billvon 3,120 #1 October 17, 2003 As of today, the solar power system is up to 3500 watts DC STC, which translates to about 2800 watts AC on a good day, or 500 kilowatt hours a month in summer. I use about 120 kilowatt hours a month, for a net giveback of 380 kilowatt-hours a month. I figure I'm powering at least two other houses in my neighborhood. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lawrocket 3 #2 October 17, 2003 How much are you charging??? My wife is hotter than your wife. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeNReN 0 #3 October 17, 2003 Cool....how long will it take to break even? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Aviatrr 0 #4 October 17, 2003 Holy shit....what kind of solar power system did you set up? How much did it cost? I'd love to set up something like that. Do you have a battery bank, or just wired straight to the power grid? The inverters must be massive.. Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaeKwonDoDo 0 #5 October 17, 2003 Details please - I'd love to tell PG&E to go phuck themselves - I have power bills upwards of $500/Mo in the summer (I have a swimming pool). Size, Cost, installation details, rebates, company installed, etc., etc... Thanks, - Jeff "That's not flying, it's falling with style." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DeNReN 0 #6 October 17, 2003 $500 a month!!!!.....how much are you growing? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 20 #7 October 17, 2003 Bill was a renegade and was doing it before he had the permits Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mccordia 74 #8 October 17, 2003 Sweet.....Can it do 1,21 Gigawatts? Buy a deLorean!JC FlyLikeBrick I'm an Athlete? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
2fat2fly 0 #9 October 17, 2003 QuoteSweet.....Can it do 1,21 Gigawatts? Buy a deLorean! Do you realize that there are users here that are too young to get that reference? Damn, I wish I were one of them. 20 is waking up "stiff" every morning 37 is waking up stiff and sore Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gawain 0 #10 October 17, 2003 QuoteQuoteSweet.....Can it do 1,21 Gigawatts? Buy a deLorean! Do you realize that there are users here that are too young to get that reference? I refuse to believe that. Otherwise, our generation is not serving the youth by properly educating them... So I try and I scream and I beg and I sigh Just to prove I'm alive, and it's alright 'Cause tonight there's a way I'll make light of my treacherous life Make light! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jfields 0 #11 October 17, 2003 There are millions of kids that go to the "Record Store", yet have never touched a vinyl record. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
usedtajump 1 #12 October 17, 2003 They were cleaning out an office / storage space yesterday where I work and came across an old stereo system that had turntable. One of the kids doing the job had never seen a turntable and I got to be a turntable instructorThe older I get the less I care who I piss off. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jfields 0 #13 October 17, 2003 I'm closer to the "kids", myself. I couldn't really instruct on turntable usage. But I used to have a record. A record. It was in import I couldn't get on CD, so I played it on my parent's stereo. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaeKwonDoDo 0 #14 October 17, 2003 you know - that's funny... I was actually concerned the first few months after getting the pool up-and-running that I'd wake up one morning and have 100s of DEA and FBI agents storming the house. I run the pump 6-8 hours a day in the summer + a pond pump in the summer. The first year we had the pool was the year that Gov Gray made that bad deal.... $500/mo sucks. - Jeff "That's not flying, it's falling with style." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
riggerrob 643 #15 October 17, 2003 hee! hee! It is amazing how easily a conversation can get hijacked. For example, yesterday I was telling a friend about repairing a green house. He asked about "grow ops." I replied "Tomatoes. I am growing tomatoes." Hee! Hee! You have to understand that the guy rides a Harley Davidson and does embroidery for a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who prefer to remain nameless. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TaeKwonDoDo 0 #16 October 17, 2003 Hijacked hell! I want details from Bill - I'm not kidding about the $500 a month bill thingy. Nothing would please me more than to generate extra electricity and force PG&E to buy it back at close to the over-charged rates the sell it to me for... - Jeff "That's not flying, it's falling with style." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AggieDave 6 #17 October 17, 2003 QuoteI figure I'm powering at least two other houses in my neighborhood. Go door to door and ask. If they admit it, tell them they owe you money..."protection money" if they want to keep good power and not have any brownouts, they better pay up. (yeah, i know it doesn't work that way...i just thought it was funny)--"When I die, may I be surrounded by scattered chrome and burning gasoline." Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,120 #18 October 17, 2003 >Holy shit....what kind of solar power system did you set up? Utility interactive. It feeds power directly into the grid when the sun is shining and then shuts down when it's dark. > How much did it cost? I have two systems. The STXR system is 1.3 kilowatts, or around 230 kwhr/month. It cost $4500 for the basic components. The other one would be hard to cost since it was assembled with a combination of used parts, new parts, and had the California rebate applied to it (which will pay up to half of the cost of the system.) > I'd love to set up something like that. Do you > have a battery bank, or just wired straight to the power grid? Straight to the power grid. I do have a battery bank but it's not connected to anything right now. That will be system #3. > The inverters must be massive.. Not really. One's mounted outside and is about the size of a small PC case. The other one is in my laundry room and is a little bigger. Check out this page and look at the pictures labeled Xantrex inverter and Sunny Boy 2500 watt inverter. >I'd love to tell PG&E to go phuck themselves - I have power bills >upwards of $500/Mo in the summer (I have a swimming pool). Direct solar (i.e. solar running the pumps directly) might be the way to go there. That way there are no inverters, conversion losses, or net metering issues. The pump just runs when the sun's out, and that's generally when you need the most filtering. >Size, Cost, installation details, rebates, company installed, etc., >etc... See above. I can get panels for $2.80 a watt and inverters for about $.75 a watt, but normal prices for a professionally installed system run around $7 a watt. (Includes wiring, racks, disconnects etc.) It's usually cheaper to start out by reducing energy usage; you can spend $7 and get a watt of solar power or spend $7 and cut your usage by 5 watts. (compact flourescents, better refrigerator, better washing machine etc.) Once you reduce usage, the remaining load can be handled by a much cheaper solar power system. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
