another newbie

[creeky]

Hi all,

My name is creeky. A nickname given to me that both describes my aging body and my location next to a small creek.

I'm currently living in a rv trailer on six recreational/rural acres in Ontario. I have a 500 watt (2 250 watt monocrystalline panels with a non-mppt morningstar controller and 2 395 amp 6 volt batteries) solar system.

A couple weeks back I started my "power shed" and the past four days of glorious sunshine have seen great progress. I'll start a thread in the solar power forum for the build.

Well, hello to all, and I look forward to sharing my experiences and your comments and hopefully help.

[Daox]

Welcome Creeky. Love the nickname.

I look foward to seeing this build thread.

[Piwoslaw]

Welcome to ER

So you are totally off grid? Cool

Welcome to the forum. How long does it take to charge up the batteries on a sunny day and how much electricity do you use each day?

[creeky]

thanks for the welcome

It takes a day to charge the batteries based on my current use (ha, pun intended).

The rv is mostly propane (fridge, stove, heat). On cold days when the furnace runs a lot at night and I've stayed up late listening to the radio and maybe charged the netbook, surfed for hours so the mini inverter (modified sine 175) is providing electricity for the highspeed modem, charged my phone etc ... it might take two days to get back to a 14.4 full charge.

I put LED lights into the trailer. That helps. And I'm a reader, so that helps too. For the morning coffee I have to start the generator, but that's more to do with not having a big enough inverter. I have a 1000 watt pure sine, but it gags on the kettle and the big blender I make breakfast in. So a couple of minutes of genny time won't kill me.

For the TV (located in the bunk house), which I use once or twice a week, I have an older 2 "golf cart" 6 volt battery system hooked up to 60 watts of panels. I use a 1000 watt modified sine (soon to get the pure sine) to run the TV. I can watch 3-4 hours of tv (or two movies in a row). I have a 46" Samsung. CFL backlit, and it's pretty efficient.

I did carefully matched my solar input to my amp hours. I noticed that the people who are happiest with their solar experience run 1 watt to 1 amp hour. On the RV I have 500 watts going into 400 amp hours so I'm pretty good.

Can't wait to get the solar shed done with the additional 4 batteries and panels!!! Plus 30 amp service for the RV. No more generator.

Very cool. Do you have any pics of the setup?

[strider3700]

for the LED lights did you replace the existing 12V bulbs or did you add different fixtures? I' was looking at the old bulbs in my trailer but haven't tried finding LED replacements yet.

[Piwoslaw]

Creeky, have you thought about adding a second source of renewable energy, like a windmill or a bike powered genny?

[creeky]

I took these on the first day I set the system up. Get ready to laugh. The panel is a 250 watt monocrystalline from China. I now have two wired in parrallel. Note the impressive 10 gauge solid copper wire (found buried in a mound of dirt and other cables while cleaning up the property).



The controller is a Morningstar, as you can see. I'm getting 4.7 amps. Now I regularly see 10 amps with the two panels.



The pink box behind the controller is my "rain proof shed". Cheesy or what. I've had to go to a bigger rubber box with the new bigger batteries. There I only had 2 golf cart 245 amp 6 volt in series. Those batteries now run my bunkhouse. Led lights and TV.


***

yes. I replaced the 12v incandescents with 12v leds. I got them from a distributor on ebay. I tried two types. One has 68 warm white leds. They are great. The other light was fewer leds but a "super bright" which turned out to be a blue light (they were cheaper). I don't really like the blue light, but I use them on the exterior lights and for the hallway/passage way lighting and they are fine. I'd recommend though, get the warm white leds. Each RV fixture has room for two bulbs (of course) and with both bulbs on I have tons of light for reading/cooking/washing. With just one on I can read and I have ample light for fiddling about. They are very bright. But I generally prefer the two on. In the morning I often have 4 on, two over the kitchen area and two over the couch. It makes the RV pretty bright and cheery.

That said, I'm surfing with just one on over the couch and it's more than adequate.

It was a bit of a splurge. I think I paid, all in, taxes, shipping etc. almost 200 for 16 lights. OUCH.

***

Wind doesn't work here in Ontario. We just don't get the steady breezes. I saw a "green energy sales" guy try and within two years the tower was down and there were more panels by the house. Plus I have tonnes of wind blocking trees.

And I work a lot on the farm, so I get enough exercise. I used to race bikes and indoor training was something I could not stand. I am, however, very interested in what kind of new generation schemes people come up with in that regard.