Offgrid Solar Battery Option

[clodhopper]

Both.

Always looking for more options and data input. I have been working out solar systems and when looking at battery costs, it seemed the easiest way to slim the investment by arranging a high panel, minimum battery arrangement. Essentially do all your whatever (laundry, cooking, etc) during the day when the sun is up, then shut it all off and run bare minimum lights at night. However, if I can bulk up the battery storage a bit, I can swing running the heater blower overnight.

[Grant H.]

Both.

Always looking for more options and data input. I have been working out solar systems and when looking at battery costs, it seemed the easiest way to slim the investment by arranging a high panel, minimum battery arrangement. Essentially do all your whatever (laundry, cooking, etc) during the day when the sun is up, then shut it all off and run bare minimum lights at night. However, if I can bulk up the battery storage a bit, I can swing running the heater blower overnight.

This is certainly a good option. Panels are cheap now days, and batteries are getting better. The ones I linked are claimed to be good for 10,000 cycles, which is 27 years if you cycle them 1x per day. When you consider that lead acid will be, at best 5-7 years reliably, the additional cost for Lithium starts to make more sense. Plus no off gassing, no maintenance, just hook them up and go.

As for the "more efficient" 12V systems, I would not recommend running a house on a 12V solar system. Honestly, 24V doesn't appeal to me all that much. 48V is where you want to be. Using 48V coupled with good quality charge controllers and inverters will get you 110/220V without significant loss or heartache.