Kristyne McDaniel wrote:
The batteries have a 3-5 year life. There is no way to buy them over time.
You buy them all at once and replace them all at once. If you don't do it
that way the lowest power ones drag down the highest power ones
What I've heard is that you can start with a small battery bank - one or
two batteries. You can add additional ones as you can afford them.
Them thats doing ( Wastewatts Group, Homepower, and the apparently
moribund Solar Living mailing list) have all assured me that you can do
this, that most of them started that way, and that you don't have to
replace the batteries all at once. The phrase "deep cycle" pops up a
lot, but as I haven't looked into this a lot yet, I don't know what it
refers to. It's also *quite possible* I misunderstood them, but several
people have told me they did start with just a single battery and a few
12V DC utilities, then built onto that, adding batteries as they got
more money/sophistication.
Here's a letter I saved from one of the groups because it has a lot of
info for the know-nothing (me) noobie. (Of course, this particular one
doesn't mention the start with one battery, but I have more that do).
Have you looked into www.homepower.com? They have a whole slew of info,
complete with how to avoid the situation (one battery dragging down the
others) you mentioned. If you're really getting into this, PLEASE keep
us informed. I'm "almost getting ready to be fixin to start" and would
love to hear how someone else starting out fares. Successes, failures,
caveats, etc. Thanks, and good luck!
------------- Reprinted from my "Save" folder, without permission
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Vince,
Getting started in solar PV is not quite as complex or complicated as
you may think. It is not cheap but also can be done so the system you
begin can grow, instead of needing to be replaced when you decide or
have more funds to expand it.
Scout the web pages of as many PV dealers you can find, look through all
the panels they offer, the sales and prices. Also look at the charge
controllers. Initially these will be your main expenses. The battery you
can pick up locally, a car or lawn tractor battery will do, it is not
the ideal but will get you by.
I would look at the panels in the 50watt ~ 100 watt range, 12V, most
manufacturers seem to be making the larger watt panels now so these are
on sale more often and have better prices. Later you can add them or
build on them to make a larger array of panels, but for now this size
will give you some power generation to work with effectively.
Charge controllers run a wide price range. electronicgoldmine.com had
one basic no frills for $10.00usd some time back or the newer models
full of bells and whistles into the hundreds of dollars. If you do
spend for a good one, calculate the max number of panels it can handle
for the future.
Batteries, well here is a large investment as you already know. I would
say that most of us initially undersized our battery banks and wish we
had made it bigger in the beginning. If you are just starting out and
testing this to see if you want to continue, and the budget will not
allow a good size battery expense at this time. Check around for golf
cart batteries, two 6V batteries in series will be a good start and cost
about the same as a fair sized car battery or RV / Marine "DeepCycle /
Starting" battery combo.
You may not plan your entire future system at this point. However, some
wise spending now, will get you on the way and not be lost.
The last item you will need is an inverter to use the stored power in
the battery. These are available everywhere now. from 100 watts up to
about 600 watts will have a cigarette lighter plug on them, larger
models have posts to screw on battery cables. Add up the devices you
want to be able to use in watts and see what is your best buy or even a
couple of them in different sizes.
My computer, monitor, modem total at less than 350 watts. The TV and
Satalite box total at 188 watts.
Other things to consider that just are sensible, fuses, disconnect
switches make a lot of sense. Available at auto parts stores, boat
stores ect. Protect your assets. mounting your panel, to hold it in the
proper position, give it some stability and keep it from damage, is a
good idea too.
Running the electric meter backwards requires a much larger and more
sophisticated system.
Identify your electric usage
Identify the appliances and devices that can be used more judiciously or
replaced with more economical devices. For most of us it is replacing
the incandescent lightbulbs with the compact flourescents and so on.
Using a modest shoestring system on the very small scale you will be
able to evaluate the limits and capabilities.
I hope this may help to get you started, or at least give you some
information to think about.
Carl
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