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Old 02-16-14, 12:31 PM   #201
pinballlooking
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I'm enjoying the third straight day of spring skies. Friday, I had two clouds pass over, according to my enphase graph (only two dips in an otherwise smooth graph). Yesterday, I had a dozen clouds. Today, it's 1PM, and I haven't had a cloud yet. Highest output I saw Friday was 3.49kW from my 4.4kW system. I don't have any snow to remove, or to provide additional reflection, but I'll take all the cloudless sky I can get. 22.0kWh on Friday, 20.7kWh yesterday, and 11.6kWh already today.
It is good to see you putting up some strong solar numbers.

We normally don’t have snow to contend with but bring on spring!

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Old 02-16-14, 04:23 PM   #202
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Quote:
Originally Posted by where2 View Post
I'm enjoying the third straight day of spring skies. Friday, I had two clouds pass over, according to my enphase graph (only two dips in an otherwise smooth graph). Yesterday, I had a dozen clouds. Today, it's 1PM, and I haven't had a cloud yet. Highest output I saw Friday was 3.49kW from my 4.4kW system. I don't have any snow to remove, or to provide additional reflection, but I'll take all the cloudless sky I can get. 22.0kWh on Friday, 20.7kWh yesterday, and 11.6kWh already today.
Where2,
That's very good power for that size system. Do you have the ability to change module angles?
Rob
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Old 02-16-14, 05:18 PM   #203
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Where2,
That's very good power for that size system. Do you have the ability to change module angles?
No, tilt is not an option. The rack is pointed the way the house is pointed (~16° west of south), at the same angle as the roof pitch. In my system, every PV panel is supported by three rails (instead of the typical two) in order to get the structural engineering design rating of being able to survive a 3 second gust of 170mph winds. I'm less than 2 miles from the ocean at 26.8°N.
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Old 02-21-14, 02:16 PM   #204
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They finally did my power bill for Jan it is due 3/3 and they have not even mailed it to me.
It is online today because I have called to get them to finish it. This is the first time I had to do that.

This is all for Jan. 13
Last year’s natural gas bill was $127.79
Last year’s Electric was $110.03
Last year’s car gas bill was $251.28 (now all solar powered Chevy Volt this year.)
Last year Total utilities with car gas was $489.1


This year Electric bill $77.97 (new mini splits making most of the heat)
This year’s natural gas bill was $48.74 (hot water and ex heat)
Car gasoline $30
This year's total utilities/Car gas with solar power, Mini Splits and EV car was $156.71

Saving $332.39 that is compared to last year.
This was a very good solar month 1,356 KWH

We used a lot of power this month but it was so cold and we still saved money.
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Old 02-21-14, 02:38 PM   #205
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Awesome, $330 is a pretty substantial savings. I do look forward to seeing how future months come out.
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Old 02-21-14, 05:22 PM   #206
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Awesome, $330 is a pretty substantial savings. I do look forward to seeing how future months come out.
To me it's more than the savings. Gary's cost for electric with the mini-split heating is remarkable.
I just checked my oil, I have about 175 gallons left but the cost to heat this year was very high. Next year I'm going to try and make most of my heat with wind, micro-hydro and PV, hopefully this will ease my oil expenditure. I heard this was the coldest winter here since 1951 if next year is warmer I should be able to do it. Aside from that I made money on the electric this year but paid for gas for the car.

My energy expenses are for gas for the car and oil for the house. The thing about an electric car is that, as much as I want one, I can't justify the cost. We're retired so we only put about 4 to 5k miles on the car a year, if that.

On the up side I have no water or sewer bill. My septic even gets pumped out for free by the NYC watershed as they own all the water here, if it's possible to own water!

Rob
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Old 02-21-14, 07:50 PM   #207
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I don't consider it possible to own water, but I live in the tropics and have a connection to the Atlantic Ocean in my backyard.

Being able to heat with the mini-splits in SC is apparently a blessing this winter. I see Duke Energy surprised a few people with bills 2x what they are accustomed to receiving. I have friends who live in a log cabin outside Spartanburg, SC. Despite dropping their thermostat 4 degrees, and heating primarily with wood, their electric bill still went up more than $50 over the previous month which was higher than previous years. I simply reminded them they should put up a PV system on their pole barn.

My power company read my meter today. My total purchase from the grid was under 150kWh for the month, after subtracting my 315kWh net metered. (~140kWh went straight from my panels to my house, without turning the meter.)
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Old 02-27-14, 05:44 PM   #208
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Today was our best Solar day so far.
79.7 KWH
Our five best days this month were 72.6, 72.6, 71, 72.2, and 79.7 = 368.1 KWH
I so wanted to hit 80 KWH but there is still time to do that.
We even made up for loosing almost three days from snow.
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Old 02-27-14, 07:59 PM   #209
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Wow! I'm looking forward to larger daily productivity. Today I got 48kwh. Going from 9.2 to 11.7k. I've contacted Sun Vally Solar for another install date, last year they were totally booked up. I'm adding 10 - 245k panels. This was some of the build...

You know I took the solar money and bought a 2014 Volt in 2013. The money is back in the checking now, game on. Got $7.5k income tax return, cool. I'll spend $7.5k on solar install 2014, then 2015, get it back again, very cool.

The Volt had 1560 miles with 3.6 gallons of gas used, 500 miles per gallon. As the mileage goes up and I recalculate milage, I'm sure it will drop a lot more.
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Last edited by Vern2; 02-27-14 at 08:03 PM..
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Old 02-27-14, 08:23 PM   #210
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You will have some great numbers with AZ sun and 11.7 kw. good to see you getting some miles on that Volt.
We are @17,403 EV miles 200 mpg this has saved buying 805 gallons of gas. It is so much fun driving a sun powered car.


You should check out the post on building a 240V car charger.
http://ecorenovator.org/forum/applia...ment-evse.html
I have been using the one I built for almost a week now.

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