Posted on 05/01/2015 12:33:33 AM PDT by goldstategop
I had heard about this a few mos ago. That’s a really good price. We are going to be installing an off gird system soon and if we can get that battery system we will.
FYI 909/mo is not “my” number.
It’s from the EIA. Look it up.
I just got our power bill and we used 271 KW last month.
If you want to do off grid solar you need to put a lot of stuff on propane anyway. 7KW would run our place in the mountains no problem. Plus you have to remember that with solar panels they are charging all day long. So you run your washer, vacummn cleaner, etc during the middle of the day and you are not running AC or heat off a solar system. You need a woodstove and ceiling fans.
Actually for an extra $500 I would go with the 10KW unit.
Your fridge is the 2nd biggest power eater. 24/7. First is Air Con, summer only but so much in summer that it overwhelms the rest of the year. And your furnace has a big blower on it.
Last month in Georgia was not a good sample. Sample it in July.
What you have to understand is that if you plan to use solar as your main power source you need to put most of your appliances on propane. You will either heat with a woodstove or a propane gas heater and you can forget AC.
If the grid goes down you need to be concerned with your well pump, energy efficient freezer, lights, washer, vacumn cleaner, coffee pots, power tools etc.
For our personal purposes we are installing off gird solar because we believe at some point the grid is either going down or we will see energy rationing or in case of probably coming civil unrest the govt will cut off power to belligerent areas. If you don’t think either of these things will ever happen then you don’t need to be looking into solar. Its expensive to set up. You may never get ROI.
10KW per day will do us just fine. $3500 is a good price. That will put us at under $15,000 for a whole solar system.
If civil upheaval is about to be profound, you won’t be able to ship spare parts for all that stuff and it will be paperweights.
This is spending money for a scenario in which it cannot work.
Sounds akin to the cheapo flashlight batteries that die after a very short period of use.
Many people will buy into this Tesla deal simply because they will NOT do the math and simply "feel good" because they have a BACK UP system.
Has similarities to it much like Obamacare. Sounds good on paper. Just don't try to use it to SAVE money.
Well over a 2 year period I have done a tremendous amount of research on solar and unless you live next to a running stream and can install micro hydro solar is the next best thing. We are looking at a scenario of maybe having to be energy independent for a year or two. Not forever. Maintenance and spare parts don’t really play into it in that time period.
Like I said its expensive. If you want to just take your chances that you will not have to exist without electricity for more than a week or so at a time then you should just pick up a generator for $1,500. Or just do nothing. It might never happen. But if it does I am not going to live in misery for a short time and then die which is what will happen to about half the population if the grid goes down say for 12 months.
Don’t you mean 1000 cycles? That is what my li-ion phone & laptop batteries are rated at. Also: http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/types_of_lithium_ion
So Li-I lasts longer & costs more than lead-acid forklift/golf cart type batteries...somewhat of a “wash” situation? Anyway, what about 1910 NiFe technology?!? Interesting read, see: http://www.nickel-iron-battery.com
Wow, that’s a really narrow array of probabilities.
What would take it down for a year or two . . . but not forever. If you’re down a year or two, I can’t see how whatever caused that didn’t make it permanent.
The obvious mechanism would be oil scarcity, and that would be forever. Others would be some financial upheaval much greater than Lehman (which cost no one their power) and hard to see how that doesn’t get fixed in a few weeks. Pretty much only oil can stop the coal from getting to the power plants so . . . again, that would be forever.
Good luck.
We are not worried about it even a little bit. That’s why we are preparing. Forsight trumps luck everytime. :-)
Having a backup system is a good idea. Why do we buy ammo/guns, store food, buy insurance, buy gold/silver. Its a backup and knowing whats happening with the economy, we need a back up system for electricity as well
get 4 120 watt panels off of E-BAY, a smart charge controller, 4 deep cycle 6V lead calcium golf cart batteries (Trojan is a good brand) a 1700 watt inverter that interfaces with the grid for net metering (yes in most jurisdictions you can sell any excess power back to the power company) and you'll be able to do a lot more than just run your frig and I-pod during a blackout.
I'm in with this one...
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