Newbie to Solar power and very impressed with this Forum
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Re: Newbie to Solar power and very impressed with this Forum
Geysers are smaller tanks than we are accustomed to. The ones I saw were 2 - 5 gallons, so quick to heat... I have to imagine they might have even been able to 'vent' in the early days, 1950's according to my wife, who hails from Scotland .
KID #51B 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
CL#29032 FW 2126/ 2073/ 2133 175A E-Panel WBjr, 3 x 4s 140W to 24V 900Ah C&D AGM
Cotek ST1500W 24V Inverter,OmniCharge 3024,
2 x Cisco WRT54GL i/c DD-WRT Rtr & Bridge,
Eu3/2/1000i Gens, 1680W & E-Panel/WBjr to come, CL #647 asleep
West Chilcotin, BC, Canada -
Re: Newbie to Solar power and very impressed with this ForumHi Piet,
Welcome to the forum, I'm an ex-pat saffer from Bloemfontein Regarding your system, I think a semi-off-grid solar setup is a good bet because your usage co-incides well with solar irradiance.
It'll be good to know how long the power outtages are, because if you have the grid available most of the time then it will be much cheaper to buy batteries that just cover 1 day's use. Usually those of us who are pure off-grid will size the battery bank to last for 2-3 days before we have to turn the generator on. This increases the cost of the install considerably.
In Spain the price of electricity continues to rise and it's becoming quite popular to install semi-off-grid systems where the battery bank is cycled daily and is sized for just 1 day's power. Any deficit is then made up for with the grid. I highly recommend forklift batteries because they're the cheapest over their lifetime, i.e. the cost/kWh/year is the lowest of most batteries. And you're likely to find a source of forklift batts locally. The disadvantage of the forklifts is that they come in a single big metal container, which could weight up to 1 ton and it's difficult to remove the individual 2V cells, so you really need to be able to drive up to the place where you want to install them and then have a crane or forklift to unload and install them. But they're very tough batteries and are usually rated at 1200 - 1500 cycles at a depth of discharge of 80%.
You should be able to find chinese solar panels for around R10/Watt, and possibly cheaper if you can go directly to a distributor. In terms of inverters, I think SMA (Sunny Island) are sold there and possibly Victron, both good quality units.
The heat pump + geyser (hot water tank for US folk), is interesting because it'll let you time shift the usage. I.e. only turn on the heat pump when the sun is shining, which means you can go with a smaller battery bank.
Hi Stephen. Good to hear from you and thanks for your input. I am still learning Solar systems and looking at all possibilities.
Piet -
Re: Newbie to Solar power and very impressed with this ForumNot sure how that would be any different from putting a timer on your water heater, we had one at home when I was a kid, and they are in use at our pool. Grey box is a brand here in the states. The heat pump water heater will be much cheaper than your original water heater in general.
The heat pump installed is a ITS 1.1kw and is working very well. The output is equivalent to 4.8Kw and heats the water faster than a electric geyser with great savings. -
Re: Newbie to Solar power and very impressed with this Forumwestbranch wrote: »Geysers are smaller tanks than we are accustomed to. The ones I saw were 2 - 5 gallons, so quick to heat... I have to imagine they might have even been able to 'vent' in the early days, 1950's according to my wife, who hails from Scotland .
My geyser is 40 US Gal (150 Litre ) and is now used as the storage tank for the heat pump.
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