Starting in Solar/Possible Wind

[Bryan Kinsman]

Hello,

I am new to this but and looking at getting started into off grid solar/wind. I mainly want to start off small and work up to bigger systems.
First off I do have a 300W solar array with 30amp Charge controller. I also have 8 x12V 120AH Deep Cycle Batteries.

I am looking at running a Pellet Insert I have through the winter months and am curious how big of a system should I go with to start off. I would also be curious on any thoughts of wind turbines as I do get quite a bit where I live. Also any suggestions on a nice inverter or better charge controller would be helpful.

Pellet Insert Info:
Voltage: 110 - 120 V
Current: 4.2 Amps
Max Power: 504 Watts
Frequency: 60 Hz

Thanks

[Rob Beckers]

Bryan, welcome to the forum!

Would you know how much energy (not power, but energy) that pallet insert uses over, say, a 24-hour period? I assume it's controlled by a thermostat so how often it runs would depend on how cold it is, but you may have some idea.

Once energy use is known the amount of solar PV that's needed follows from that (as each Watt of solar panels produces a certain amount of energy and that can be calculated for the time of year, angle etc.).

-RoB-

[Bryan Kinsman]

Unfortunately I do not have it fully set up yet. In the manual it says Input rating when using: Wood Pellets/Corn - 55,000BTU (16.1KW•hr). I don't know if this would help

[Bryan Kinsman]

the dealer was talking to the rep and he stated average should be around 12kwh per day running at 24 hours a day.

[Rob Beckers]

the dealer was talking to the rep and he stated average should be around 12kwh per day running at 24 hours a day.

Bryan, that doesn't sound right...
12 kWh per day is 360 kWh per month. That is way too much, even for people that are on the grid. No off-grid'er would be caught dead with an appliance that used THAT much.

The 55,000 Btu/hr is the heat output of the stove. Not the electricity used to run it. That's a good size stove; 55,000 Btu/hr is a serious amount of heat!

-RoB-

[Bryan Kinsman]

I'm sorry that was my fault. I typed that in wrong. It runs anywhere from 2-3kwh(MAX) per day depending on how high i set it. Sorry again for the mix up