Lowe’s wants to turn solar installation into a weekend project

reply to post by argentus


Yeah but still a good idea if you can afford it, SHTF very soon i believe, all warning signs are around us it seems, i cant buy solar but im stocking up on food, seeds, etc and a few new guns better safe than sorry

and i didn't take it any way negative


I would think everyone should be stocking up on some food and ammo,solar methods if possible the sooner the better because there's nothing good going to happen soon the way things are going. Oil is running dry also when oil is gone every and i mean everything stops then all hell breaks loose

[edit on 17-12-2009 by OpTiMuS_PrImE]

reply to post by OpTiMuS_PrImE

Yeah but still a good idea if you can afford it, SHTF very soon i believe, all warning signs are around us it seems, i cant buy solar but im stocking up on food, seeds, etc and a few new guns better safe than sorry

Yeah, friend. That was my thought exactly. If the monetary system collapses, then I don't have to pay back my loan. I know that sounds squirrelly, but it's the truth. On the other hand, if the monetary system remains, we will pay it back, and the PV system should save us money.

Good on you for stocking up. Open-pollinated seeds might carry us all through a difficult period. I belive that if you have food if TSHTF and water and/or water filtration, you are ahead of the game and can adapt.

Yes. Better safe than sorry. I can't have guns where I live, but that doesn't mean I'm not without self-defense. As a person who has had guns all my life until here, it's a tough nut to crack, however a person who is able to adapt is also able to protect themselves, at least against ordinary civil insurrection.

edit to fix quote *sigh*


p.s. thank you for not taking offfense. I really didn't consciously mean any offense.

cheers

[edit on 17/12/09 by argentus]

reply to post by argentus


wow thats crazy i wouldn't know what to do not being able to own a firearm. I was just looking at a large gunshop about 45 mins from house they got AK 47's on sale for christmas for $399 and the new smith and weson AR-15 M&PT for $800

sunelec.com...

I went to the site linked above and it has a solar calculator which calculates the amount of sun in a given state the wattage used amd the percentage you wish to use from solar power.

1. How many (KwH) do you use per month? This can be found on your electric bill
It is best to get an average so look at the past 3-6 months

1000 KWH/Month
2. What percentage of your project power usage will be supplied by renewable energy from this system? (do not put the % sign just the whole number)

100 %
3. Total Peak Sun Hours per day? Look at the Sun / Hour Map below to find this number.

6 Hours

Minimum System Size: 5555 Watts

I live in Florida with plenty of sun but to use 1000kph a month you need 5500 watts of solar panels to meet that goal with 6 hours or 7 hours of Florida sun per day. Cost per watt for panels from China $1.93 a watt in the USA panels $2.00 to $4.00 a watt wholesale.

www.ecobusinesslinks.com...

solar.china-direct-buy.com...

[edit on 17-12-2009 by JBA2848]

Just looked at Lowes price per watt for just the solar panel $6.60 a watt.

www.lowes.com...

Originally posted by JBA2848
reply to post by Donny 4 million

 

solar.china-direct-buy.com...

Operating Temperature -40 to 85

Hopefully that temperature is Celsius and not Fahrenheit. Florida can get into 110 degrees Fahrenheit easily on a hot summer day. And im not sure what to make of the pricing

Price: USD $ 1.93 / Wp (USD $ 1.93)
Min. Order: 10 Wp

36 volt panels have another advanage its cheaper to buy a 36 volt inverter then for a 12 volt inverter system.
12 volt to 3600 watt inverters run around $3196.81 to $3,548.01
www.oceanelectronics.com...

by going to a 36 volt system your cost for the inverter can be cut to around
$989.97

You just have to change your battery system from X number of 12 volts batteries in parallel with a battery output of 12 volts, to batteries in groups of 3 batteries in series with a output of 36 volts. On the 36 volt system If you want more then 3 batteries you then would wire them series/parallel in groups of three to maintain 36 volt but have more amp hours storage.

Or you could use big industrial 36 volt deep cycle batteries but for them you need to make sure you can handle them as most are very heavy 1000 pounds plus

That is $7,000 per kilowatt. That is average, however, assumes it will be outputting 50 watts constantly. If it's anything like centralized photo-voltaic solar, then the actual cost is probably closer to $20,000 per kilowatt - which is terrible.

[edit on 17/12/2009 by C0bzz]

I love the idea of micro generation and as an ultimate goal is to be able to cut my self from the mains completly.

Although that is a long time off I once seen a thread or post on ATS about this company printing Solar Cells.

www.nanosolar.com...

Part of there blog states "NREL Certifies 16.4% Nanosolar Foil Efficiency"

If this can move into comercial mainstream I would like to buy some and test these claims.

reply to post by jpmail


yeah that was the company i was referring to in earlier post i forgot which one it was, but i see nothing about them selling commercial product just a power plant in CA

On a product level, our solar cells are light-weight, bendable, easily interconnected, easily adjusted in size, and capable of supporting up to 25 Amps of current per cell (or up to 25x more than possible with other thin-film technology available today). These are each attributes that lend themselves to creating products with unique advantages and benefits and delivering application-specific customer value. While cells can be of any size, our standard size is 165x135mm (a size in fact optimized from a system-installation perspective):

www.nanosolar.com...

