Generate your own energy

DELUCAS

did u hear on the news about electric could go up by 60% in the next ten years that like £2000 a year on bills .. the way things are going your £1500 will be well spent and payback could be within a few years then 20 odd years of off setting your bills

its 9.25 i am in kent just looked at my laptop and ive made over a 1kw today already doesnt sound alot its like 16p but its 16p that i dont giveaway ..with luck by tonight i would have saved a pound or so ..if it was say 10 years down the line .. maybe ill be making £4.00 or £5.00 a day and this is a small system ..

leon

the photos show the unit they are in
, and the invertor ( makes 12v into 240v ) for the house
the white charge controller is a  xantrex 40amp version with display and battery probe ( the probe sticks on the side of the battery so it can be adjusted by the controller and not over charge the batteries  )

on the left is a lock down switch that will cut of the panels if i need to work on the equipment ..then to the right of that is a houshold 40amp trip switch in case of overload ..just for peace of mind ..
then next to that the charge controller
the blue unit is the good inverter the two housold plugs one going to my computer room and the other plug goes to my pond .. if the batteries are full and i am not using the pc printers etc i use  to run the pond pumps and uv ..

the other box on to the right is the cheap as chips ebay invertor that is not a puresign wave invertor and the electric it makes is not as clean as the blue one so if u was to run a laptop etc it might damage the transformer on the laptop after time ..its ok for pond pumps etc

the display on the xantrex tell u the amps  the panels are producing and the volts of the batts /and overall total since the system went online ..in kw thats good in one way u can see how much the unit has made  i.e times the 1kw by 15p and thats you payback ..

the three trojen batteries are deep cycle ones and i bought them new the others are second hand lorry batteries add up to around 200 amps of storage

if u need to no how to convert the amps into volt times it by 13 .. 1 amp = 13volts i think

if u look at the bits in the box and search for the prices it might be cheaper than £1500 im not sure as i bought this lot around 3 years ago ..the inverter and the charge controller are very good makes and have been used in the solar industry for years  ,, u also can buy a xantrex in 20amp / 40amp and 60amp all the same sized metal box ..

the panels i use are kyocera from japan on the off grid system are 4 x 80w panels i started with one and keep adding  i can run double that on the xantrex .but im looking into solar water heating at the moment and costing up a system should be around £2000 rather the the quoted £5000 from the surveys

sorry about the picture quality its on my phone camera

and this pc has been running all morning on solar prooly saved around a ton of carbon yippeee

good luck just shout if u have any question i dont no it all can only tell u what i have done and seen

thanks

DELUCAS

Thanks leon  

for the pictures and information it is helpfull and reasuring to guide me on the next steps i should take !

i am debating whether to go all in one solution now or buy the required items one at a time as i have seen some brand makes of solar ie sanyo / sharp and kycorea on e-bay going for approx £400-600 ---175w-205w per panel .

battery wise i have access to many car batterys as i believe even with 1 dead cell they should be ok !!??

hoping maybe prices of solar panels  may drop in the winter  

i have approxamated to buy all three items for £900-£1100   

coolmp3

that sounds great i noticed some kyocera going cheap on ebay they are the 85w version £350 each .kyocera just brought out a 87w with slightly better efficency  ..a bargain at £350 and i bet a deal could be made for more than one

ive heard sanyo and sharp are good its nice to see u are looking for good makes that will last the 30 years or more ..

the dead cell batterys are ok imoa  i had 5 from a friend who has a lorry company and only one didnt hold a charge ..so i got rid of it  the others are fine ..
good luck with the project its good to see others taking up solar and saving thousands of tons of carbon going into the air ..and reducing there bills

leon

Damm i thought i was gonna have the largest 75- megawatt plant   


America's (newest) largest solar plant set to go live in Florida



If all goes well, this 25-megawatt solar plant in Florida won't be America's largest for long, but it's not like we'd pass up the opportunity to let this $150 million facility bask in its own glory (and the sun, if we're being thorough) while it can. The Desoto facility is just one of three solar projects that Florida Power & Light is spearheading, and judging by the proximity of this one (in Arcadia) to the 75-megawatt facility planned for nearby Charlotte County, we'd surmise that the two are linked in some form or fashion. President Obama is expected to show up rocking a set of Kanye glasses underneath a welder's mask when the plant is fired up this Tuesday, and while it'll only provide power to "a fraction" of FP&L's customer base, it'll still generate around twice as much energy as the second-largest photovoltaic facility in the US of A.

coolmp3

After reading this forum i finally decided to order some solar kit. I have gone for 4x80w BP solar bp380's and looking at geting a Soladin 600 to grid tie the system. From what i have read the soladin requires 40v  input so i need to put the panels in series. Does anyone know if a moden digital electric meter runs backwards if i use less than i am generating?

coolmp3

they dont run backwards but they will stop .. i find when im making to much i start a massive charge everything up in the house time
well done for taking the plung\  you will be saving thousands of tons of gasses every year .and saving alot too

im looking into the grant that gives u 38p a killowatt  that great seing as we buy it at 11p the grant will only run for another 3 months so i hear and u do need to have a credited company to install them ..which means big bucks as they charge around £1000 a day for 3 men working on your roof. but my neighbour is good with figures and says that a 4kw system will bring u in £100.00 a month for at least 40 years and more if electric goes up which is always going to happen

leon

Have you looking into generation tarifs? They state i need a ofgem approved meter which i am currently getting via ebay. Do i need someone to inspect the system to approve it as its a diy install or does it only apply to pro installs? i hope not! Unfortuntaly my roof faces SE so from what i have read it runs at 94% effenceny instead of 97% if it was facing due south. What is the best fixed angel for the panels. I know its best to have it adjustable between summer and winter.
Im looking at making a wooden frame for the panels to mount onto which will fix onto a pitched extension roof. Any tips for mounting on a tie roof. I was going to fix a battern into the house all and fix the frame to that.
Thanks
Chris

coolmp3

No, i have not got the lead. I am under the impression you need the pc on all the time you wish to log but with my current pc that would defeat the object unless it logs internaly and you can do a dump of data every week?
I was thinking of getting another energy monitor and put in on the live from the inverter. That should show me how many watts im generating and depending which monitor the energy used would become energy generated!!!
I looked at my meter when running the feed to the board and it has a forward and reverse arrow. Wonder if it will work in reverse? Might be disabled as its a digital one.

leon

the data is stored inside the inverter i use the lead and plug it into the usb once a week that give me the total running from the day u switch on and a 7 day graph .. i right down the total kw and times it by 11p to tell me how much the sytem has made from day one

also tells u your house voltage as it alot of time goes over 250v also its a good way of telling how much sun is out there at the moment my inverter works for around 7 hours a day and in summer 14
its a free program and the lead looks like a cat 5 cable going to a usb ,,

the data stored is great way of seeing how the system works

not sure how the meter works ive not got one would be great to see it go backwards