Island Power

Re: Island Power

Wow. They were spending $1mil on power over a year with diesel and with the new solar system they're probably only spending $3 mil total for the solar system. So in about 3years they'll pay off the entire system and basically have free energy after that. Nice. On the upside, if they pay for the entire system in the first 3-5 years, baring repairs and other necessities, they could spend the next 17 years storing up the money to completely replace the system and pay cash. lol. And that counts periodical replacements of bad batteries, inverts, and other parts.

The part that's kinda mind numbing to me is that it took about 2.5 panels per person of power, but less than 1 battery (how bloody big are these things!? O_0) and about 1 inverter per 4 people. That must be quite the system to setup and maintain. o.0;;

Re: Island Power

Yeah, I admit they're short lived, but a well maintained wet cell can get you 20 years easily. It just depends on how you manage it and maintain it. I've had wet cells last that long if not longer. Of course, you have to have someone who knows the technology. I only understand them because my dad about beat it into me as a kid. If I'd abused an old wet cell and let it die, my butt would have been smarting for well over a month. o_0;;

Re: Island Power

KS Solar, yeah I heard something about that too, but I don't remember when. As for viability we've got old wet cells from when I was a kid still going strong, so I know if you take care of them they'll last a long time. And speaking of wet cell technology, there is one out there, I forget who makes it, that's got to be the ultimate wet cell ever. It's got the ultra thin plates like what's used in AGM, but it's a flooded battery and so far, at least from what I hear, it's got great energy density and reliability. I wish I could remember who made it, but the video showed them actually having to compress the plate pack just to make it fit in the box it was supposed to go into. lol. Now that's what I would call dense. But yes, batteries are the lynch pin of every system that's entirely off grid. That's why I'm always looking for any possible way to augment energy generation in some way to take maximum advantage of the energy that's brought in and its storage.

One interesting technology I'm looking into is what one person locally called "switched full cycling". Basically it's two identical battery banks side by side that work back and forth in concert with each other on charging and discharge. Apparently the concept is that one is dedicated entirely to charging with zero discharge during the charge cycle meaning that after each discharge it's topped up to 100% before use. The other is then drained down to like 50-60% (or higher if the other bank completes its charge sooner than later) while the other bank is charging. So with that one there is no power incoming while it's being drawn out. Apparently the idea is to minimize the charge/discharge cycles the batteries have to go through. So rather than 365 days of up/down charge/discharge they go like two days up, two days down, or if usage is higher, one up, one down. It probably doesn't actually extend battery life but the idea seemed intriguing none the less as the concept sounds like it would work. At least in theory.