Posted on 09/27/2016 10:23:34 AM PDT by artichokegrower
Rooftop solar panels, as the men who came knocking described them, seemed to Faye Moore like a good deal.
The solicitors who visited 75-year-old Moore’s Pomona home told her they could help finance solar panels that would slash her energy bill. So she signed on.
Her energy bills have indeed plummeted from the hundreds she was paying a month. But the thousands of additional dollars she’ll owe annually in property taxes to pay off her new $33,000 system far outstrips those savings.
“I think I’ve been had,” Moore said.
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Betcha those panels won’t last 20 years either...
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Actually most are guaranteed for a minimum of 25 years, may of them are guaranteed for 30 years.
Do not use Fronius inverters, they claim 10 year warranty. 3 years out, not honoring warranty.
Bad — Fronius
As far as residential property tax, if solar panels add to the appraised value of the house, then tax assessment should reflect that. Trouble is, they don’t, not that I’m aware. People perceive them as unattractive, and something technical that is likely to break, with associated maintenance costs.
So, if the appraised value isn’t increased by installing solar panels, they should not be taxed because there is no value added to tax as far as the real estate itself.
-PJ
One more way to create leaks in roof.
The lower cost Chinese manufacturers haven’t lasted long enough for such a warranty to have any meaning. Even some domestic manufacturers have gone out of business, so there’s no one to honor their warranty.
Batteries and the panels are expendable. Lead acid batteries are very sensitive to cycling outside of a limited voltage range. Panels degrade over time.
“That all being said, properly maintained battery packs in fleet carts tend to last about 4-6 years while private owners tend to get about 6-10 years out of their battery packs.”
http://www.islegolfcars.com/blog/item/how-long-do-batteries-last
That site is talking about batteries being used in actual carts, not with solar panels, but I imagine the maximum lifetime won’t exceed 10 years either way.
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Proper management of a solar power battery should provide at least 10 years of service but with proper care can last 30 years. The trick here is to oversize to begin with. Never use more than 25% of your storage and your batter will hardly know it was used. There are still a few maintenance tricks to keep sulfides down but it can be done.
I personally believe you should only get a battery that was designed for very heavy use, I only recommend tow motor or lift truck batteries. They are huge, unwieldy but can last a lot of years with good management.
#64 And Solar Ovonics built a plant in Greenville, Mi to build “solar shingles” that were going to take over the world.
The plant is now being used by DieCastal to manufacture Vehicle wheels.
He has 12 6v golf cart batteries rated at a lifespan of 10 years, and he uses a trickle charger to keep them charged, and also a device called a battery desulfator which extends the life of the battery to 30 years. (I have to take his word, I understand the concept, but have never had experience with them)
I like the way this guy did it, he designed the system with redundancy, and even has a faraday cage around his charge controllers (in the event of an EMP).
It isn't super pretty, but looks very functional, well thought out, and under $5000.
(If you are interested, here is the youtube link: DIY Solar Panel System)
When batteries are better so I can truly be off the grid and still run my 220v shop tools I’ll be all over solar.
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I have 3, 48V 1125A (rated at 20 hours, that is 3.2MW) that connect to my inverter that produces 16KW of 240V. It is here now. I can run my shop tools for weeks with no other input and no sun.
In reality I would never run more than two weeks without charging, it just takes too much life out of the battery. Your battery will be one of your most expensive components you definitely want to take care of it. If there were prolonged bad weather and the grid was down I would start cutting loads pretty dramatically. The naturalgas/propane generator is pretty expensive to run but I would run that before I went down more than 20% of my battery storage.
Bookmark
I understand that solution you describe completely and have looked into it, but I am mainly interested in a backup if the grid goes down.
I am thinking of building a wheeled approach that can be unplugged and moved instead of a fixed approach on top of my roof.
The vendors that I have talked to are only interested in installing a system that sells back to the grid, and I think that is great, but not what I am interested in.
Very good! I may take you up on that...
Are fire districts OK with roof mounted solar panels?
How about homeowner’s insurance company? Not so much for roof integrity, but in case of fire.
Yup, the only way to have solar is at ground level, where you can get at the things to clean and service them. These guys ruin almost all the roofs they install panels on. Then they go out of business.
The most likely way to lose money on a solar panel lease is to have the subsidies disappear.
Subsidies are very unfair to other rate payers and can be removed at any time as happened in Nevada.
You probably don’t have to worry about ‘fairness’ from politicians in California though LOL!
ping
Forklift battery?
The lower cost Chinese manufacturers haven’t lasted long enough for such a warranty to have any meaning. Even some domestic manufacturers have gone out of business, so there’s no one to honor their warranty.
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You are correct, that is why I bought all American products, cells made in Georgia. The company as been around a very long time and are still competitive.
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