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Hold my (root) beer - Solar, my fair weather friend ...
4 years ago
General
It seems what I've thrown together will work just fine - up to a point.
It can't quite run the drier (and most likely not the A/C come the warmer months), but it can run the house - provided we get plenty of sunlight!
The power in from the panels is slowly getting better as the sun comes back from the south, 12.5kWhs per sunny day are turning into 13kWh days. Best peak panel power out so far has been 2518 watts of a theoretical max of 3360 - though diodes on each panel set will take a little off what comes in. (Without the diodes a low panel's voltage can bring down the higher ones - which can make a big difference on charging when a panel gets shaded/covered.)
So rather than tell someone that she has to conserve power at all costs (she'll be 83 in a few days), we switch to the mains on cloudy days (which makes it a good day to do the laundry!)
I'm not going to make any changes at this time, but if the rates go high enough another set of batteries and two more strings of panels could be added without me having to upgrade any of the base equipment.
Oh, one other tiny problem is that the inverter isn't quite a perfect 60 cycles per second but around 59.58 ... Which means any clock using it for a reference is losing about ten minutes a day ...
Comments are welcome (after you stop laughing ...)
It can't quite run the drier (and most likely not the A/C come the warmer months), but it can run the house - provided we get plenty of sunlight!
The power in from the panels is slowly getting better as the sun comes back from the south, 12.5kWhs per sunny day are turning into 13kWh days. Best peak panel power out so far has been 2518 watts of a theoretical max of 3360 - though diodes on each panel set will take a little off what comes in. (Without the diodes a low panel's voltage can bring down the higher ones - which can make a big difference on charging when a panel gets shaded/covered.)
So rather than tell someone that she has to conserve power at all costs (she'll be 83 in a few days), we switch to the mains on cloudy days (which makes it a good day to do the laundry!)
I'm not going to make any changes at this time, but if the rates go high enough another set of batteries and two more strings of panels could be added without me having to upgrade any of the base equipment.
Oh, one other tiny problem is that the inverter isn't quite a perfect 60 cycles per second but around 59.58 ... Which means any clock using it for a reference is losing about ten minutes a day ...
Comments are welcome (after you stop laughing ...)
Use battery clocks with a charger permanently plugged in, the battery should take the load and the charger should keep it topped up?
I suggested replacing the household clocks with rechargeable battery clocks and leaving the chargers plugged in so they keep topped up.
If memory serves, many rechargeable clocks switch over to mains as soon as you plug them in, yet some draw power from the clock batteries regardless of whether they are plugged in or not lol
Other than a timer for a lamp, the rest of the clocks we normally see/use are the battery type with indoor/outdoor temp. (It's just a pain to go in the kitchen and have the wrong time looking back at you! )
Although, I suppose it could make sense to turn off the electric oven when you are on solar power, since it might cause the inverter to get grumpy anyway.
funny thing with the panels. Power company here in AZ was setting people up with roof top panels as part of a long term study of roof top power generation. Some private solar companies were setting people up with panels and there was some tax credit that pretty much paid for the equipment. I just didn't feel like getting into something that sounded like getting something for nothing - there's always a catch.
Other than a timer for a lamp, the rest of the clocks we normally see/use are the battery type with indoor/outdoor temp. (It's just a pain to walk into the kitchen and have the wrong time staring back at you! )
V.
As to A/C, trying not to alter the house too much. Another issue is how much additional power would be needed. My current battery storage (15.36kWh) means that I can only average 640 watts per hour in a 24 hour day (since it lasted closer to 36 hours we were managing to average around a mere 427 watts per hour. Heck, the computer I have that I do my 'artwork' on can draw over 450 watts when rendering! (yes I've been leaving it off for these tests!!))
Depending on where you live the electrical codes may require added protection/breakers and such.
And things like the meters for each solar array and even the diodes are optional - I wanted them so I could see what was going on - but most setups won't bother with them.