Temporary PV solar hookup

[philb]

Originally Posted by Ryland

You realize that doubling your battery bank size will more then double your battery life, right?

If everything in the system remains constant, that can be theoretically true. In reality, I'd be putting more strings into parallel battery circuits which can use more power. With 8 strings it takes 4 KW of power to float the batteries daily. So the PV panel count goes up as well. I prefer to cycle mine no deeper that 70% and occasionally go even deeper, say 50%. The batteries on this project have been cycled twice, that I can remember to 24.0. That can work occasionally too, just as long as they get brought back to float the next day. The guys with the big 2 volt batteries in one series probably win the day. That is until they go bad and have to be hauled away. The GE's were chosen from comparing how many expected years versus battery weight. I'm not getting any younger. If nickel iron came out in a huge production with lower costs, I might buy them. That's another learning curve though.

All together, I have about 9400 watts of solar to install. Half that is going to batteries. some is going for space heat/cooling and possibly a hybrid electric car if any watts are left.
For a temp.setup, just 2280 watts will work very well.

[pewellman]

philb - thanks for sending me a link to this thread.
Veddy interesting.
I joined and will explore further in here later.

[where2]

Originally Posted by philb

I see in your sig that you're in CA. Eco Direct is in Carlsbad, CA. The shipping would be less than shipping from FL.

Shipping is an odd expense. Having a pallet of panels shipped from Miami, FL to my door ~80 miles away was $200 including the added expense of residential delivery with a lift gate.

When I recently inquired about shipping a pallet of panels from California to FL, including residential delivery, it was in the realm of $500. Moving a loaded oversized pallet ~3000 miles for an extra $300 actually seemed like a bargain.

[philb]

"When I recently inquired about shipping a pallet of panels from California to FL, including residential delivery, it was in the realm of $500. Moving a loaded oversized pallet ~3000 miles for an extra $300 actually seemed like a bargain."

Shipping would probably be even cheaper if you could get it to ship through the China Post office. Shipping through there is cheaper than any point to point location in the US. I am aware of several business "deals" between US shippers and businesses.

[philb]

Sorry about the files I posted. I took them with my phone and I had a big problem getting them to post right side up. Also, thanks for the replies!

[where2]

Originally Posted by philb

Shipping would probably be even cheaper if you could get it to ship through the China Post office. Shipping through there is cheaper than any point to point location in the US. I am aware of several business "deals" between US shippers and businesses.

Funny you should say that: While in Zhuhai, Guangdong, China on business the first week of February 2014, I mailed two post cards to my wife, and two to friends. Of those 4 cards, NONE have shown up in the USA. I'm not doing so well with China Post this month, no matter the fact that it cost less than $1 US to mail each of those post cards.

I have however received two EBay orders I made since returning to the USA which originated from nearby city of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. I did technically mail the missing post cards during Chinese New Year holida, but this is ridiculous. The post cards were stamped Par Avion just like my EBay packages.