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Tim in Phoenix
Joined: 21 Oct 2006
Posts: 4409
Location: Phoenix
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:04 am Post subject: Who has Solar Power & did it cause problems in yer HT? |
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Guys!
Anyone? Tell your story. Hum bars, noise, money savings not what you were promised?
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CasetheCorvetteman
Joined: 09 Nov 2008
Posts: 6326
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 6:52 am Post subject: |
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I do.
2.66kW system, Xantrex inverter.
It is not an issue, and nor should it be. Power from the panels is DC, and if you use a decent quality inverter, there will be no noise from it.
Where i live on the east cost of Australia, we had more than 8 months of total sh*t weather here, and i didnt have to pay for any electricity the whole time. In winter, my energy consumption is up abit due to the solar hotwater system being shaded by the tall trees all around my land, and my energy production is down due to the same reason.
I paid $6,719 Australian Dollars for the whole lot installed over 18 months ago, so it was a fair outlay, but since then, i have not paid for power, and im in credit with the company i buy my power through.
It wont have any effect on your setup, unless its a rough as guts cheap sh*t install, which i dont think you have, and i doubt youd blow the money on a cheap sh*t install for solar either.
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Gerbrand
Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 199
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:30 am Post subject: |
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My HT is in the attic and the solar pannels (3.3 kWp) are right overhead. No hums, noise, etc. whatsoever. It even keeps the HT a bit cooler.
Actual savings depend a lot on the local electricitiy price and the amount of sun light. Over here (Netherlands) I earn my investment back in about 10 years.
Gerbrand
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BG1209s (color filtered,new LUGs!), 13000h
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Tim in Phoenix
Joined: 21 Oct 2006
Posts: 4409
Location: Phoenix
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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Guys
No shortage of sunshine here! And I have a big a$$ed air conditioner that needs 30 amps of 220v to cool the place. My power bill in July and August can nudge $200, so solar is worth a look here.
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24396
Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:08 pm Post subject: |
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Hey, screw all you guys with too much sunshine. Now, if they'd make a water powered system that worked off the rain pouring into our gutters here in the NW, THEN we'd be talkin'! 
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CasetheCorvetteman
Joined: 09 Nov 2008
Posts: 6326
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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If youre saying $200 for 2 months with that sort of consumption you should consider yourself very lucky my friend, in Australia we pay alot more for electricity than that.
It is 22 cents per kWh here, in my house i consume around 3 to 5 kilowatt hours per day, and that is a very efficient house, some of that consumption is due to my onsite waste water treatment system.
At this time of the year with the roof spending most of the day in shade, i make about 3.5 kWh a day from the solar, and the company pays me 52 cents per kWh for what i dont use. I have 3 phase power on here, so almost all of my produced power goes back into the grid and i get paid for it.
During summer, i make around 10 to 14 kWh a day, it gets off to a late start due to large trees on the eastern side of my house. In the summer months, i make a fair profit, which in winter is mostly used up, and over the course of 12 months, i come out ahead, having not paid any further power costs.
If that A/C is hooked up to a 30 amp supply, that is max load, and it will rarely pull that, probably only for a few seconds when the compressor kicks in, or the big fan in your air handler unit starts up.
You may want to look very seriously about quality insulation for your roof space, as this may help reduce the load on the A/C system.
How much are you being quoted for solar?? How big is the system? What brand are the inverter and panels? The last 2 questions there are quite vitally important!! 
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Tim in Phoenix
Joined: 21 Oct 2006
Posts: 4409
Location: Phoenix
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 2:46 pm Post subject: |
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Hello
The sales rep is visiting next week, so I do not have the equipment details just yet. Cannot insulate the roof any further as it is flat with no access from up top or below, a 12 inch attic space.
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zaphod
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Posts: 2002
Location: Cloverdale
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:07 pm Post subject: |
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| Curt Palme wrote: | | Hey, screw all you guys with too much sunshine. Now, if they'd make a water powered system that worked off the rain pouring into our gutters here in the NW, THEN we'd be talkin'! |
tiny waterwheels at the bottom of each downspout.
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walk gently. leave a good impression.
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech
Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24396
Location: Langley, BC
TV/Projector: All of them!
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:11 pm Post subject: |
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Believe it or not, I did that as a kid. There was a rainwater runoff in the creek by the ravine at the side of our house, and I did just that, a tiny motor with a waterwheel on it. Ran a wire into my bedroom with a #47 light attached to it.
Yes. that has NERD stamped all over it.
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zaphod
Joined: 16 Jun 2006
Posts: 2002
Location: Cloverdale
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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righteous!!
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walk gently. leave a good impression.
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drice1234
Joined: 07 Oct 2006
Posts: 1309
Location: Allen, Texas
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 5:50 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | My power bill in July and August can nudge $200 |
In the Dallas area our electric bill runs $300 to $400 in the summer months (hit 100 F yesterday). That's with a somewhat current house with good insulation and gas for the appliances including hot water heater. I just had a radiant barrier installed in the attic last month so hopefully that will help somewhat.
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Spanky Ham
Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 5643
Location: Comedy Central
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 6:07 pm Post subject: |
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What Drice said on power bill. I think mine is going to approach $300 in the summer months.
| CasetheCorvetteman wrote: | I do.
