ted nightshade wrote on Mon, 26 April 2004 10:45 |
My house/studio is all solar and seasonal hydro. What kind of system are you thinking of installing? I take it you're on the grid? Inverter? |
John Sayers wrote on Mon, 26 April 2004 19:52 |
YUP - I run on solar and George is correct - it's actually better power than off the grid. The new panels now output 185 watts @24 volts. I run a 24 volt system with an inverter. I have a Honda generator as a backup but I rarely use it. here are some basic tips: 1) Sun times vary with latitude - the higher your latitude the less suntime. I'm at lat 28 (same as Tampa Florida) so I get 6 sun hours per day. 2) Watts = Volts x amps. 3) So if you have 1000 watts on the roof at 24 volts and 6 sun hours you are generating 6000watts per day or 250 amp hours. 4) 250 amp hours means you can run 240 amps for one hour or 1 amp for 250 hours. A 300 watt power amp will draw 300/24 = 12.5amps. 5) Batteries are important as they have to be large enough to allow for efficient recharging. They are more efficient when topping up rather than charging from heavily drained so you want to be using the top 20% of their capacity - so if you intend to use say 200amp hours per day you need a 1000amp/hr battery system. NOTE - this does not allow for cloudy days so you have to build in a safety factor to cover you over. here's the best site I've found so far for info and costs. http://www.absak.com/basic/solar-power.html cheers john |
ted nightshade wrote on Tue, 27 April 2004 13:08 |
What we need to know Keyplayer, is about your place- is it on the grid now? That's a biggie. Do you need solar to supplement or provide backup for grid power, or is it going to be all grid? Do you need refrigerator, washing machine and that, or are you willing to look at other possibilities? (I have an old fashioned icebox, yeah you put ice in it, and I take all the laundry to town every few weeks and run several kilowatts of driers all at once... ah, consumption!) And what all gear do you want to run? *answer those, and we can get somewhere...* Do you have a specific site already, or are you looking for one? |
Keyplayer wrote on Wed, 28 April 2004 05:12 | ||
Those questions remain to be answered... I know it will take some research and thought to give good answers, but that will determine a lot about the cost of the system. John seems to have put together a very serious system for not too much money, relatively speaking, by using non-electric sources for various needs. There are plenty of $50,000 and up systems out there where people have to have all the usual electric luxuries- John's $12,700 seems very effectively and shrewdly spent in comparison, but as he says, not everybody can comfortably live that way. Keyplayer: Yes, my current address is totally on the grid. What I'm trying to determine now is what will be required for the new house I'm looking to purchase. I'm looking for a 2 car garage house that will come in UNDER 2500 square feet. I was hoping to put the entire house on some type of autonomous energy source. So that means the kitchen appliances, hot water, hvac, home theater system, office pc's, the studio, and anything else. I figured if I could work the cost into the purchase price and it would be relativly painless, since I'd just have to make the ONE monthly mortgage payment. The concern now is wether the cost of the system will severely limit the amount of house I can afford to attach it to? |