Best place to buy solar panels??

BB. wrote: »

Do you know the diameter of your well? I am guessing that installing a submersible pump would mean pulling out the jet pump piping.

Jet pumps tend not to be very energy efficient--but they are inexpensive and relatively reliable.

For your pumping needs--A "typical" 12 volt pump is more for internal home needs (maybe 40 gallons or so per per per day type thing).

If this also supplies outside water to your yard, garden, and such... I am not sure a simple 12 volt pump is the best idea (brush replacement, diaphragm, etc.).

Can you drive another sand point for a submersible 12 volt pump?

As an example, say your pump runs on 12 volts and 10 amps at 5gpm. And you have three people for 120 gallons per day... The math might look like:

• 120 gpd / 5 gpm = 24 minutes run time = 0.4 hours per day
• 0.4 hours per day * 12 volts * 10 amps = 48 Watt*Hours per day

Assuming you have a minimum of 4 hours of sun per day (winter will be as low as 2 hours per day for some places):

• 48 watt*hours * 1/0.77 panel+charger eff * 0.80 batt eff * 1/4 hours of sun per day = 19.4 watt solar panel minimum

Battery wise, 1-3 days of "no sun" power and 50% maximum discharge for longer life--picking 2 days and 50% max discharge:

• 48 WH * 1/12 volt battery bank * 2 days no sun * 1/0.50 max discharge = 16 AH 12 volt battery bank

Now, I do not like to run a battery too hard... For a flooded cell, I would recommend a 1/8 maximum continuous discharge rate. For a 10 amp load:

• 10 amps * 8 hour discharge = 80 AH (an AGM battery can be smaller)

With a battery, we should meet the 5-13% rate of charge with the solar panels:

• 80 AH * 14.5 volts charging * 1/0.77 panel+charger eff * 0.05 rate of charge = 75 watt minimum solar panel
• 80 AH * 14.5 volts charging * 1/0.77 panel+charger eff * 0.10 rate of charge = 150 watt "nominal" solar panel
• 80 AH * 14.5 volts charging * 1/0.77 panel+charger eff * 0.13 rate of charge = 196 watt "cost effective maximum" solar panel

Now, this is a "larger system" because of the relatively heavy current required to run the pump (the small amount of runtime per day does not need this large of solar array/battery bank otherwise).

Anyway, say 135 watt panel, minimum of 4 hours per day, 0.52 end to end efficiency running a small 85% efficient inverter would, roughly provide a minimum of:

• 135 watts * 0.52 system efficiency * 4 hours of sun per day = 281 Watt*Hours per day 48 WH for pump, balance for lighting, radio, etc.).

That will work for (on average), around 9 months of the year (more in summer, less than 280 WH per day for 3 months of winter).

If you were to do the same thing with a 1/2 horse power jet pump--the system would have to be much larger.

Anyway--again just based on what people say here--You can live a fairly nominal life at 1,000 WH (1kWH) per day, and even run a refrigerator + washing machine on ~3.3 kWH per day.

There is no right or wrong answer here--Energy usage is a highly personal choice and understanding your needs will help to design a system that will help the system meet them (no surprises).

-Bill

icarus wrote: »

Chris,

Might I make the friendly suggestion, that before you do anything, in an attempt to avoid the single most expensive mistake of the off grid world, that is "Ready, FIRE, aim", that you start from scratch, and define clearly what it is that you are trying to do, in total with your potential system.

You are asking questions in a number of threads, that are leading to potential conclusions that are potentially not well meshed with one another. For example, is your primary goal to save money? Or provide emergency power (and water) (How much and for how long?) Is your goal to be "green"(er)? All these may have very different solutions, and my suggestion is that to by any hardware, to make any choices without considering the bigger question(s) is risking wasting time,,and potentially significant amounts of money.

Good luck and keep in touch,

Tony

niel wrote: »

chris,
first let me say that we do frown on links like this to ebay as they soon disappear leaving those reading the thread some time later wondering what was being referred to. now i can't say for sure what or where is the best place for you to purchase in canada, but that could be highly opinionated on a personal level. it's really up to you to research options and decide who is the best you would like to go with. your question maybe should've been who all deals with solar up there so you can make a choice.

this type of thread can be very iffy for us moderators as we are moderating a forum for a u s company that does sell to canadians. now i'm sure our host does not mind you trying to make up your mind, but should it become a thread of many competitors' products and links initiated by you? is this being fair to our host? might it have been better if you had asked who it is other canadians thought had a system or equipment available that could make up a system with specs you would require and from there you make up your mind on it? the "what do you think of" was a marketing ploy that has been used here in the past and i'm going to ask you to stop doing this. although i am being lenient, other moderators and even naws itself could act further if they deem it necessary, thus overriding my leniency and can be anywhere from deleting links to bans up to being permanent.