headoverheels 334 #19 October 17, 2003 Hi Bill, How much installed area per kW? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,120 #20 October 17, 2003 >How much installed area per kW? Depends on the panel. An efficient one (like the Sharp 185's or the BP 85's) require about 75 sq ft for 1kW STC DC (standard temperature and conditions DC output, which means 77F in full sun.) Less efficient ones like the Unisolar amorphous panels would need 150-200 sq ft for 1kW. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
VectorBoy 0 #21 October 17, 2003 The other one would be hard to cost since it was assembled with a combination of used parts, new parts, Quote You shot down and dissasembled one of the helios solar aircraft didn't you! Admit it! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Swoopyswoop 0 #22 October 18, 2003 WOOOOOHHHHHHHHOOOOOO finally found a topic I know something about LOL. I do somewhat quite a few solar fields in my spare time during the summer but unfortunantly on a much larger scale. Most of our stuff is redirected back in to a pot and bumped back up to line voltage and fed back into the grid via a 2 way primary meter and cap banks. The first field I built was in redding and it consisted of 24 350 sq. ft panels paralled into a pad mount and bumped to 34.5 kv and fed back into the grid to pg&e. The total on all cells running on a typical 90 degree day is somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.9 to 3.0 megawatts. Pg&e check each month in the summer to this particular customer is approx 3200.00 a month. This system should pay for itself in about 10 years or so. Now if I could only find a padmount that is stable enough to bump transmission voltage I would start my own little co-op somewhere and a person might make a little bit of money LOL. Yah right, just dreaming again "when I die, I want to go like my grandfather while im sleeping, not like the passengers riding in the car with me Swoopster A.S.S. #6 Future T.S.S holder Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites TheAnvil 0 #23 October 18, 2003 What type of cells are you using? Si? GaAs? Single/Dual/Multi-junction? Cool stuff. Solar rocks. Vinny the Anvil Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL JACKASS POWER!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites billvon 3,120 #24 October 18, 2003 > What type of cells are you using? Three kinds - silicon single crystal, silicon polycrystalline, and some amorphous (not too much amorphous, they're hideously inefficient.) GaAs cells are way too expensive to put on roofs, whereas single crystal cells are relatively cheap - they can be made out of rejected integrated-circuit wafers, and there are a lot of them. I only know of one company (Evergreen Solar) that's trying to make single crystal cells from scratch. All the silicon cells I've seen are single junction. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites TheAnvil 0 #25 October 18, 2003 Cool. I would have been surprised had you been using GaAs or multi-junction. $$$$$$$$$$$$ Good stuff.Vinny the Anvil Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL JACKASS POWER!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites Join the conversation You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible. Reply to this topic... × Pasted as rich text. Paste as plain text instead Only 75 emoji are allowed. × Your link has been automatically embedded. Display as a link instead × Your previous content has been restored. Clear editor × You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL. Insert image from URL × Desktop Tablet Phone Submit Reply 0
Swoopyswoop 0 #22 October 18, 2003 WOOOOOHHHHHHHHOOOOOO finally found a topic I know something about LOL. I do somewhat quite a few solar fields in my spare time during the summer but unfortunantly on a much larger scale. Most of our stuff is redirected back in to a pot and bumped back up to line voltage and fed back into the grid via a 2 way primary meter and cap banks. The first field I built was in redding and it consisted of 24 350 sq. ft panels paralled into a pad mount and bumped to 34.5 kv and fed back into the grid to pg&e. The total on all cells running on a typical 90 degree day is somewhere in the neighborhood of 2.9 to 3.0 megawatts. Pg&e check each month in the summer to this particular customer is approx 3200.00 a month. This system should pay for itself in about 10 years or so. Now if I could only find a padmount that is stable enough to bump transmission voltage I would start my own little co-op somewhere and a person might make a little bit of money LOL. Yah right, just dreaming again "when I die, I want to go like my grandfather while im sleeping, not like the passengers riding in the car with me Swoopster A.S.S. #6 Future T.S.S holder Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheAnvil 0 #23 October 18, 2003 What type of cells are you using? Si? GaAs? Single/Dual/Multi-junction? Cool stuff. Solar rocks. Vinny the Anvil Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL JACKASS POWER!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 3,120 #24 October 18, 2003 > What type of cells are you using? Three kinds - silicon single crystal, silicon polycrystalline, and some amorphous (not too much amorphous, they're hideously inefficient.) GaAs cells are way too expensive to put on roofs, whereas single crystal cells are relatively cheap - they can be made out of rejected integrated-circuit wafers, and there are a lot of them. I only know of one company (Evergreen Solar) that's trying to make single crystal cells from scratch. All the silicon cells I've seen are single junction. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TheAnvil 0 #25 October 18, 2003 Cool. I would have been surprised had you been using GaAs or multi-junction. $$$$$$$$$$$$ Good stuff.Vinny the Anvil Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL JACKASS POWER!!!!!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
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