Small Off Grid Solar System ... I'm Taking the Solar Plunge

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 11:52 am

Go Williams way, rotary phone and Aladdin lamps etc. With no TV, can you organize your life to throw the main breaker from 7PM to 6AM. That would kill power sucking ghost devices.

davidmcbeth3 · Post by **davidmcbeth3** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 1:37 pm

lsayre wrote:The house isn't all that small. 1,680 sq ft on the main floor (not counting the finished walk out basement) if measured from the outside (and that is what is on the public record). All of the lights have been converted over to LED (or CFL for the confined ones). No TV for about 15 years. No A/C unless its really sweltering. DHW provided by the coal boiler. Induction range. CEE Tier 3 refrigerator and deep freezer. CEE Tier 3 goes well beyond Energy Star, and whereas Energy Star is an honor system whereby the manufacturer tells you what their rating is, CEE is an independent lab.

I read and record our electric meter daily, and have been doing this for at least a full year now. Yesterday we used 6.5 KWH.

6.5KWH / day = about, at most, a buck a day in electricity.

Spending 3,000 bucks on solar just to lower that?

That's spending 3,000 days worth of electricity money ... about 10 years worth...and assumes 100% worth of electrical replaced by solar.

Solar's a bust. Until technology gets better IMO.

As one poster noted, solar sucks outside the summer months for folks who would burn coal. Gotta be in Florida or lower for decent solar use.

I get all my power from nuclear ....

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 2:49 pm

Gotta be in Florida or lower for decent solar use.

....and not even then as one Georgia poster pointed out. In that part of the world A/C rules your life and solar output is a speck on the wall. In the SW of the USA mainly CA is where solar shines (excuse the pun). There you are in easy street for power as you die from dehydration as there is no water. All the same arguments apply for wind/geothermal, there is just not enough power. 6 months of the year I need power up to 250,000 btu, so the answer is ...

Coal
Coal
Coal

It's not a case of waiting for better efficiency either. We are at about 20% and it's unrealistic to ever expect it to go above 50% and that still does not hack it for most of us. Hey, we are on a coal board, did you expect unbiased answers?

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 3:10 pm

It's a BACK _UP Power Project, Folks...It's not a ROI driven venture!!!

Many have spent nearly as much and even lots more on loud whining expensive fuel guzzling generators.

Larry's power goes out and he doesn't even need to raise an eye brow as he continues on as if nothing has happen at all...be very jealous if anything. I'd give 3K for that in a heartbeat!

lsayre wrote:My off grid emergency back-up system will remain completely separate and isolated from my grid system. There is no thought of back-feeding to the grid, or of back-feeding to the house (as is typical for generators) in any way shape or form. There is no consideration being given to a transfer switch, either manual or automatic.

ROI will be measured in hobby like enjoyment, learning, and the peace of mind that when the grid goes down I can run things off of sun power (and/or sun power stored in batteries during the night and when there isn't much if any sun due to clouds) while others are messing with highly inefficient, short lived, and potentially dangerous generators and their costly fuel, or simply going without electricity.

And in-between power outages I can use the power (roughly 2.6 KWH daily on average for where I live and with my small system, after accounting for all of the various system inefficiencies I can think of) as I wish for up to 365 days out of the year. Try doing the equivalent of that with a generator and then get back to me regarding its ROI.

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 3:19 pm

Try doing the equivalent of that with a generator and then get back to me regarding its ROI.

Generators usually can never come close to the power company so it's not an answer or excuse for solar However, I did come close. Lister CS/6s running on free soy oil from a Japanese restaurant in Chester. The trouble was in winter it turns to margerine and it became more trouble than it was worth.. Now I have barely the energy to flip the light switch as my "fun" projects are more trouble than they are worth..

Now that is music to my ears. Free tours of the tractor shed are available upon request.

warminmn · Post by **warminmn** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 3:31 pm

coalnewbie wrote:Go Williams way, rotary phone and Aladdin lamps etc. With no TV, can you organize your life to throw the main breaker from 7PM to 6AM. That would kill power sucking ghost devices.

Ive done this(throwing breakers), and still do with my electric water heater, but it didnt work well with my TV and internet, or roku. The internet seems to take a long time to come back when plugged back in, and the roku is worse. Your mileage may vary.

McGiever wrote:It's a BACK _UP Power Project, Folks...It's not a ROI driven venture!!!

Many have spent nearly as much and even lots more on loud whining expensive fuel guzzling generators.

