The existing solar system in this cabin's shed was installed many years ago and was slowly expanded over time. The battery bank had grown to the point of having different sizes of batteries and many unprotected wires. The inverter connections were even made with wire nuts that had disintegrated and was big fire hazard. The inverter itself worked intermittently (understandably so), and the solar array was severely undersized. When ownership of the cabin changed, we came in to take a look at the state of the system and determined that it was time for an electrical overhaul!

The old batteries and hardware were all removed, as well as the wires and panels feeding the cabin. New 48V lithium iron phosphate batteries replaced the 12V AGM batteries, and individual battery switches and fuses were installed. The 2,000W inverter was upgraded to 10,000W at 120/240V, enough to handle the newly installed 240V electric water heater. The lights inside the cabin operate at 12VDC, so a 48V to 12V DC-DC converter was also installed. The AC and DC wires feeding the cabin were upgraded, and their respective load panels were redone. The existing solar panels were rewired to be able to trickle charge the new batteries. The old solar charge controller was also upgraded to a model compatible with 48V lithium batteries.

A new, larger solar panel array was installed in a clearing in front of the cabin, allowing for much better sunlight exposure year round. The solar panel racking is seasonally adjustable to optimize solar production in both winter and summer months. The bifacial panels help increase solar production in the winter by sunlight reflection off the snow hitting the back of the panels. A generator inlet was installed on the side of the shed to also be able to power the system via a generator if needed.

Complete system monitoring is available via the touchscreen display, as well as online with Victron's VRM portal. When trenching from the shed to the solar array, we also ran a cable to a Starlink dish to provide year round remote monitoring. A dedicated inverter was installed to power the networking equipment independent of the main inverters, due to its lower power consumption and higher efficiency.

These upgrades offer a huge performance increase over the previous system, not to mention the improved peace of mind!