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Old 03-11-14, 08:24 PM   #211
pinballlooking
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I am excited to see some very good sun. The last four days
77.6, 72.5, 78, 71.9 kwh = 300 kwh.
we are $56 worth of power so far this month and we are a 0 usage from the power CO. right now but more days to come.


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Old 03-12-14, 09:58 AM   #212
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This is all for Feb. 2013 Last year’s
Natural gas bill was $156.96
Electric was $148.44
Car gas bill was $250 (now all solar powered Chevy Volt this year.)
Total utilities with car gas was $554.44

This Year Bills
Electric bill $18.51 (new mini splits making most of the heat $8.29 is meter charge)
Natural gas bill was $42.33 (hot water and extra heat)
Car gasoline $0
Total utilities/Car gas with solar power, Mini Splits and EV car Total this year $60.84

Saving $493.60 compared to last year.

This is very good savings but we had just bought out Chevy volt Feb 2013 so $20 - $30 of the electric bill was probably the Volt. We did not have solar installed at this point last year.
This was actually where we started talking about solar. We both said wouldn’t it be cool to power the car with solar power. That statement got me to start researching solar power.

I am not off the gird but it still feels pretty good to not buy all that gasoline and pay utilities companies so much each month. We just went over 18,000 EV solar power miles today in our Volt.


or if you want deeper info here is another live public link.
http://www.pvoutput.org/list.jsp?id=23064&sid=20945

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Old 03-12-14, 04:48 PM   #213
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Hey Pinball,
Nice savings. I'm enjoying the savings with my ashp also.
How do you like the Volt? How many miles between charges? How much electricity does it use to recharge?
Keep up the good work.
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Old 03-12-14, 05:00 PM   #214
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We love the Volt. We drive it about 39 miles in the morning then charge it up and do it again in the afternoon. Sometimes we charge a while and go out in the evening.

We usually drive 80 EV miles a day today we did 83 miles once in a while we go 100 EV miles in a day. The Volt also has a gas motor so once the EV miles are gone the generator just takes over.
Miles on a charge does depend on temp it does much better in warm climates. When it is warm out we get 40-45 sometimes 50 but 40-45 normally.
In the EV miles are depleted it takes about 11-12 kwh to charge almost 4 hours @240volts.

At our rates .10 kwh that is $1.10 - $1.20 to go 40-45 miles the more gas cost the better it looks.
We charge with solar power so it looks pretty good to us.


It now has 21,684 miles with 18,064 miles being EV miles and it has not needed an oil change or any service yet.

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Old 03-12-14, 07:08 PM   #215
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Wow. So not only are you saving a car payment every month, you're using free power to drive 80 miles per day? That's downright sexy.
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Old 03-13-14, 06:55 PM   #216
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I really think to get the fastest payback time is to have a EV car. Gas is so expensive so subtitling elect for gas really pays off. If I add that savings I will pay off the system in 2-2 ½ years.

Well today was the first day we ever hit over 79.XX KWH we got 83 KWH. Very nice for one day.

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Old 03-13-14, 09:10 PM   #217
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Default Beautiful days...

Quote:
Originally Posted by pinballlooking View Post
Well today was the first day we ever hit over 79.XX KWH we got 83 KWH. Very nice for one day.
Wow! I don't know what pitch you have on your barn roof, but it's obviously tuned for this time of year! I thought I was doing well gathering 1.21kWh out of each of my panels today, for a total of 24.2kWh. My 16° turn west of due south is showing...

I'm still rooting for you to collect that 2mWh you were hoping to collect in one month when April rolls around.
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Old 03-14-14, 10:05 AM   #218
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Thanks. We were excited to get over 80 kwh in a day but now I think 85 kwh in a day might be possible.
Yours did well 24.2 kwh is good. My panels put out about 1.55kwh each yesterday. My angles are not that good 40 panels are @19deg and the other 14 are @10 deg. (had to make it high enough for my wife's horses heads.) This area 34.9 deg is best but I am facing south perfect. The white roof helps keep the panels cool.

We had another great day with 82.7kwh the last two days we made 165.7 kwh Wow I can't wait to see what April brings.

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Old 03-27-14, 10:16 AM   #219
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Yesterday was a cloud free day we beat our max day 86.7 kwh. I guess I don’t know where my upgraded system will max out yet. This month has been up and down but the array has performed nicely so far.

The mini splits are really shining this month they are providing the majority of the heat and we have made just a little more power that we have used so far this month. My zero out date is June first and they don’t pay me for any extra power they zero out. So the mini splits are using power to heat the house that would get zeroed out by Duke Power June 1.

Here is our month so far with solar power generation.

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Old 03-27-14, 02:26 PM   #220
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PB,
This is turning out to be the best march since my intertie went in. With the new system selling back power along with it I expect to break 1Mwh this month which is very good for a march in my area.

(Purple is 523 KWH)
Rob


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