On 6/19/2023 3:28 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
Most of the components of a regional solar powered electric grid are
also required for an off-grid home installation, except the transmission lines. A small separately derived system still needs the panels, charge controller, batteries, inverters, monitoring, operator/repairman and an always-available back-up source for equipment failures or long overcast periods.
If you really think solar is the answer, obtain your own system and experience and try to solve or at least understand the problems
first-hand, so you can advocate from more than narrow personal needs.
Instead of one full-time adequately sized power source you'll need to
invest in three part-time ones for the same kilowatt-hour usage; the
solar, the batteries and the back-up generator, and so does an electric utility.
I have installed solar a few times, but it was for applications where
power just wasn't available. Alarm systems in model homes and remote warehouses. All with cellular monitoring and communication. What I
found was even here in SW Arizona where we once had a restaurant that advertised free meals any day the sun doesn't shine I needed a lot more
solar capacity than you would think. At first I put up panels that
should have done the job with some reserve capacity, and the batteries
could carry the equipment solo for a couple days (when new), and after a
week I started having low battery issues. I tied the solar charge
controller directly into the gel cells, and programmed the panels to not
report AC failure. It worked... for about a week. I figured I had 30%
excess solar capacity going by the numbers, but I didn't. I doubled the
solar panel size and it worked fine.
On a marginally higher use system in a warehouse, I wired the charge
controller into independent batteries, then used an inverter to power
the panel and cellular unit. Then each of those had its own backup
battery. It worked great, and I would get an AC warning well before the
system went dead when the batteries ahead of the inverter got depleted.
Never had a power issue with it, but I did get a complaint from one of
their neighbors years later when the warehouse had been abandoned, and
the batteries went bad as they always do. The panel went whacko as
power dropped and went into alarm and the siren started sounding and
resetting for a day and a half. I had no keys to the warehouse. I told
them to call the realtor, and I never heard anything again.
--
Bob La Londe
Proffessional Hack, Hobbyist, Wannabe, Shade Tree, Button Pushing, Not a
real machinist
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