Solar power anyone ?

[rmorey]

Right up until the grid isn't reliable anymore....then they are priceless.

Don't assume the NK or China or Russia don't have an EMP weapon floating overhead right now in a "communications" satellite waiting for a signal to drop over Kansas.

OR the sun won't spit out a Carrington Event class solar flare and reduce the grid to smoking ruins.

So...if the feds give you a rebate, and the state gives you a rebate, why on earth would someone put in a system that fails when the s**t hits the fan? Its cant be a money thing, because over half is rebated back to the consumer.....

 

[BrandonR]

So...if the feds give you a rebate, and the state gives you a rebate, why on earth would someone put in a system that fails when the s**t hits the fan? Its cant be a money thing, because over half is rebated back to the consumer.....

Because preparing for hypothetical scenarios that are so unlikely to happen over the lifespan of the system is counter-productive to the very real economic payback.

Here's a question for the doomsday'ers:
Do you want to be the only one with lights on in that situation? Think about the consequences before you answer.

 

[Biggreenavalanche]

Because preparing for hypothetical scenarios that are so unlikely to happen over the lifespan of the system is counter-productive to the very real economic payback.

Here's a question for the doomsday'ers:
Do you want to be the only one with lights on in that situation? Think about the consequences before you answer.

You mean the beacon in the night ? :shocked: not necessarily, but would be nice to keep the meat n such frozen and the water running and so on...in that situation would really have to pay close attention to OPSEC/COMSEC n such

Rich

 

[rmorey]

Because preparing for hypothetical scenarios that are so unlikely to happen over the lifespan of the system is counter-productive to the very real economic payback.

Here's a question for the doomsday'ers:
Do you want to be the only one with lights on in that situation? Think about the consequences before you answer.

I'm not suggesting that you should install a 30Kw, offgrid, 4 centralized inverters, 10 Charge Controllers, 48 batteries, blah, blah, blah. Just have a process that protects your investment when the fertilizer hits the ventilator.

In 1998, we had an ice storm in Eastern Ontario, Quebec and New England. Power was off in some areas for 3 - 4 weeks. People lost food in freezers, their pipes froze, and general mayhem for weeks after. No solar flares, no end of earth scenarios, just a couple of days of freezing rain in January. Battery backup would have been handy.

 

[TnAndy]

Because preparing for hypothetical scenarios that are so unlikely to happen over the lifespan of the system is counter-productive to the very real economic payback.

Here's a question for the doomsday'ers:
Do you want to be the only one with lights on in that situation? Think about the consequences before you answer.

You're assuming I plan to have lights on. I'm more interested in a freezer, washing machine, some power tools, and that type of thing.

Mid 90's, we had a snow storm that took out the line up the valley....it was two weeks before power was restored. Two weeks is a long time to listen to a generator, not to mention fuel.

 

[Beltman60]

and just finding gas pumps that were working you had to travel about 40 miles when we were out for 10 days

 

[dave1949]

We lived on a generator for about 2-1/2 months while our house was under construction. The generator provided the power for the build, so it was running all day for that, plus powering the camping trailer we were living in. It does get old dumping gas into the thing and listening to it. It was a great day when the power company, finally, connected us.

I am not sure how useful an "island of electricity" such as an off-grid system would be in an extended EMP event. For a couple weeks you could preserve what refrigerated and frozen items you have on hand, but the where would you get replacements? Trucks with computer controls would be knocked out, they won't be delivering, store's refrigeration units will be out, etc.

For that matter, without really good shielding, how will your off-grid system survive the EMP? Lots of component parts would be fried in those too.

A hand well pump, a stack of canned/preserved goods, and wood fire for cooking and heating are hard to beat.

 

[rmorey]

We lived on a generator for about 2-1/2 months while our house was under construction. The generator provided the power for the build, so it was running all day for that, plus powering the camping trailer we were living in. It does get old dumping gas into the thing and listening to it. It was a great day when the power company, finally, connected us.

I am not sure how useful an "island of electricity" such as an off-grid system would be in an extended EMP event. For a couple weeks you could preserve what refrigerated and frozen items you have on hand, but the where would you get replacements? Trucks with computer controls would be knocked out, they won't be delivering, store's refrigeration units will be out, etc.

For that matter, without really good shielding, how will your off-grid system survive the EMP? Lots of component parts would be fried in those too.

A hand well pump, a stack of canned/preserved goods, and wood fire for cooking and heating are hard to beat.

I'm not sure folks should worry about a major EMP event.

My earlier post (#81) referred to the fact that if the govt's are going to pay for 1/2 - 3/4 of my system, and knowing that a micro-based system doesn't provide power during a grid outage, then I would make sure my system had a backup strategy, such as TnAndy has.

 

[TnAndy]

Well, the thread is drifting away from solar power and into prepping ( my fault I guess ), but here ya go:

I am not sure how useful an "island of electricity" such as an off-grid system would be in an extended EMP event. For a couple weeks you could preserve what refrigerated and frozen items you have on hand, but the where would you get replacements? Trucks with computer controls would be knocked out, they won't be delivering, store's refrigeration units will be out, etc.

Our refrigeration is mainly for preserving what we grow here on the place....beef, pork, chicken, fish, in addition to things that preserve better frozen than canned, like strawberries. We're not all that dependent on what trucks deliver to the store. We do a lot of canning and root cellaring, and could do without any freezer, but some refrigeration is nice to have.

For that matter, without really good shielding, how will your off-grid system survive the EMP? Lots of component parts would be fried in those too.

I assume it would take out the electronic components, but hopefully not the panels. That's why I store a complete extra set of inverters, HUB (the brain that connects them together), and charge controllers in a shielded Faraday container. No plan is perfect, but I've tried to think ahead.

A hand well pump, a stack of canned/preserved goods, and wood fire for cooking and heating are hard to beat.

Yes....absolutely correct.

Which is why before the first solar panel ever went up, we have gravity fed spring water system, the "stack" (and it's WIDE and DEEP ), an auxiliary kitchen I built on the back of the garage with walk-in cooler ( we process our own meat here on the farm ) ( and another reason electric power is handy from time to time....let's one chill the meat when nature isn't co-operating ) that has the wood cook stove, and we've heated the house with wood for 30 years.

Pic of part of the AuxKitchen.....wood stove, pantry, walk-in cooler door.

(6'x6' walk-in, by the way, is powered by a 12,000 BTU Samsung window AC with a "Coolbot" controller...will take the room down to 33 degrees )

 

[dave1949]

TnAndy,

It sounds like you are well prepared! You have a lot of things in place that would be very useful.

I have no idea about EMP effects on panels.

As far as wandering off topic, I don't see a problem with discussing how solar power fits into disaster planning. That's just prudent.

I think my area's biggest/most likely threat of disaster, other than our wacky governor :laughing:, is probably a hurricane or tail-end of a strong hurricane blowing through. That could leave a lot of roads blocked and power outages. Ice storms can take down a lot of power lines too.