solar power

[bobt]

Talking about solar power.  I have been looking into it for quite a while now but had to save some money to get involved.  We own the Honda 2000I which we bought for the communications gear and then used it during Hurricane Sandy.  Did well.  Very quiet.  Ran refrigerator, Tv, Communications gear, and computer system including modem and router and telephone system.  We always talked about what happens when gas runs out.  Hence, solar generators.  Glenn Beck put us onto the Solutions for Science Co.  The system I liked was $2495.00.  It is 1800 watts and runs while it is charging.  Today I got an e-mail that said the unit was being specially priced for a limited time for $995.00 plus shipping and handling.  Sandy and I talked about it for a while this morning and then decided to jump on it.  Will be a good addition to our Honda backup generator.  We also own a small solar generator that looks like a boom box and charges a lot of small items both dc and ac.  Thought this might help someone looking for alternative power during electric outages and for portable use with communications gear out in the field and for camping.  The Boom Box unit is X-Power by XANTREX.  It's called power pack solar.  Bobt

[Kevin WQRE722]

very very cool

[bobt]

Kevin, thank you for comment, but I changed my mind about the solar generator from Solutions for Science.  With card in hand I called to order it.  Two days later I get an e-mail that the unit I ordered is good but for money I could get the best one.  I don't like that sales tactic.  I am a salesman for a lot of years and I despise the bait and switch sales tactic.  Since then I have been searching and just found  "BE PREPARED SOLAR".  The company is in Salt Lake City, PREPAREDNESS MECCA.  This unit is 5,000 watts and total is about $1400.00.  Also you can add panels to get faster charge.  It comes with two - 100 watt panels.  Am still looking into it, but it looks great and much more wattage.  They also have 10,000 watt units.  More later.  BOBT

[allen WQTD895]

sounds great, please keep us up to date. if the deal is good maybe we can make a group purchase.

[Greg9111]

sounds great, please keep us up to date. if the deal is good maybe we can make a group purchase.

Allen, please post (in a new Post) your conversion kit you bought. Make sure you include a web link. Thanks

[Tommy WQRC499]

all this solar talk is making me think.. I have solar panels on my roof that wre installed by Solar City, they back feed the grid. i wonder if i can somehow tap off of that system, just a little bit and use it to charge a bank of batteries but still feed the grid at the same time... HMMMMMMMM

[Dave]

It would be simpler but maybe not as efficient to just use a car battery charger to initially charge them and then a maintainer to keep them charged for emergencies.  I keep a deep discharge battery that way.


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[Phreak480]

It would be simpler but maybe not as efficient to just use a car battery charger to initially charge them and then a maintainer to keep them charged for emergencies.  I keep a deep discharge battery that way.


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The electric company doesn't want you to have batteries as part of your grid tie setup.  But you can add this to your system and just not tell them.  http://www.wholesalesolar.com/backup-power/4400-watt-home-battery-backup-system

[Dave]

The batteries are not part of the grid tie the way I suggested it.   Your inverter has to be designed to have battery backup to do what your saying.  Those types of inverters disconnect from the grid when they run on battery.  They are much more expensive.


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[Dave]

So last weekend I finally had the time to put my solar panel on my shed and power my alarm panel and part of the system off the panel.  I had a 100 Watt (its really 50 watt no matter what they spec it at) panel, a controller and a marine deep discharge battery around from various things. The entire backyard and rear roof are shaded most of the time so the panel(s) will only get full sun about 4 hours a day at most.

By feeding the 14 VDC from the controller into the AC input on the alarm panel there is not enough voltage after the rectifier drop to allow the panel to charge the normal battery backup batteries.  But at 6 am the controller is still putting out 12.7 Vdc which is enough for  the panel.  Today with the rain I am at 12.3 Vdc at 9 pm so hopefully at 6 am tomorrow it will still be 12 Vdc.  Technically I believe the panel will be happy with as low as 11.5 Vdc in.

I plan on adding a second panel and battery to the controller which should allow me to power the cable modem, the router, and hopefully the remainder of the alarm system even if we have 2 or 3 rainy days in a row. 

The above should save me about $6 or more a month so the ROI is about 7 years or so.  But in a blackout all of the above should run non stop and hopefully have enough power to run the furnace a few times a day in the winter and charge cell phones and a laptop etc if its sunny.

Has anyone tried a small vertical wind turbine (50 W max size or less)? 

[Kevin WQRE722]

all this solar talk is making me think.. I have solar panels on my roof that wre installed by Solar City, they back feed the grid. i wonder if i can somehow tap off of that system, just a little bit and use it to charge a bank of batteries but still feed the grid at the same time... HMMMMMMMM

this is definetly doable.

[Kevin WQRE722]

It would be simpler but maybe not as efficient to just use a car battery charger to initially charge them and then a maintainer to keep them charged for emergencies.  I keep a deep discharge battery that way.


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The electric company doesn't want you to have batteries as part of your grid tie setup.  But you can add this to your system and just not tell them.  http://www.wholesalesolar.com/backup-power/4400-watt-home-battery-backup-system

this is phreaking awesome

[Dave]

Put the second panel in today and added more of the alarm system to the solar.  Will see how it goes before I add the rest. 

I should probably add another battery fir more storage before adding the modem and router.


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[Kevin WQRE722]

that looks awesome. do you have anyway of tracking how much power you produce over lets say a months period.
where did you get the panels from? cost?

[Dave]

They are Renogy 100W panels from Amazon. $150 shipped prime.

The controller is tracking the power but I have not looked at it for that yet.


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