Solar power

[Bennyweed1]

So I am looking into 3Kw solar setups for around $6k

What I cant grasp because Im no electrician is how many 6v batteries would be needed to run a 2kw grow everyday without draining the batteries below 50%?

Im going to have an electrician hook everything up but I need to get my battery requirement figured out.

I dont know how to convert how long a 6v battery will last when 120vac/240vac is drawing 2kw off of it. How many would be needed and at what rating. I see a few nice 6v batteries which are rated 20hrs at 450 amp hours but then there is that whole conversion thing.....

 

[ronbo51]

With any solar application you need to adjust your lifestyle to the reality of solar. Energy storage is expensive, inefficient, even dangerous. Do everything during the day, including lights on. Save the night for a few led lights, tv, computer. Use the power you generate, try not to need to store it.

 

[PermaBuzz]

Batteries just dont seem to improve much, same technology for a 100 years.
Grid tied solar makes alot more sense

 

[SeaMaiden]

We're grid-tied solar, got the house converted last year. It's a lot less expensive to allow the grid to be your battery storage, and you don't have to replace the grid after 20-25yrs.

What kind of searching have you done? And, if the rest of the home is remaining on-grid, is the area you plan to convert to solar separate (separate electrical)?

In any event, though we're solar (no adjustment period required for our set-up, we just continue living life as we did, except now we have no power outages), we went with grid-tie and so I can't really help you out with your questions. There are a couple of sites for DIYrs, I *may* have them bookmarked but it's been years since I looked.

 

[xmobotx]

seamaiden "now we have no power outages" confuses me

w/ grid power down and no battery array; wouldnt you be limited to the production of your grid? wouldnt a power outage @ night still be a power outage?

just wondering

 

[Sat X RB]

our power is stand-alone solar. no mains backup. so I want to echo the words above about adjusting lifestyle to the power you have.

you will not be able to consistently draw 2k out of a 3k system unless the sun is 12 hours long EVERY day. which of course for one reason and another it is not.

to work out yr batteries use the formula:

Watts divided Volts X Hours = Amp Hours.

so 12 Volts at 100 watts x 1 hour = 8.5 Amp hours

the same holds true for 240 volt useage:

so 240 volts at 100 watts x 1 hour = .4 Amp hours BUT ... 240 volts is obviously 20 times 12 volts so 8 amp hours is the theoretical usage.

there will be conversion loss thru the inverter that converts yr 12 to 240 so you will use more than the theoretical amount ... which is bringing us back nearer to the first figure of 8.5 amps.

you will need a minimum of 1000 amps of battery storage for a 3K system. and it won't be enuf storage on those cloudy days or in winter for the task you imagine. this is an investment of $5000 UP! depending on what type and quality of bats you purchase.

sorry ... but cheers anyway!

 

[SeaMaiden]

seamaiden "now we have no power outages" confuses me

w/ grid power down and no battery array; wouldnt you be limited to the production of your grid? wouldnt a power outage @ night still be a power outage?

just wondering

I was waiting for that one, and it took some wrangling and hassling from Mrs. Homeowner. So, here's how I got it worked out, and the thick is made rather sticky because of laws (CPUC--California Public Utilities Commission) in place that power providers have managed to have enacted.

The deal is this: Typically anyone who's solar and grid-tied loses power if the grid loses power. Doesn't matter the time of day, if the grid goes down you go down. This is due specifically to laws that require that grid-tied systems are powered down or disconnected in the event of an outage. The power company says this is because they don't want a lineman getting fried from someone's power when they think the wires are dead.

What we had to do was push for back-up power generation with all the proper switches, and that was difficult because apparently there aren't any other homes in California that are both grid-tied and backed up with gennies. It required building the proper transformer or something like that, but since I knew the technology already exists and threatened them with my stick, we got it done.

And so, now, power outages are a thing of the past (as long as we still also have propane or it's daylight).

In fact, if you're in California and are a homeowner current on the mortgage, the program that we used to get our place outfitted with solar is still disbursing funds and the consultant we worked with has sent me messages asking for referrals. They really want to disburse these funds! It's the California Home Energy Retrofit Program, overseen by California Homebuyers Fund (CHF dot org, IIRC). If you're interested and want direct contact with the company that's overseeing the program let me know and I can get you in contact with a consultant. It's a process, took us about 8mos all told from beginning to end, but I think it was worth it. 0%APR on the loan, payments equal an average PG&E electricity payment.

 

[justanotherbozo]

here's an old idea that was suppressed by the oil companys back in the '30s, ...apparently this technology was widespread back then and the oil companys not only bought up all the companys that utilized this tech and closed them down, they also took all books on the topic from public libraries and failed to return them.

...this is an UNLIMITED, free power source created by dropping water into a trompe which creates isothermically compressed air, something still used widely in the mining industry for unlimited power to run all the machinery in the mines, ...including electrical generators and 4000 horsepower pneumatic hammers ...oh yeah, they also use it to power all the vehicles in the mines.

...can you see why this might threaten the oil companys?

...anyway, here are a couple links if anyone is interested.

Harness Hydro Power with a Trompe

The Trompe - An Almost Forgotten Air Compression System

bozo

 

[FunkBomb]

So much depends on latitude and the hours of direct light you get each day.

-Funk

 

[texsativa]

I say go off the grid.

 

[cody2white]

Thats cool as all hell bozo! Its simple and looks effective... Perfect for going off the grid. Thank you for enlightening me on this genius idea.

 

[5th]

Ragged Chutes eh?

Never put two n' two together lmao...used to fish, swim, drink and fuck there all the time.

 

[ganja_hasi]

check this out: Free energy growing

 

[SeaMaiden]

I honestly think more growers, especially those in the state that are being accused of being so wasteful, should be looking into this. Pay all at once, or over time. I believe this much to be true (as it's panned out over the past couple of decades)--PG&E and other California non-MUD served areas are going to be experiencing huge increases in power rates over the next few years.

 

[rives]

I was waiting for that one, and it took some wrangling and hassling from Mrs. Homeowner. So, here's how I got it worked out, and the thick is made rather sticky because of laws (CPUC--California Public Utilities Commission) in place that power providers have managed to have enacted.

The deal is this: Typically anyone who's solar and grid-tied loses power if the grid loses power. Doesn't matter the time of day, if the grid goes down you go down. This is due specifically to laws that require that grid-tied systems are powered down or disconnected in the event of an outage. The power company says this is because they don't want a lineman getting fried from someone's power when they think the wires are dead.

What we had to do was push for back-up power generation with all the proper switches, and that was difficult because apparently there aren't any other homes in California that are both grid-tied and backed up with gennies. It required building the proper transformer or something like that, but since I knew the technology already exists and threatened them with my stick, we got it done.

This code is not in place to protect the power companies profits - transformers work both directions. Normally they will step down from say, 12,500 volts to the 240/120 feeding your house. However, if the power is off and you have a generator running, without isolation switching the 240/120 volts that you are generating will back feed the transformer and step up to 12,500. In most cases the load would be heavy enough to trip the generator's circuit protection fairly quickly, but if they are doing line maintenance, there are many scenarios where that won't happen.