Check out my new battery!

[greenmojo]

I got the second set of 12 panels hooked up this morning, and will work on the third set this coming week. I need to pour 2 more footings and get that other end of the rack ready to mount them.

Flipped the breakers and smiled as the power started rolling in. 5,000 watts at 11AM.



I have need to finish the conduit and put siding on the rack, but first getting things connected and cleaning up wire is the main task.



~Moses

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

I beg to differ. There is this but no one is talking about it because of politics and the economics of political power. .

Thorium is very promising, but it has nothing to do with storing power, which is what my post was about.

 

[3930dave]

I got the second set of 12 panels hooked up this morning, and will work on the third set this coming week. I need to pour 2 more footings and get that other end of the rack ready to mount them.

Flipped the breakers and smiled as the power started rolling in. 5,000 watts at 11AM.

View attachment 476714

I have need to finish the conduit and put siding on the rack, but first getting things connected and cleaning up wire is the main task.

View attachment 476715

~Moses

:thumbsup: Congratulations, and please keep us posted.

Rgds, D.

 

[dstig1]

This is my exact world! The best part for me is when people realize that I am basically doing everything by myself, and we started its unimproved land. It opens their eyes and so far the response has been amazing. I am at walls and in a few weeks there will be A/C then I can work past noon each day. I am too old to work in 100 degree heat so I work like a maniac until it gets too hot.

One nice thing about this forum, there are many who do it and understand completely.

Heh. And mine too. I am into year 3 on my house build. The exterior is getting to be in good shape this summer. That is my primary goal. Then maybe make a few doors this winter. We don't have any interior doors as of yet... Trim work is a distant dream... Pretty impressive the solar/battery work you did. I cannot imagine taking on that on top of the rest of the typical house build.

 

[greenmojo]

Heh. And mine too. I am into year 3 on my house build. The exterior is getting to be in good shape this summer. That is my primary goal. Then maybe make a few doors this winter. We don't have any interior doors as of yet... Trim work is a distant dream... Pretty impressive the solar/battery work you did. I cannot imagine taking on that on top of the rest of the typical house build.

Its been tough, and its the little things that eat up so much time. Spending an hour and a half running to home depot for something I forgot kills the day...

The siding is on the house, and about 80% of the trim is done. I moved to the inside so the family can have a "home". This part is killing me. So much to do, and it doesn't change from day to day, even though I can spend all day working on it.

~Moses

 

[dstig1]

Ha! Tell me about it. Hours spent just trying to figure out how best to do something. Not to mention the hours spent actually doing it. And as you have noticed, the work slows down dramatically as it moves from rough to finish. A door can easily take a week to build and trim out, if you are making your own. One door. Finish work takes forever. Adjust your expectations. Especially if working solo.

Keep the faith bro!

 

[Locoweed]

In case you have not thought about it, I would recommend having a pretty good stash of spare parts for the Outback stuff. If something goes wrong you can fix it your self & get back in operation much faster than waiting for replacement parts to arrive. Outback has some video's about replacing the guts of your VFX's. It's not hard, just watch the one cable they warn about. Don't ask me how I know. :laughing: Outback was very good to work with on the warranty.

 

[greenmojo]

In case you have not thought about it, I would recommend having a pretty good stash of spare parts for the Outback stuff. If something goes wrong you can fix it your self & get back in operation much faster than waiting for replacement parts to arrive. Outback has some video's about replacing the guts of your VFX's. It's not hard, just watch the one cable they warn about. Don't ask me how I know. :laughing: Outback was very good to work with on the warranty.

I had read some stuff a couple of years ago where Outback had people do the replacements and kept their warranty in tact. I thought that was cool.

That is an excellent idea. I have the generator bypass system installed, so I can flip the breakers and feed the property direct from the generator without any of the Outback software and hardware getting in the way.

I've already discovered this with the generator... it never breaks down when I am not using it... only at 1AM on a weekend when the parts place is closed.

~Moses

 

[3930dave]

I had read some stuff a couple of years ago where Outback had people do the replacements and kept their warranty in tact. I thought that was cool.

That is an excellent idea. I have the generator bypass system installed, so I can flip the breakers and feed the property direct from the generator without any of the Outback software and hardware getting in the way.

I've already discovered this with the generator... it never breaks down when I am not using it... only at 1AM on a weekend when the parts place is closed.

~Moses

How has the photon capturing been going on Badger Mountain ?

Rgds, D.

 

[RNeumann]

How has the photon capturing been going on Badger Mountain ?

Rgds, D.

Ditto. Anxious to hear how solar works in the PNW. Also wondering how the solar structures did in the wind and winter weather. The water heater was also interesting tech- how did that end up working out?

 

[bigdeano]

Mass storage, or the lack of it, is what makes every single "alternative" energy source a non-starter when it comes to fundamentally changing our energy systems. Whatever other arguments there may be for or against them, none of that matters even a tiny little bit. Mass storage (whether distributed or centralized) is the key. We don't have it, and there is nothing on the horizon that even looks promising.

Check out flow batteries if you haven't. Looks like they're already using them.

 

[dragoneggs]

Ditto. Anxious to hear how solar works in the PNW. Also wondering how the solar structures did in the wind and winter weather. The water heater was also interesting tech- how did that end up working out?

Badger Mountain while technically part of the PNW... is not what most think. Eastern Wa grape growing regions get far more sun than us poor folk west of the the Cascades.

 

[3930dave]

Windward vs. leeward; OK, that makes sense.

Rgds, D.

 

[CajunRider]

I thought long and hard about installing solar at my place. Until I find a reliable way to keep the seagulls and the blessed pelicans from pooping on Every Thing, I'll have to wait. I really like your set up.

 

[3930dave]

CJR - long enough ago that I can't easily track it down, I saw a video of an installation on a farm in the UK.

Their concern was that dust from agricultural operations was going to really cut down solar panel output, so they set up 12v pumps feeding washdown nozzles on the panels. They were set up on timers to automatically clean the panels.

Rgds, D.

 

[TemporaryKubotaOwnerMark]

Check out flow batteries if you haven't. Looks like they're already using them.

Interesting! Thanks for the tip - that's a new one on me. Looks promising, but... not big enough, yet. If they pan out, they will definitely play a role, but I don't see a game changer there, yet.

 

[Garandman]

Just kind of guessing here, but it looks like your ROI will be about 10 years or even a little less? Nice setup and it sounds like you have learned a lot.

Looked at another way, given the high installation costs, his payback is essentially instant.

Think this may be the start of a trend: as power becomes decentralized and demand goes down, homeowner-borne installation costs may become the norm.

 

[3930dave]

Looked at another way, given the high installation costs, his payback is essentially instant.

Think this may be the start of a trend: as power becomes decentralized and demand goes down, homeowner-borne installation costs may become the norm.

It's another option, that didn't exist until not that long ago.

I see the most activity at opposite ends of the spectrum. People like OP, with access to financial resources, AND the relevant property, AND enough personal motivation (a fairly narrow slice of the population) will continue to make these decisions.

Much like cell tower technology enabled a similar leap-frog implementation of phones, many less-developed countries may never have what we think of as our "grid" today. Independent standalone power generation suits those countries well, and if we had those same choices available around the time my father was born, our grid probably wouldn't look like it does today.

Rgds, D.