Solar Powered Homes

[Solarcabin]

Only 175 watts at what voltage ? I expected 3 times that on 120v but never checked it.

I just looked on my Ariel X charger and it is 140 watts at 110 or 220 volts and that is charging a 52 volt battery. From empty it takes 5-6 hours but I usually recharge at around 20% in 4 hours.

You don't need a big solar system to recharge an ebikes and 200 watts of solar and a 200Ah Lifepo4 is what I use every day and has enough for the ebike and to run my microwave or other cooking appliances and my 12 volt fridge over night.

 

[pmcdonald]

That sounds about right. I get 45W per amp hour on our 240V circuit, so 180W for my 4A charger.

 

[Art Deco]

Is there a rule of thumb estimating charge time for the various chemistry batteries use? I wonder.
I am no electrician, nor do I play one on the internet, so the whole pile of expensive electronics between the array, the utility grid, the batteries, and my loads is pretty mysterious to me, but I see huge gains in functionality per dollar In inverters in particular. I suspect this is mostly Chinese technology now. But they advertise hybrid inverters now like this one.

6000W DC 24V Split Phase Pure Sine Wave Inverter With Charger

SunGoldPower offers a wide selection of 6000 Watt Power Inverters online. Shop now for top-of-the-line options that ensure reliability and efficiency for your needs.

sungoldpower.com

 

[tomjasz]

COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC
from my former work

FWIW This type of composter should be avoided. Healthy biologically diverse compost should be thermophilic. In other words, go through heat cycles that will kill pathogens and unwanted seeds. The result is a compost that is rich in beneficial bacteria and fungi. OR use red wiggler worms to break down the material. A combination of worm castings and thermophilic compost can actually mitigate some wilt diseases. AND grow more nutritious food!

 

[Art Deco]

only sorta /offtopic for here, a real garden is just as important and needs just as much sunlight as an array to work.

 

[Readytoride]

Our solar array went "live" on August 12th, making us part of the "Net Zero" program with our electric utility. Just checked my account page for our electric bill due this month. $0.00. Last month was $218.00

Doing the happy dance.

 

[Zekeer]

Our solar array went "live" on August 12th, making us part of the "Net Zero" program with our electric utility. Just checked my account page for our electric bill due this month. $0.00. Last month was $218.00

Doing the happy dance.

Only for a short short time . Wait and see . Net Zero ?? You're adding to pollution not taking away. The Green Dragon has got you . Nothing is free . Don't you know that ?

 

[Zekeer]

Is there a rule of thumb estimating charge time for the various chemistry batteries use? I wonder.
I am no electrician, nor do I play one on the internet, so the whole pile of expensive electronics between the array, the utility grid, the batteries, and my loads is pretty mysterious to me, but I see huge gains in functionality per dollar In inverters in particular. I suspect this is mostly Chinese technology now. But they advertise hybrid inverters now like this one.

6000W DC 24V Split Phase Pure Sine Wave Inverter With Charger

SunGoldPower offers a wide selection of 6000 Watt Power Inverters online. Shop now for top-of-the-line options that ensure reliability and efficiency for your needs.

sungoldpower.com

How is that thing produced ? Have you looked ? Or don't you want to know ?

 

[BlackHand]

Urban Dictionary: thread crapping

v. Thread crapping occurs when a person comes into a thread and posts something contrary to the spirit/intent of the thread, often derailing the discussion or turning it into an argument.

www.urbandictionary.com

 

[Art Deco]

I ma

Ah,I can chop two biggies easy=Solar Clothes dryer,clothesline, a little warm, grin and bear it, wait a minute-WH, teakettle on a stove thats not heating the ,house.In the winter, stove can heat house and provide hot water and get this cook food!
You already know this, however thats the way I used to live( even carried water- a bit of a hardship OTH keeps you slim) we actually had a 60 amp service to the house, we only used 45 amps, no TV quite often( who needs that garbage anyway?) the "good old days-that were bad" Early to bed, get up before sun to feed cows and start fires. I called my adolescence"Life in the 2.5 world. I had the advantage of being poor so that I could appreciate a better lifestyle, People these days tend to be spoiled, I am now of the opinion if the grid goes down, maybe not 90% of the People would perish first year, probably a large percentage, there are the fighters and jerks( jerks will go fast unless they have a large gang to protect them) Preppers( no cakewalk for them either) those that give up and finally those that cooperate and have a fair IQ. Power is essential for a good lifestyle.

I will make no predictions other than I'm not hauling water ( in 5 gal buckets uphill), short of a major emergency. Probably in a temporary outage we will be ok for water now.
And yeah we have a state of the art sun and wind powered clothes dryer already. As do most of the plain folk farms around us, and many suburban backyards...

 

[Art Deco]

COMPLETELY OFF TOPIC
from my former work

FWIW This type of composter should be avoided. Healthy biologically diverse compost should be thermophilic. In other words, go through heat cycles that will kill pathogens and unwanted seeds. The result is a compost that is rich in beneficial bacteria and fungi. OR use red wiggler worms to break down the material. A combination of worm castings and thermophilic compost can actually mitigate some wilt diseases. AND grow more nutritious food!

View attachment 134440

Trying to link to a pm
Edit a great use of solar power .

 

[Art Deco]

Our solar array went "live" on August 12th, making us part of the "Net Zero" program with our electric utility. Just checked my account page for our electric bill due this month. $0.00. Last month was $218.00

Doing the happy dance.

My congratulations indeed.

 

[Readytoride]

My congratulations indeed.

Thank you. Been a wish for a long time, now a reality that I'm thrilled to finally have, especially now.

During a charity bike ride yesterday in a rural area I spotted quite a few houses with solar panels on their roofs. A few house roofs were poorly oriented, but the owners had been determined to install panels regardless. Big pat on the back to them. One house had a very old set of panels for solar hot water. Overall it was nice to see the usage of solar technology.

 

[Mulezen]

Solar hot water is the low hanging fruit

 

[Art Deco]

When I penciled out a solar thermal water heater it didn't work out. Those thermal panels have gotten very expensive while PV has gotten cheaper, and It takes so much solar to heat water in the winter here that during the summer I would have to set up piping to dump 1000s of gallons of boiling water.

 

[Mulezen]

“There’s a special providence in the fall of a sparrow”
I’ve friends who lived in the Virgin Islands in the 70’s who said most houses had solar hot water . In 1900 pictures of LA you can see them on the skyline .

 

[Art Deco]

There were even solar water heaters on the roofs of many east coast buildings. The thermodynamics work well, but the economics didn't. Partially that is tax breaks on PV and on heat pumps, but mostly it was the drop in the price of PV and increase in the price of ST panels and plumbing that did it.

 

[Cassy0110]

When I go somewhere for a long trip on my ebike I always take with me a solar generator https://houseandbeyond.org/best-solar-generator/ , I charge it a bit if I need it. In theory, it will run it for about 10 hours. (505 Wh * .85) / 40 watt = 10.7 hours of runtime. So you can calculate your equipment and the time used. But it is not enough for a long time of course, at home my bike is charged from solar panels like my whole house.

 

[Art Deco]

Sort of inverter related ...the story was some young couple bought a house from the widow of a retired E.E. . There were 15 solar panels on the roof and this was in the basement....

Along with a couple dozen random batteries. All switches are turned OFF and there is no manual...

 

[Zekeer]

Lets see how many people die in Europe in the coming months . It's easy to get sucked into all this green nonsense when you live in America . We are far far better off then anywhere else in the world . Europe is in Biggggg Trouble . These Green Wieners want to put us back into the dark ages