2.66kW system, Xantrex inverter.
It is not an issue, and nor should it be. Power from the panels is DC, and if you use a decent quality inverter, there will be no noise from it.
Where i live on the east cost of Australia, we had more than 8 months of total sh*t weather here, and i didnt have to pay for any electricity the whole time. In winter, my energy consumption is up abit due to the solar hotwater system being shaded by the tall trees all around my land, and my energy production is down due to the same reason.
I paid $6,719 Australian Dollars for the whole lot installed over 18 months ago, so it was a fair outlay, but since then, i have not paid for power, and im in credit with the company i buy my power through.
It wont have any effect on your setup, unless its a rough as guts cheap sh*t install, which i dont think you have, and i doubt youd blow the money on a cheap sh*t install for solar either. |
That seems incredibly inexpensive. The Extremetech article had $36k for a system that was about 2 1/2 times your size. My next door neighbor does solar water heating installs mainly and whole house rarely. I just heard that he has a bid on a whole house and if he gets it then he will make more profit than your whole system (I heard $20k). Based on your system and others I have heard about in Oceania, I am starting to think US customers are being gouged by solar. Unfortunately, this has the effect of turning off a lot of people that would potentially be interested in pursuing this route.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2308684,00.asp
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Gerbrand
Joined: 13 May 2008
Posts: 199
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 7:41 pm Post subject: |
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Current prizes for panels are about $3 / Wp. They have come down from around $ 5. Add around $1.5 k for the inverter. So a 3 kWp system would cost you around $10500. My system covers around 80% of my electricity use.
Gerbrand
_________________
BG1209s (color filtered,new LUGs!), 13000h
Bat cave
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stefuel
Joined: 07 Mar 2006
Posts: 3353
Location: Green Harbor MA USA
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| Posted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 10:54 pm Post subject: |
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If you live in Vancouver you won't need solar.
When the Bruins take home the cup tonight, there'll be enough (Vancouver fan) steam generated to light the city
for a month 
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Chip
A Barco is only a AmPro with training wheels
Card carrying member of the AVS chain gang.
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CasetheCorvetteman
Joined: 09 Nov 2008
Posts: 6326
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Thu Jun 16, 2011 6:50 am Post subject: |
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| Spanky Ham wrote: | What Drice said on power bill. I think mine is going to approach $300 in the summer months.
That seems incredibly inexpensive. The Extremetech article had $36k for a system that was about 2 1/2 times your size. My next door neighbor does solar water heating installs mainly and whole house rarely. I just heard that he has a bid on a whole house and if he gets it then he will make more profit than your whole system (I heard $20k). Based on your system and others I have heard about in Oceania, I am starting to think US customers are being gouged by solar. Unfortunately, this has the effect of turning off a lot of people that would potentially be interested in pursuing this route.
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,2845,2308684,00.asp |
Yeah it was considered very cheap here in this area, i spent quite abit of time negotiating the deal, and probably saved myself around $3,000 AUD. I can get a 10 kW system fully installed in this area for around $32,000 AUD at the moment, using Astronogy panels, and an SMA SunnyBoy inverter. With that sort of setup, on a good day you could expect around 55 to 60 kWhs production per day, which would easily cover anyone's consumption.
I wouldnt expect your prices there to improve until your dollar starts to improve, most of these items youll be looking to install ( assuming you want something built to last ) will be made in Germany for inverters, and China or Japan for panels.
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cinema mad
Joined: 25 Nov 2009
Posts: 219
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Spanky Ham
Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 5643
Location: Comedy Central
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| Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2011 3:43 pm Post subject: |
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cinema,
The US has pretty good rebates as well.
http://www.fpl.com/landing/solar_rebate/index.shtml?cid=aliassolarrebates
Even though I believe in the free market, I wonder if for the good of society that there was a way to get solar installed cheaply for the middle class in the US. There is a government works program for Obama.
case,
The US and Aussie dollar are about equal. I would expect prices to be roughly similar.
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CasetheCorvetteman
Joined: 09 Nov 2008
Posts: 6326
Location: Australia
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| Posted: Sun Jun 19, 2011 4:27 am Post subject: |
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No mate, i wouldnt. Your stuff there is WAY cheaper when your dollar is up. Our prices havent gone down at all when our dollar went up.
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garyfritz
Joined: 08 Apr 2006
Posts: 12088
Location: Fort Collins, CO
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| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 2:04 pm Post subject: |
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Three years!?!? You have different economics than we do. Take a look at e.g. this site -- it's an actual quote for a 5.4kW system in the San Francisco Bay Area. It cost $22,725 AFTER all rebates and incentives, and the owner is going to save about $885 per year in energy costs. The site claims that means a payoff of about 13 years, but last I checked 22725 / 885 = over TWENTY-FIVE year payoff. But either way it's nowhere near three years. Here is another quote that specifies roughly a 15-yr payoff.
If solar panels paid off in 3 years, we wouldn't need incentives. Without incentives they'd pay back in 4-5 years, and the solar installers would be swamped.
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Spanky Ham
Joined: 22 Mar 2006
Posts: 5643
Location: Comedy Central
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| Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2011 3:17 pm Post subject: |
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Gary has it, although I think that must have been a mistake. If it was three or even five years, then solar would be bigger than Walmart and Apple combined.
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