Quote:
Originally Posted by Xringer
Hello, I was able to watch your youtube movie.
In your video, I think you were charging your battery pack (from the grid) to use during off-peak hours.
I've never heard of that being a good solution to paying peak hour prices,
since charging up and then using a battery bank is very inefficient.
Way too many losses in that cycle.
When you include the price of the hardware (and periodic battery replacement), it's very expensive.
How much PV are you going to install? And how much power do you
plan to feed your off-grid appliances?
Unless you plan to use very few KW hours, going solar PV is going to be very expensive.
It's not something that most people would even consider, once they look at the cost.
Now, if you're rich, that's a different story. Since you would not care that
breaking even would take 20+ years.. 
Small wind turbines are pretty much a joke, when installed on a typical home site.
Location, location, Location is everything. If you don't have to hang on to
your hat while outdoors, forget it.
If you are interested, check out the Fearlessthinker videos.
As for connecting inverters to your house wiring via an outlet,
that can be dangerous.. The reason Enphase and others does not sell
a plug-in-the-outlet inverter system, is the fact that it won't pass code. (In the USA).
Lets say, you plug in a 1200w GTI into a 120vac socket (rated for 15a).
And then started plugging in loads to that circuit, until it was sucking
in 1800w from the grid, and 1200w from the GTI.
Now, you have 3,000 watts, ruining on a circuit designed for 1800w.
But, you don't see the wire heating up inside the walls,
so everything seems just fine. Until the clouds roll in..
Now, your 3,000 watt load is going to be fed by the grid.
That 25 amps is going to pop your 15A breaker..
But, if there's a problem and it sticks?
There is a good possibility you will see some smoke..
Check out this site for more info..
Got to run,
Cheers,
Rich |
Hi Rich,
Sorry, I was not notified anyone responded, I assumed the thread died! But I am glad it didn't.
I have spent 53 days "off grid" this time around, the first time around was 36 days. I was turned back on for a few weeks between, and I made that video basically on a whim and as a "hybrid"
Basically I was shut down time number one by mistake, and being reasonably smart, I chose to make the best of it, and went and purchased a bunch of generic stuff to help me "get by". (I am way to stubborn to just throw money at a corporate giant rip off artist just because I am told to and threatened). Once the mistake was rectified my power was turned back on.
Mistake number two (mine this time). After being turned on with payment arrangements, I assumed I would get billed after a month of service, pay the bill and payment arrangements, and carry on. I was wrong, they sent me a bill for one week, plus payment arrangements. Well, I was not expecting a bill for one week, so the bill sat on my kitchen table unopened. Then I got another threatening letter saying I had to pay $371.00 that week "or else". So that led to my WPS boycott.
It started out where my goals were simply to make the best of the situation, have short term power backup, be able to show my friends a cool contraption, and learn a little bit about alternatives to depending on WPS (the only provider in my area).
What brought me here was trying to figure out a way to make it look as if I had power so people didn't yap yap yap yap. (I live in a fairly nice area-sometimes people pretend they don't have problems of their own).
So what I am doing now is not the cheapest, not the easiest, and not ideal, but I am only 3 months into it on a limited budget so I am starting small. Here is what I have:
1600 watt inverter generator (clearance-$350.00)
Stanley 25 amp 12v battery charger ($65.00)
4 12v 125ah deep cycle batteries (parrallel) ($300.00)
1000w pure sine wave inverter ($250.00)
45 watt 3 panel solar set (sale-$150.00)
Let me first say that I have only used the 45w solar for experimenting so far, so it is not really even being very beneficial except to maybe trickle charge my batteries for 8 hours per day. I also am NOT using any large appliances including washer/dryer, dish-washer, and stove. I have been able to use EVERYTHING else, ceiling fans, lights, tvs, WII, microwave, mini-fridge, cooking items, computers, laptops, string lights, space heaters, almost anything. So I would say I have use of 80-90% of my household.
Now, I am VERY conservative with energy even more than I used to be. I bought a killawatt meter to measure what my stuff uses. I bought a 600 watt mini skillet that works awesome for small meals, I bought an energy star smaller fridge on clearance that uses 130w max (usually on start up if it has been off a while or room temp-but I keep a bag of ice in it to slow down energy use)
I don't spend a whole lot of time at home, and also don't NEED a whole lot of energy for the things I use.
Here is my daily routine:
Wake up, fill genny, start her up, use one outlet for home use, one outlet for charging batteries. Let her run for about 3 hours while I am doing stuff around the home, shut her down and go to work. Get home from work run genny about another 3 hours feeding the home, and charging the batteries. After 10 pm, genny is turned off, and I run off the batteries using my inverter.
Now, I know some will pick this apart and find each and everything wrong or "bad" or have better ideas, which is great, that is why I am here.
The convenience of WPS would usually cost me about $150.00 per month.
The power on demand I am creating for myself is costing me about $2.50 per day and maybe $3.50 per day on a busy weekend.
On Nov. 1st, I am assuming they will automatically turn me back on as they are the only supplier so they can't refuse service. At that time, I will basically use the off peak times (10pm-7am, .07 per KWH) to charge the batteries, and use that power during peak times (1pm-7pm, .28 per KWH).
So my accomplishments in a nutshell will be:
Educating myself on other options
Saving money on utilities (one month back on grid dropped my monthly bill 50%)
Having a backup system functional and ready
Sharing the experience with others
The cons are obviously
Cost of gas (80.00 per month)
Cost of purchases (about $1200.00)
A bit of noise, but I have a cube I hide Genny in
Temporarily not using my larger appliances
Thoughts and ideas welcome
Constructive criticism welcome
Donations for solar and wind added welcome (lol)
Conversation welcome
Questions welcome