solar power for home?

Where we are you would do quite well with wind too, fairly regular reasonable winds most of the day.

(But as some of the stories on wind farms has shown it is a constant suitable breeze that is required, not necessarily a strong gusty occasional wind)

I am still a bit miffed about people complaining about the noise these "farms" create. There is one nearby and the trees make more noise, standing right under the blades even on a windy day general conversation drowns them out. Perhaps others are louder?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Quiggers

Googie, I think there are several forms of 'solar'.

Nearby, the 'Rainbow Power co' will do your house so you can be autonomous for about $20k.....

..or you can do what some others do:

...miles of black hose (facing the north sun) gives much hot water.
...large (but simple) battery banks can hold much stored capacity from small sun capturing cells, if you have vast sun (as we do around here).

a bloke who worked for me a while ago has a house which is not grid connected, much of his house is a bit feral, but his kids run laptops, with no dramas...

a 12 v pump runs his hot water, from the miles of black hose/tubes,

but he has a genny, just in case....

if you dont have large 240v power consuming (like plasma tvs and huge washing machines) devices and gadgets, running 'off the grid' is not a prob, more an address of lifestyle...

you can actually do a heck of a lot in your home, running on 12v, just kill off the big suckers...

GQ

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:D woohoo you speak english Quiggers :D thank god someone gets it :)

Greg

From my original thread i need to give more info;) live and learn anywho :) 12v runs from the bank to a switch board/fuse board,there are 5 fluros and 4 energy bulbs running off the board with individual switches,the fridge is a weco 220ltr fridge frezzer running a direct line on its own from the bank with an inline 30watt fuse.a 2800 watt inverter runs from the same bank to,5 double points wich runs the microwave,tv entertainment unit,a 120ltr tuckerbox frezzer on a timer running 1 hour on 3 hours off.The 240v imput has its own switchboard/throwoutbox like general power box(saftey power switch),with an external point similar to a caravan 240v output running to a 11 kva genset.The maximum my mate has got most full sun days are 15.6 volts at the digital volt gauge,it runs down to 11.4-6 with 5 days of rain,cloud cover.To keep the bank charged when needed he has a 50 amp charger they used in ww2 im not sure of the brand(i ll get pic's) that charger is unreal its so powerfull it anialates car batteries within 5 minutes.The old fella that set this system up is 82 years old he's been doing it all his life,i know i probly got a few things wrong with my explaination,if only i could get into his brain :D.




Greg



:burnrubber:

I wouldn't mind getting one of these.

You'd only have to find a couple of surprise appliances in the house and it would have paid for itself.

EDIT: I just calculated that one of these would only have to save me 15% of one power bill and I'd break even.