or tablet (not both at the same time) downstairs.
Still having issues with my fridge shutting down the inverter more often than not. I will run more tests tomorrow with a fully charged battery. I did see where on startup it can exceed 200% of the inverter size for a split second. I just may have to upgrade to a larger one. Not too worried since I know a guy.
If I do a tear down and rebuild I will make a video of it and post it to my Youtube channel.
Special note goes to Creeky and his expertise. I think people know how to find him.
Stanley Tool Box
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Looking down into the box
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Terminal bar and battery cutoff
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Charge controller and fuse for pannel
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 12 May 2018 08:08pm
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I bit the bullet and upgraded to the 500w inverter. It now seems to be capable of running my fridge. I will test it more completely Monday. Will be busy tomorrow pampering the misses.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 14 May 2018 08:31am - Edited by: Wilbour
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So last night i ran my fridge on battery alone. I have not had any issues what so ever. I should have plugged in the Kill-A-Watt power meter so as to see what the overall consumption was. I can see thanks to the bluetooth app that i used 1v in a 12 hour period.
At the lowest setting on the fridge, in a dark basement, without opening the door, the compressor cycled on for 1.5 mins every 20mins to half an hour. These variables will dictate the overall consumption of electricity.
Today we have full sunshine so i will charge up the battery. I also will leave the fridge plugged into ac in house and measure the daily wattage consumption over a 24hour period.
"Sunshine on my pannel, keeps my milk cold" sung to the tune of John Denver's "Sunshine on my shoulders"
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 14 May 2018 09:07am - Edited by: Wilbour
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News flash!
Here is a response from Haier :
Hi Dave,
Thank you for providing me with that model number. The start up Amps/Watts of this model are 6.3/724.5. The running Amps/Watts are 1.4/161.
I hope this is helpful. This model does require a 115 Volt, 60 Hz, AC only, 15-amp fused, grounded electrical supply.
Thank you again for checking with us.
Cheryl
The attached photo shows the peak power of both the 345w and the 500w.
If you notice, on the 3rd grey (gray) line, the 345w comes up about 24w short while the 500w has 175w to spare.
Wish I spoke with Cheryl earlier.
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creeky
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# Posted: 14 May 2018 09:15am
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Just goes to show how those small fridges are quite inefficient by volume. I would wonder if a larger fridge might have the exact same draw/start up.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 14 May 2018 09:34am
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Im assuming that as most of this stuff goes, these things fall into "classes".
So probably the 3cf fridges also have similar draws. You then have to concider the volume of stuff you need to chill. A fridge larger than required will only end up using more power.
So if you're over paneled and have electons to spare....
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 22 May 2018 09:01am
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Well I finally got to the cabin with everything, or so I thought. It would appear as though I forgot my drill batteries and large bit at home so I will not be roughing in the panel cables this trip. This is the downside of working a 12 hour night shift then packing up on 4 hours of sleep
I did run the fridge all night and watched a little T.V. I will need a larger antenna but there are a few channels here (mostly USA) On another thread I can discuss the disadvantage of being 1 km from the tv tower.
It is very cloudy here today but I hope to recoup most of my battery today. I have the solar cables running out my window right now because as I mentioned above I forgot my drill.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 22 May 2018 06:05pm
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Well I must have picked the worst day for solar! It's been so overcast all day I could barely see the wind turbines. Even now they are still on the clouds. On my trip back here from Kingston the ferry blasted the fog horn (who just said Leg Horn?).
Can't say I've ever heard the fog horn before. Goes to show you how foggy it is today. Well at any rate, tomorrow should be sunny so we should be making lots of power.
I guess running a test today shows the worst case scenario.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 23 May 2018 07:35am
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Good morning!
Even though it's very foggy here, my panel is working harder this morning than it did all day yesterday. In fact by 730am I have produced a 3rd of what I was able to do all day yesterday.
My 1kw battery did drop below the warning level last night (21.8v) but it still kept my fridge running. I'm hopefull that before long the power will be back fully charged and I will be drawing on solar to run the fridge all day.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 23 May 2018 01:16pm
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Well it's 1:00 pm and the fog has burned off. As you can see, I've managed to produce 730wh of solar today. Bear in mind that while I'm charging my battery, I'm also still running my fridge and charging my phone. I have also been messing around with my 19"TV.
Since my voltage has increased to 24v, my controller has switched to absorption mode.
I presently have the panel on the ground at about 45°. Once I have everything else sorted out I will order the mounting brackets and rail to install permanently on the roof.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 23 May 2018 06:28pm - Edited by: Wilbour
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Here's something. Every time you unplug then plug your panels back in, the Victron app thinks it's a new day. What I did here was move everything up to the loft and then reassemble. Bingo, new day.
The interesting thing is that the snapshot for power generation is very similar to what I see after I tell my wife the truth.
Just kidding.
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 1 Jun 2018 04:05pm
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Oh what a feeling!
I've been away for a week and I've got to tell you how nice it is to open the cabin, flick a few switches and then turn on the fridge. Civilization in the middle of farmer's fields.
I am still dealing with water leaking out of my homemade freezer pack for the 3 hour journey here. But now it's all dried out and my perishables are chilling in the fridge.
So as always I forgot more than I remembered to bring out here but just means I have to come back again soon.
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Wilbour
Member
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# Posted: 2 Jun 2018 01:31pm
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Hello, its me again.
The following is Creeky's (creekies) suggestion.
I installed an automotive led fog light (?) to my wall above my front door (my only door ;) and wired it to the load off of my charge controller. The switch for said light is just inside the front door .
The nice thing about the Victron controller is that the load output can be set to streetlight for just this purpose. Apparently after a few day night cycles it will turn it on at dusk then off at dawn ( I had a crush on Dawn in school)
How cool is that! (Not a real question, hence the up side down i)
Overhead led light
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Switch in a box
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Power consumed via load
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