Solar powered lights

[Travis Kelcee]

I don't understand 24/7? Do you store the energy produced by the solar panels?
If yes, what's the efficiency of that? 50-60%?
Or you live in area where it's always sunny, 24/7 no matter what? I don't get it
wouldn't it be better to sell the energy you produce through the day to the distributor and just use how much you need?

Let me help you out

Today was mostly sunny. I'll get about 5Kwh of solar today. In about 5 hrs that power will run a 12K BTU mini split, large fridge, large freezer, internet and some lights while recharging the batteries to full.

Trying doing that with you portable generator or Generac.

The replies seems to gloss right over they fact I built a solar Backup Generator for the same cost as a whole house backup generator, not a solar power system to run my house.

Th 2 biggest differences between my system and Generac whole house gen.
1. I don't have to pay for fuel when the power goes out
2. I can repurpose it to get free electric while it's in standby

My thread was trying to see if other off grid are partial off grid growers were out there. Not a place to spill arrogance about greenhouses and hyperbolic exaggerations about 100% efficiency. Lot's of people have gone off grid over the last 10 years.

Hope that clears it up.

As far as equipment efficiencies

The panels are 21% efficient
The batteries are 98% efficient each way
The Inverter is 93% efficient

My inverter produces cleaner power than the grid which help prolong the life of appliances.

 

[Travis Kelcee]

Sorry there is a lot here so I just skimmed and may have missed.

I'm assuming you are grid connected since you do have 'city' power. What arrangements did you have to make with electric co and can you possibly 'sell' them your surplus, if any?

If I was grid tied I would need permits.

You don't need permits to build a solar generator that is not tied in to your electrical system.

I "plug in to it" to run those things I listed.

My son in law is licensed master electrician so I'm in a gray area on the generator angle, but 100% solid and safe on the build.

 

[pleaseforgive]

20% from 4500 W is about 900W? to store 5kWh you had to have sun for 5.5h atleast or longer.
and after that you should be able to run 500W lights for 10 hours, but my best bet is that there is loss on storing and extracting the energy bigger than the 2% you're claiming with the 98% battery efficiency..
from what I remember, back in the days what they did teach us, in the best case you would end up having 20% energy loss in the process not 2% loss
ending up having 4kWh of usable energy which is still a lot, but well.. selling it to support locals and getting something out of it is better choice than storing and losing 20% through the process
also get your self a big ass fire extinguisher incase one of this huge batteries... not even going to end this sentence, be cautious..

 

[goingrey]

How about solar collectors and fiberoptic cables bringing it in? Wasn't someone even doing that? Or was it just NASA

 

[Orange's Greenhouse]

The panels are 21% efficient
The batteries are 98% efficient each way
The Inverter is 93% efficient

21 % * 93 % is 19.5 %. So there you lose most of the energy of sunlight. The batteries storage solution is about 70-80 % efficient. That is because you have to convert it between AC and DC twice (each about 90 % efficient, thermal losses in the battery etc.). If you had a system that has your 98 % you should stop wasting your time here and commercialize it. You would be richer than Elon Musk *and* save the world in the process.
So you have 16 % efficiency for off-peak hours.

I remind you. You asked specifically about running grow lights on solar. Not about home appliances.

How about solar collectors and fiberoptic cables bringing it in? Wasn't someone even doing that? Or was it just NASA

NASA did that. Then they invented (super crappy) LEDs and never looked back.