Larry's power goes out and he doesn't even need to raise an eye brow as he continues on as if nothing has happen at all...be very jealous if anything. I'd give 3K for that in a heartbeat! (quote from McGiever)

EXACTLY! It is his backup plan/toy.

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 3:37 pm

McGiever wrote:It's a BACK _UP Power Project, Folks...It's not a ROI driven venture!!!

My power tends to go out in January after an ice storm and solar is useless then. No it's not even a back up power project, sorry.

davidmcbeth3 · Post by **davidmcbeth3** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 4:09 pm

warminmn wrote:
coalnewbie wrote:Go Williams way, rotary phone and Aladdin lamps etc. With no TV, can you organize your life to throw the main breaker from 7PM to 6AM. That would kill power sucking ghost devices.
Ive done this(throwing breakers), and still do with my electric water heater, but it didnt work well with my TV and internet, or roku. The internet seems to take a long time to come back when plugged back in, and the roku is worse. Your mileage may vary.

McGiever wrote:It's a BACK _UP Power Project, Folks...It's not a ROI driven venture!!!

Many have spent nearly as much and even lots more on loud whining expensive fuel guzzling generators.

Larry's power goes out and he doesn't even need to raise an eye brow as he continues on as if nothing has happen at all...be very jealous if anything. I'd give 3K for that in a heartbeat! (quote from McGiever)

EXACTLY! It is his backup plan/toy.

Just get an inverter and run it off your car .... BAM , no maintenance and cost? 100-200 bucks.

And for a hybrid car you can run it off either the large battery or regular car battery -- I used my car for a week using the car's battery. Ran everything needed and used about 3 gallons of gas.

The OP did not say it was an emergency BU .. but to lower his electricity needs from the power company. Sure, it could be seen as both. Does not seem he is a prepper through.

Still will be interested in seeing how it turns out.

warminmn · Post by **warminmn** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 4:52 pm

Ice is a better back up plan than an inverter from a car for a refridgerator and if the power were to go off in the winter that could be used, and really, needing none of it is the best plan. BUT LET HIM HAVE HIS FUN! GEEZ Probably wishing he hadnt even shared this by now.

People buy $30,000 cars to save $1 on gas a day, yet you think this is crazy.

Carry on.

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 5:36 pm

GEEZ Probably wishing he hadnt even shared this by now.

On a coal board in the summer he is going to run into some bored guys who will just pick the idea to death. Mr Metrics will allow us to see exactly how his systems work, I am looking forward to it. Remember people who say it can't be done are usually silenced by people actually doing it.

warminmn · Post by **warminmn** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 10:00 pm

coalnewbie wrote:
GEEZ Probably wishing he hadnt even shared this by now.
On a coal board in the summer he is going to run into some bored guys who will just pick the idea to death. Mr Metrics will allow us to see exactly how his systems work, I am looking forward to it. Remember people who say it can't be done are usually silenced by people actually doing it.

Very true

davidmcbeth3 · Post by **davidmcbeth3** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 10:07 pm

coalnewbie wrote:
GEEZ Probably wishing he hadnt even shared this by now.
On a coal board in the summer he is going to run into some bored guys who will just pick the idea to death. Mr Metrics will allow us to see exactly how his systems work, I am looking forward to it. Remember people who say it can't be done are usually silenced by people actually doing it.

Maybe bored guys who have information to provide? As I said, I seriously looked into solar a few years ago, talked to about a dozen people who put systems in, and to technical guys in the business.

I am looking forward to results but solar technology has not changed that much over a few years.

McGiever · Post by **McGiever** » Thu. Jun. 18, 2015 11:01 pm

I am looking forward to the results

Results!, results will be that his batteries will be fully charged when the power goes out...what is soooo hard to figure out there?

Are you nucking futs, man?

lsayre · Post by **lsayre** » Fri. Jun. 19, 2015 5:44 am

There'll be 5,000 usable Watts in them thar batteries.

Thats 5 KWH ...

coalnewbie · Post by **coalnewbie** » Fri. Jun. 19, 2015 6:42 am

Results!, results will be that his batteries will be fully charged when the power goes out...what is soooo hard to figure out there?

Are you nucking futs, man?

If it's January after weeks of snow and cloud it will not be charged period, so what is so hard to work out here. Are you nucking futz. I guess I have to explain (I swore I would not become a kindergarten teacher again). 8 hours theoretical sun in the day, clouds (down to 10% efficiency), panels covered with snow and ice (zero % efficiency). You know the time of the year when the power tends to go out. QED solar is useless for this application. There are many good things about it, battery maintainer, solar chargers for fencing etc.etc. It is what it is. Wake up. However, all I said was I am eager to see more data.