Apparently the energy efficient home improvements are tax deductable too, which would really help people out if they spend a few thousand dollars.

There are Solar panel shingles now. The idea actually makes a lot of sense. I believe I saw it in the top 50 inventions of 2009 or something.

Here's the link:
Solar Powered Shingles

reply to post by Nate8727


I did look into them and decided another product the solar laminated metal roof panel the better choice...
see each shingle requires a hole drilled to run the wires. you make all the connections in the attic... something about the idea of drilling hundreds of little holes in the roof just didn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling ya know.
Solar metal roofing info

Those are essentially solar powered battery trickle chargers.

Would work great keeping a motorcycle battery charged during the wintertime....

Since your average home is using Kilowatts then you'll need an array of these panels to power the average home which is where the costs arise.

But as with everything thats silicon based (computers, LEDs,LCD TVs,Solar Panels, etc) prices will continue to come down over time.
Just look at computers for example.

In the meantime though, A better and more cost effective use of that hot sun down there is solar hot water heating which can be constructed by the DIY relatively cheaply.

reply to post by JBA2848


To both you and ANNED

In a quick tired response to all you sun worshiping folks.
Thank you all for your generous help and advice.
Government and the tax man is really the only detriment to solar and wind.
It is totally Anti- American.
Look into ways you can produce low voltage cheaply.
Understand inversion. You can run so many of today's electronic devices at or below 12 volts.
Certainly lighting and most modern devices that use adapters.
You can address those things without involving your municipality.
I think you could operate an oil burner or gas furnace with low voltage as you could invert the spark via an inversion device. They are cheap transformers. (Wire wrapped around an iron core.)
Your frig and freezer along with your electric heat base boards and heat pumps need high voltage power.
Think Recreational Vehicle. Propane refrigeration low voltage.
Think non- battery they are expensive..

There are oil burning heaters that use no electricity, I know I used them for years. i lived in a area that had a lot of cold and snow and we had 5 to 7, 1 to 2 day power outs due to the snow and ice each winter.
www.rural-energy.com...
www.rural-energy.com...
journeytoforever.org...

I still am looking for a way to run a tower computer off of 12 volts.
i have found one.
www.powerstream.com...

The power losses from taking battery power and running it through a inverter to get 112 volt then running through the power supply in a computer and back to computer voltages does not compute.
Its just like a UPS why not build a UPS system for a computer that powers it at the computer voltages from the UPS

A UPS built like that would use less power and cost less.

There is little reason that modern small flat screen TVs could not be run directly from 12 or 24 volts DC.

Anything that runs through a transformer like are in inverters or power supplies use a lot of amps over time even when not being used.

Running a frig or freezer off a inverter waste a lot of power.
they both cycle and only cool as needed. and a inverter uses power at idle just waiting for the frig or freezer to start another cooling cycle.
and the bigger the inverter the more power the need at idle.
on a cool day a inverter may use a much power waiting for a frig to run as when the frig is running.
power leaches are the bane of inverter systems.

That is why anyone setting up a home or RV system needs to use more then one inverter.
You need a high wattage inverter for high loads that you seldom use and you only run when needed and a small inverter for those small loads that run most of the time.



With careful planing and the use of 12 volt lighting and other small load items when possible you can run a very small inverter and only use it when needed.
This will allow your panel system to be smaller and for less batteries or longer power time on cloudy days.

[edit on 18-12-2009 by ANNED]

reply to post by ANNED


In theory you can run a LCD TV off 12 VDC with a little modification...
if you read the specs on the power supply you'll find

Output Characteristic：
Output Voltage +5V(STB) +5V +12V +24V
Load Current Range 0.02-1.0A 0.1-4.0A 0.1-3.0A 0.1-6.0A
Peak Current 1.0A 5.0A 5.0A 7.5A
Load Regulation ±5% ±5% ±5% ±5%
Ripple & Noise (mVp-p) 50mV 50mV 120mV 240mV
Over Voltage Protection 5.5V-9V （Latch） 5.5V-9V （Latch） 13-18V（Latch） 26-32V（Latch）
Over Current Protection 2A-8A（Hiccup） 5A-10A （Hiccup） 5A-9A （Latch） 7.5A-10A （Latch）

you'd have to make your own replacement power supply to match those output numbers but only real problem is in making one to fit in the small space
see spec sheet here

50 watts? Not worth it...

Great info Daddy Bear and ANNED
Collaboration on a business adventure could be lucrative.

I wanted to mention my interest to the "cord wood" house building technique. Sounds cool. and warm.
What type of wood has been used?
Cedar? locust? cypress? Wiring and plumbing could be incorporated in the walls easier than logs. Although most likely a big problem with the building inspector.

reply to post by Donny 4 million


Two things Cordwood (Stackwall) homes were fairly common a hundred years ago. the idea is use whatever local wood is available you use the same would you'd put in the fireplace (Cordwood) the place I'm building up in Kansas is white oak the local wood there... anyway here and in Kansas the building inspectors have seen them before. code does vary for things like wall bracings reinforcements and foundations... Cordwood homes also have a major advantage over log homes, no air leaks, log homes always have air leakage problems.

in a SHTF they have a side benefit of being kind of bullet proof too

[edit on 18-12-2009 by DaddyBare]