Blasphemy..... Solar power.

[dax021]

Don't forget about that container load for Ed, of which I would hope to buy a few . Also, while you're on the roof, clean those bloody leaves out of your gutters 

[dax021]

I know what you mean.  I do maintenance at a fancy holiday house here in Plett and they have a massive Milkwood tree in their front garden.  It constantly sheds leaves on the roof, which block about 30m of gutters regularly.  On top of that, it sheds small black berries, which cover the wooden deck.  These things are incredibly sticky and when you stand on one it leaves a purple stain every time you put your foot down.  To top it all off, these trees are a protected species and one may not even lop off a branch without a million permits. 

Back to topic, your setup is looking good.  When summer comes you can supply the whole neighbourhood with power.

[mike90045]

You are lucky to be able to putter about and grow your system.  In the USA, we have permits, fees and inspections, and the Power Co police come down on you if they think you are not buying enough juice from them.

Can you get a surplus 3ph transformer from flea bay and use that to balance your loads


related - today I had to pre lube and fire up the Listeroid - California is buried in a tropical heat wave with clouds, 105F weather and reduced solar production. Lightning storms are setting off wildfires and with everyone sheltering at home, air conditioning is running, until the evening rolling blackouts come around, statewide.  Calif has knocked down power plants with the dream of green energy and it's falling apart because they cant generate and import enough power for the state.

[EdDee]

Hey Glort...

Compared to you, we are very big small time!! At the most we have been using a paltry 35kwh max 50kwh per day before installing the solar and gen setup.

As a guideline, I initially installed 2x250W panels alongside a 500W blow gennie. Just after, I installed 4.5kW of N facing panels, I have now almost completed the array with a further 1.2kW E and 2.4kW W panels.... Coupled to that, the switching system to auto switch in large loads and drop loads to minimal values when solar is low....

Initial savings were around 50% with the N panels, and now with the EW panels(They are almost standing vertical) we are extending our solar runtimes by an hour in the morning(minimum) and at least 2.5hrs in the late afternoon..

The overall effect, has been to drop our average consumption down to around .4 or .5kW per hour on a 24hr cycle - This amounts to, on a day with reasonable sun, around 8kWh to 12kWh municipal usage total - Percentage wise, less than a third, ie 33% of what we were initially using.

Had I known then, what I know now, I would never have installed N panels - The EW panels are, while generating a somewhat lower power density, far more useful from a consumption point of view than the "peaky" N panels.

Granted, I am running a fairly small battery bank, just under 500Ah, but the cost/return/reward ratios are right where I want them - I wouldn't turn down another 500Ah if it was looking for a good home, but it is low on the list of needs.

My charger/inverter can process a max of 5kVA peak out and a charge max of around 3.2kw... This is my "limiting" factor at the moment, but we're getting by with it quite nicely (ah, add a 1kW GTI to it's output as well to help it along and the little solar/blow gennie as an additional charger helper, and all is roses!)

During and around solar noon, we are way over on power availability than we use... The auto switching is really handy around then.

Enough rambling!! I'm green with envy at your availability of used panels!!

Regds
Ed

[AdeV]

Just did my reads and another advance on the max daily solar generation.

97.3 Kwh.

When one thinks about it, that's really a lot of power to produce from a generator. 
On a 15 KW output unit, that's over 6 hours run time. For a 24 hr period, one would have to be producing a fraction over 4 Kw non stop. 

Interesting... that's basically the equivalent of running a 10hp Lister continuously (a 10/2)... I wonder what the fuel usage on that would be? I've only got a 6/1 & haven't done any fuel usage calcs... Assuming you wanted to run 24/7 on veg oil you grew on your own land, how many acres (hectares if you speak French) would you need to do that?

[EdDee]

A good one would be watching the power pole out the front burn.
Again.  - Hmmmm.... I wonder what caused it last time?

I spose you have to keep all your panels on rooftops to protect them From the Miscreants? ... Yep

30 Ft deep Cesspool that ....  That is Soooooo tempting!!

flask, wider at the bottom... You and I aren't possibly related, are we? .... I would almost go for grease impregnated sides too.... Just to make sure!!

Lol
Ed

[ajaffa1]

G`Day Guys. It`s been a while since I had the opportunity to view the LEF. We got the internet re-connected a couple of weeks ago via satellite, but still no telephone.
Looks like our old mate Glort has been a very busy boy, I wonder if he has consulted a structural engineer to confirm that his house and it`s roof will carry the weight of that many panels!
I would certainly like his help and advice on a new solar array. While our house burned down, our shed survived and has ample roof space for a solar installation, the local solar installer is coming to see me this week.
We are now living between a caravan and a habitable converted shipping container, we have mains power and the last bill was way more than we paid when we had a house. I guess we are using imported electricity for everything at the moment: heating, hot water & etc. Come the summer it will get very expensive when we have to run portable air conditioners.
I have no idea as to how much energy we would be allowed to feed back into the grid but our last system was a 5KW unit. There has been recent government approval for a renewable energy zone based around Armidale but I have no idea if that extends as far as our area.
On the Lister side of things, I had a problem with the ST2 SOM, it would not run at full throttle. I traced the problem back to the underground exhaust pipe which had partially melted in the bush fires restricting the flow of exhaust gases. The Lister CS runs like a charm but has a leaking fuel system which needs to be addressed. Sadly it will have wait, right now I have a house to build and 20 acres of dead trees to clear. Far too late in life to become a lumberjack!

I`m a lumberjack and I`m OK
Bob

[veggie]

Set up a hydrolysis plant and make hydrogen from water !
The energy is now free.

[veggie]

Hmmmm.... anyone in your family interested in growing lots of food on a steady basis?

Solar power like you have could run EVERYTHING in a solar powered hydroponics greenhouse.
No soil, no weeds, no tilling.
It could power the pumps, LED lights (during shorter winter days), chillers, fans,  etc....