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Old 06-07-16, 07:35 PM   #31
MEMPHIS91
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So my meter has these there dots/arrows that show power usage. They left on and stay on from left to right, like this ^__, then ^^_, then ^^^, then they turn off from left to right _^^, then __^, then ___. So thanks to Steve idea of just giving it a shot, today, for the first time EVER, the meter was at ^__ and then it went backwards and went to ___. I did a happy dance.
So anyway, thanks Steve! I now know that not only can I use the power my panels are putting out, BUT it will run my meter backwards and in a way "pay" me 11 cents a kwh. But SSSSHHHH!! No telling my power company, that is unless they don't know already, though my power is still on so that is
a good thing.

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Old 06-08-16, 09:46 AM   #32
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Memphis,

Does the inverter you are using turn off AC production if you have a grid power failure? If it does not, then the electric company will "find" you. Then they can fine you . . .

If I recall, your total power from your PV panels is about 800 watts. Running this over the day MORE than pays for your well water heat pump.

Glad your meter works - you are just one more in the group that has success with existing meters.


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Old 06-08-16, 10:29 AM   #33
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Yes it shuts down when I unplug it from the wall, and I checked the online user manual. Right now I only have 550 watts of panels hooked up to it. But yes, I hippie to see it out out over 2.1 kWh a day.
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Old 06-08-16, 06:39 PM   #34
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You aren't out of the woods yet. I had a dial meter initially when my solar system was installed. You are allowed to run the solar system to test it before the new meters are installed and the permit is satisfied and I witnessed this first hand. The dial turns the other direction, but even with it going backwards, the kwh counters still counted up. ..this is with the dial spinning in a direction that would suggest it would go down. This is intended to prevent people from illegally connecting the meter to feed power backwards. My understanding is there is an idler in the gearing that basically makes it a one-way operation. There's also a guy on Youtube that I watched where his video with an electronic meter showed the same thing where the electronic dots were going backwards but the meter, with an extended push of energy into it of multiple kwhs and it did not count down.

Instead of looking at the meter turning backwards, look for the numbers to count down. ..or at the very least, if it's electronic, to not count up while you are feeding power back.

My power company pays net metering for the retail rate but also has a switch installed where they can momentarily interrupt the air conditioner for 30 mins at a time during peak demand times and they give a 1 cent per kwh discount for that. ..that isn't a retail rate, so I buy my power cheaper than I sell it during the summer months. I'm also on a program where I sell the power company my M-RETS, Midwest Renewable Energy Tracking System, credits for 8 cents per kwh for the first 10 years. Currently I get 19 cents per kwh produced and it will go up along with the electric rates. I realize most people aren't this lucky.
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Old 06-08-16, 07:10 PM   #35
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MN, gosh man, way to rain on my parade. lol Just kidding. Yeah have no way to see the numbers go down because my meter reads in multiples of 20 kwh, seeing as my panels today maxed out at 360 watts (think I have a bad panel), I don't think I will ever be able to get 20kwh in a day. BUT i did make 2.6kwh today! That covers my hot water and refrigerator!

I really hope that I never do feed the grid, I am always running about 400 watts on sunny days anyway. So the grid may never see my power.
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Old 06-15-16, 06:21 AM   #36
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I fixed my panel, (bad connection) so my max watts are now around 460-475. The total kwh for the 7 days I have had it plugged in is 15kwh. SO about $1.50 in free power. =D
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Old 07-22-16, 09:21 AM   #37
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We have a little 6000 BTU window unit . I think it pulls 6 amps . 6 x 120 = 720 watts . This does not include start up surge .

A 5000 BTU unit would pull slightly less .

What you want is not simple to implement .

God bless
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Old 07-22-16, 09:54 AM   #38
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Yes without the grid it would be really hard to afford the system needed. And would probably just be best to install a huge solar system with huge battery banks. BUT so far my grid tie has pumped out 92 kWh of power. Helping keep my daily usage to below 30 kWh a day with over 100F weather.
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Old 07-23-16, 08:38 AM   #39
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MEMPHIS91 View Post
Yes without the grid it would be really hard to afford the system needed. And would probably just be best to install a huge solar system with huge battery banks. BUT so far my grid tie has pumped out 92 kWh of power. Helping keep my daily usage to below 30 kWh a day with over 100F weather.
Not necessarily. The main goal of an A/C system is to remove heat. It doesn't really matter when it removes the heat, just that it does. By using thermal storage you can massively reduce the size of the battery bank needed. The down side to that is you will likely cycle your batteries more often. If you get your energy usage down you can reduce the amount of thermal storage you need as well. Even in warm climates the best houses are down to around the 1 ton per 2000 sqft mark of peak load.

Lets say you need in total 10 times that amount (that would be your 1 ton A/C running 10 hours a day) for a full day you would need enough thermal storage to remove 120,000 BTUs from your house during a peak day. If you use a cubic meter of water for your storage, and chill that water down to frozen solid then you have about 317,000 BTUs of thermal storage (actually a bit more than that) that is basically 2 2/3rds days of storage.

Ice Bear uses this to offset power usage, typically their system uses night time power in areas with Time of Use rates, allowing system owners to power their Air Conditioners with cheaper night time power. The same Idea can be used with a solar system, just running when the sun is out instead of at night.
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Old 07-23-16, 11:35 AM   #40
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Good info! So I guess my question would be, how would you utilize the cubic meter of frozen ice? Plus you still have to have some batteries for when a cloud goes by. And drops your solar output.

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