Opportunity to get off-grid, would like some input...

[Rally Rebel]

Greetings and hope all here have had a great holiday with family and friends!  I've been a lurker on the otherpower site and generally looking to go off-grid for well over a decade since acquiring 40+ rural acres in Central Florida.  My thinking has typically been to use both wind and PV with a diesel gen for backup and shop loads.  Due to an unfortunate marital status change I had to back-burner a lot of that idea until recently.  The local power company quoted me about $8000 to extend an existing line to where I've set up a refurbed RV, a deep well and will eventually have my residence and shop.  I'd like to investigate the possibility of investing that amount into my energy independence rather that continuing to suck off the teat of the utility.  Batteries are always the killer in the equation I've worked up thus far.  I could build a smaller system for now, enough to supply the RV and well, but don't understand enough about current systems for growth.  Basically I don't want to re-invent the system as my needs grow so would like enough scalability in the core components (inverter/charger) to be able to increase input, storage and output as my needs grow.  Another challenge in designing a system is my partner's no-compromise desire for effective air conditioning, and I do like to keep her happy.  ;-)  Years ago I had become interested in hydronic cooling but they don't seem to do to well here in FL although the earth tube systems look promising.  I collect antique construction equipment and have the room so excavating for any kind of ground loop isn't a problem.  Having your own dragline can be handy at times!  In any case I've been looking around the site here for similar questions but what I've seen doesn't really address growing the system which from what I understand (I'm comfortable admitting ignorance, allows opportunity to learn) will focus on inverter/charger components and ability to add wind/solar/gen inputs and additional battery banks.  Back to batteries:  My thought is to check with local forklift shops to see what they have as that should give me a local outlet with good quality batteries at hopefully a decent price point.  I've also been thinking to keep the battery bank in a root cellar type structure perhaps augmented by earth tube cooling to maintain temps in the 70's for extending battery life.  I may have to earth berm as we have a really high water table most of the year, just dig a couple feet or three and you're wet.

Hopefully that's a enough disjointed rambling to solicit a response!

Thanks, Joe.

[hydrosun]

To keep the size of the battery smaller you may want to consider some mass to store coolth.whether from cooler overnight temps if low enough or solar air conditioning when the batteries are full. Storing energy as temperature in mass is cheaper than storing electricity to run air condtioners later. Sometimes it is the humidity that is most uncomfortable so a dehumidifier may most effective. And a better sealed house with heat exchangers for fresh air.
I've live in a trailer in a colder climate and know how hard it is to stay comfortable in a thin tin can. I moved into my unfinished house to stay warm the second winter. If you are digging trenches you might be able to do a ground sourced heat pump if the ground temperature is cooler than the air when the sun is providing the energy to run the compressors.
All of this is to lower the amount of energy to keep comfortable and the size of the battery bank. You want to figure your future loads to see what size of system you need. The battery bank and inverter are harder to change, but you usually can add solar panels later to meet added loads during the day.
Chris

[OperaHouse]

Florida is an ideal location for solar.  Don't have much to add but the world is still battery centric. I hate batteries.   I live 5 months at my camp in NY and operate off a car battery and boat battery when not in use.  Even heat water with excess PV as direct sun heating is not possible.  Batteries only provide short surge currents.  Don't feel at all like I am roughing it.  Tasks are scheduled for peak ties of the day and prioritized.by microprocessor.  Big batteries are the dumb solution that works but hardly cost effective.

[madlabs]

I'm a new off-gridder myself, coming up on 5 years this June.

I've been very happy with my golf cart batteries. I bought 10 of them for use in my 12V system, paid less than a kilobuck for them. They are starting to show signs of age now, but for the first 3 years they didn't get charged all that well. I think the value is better than the more fancy batteries, even if you get 10 years from Surettes they cost more than twice as much.

If you can afford it (and you don't say) I love my midnite classic 150 charge controller. They like to be feed 100VDC for max output so you can keep your wire runs thinner. I am currently running an older trace 2512 for an inverter and I love it. However, I am upgrading to 48V this summer and by next winter will replace my batteries and switch over. Just wanna get one more summer from the old bank.

Jonathan

[Bruce S]

Welcome the the board.
One thing I did not read on your post , but is an important first step.
Take stock of all the electrical appliances you will be using. Grab the max power each one is going to be drawing during use and don't forget that even a RV sized fridge could draw at startup 10x the running current. AND even fancy gas stoves with digital timers and electric spark can draw a kilowatt during oven usage.
Knowing these numbers will go a long way into deciding how much ready power you're going to need.
Being in Central FLA, a generator can be a good investment. I would say Diesel running on Bio-D would be a cost effective option, but I don't know enough about the areas availability of free to cheap WVO to say for sure. A Gas powered unit could be cost effective too, but even that has uncertainties.
If you post numbers of your power needs we'll be more able to help you decide.
Cheers
Bruce S