Solar Panel Addition

[Nemesis56]

Thanks Chas.... now that I do understand and it makes perfect sense.

[Nemesis56]

It is possible to have a surface voltage above the actual battery voltage even with a reduction in Amp/hours. Remove the charge and allow the load to continue for 3 minutes or so, then recheck the voltage. This removes the surface charge and gives you a more accurate reading of battery voltage.

Yep.  My point exactally, just not as eloquent as you.

[mikehhfx]

It is possible to have a surface voltage above the actual battery voltage even with a reduction in Amp/hours. Remove the charge and allow the load to continue for 3 minutes or so, then recheck the voltage. This removes the surface charge and gives you a more accurate reading of battery voltage.

Ok, Thanks I'll recheck it that is, WHEN and IF the sun returns...

Mike H

[beacher]

Thanks for the link  :book: . We are considering solar for our home in Fallbrook California. There is a lot of helpful info on that site.

They claim to be able to get us into a 7000W array for $24,335.69. If they can do that, they've got a sale. I'll keep you posted.

WOW!  That's a remarkable deal!  I recently was collecting bids for a grid-intertie system for my home in Long Beach.  The least expensive was A 4.7KW for $39,000+, using high efficiency panels to minimize surface area.  But it still seemed too pricy.  Under $25k is more inline with what I was expecting!  And for 7Kw!

[kathybrj]

We picked up a 13 watt solar charger and used it Memorial Day weekend while dry camping. Kept our Group 27 battery working for the entire 4 days and it still was working well when we left camp. Used the bunk end fan/lights, stove hood light and ran the water pump for dishes and showers for the four days. DH insists that the solar panel helped a lot, considering what a battery pig our hybrid is.

[chasd60]

Thanks for the link :book: . We are considering solar for our home in Fallbrook California. There is a lot of helpful info on that site.
 
They claim to be able to get us into a 7000W array for $24,335.69. If they can do that, they've got a sale. I'll keep you posted.

We have a rebate system here in Maine, but no where near what you have in California.
 
The bigger expense for us in the northeast is heating costs. I will be selling my present home and building a new one in about 7-8 years. We plan on using a lot of solar thermal and radiant floor heating.
If you build new and economize on your electrical apparatus, the electric costs are not too bad.

[wavery]

We have a rebate system here in Maine, but no where near what you have in California.
 
The bigger expense for us in the northeast is heating costs. I will be selling my present home and building a new one in about 7-8 years. We plan on using a lot of solar thermal and radiant floor heating.
If you build new and economize on your electrical apparatus, the electric costs are not too bad.

$24K is still a lot of dough to pay for electricity. I would like to see a payback period of about 10 years.

If I take that $24K and keep it in savings at 5% interest, I would have $39K at the end of 120 months. That is the bottom line cost of that system. That means that system is costing me $325 per month,  over a period of 10 years. if I were to finance that purchase, the cost would be even higher.

This nonsense of amortizing the cost over 40 years is just not realistic. Not only will it not last that long (nor will I :p ) but it will be obsolete as a system in 20 years (IMHO).

The other consideration is the probability of nuclear power being safer and expanding. That could actually decrease the price of power or at least stabilizing it.

[aw738]

I don't know what electicity cost in CA but I found this.

In West Virginia, the average cost of electricity was $0.07/kWh as of May, 2006.

[chasd60]

Maine is over 0.15 per kWh

[wavery]

Maine is over 0.15 per kWh

When determining the $ per kw, you can't use the advertised rate. You must actually take 12 months worth of bills, ad 'em up & divide by the number of total kw used for that year. You may find that the TRUE rate is much higher than the stated rate. They tend to ad all sorts of fees and taxes that can make the electric bill near double (In some areas). The stated rate means very little when calculating the cost of your system.

The main reason that you need to know how many kw that you use per month is to determin the size solar system that you require.

[mikehhfx]

boy did I open a can a worms, sorry to have this subject stray so far off topic

[wavery]

boy did I open a can a worms, sorry to have this subject stray so far off topic

:book: The topic is, "Solar Panel Addition".

We didn't stray..................... :p welllllllllll maybe a little :sombraro: .

[Nemesis56]

:book: The topic is, "Solar Panel Addition".

We didn't stray..................... :p welllllllllll maybe a little :sombraro: .

Actually I learned a couple of things in the process.

[mikehhfx]

Well so did I , learn a few things.. I was just hoping the moderator did not get bent over more on home stuff than Rv stuff..

[wavery]

Solar power is solar power, no matter where you use it. If you intend to use it on your RV, it's best to know all you can so that you don't have unrealistic expectations and become disappointed if it doesn't perform as anticipated.

I lived off of solar power for over 10 years on my yacht (full time). I've got a pretty good handle on what I can expect from it. I've used it from Maine to the Antarctic but mostly in the tropics where it is the most efficient.