Fer fack’s sake. We’re back on researching power. Have I mentioned how much I hate researching off-grid systems? There’s a ton of information to take in. Generally I’d class myself as an intelligent person. I find after about 8 or so hours of this kind of study I feel like I have the intellectual capacity of a rock.
The other thing that bothers me about this field is that I am cheap by nature and there is no ‘cheap’ solution to going off-grid. Correction, there is no cheap solution to going off-grid and not living like a hobo. Alright, and by ‘hobo’ I mean person who lives without computers in addition to basics like refrigeration.
Having said that, I think we may be close to a solution. We are currently considering a 24 Volt system and 6 x 230 Watt solar panels. The specifics of said package would include:
The Outback Flexpower One
The Outback X240 transformer (so that we can power our 220 Volt Grundfos well)
6 x REC-230 solar panels
A 6 circuit solar combiner box
A 15 Amp DC breaker
2 x 70 foot radox solar cables
3 or 5 battery connection cables (see below)
and either: 6 x 4 Volt Surrette batteries or 4 x 6 Volt Surrette batteries
We’re not sure on the batteries. We’ve pretty much settled on Surrettes for a number of reasons (thicker plates, lead acid, longevity, excellent warranty, made in Canada, etc.) but can’t decide whether to go with 6 Volts or 4. The 6 Volt batteries are the 6CS17PS and the 4 Volt are the 4 CS17PS- both industrial (as opposed to commercial), so 10 year warranty and 3200 cycles rated at 50% depth.
For the whole system- from solar panels to batteries- we’re looking at about fifteen grand. I kind of feel like I’m going to puke just thinking about it. It helps a bit to consider that if we were to spend $100 a month, assuming prices on gas and electricity don’t go up in the next decade (hahahahahahahahaha!), we’re looking at about twelve and a half years to see a full return on our investment. Still, it’s a lot of money to plunk down- about three times the cost of the house itself. It’s going to hurt- no doubt about it.
If you get too stuck on the”return” thinking it will eat you up. We built our off-grid system to where it is now for going on $30k but originally invested $19k getting the basic system online.
That basic system was designed to allow me to “grow” it without needing to replace any of the major components. It started as a 2.5kw PV system and has grown to a 3.7kw system. Getting relatively high end allows you to scale up as you save and grow your system.
I would really recommend a 48v system. It helps if you need 220v for a well pump. I decided on a 220v pump for the durability and it being a relative defacto standard. I originally used a holding tank ( connected my generator to the pump) then used a 12v DC pump to fill a blather tank. As it turned out my PV system had enough power to run the 220v pump just fine so I removed it.
Even at the above price, I did the installation. That allowed my to put the savings right back into my system. Save…Save…Save
Sonny
Http://offgridinwv.com
Forgot to mention that I have 3 battery banks now. 8 x 6v=48v x 3 banks.
Holy cow- that’s a lot of batteries! What kind are you using? Any trouble keeping them topped up with the panels?
I’m using AGM glass matt 6v batteries. No maintenance or off-gassing. There are many but I needed to decide between battery maintenance and cost. I don’t think I could afford the perfect battery.
Yeah, it’s the storage of electrical energy that seems always to be the shortcoming if not the failing point. Plus, you have probably found that it’s as important to be USING the power generated by [your chosen off-grid power source] for the sake of the hardware’s longevity and this generally means that in the summer you sort of must have hot tub, so that’s another $500-1500. Tongue-in-cheek, but actually a consideration.
It seems likely that we will see an electricity revolution in our lifetimes, at which point we may be turfing all this solar panel / wind turbine / etc. hardware, which would feel very strange and a bit irritating.
But all of this starts to feel like fad after culture fad and that’s when I start thinking even more critically about the computer and the refrigeration; both of these luxuries are young technology/habits. Basically, I am compelled to use the computer for a while longer to hit YouTube and stuff to learn how to store food without refrigeration.
P.S. Intellectual or no, rocks seem well poised to survive indefinitely without changing their ways.
Yeah- I’m back and forth on where we’re going with power. Sometimes I think maybe we’re better off waiting on putting in too much money until we know what’s next on the horizon and other times (like now) I think we’re on the verge of collapse anyway, might as well invest in a system while we can. I think maybe we were off the property too long. I’m feeling rather discouraged about our (society’s) prospects right now.
My 18 x 210 watt panels actually charge the batteries in just a few hours of sunshine. They also do a pretty good job on cloud covered days too. We didn’t get them all at once, mostly 3 at a time.
But still, when we have these dark cloudy days one after another we keep them topped off with the generator.
On the topic of heat sources, I saw this today—
http://www.wimp.com/interestingsolution/