Are you trying to cover most of the conveniences that electricity offers? When power is down, you cut back on anything that is not necessary to get thru the day.
A larger bank is good to focus on. This way it covers night time and the off days when sun is not producing.
You can add panels until at a comfortable level of power to recharge. Securing alternative heating sources would seem to be paramount that far north.
Coffee maker and microwave should be considered luxuries when grid is down. Focus on keeping food from going bad and learn to see in the dark. Re-learn how to read real books to pass your time if everything else is under control.
After that last arctic blast before Christmas, I had enough of relying on propane to keep warm. It gets expensive fast. I finally installed a pot belly stove and worked a way to have quasi central heating so the upstairs and downstairs is relatively at the same temperature.
All of my lighting is LED and most of the standard bulbs only draw 4 watts. I carefully watch what is drawing current later in the afternoon until I loose all sunlight for panels. During the day, not so much. The batteries need some load so they get a full charge, instead of in float.
During milder weather and longer days, I might not draw enough from battery bank to take the control charger out of float. Sometimes this has been a inconvenience at night if I dont want to let the voltage drop too much.
There are enough things from your list that will be a constant drain on your battery bank. So at night, your batteries have to be in full charge or you drop below a save margin for longevity.
Hopefully you are not in a large populated area or inner city. Having some acreage or at least access to wood to burn if necessary sometimes. At least some deadfall during emergencies.
My solar array is fairly small, but runs everything I need for now. I have south and west facing panels on the roof. Around 3 pm during the winter months, my panel output drops off substantially for a half hour as the sun transitions between the two rood angles.
It took me a while to even figure this out. During the summer months, not even noticeable. Even with the leaves blocking a lot of the panels. But the winter angle of sun really cuts down on output. It does not take too many branches or limps to block a few cells to drop voltage down a bunch.
A larger bank is good to focus on. This way it covers night time and the off days when sun is not producing.
You can add panels until at a comfortable level of power to recharge. Securing alternative heating sources would seem to be paramount that far north.
Coffee maker and microwave should be considered luxuries when grid is down. Focus on keeping food from going bad and learn to see in the dark. Re-learn how to read real books to pass your time if everything else is under control.
After that last arctic blast before Christmas, I had enough of relying on propane to keep warm. It gets expensive fast. I finally installed a pot belly stove and worked a way to have quasi central heating so the upstairs and downstairs is relatively at the same temperature.
All of my lighting is LED and most of the standard bulbs only draw 4 watts. I carefully watch what is drawing current later in the afternoon until I loose all sunlight for panels. During the day, not so much. The batteries need some load so they get a full charge, instead of in float.
During milder weather and longer days, I might not draw enough from battery bank to take the control charger out of float. Sometimes this has been a inconvenience at night if I dont want to let the voltage drop too much.
There are enough things from your list that will be a constant drain on your battery bank. So at night, your batteries have to be in full charge or you drop below a save margin for longevity.
Hopefully you are not in a large populated area or inner city. Having some acreage or at least access to wood to burn if necessary sometimes. At least some deadfall during emergencies.
My solar array is fairly small, but runs everything I need for now. I have south and west facing panels on the roof. Around 3 pm during the winter months, my panel output drops off substantially for a half hour as the sun transitions between the two rood angles.
It took me a while to even figure this out. During the summer months, not even noticeable. Even with the leaves blocking a lot of the panels. But the winter angle of sun really cuts down on output. It does not take too many branches or limps to block a few cells to drop voltage down a bunch.
