Revisiting solar power after a few years...

[smokincheeze]

ok, so I have been reading up on solar power agian after a few years thinking that maybe the prices have gone down making it more affordable to suplement power for your home and/or your grow. From what I have found you can make a 700W windmill for under a few hundred dollars and you can buy a 1500W windmill kit for 3-400 dollars so wouldnt this mean that with just one of these you could power at least a 250 watt hps and some fans? Main thing I am having problems with is figuring out how much power you have to make to run a 250W hps and some fans 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Can anyone here help me with this?

 

[grow1620]

The way they advertise watts for panels is the wattage that is charging your batteries, not actual usable watts under a load. the windmill kits sounds pretty cheap..at that price I would assume it's just the windmill without and batteries or a charge controller.

higher end charge controlers (the thingie that moderates the current from your panels to the batteries and prevents overcharging and stuff) can get expensive real quick. batteries can also get VERY expensive as well...you can't just run regular old car batteries for your battery banks, you would need higher end deep cycle batteries that are designed for recharging/depleting over and over and over....

..and why run 24/7 ? solar is all about saving $ and energy and there really aren't huge benefits (imo) to running 24/7 vs 20/4 or 18/6 and the difference between set up/maintenance cost would be huuge when comparing a 24/7 set up to a 18/6 one.

set up costs would stack up pretty quick, the actual solar panels or windmill would only be about 25% of the total cost after you figure in charge controllers, batteries, installation, maintenance etc..

Sorry I can't be of more help in exact wattage you would need to be pulling from your panels. It's really dependent on alot of different factors such as battery/charge controller efficiency, ballast efficiency, how much wind or sunlight you get on a regular basis through out the year...heliostats..etc..just because you have 1000w solar panel doesn't mean that you're going to be pulling 1000w out of them 24/7 ya know? in the winter for example you'll be getting probly 8-10 hrs light a day..with the first and last few hours of the day not producing hardly any power, plus snow build up etc...

Dr. budgreenjeans used to run a few 100watts off of solar, maybe he can give you a more definitive answer/info.

research research research.

 

[Lazyman]

Yep grow1620 makes some good points. Wind is a bit of a joke at this point, even the large turbines produce very little wattage except on the windiest days, most of the time they don't make squat. Your neighborhood or city can forbid them, or limit their height severely as well. Wind just isn't a good use of your alt energy dollars.

SOlar panels are still pretty expensive but the current govt subsidies help offset their cost a bit. There are some good online calculators that will show you how much it would cost for a given amount of production, both before and after rebates.

 

[thcrefugee]

just put your plants outside!!!

(honestly, without a huge battery reserve to make up for the not so sunny times/ days, it doesnt seem worth it, Hydro power though, may be a better option, should you live next to a little creek/ stream/ river... always available)

 

[smokincheeze]

hey thanks for the opinions guys, I wasnt exactly looking to power my gro from it, but I was just wanting to install something on some part of my house even if its just a room.... was looking at solar panels first but to build a 100 watt panel is about $65. I just want some power I pay for once and then it pays me eventually. I've been hearing about the solar paint for years and that they will be more efficient soon, but at only 16% efficient now, its not going as fast as I or many others I am sure had hoped, by the way there is not any snow way down here in the south, just the occasional ice

 

[TKB-Man]

Here's a great link for figuring out solar panel costs + how much power that size will generate for your roof + your location
+rep if ya love it

http://www.roofray.com/calculator 100% worth the bookmark as well, every so often i end up googling it and forgetting to bookmark. You'll thank me later.

 

[Aeroguerilla]

prooven has a sick 6kw windmill for like 30k if your in the proper wind zone that's all you need. preferably close to the ocean

 

[Maj.Cottonmouth]

Using batteries doesn't make sense in most situations any longer since you can just tie into the grid and any excess power gets sold to the power company and you buy it back when you need it. There is still expense with the equipment you need but you don't have a room full of batteries to deal with. Check out the diagram at the first link. The second link has some DYI solar panel stuff.

http://solar.oregonsbestroof.com/electrical/
http://www.greenpowerscience.com/SOLARPANELS.html

 

[RMCG]

http://www.luminousledlighting.com/mosopogeontr.html