Solar panels installed in June 2009
If it looks like these panels were not purchased all at the same time it’s because they weren’t. I bought them as I could afford them. The bottom four were purchased first. When I wanted more I was told that Brazil was buying all they could make…just wait a few months. I didn’t want to wait but found some compatible ones built by Solar World right here in the US.
I wanted to be able to produce my own electricity for “just in case” scenarios. Since we get all our water from a well, if the power grid goes out, we can’t get water. While the power doesn’t go out very often, when it does, we are without both water and electricity for several days. I wanted to be able to power those ‘critical load’ items like the well pump, a few lights, the refrigerator and freezer. Plus I wanted to prove that solar power can be used even in cloudy climates in states that are “north.” I live on the Oregon Coast. If it works here, it can work in 75% of the US.
In fact, this system works so well that in the summer time, I have so much extra power I can run my printing presses with it.
This is a sticker I apply to everything I print with solar electricity. I would be surprised if any other printers in the US could claim that.
During the rainy season it’s a different story. Our rainy season is roughly mid October to late May, so it was a big surprise when we had an unexpected sunny day a couple days ago. We had had rainy weather for about a week and my batteries were down. The meter said I was a MINUS 109 amp hours. I was going to have to do some serious charging.
Minus 109 amp hours before noon
The charge controller shows we have 34.3 amps coming in right now. If we can keep that going, it’ll take a little over 3 hours to charge up. I hope the sun stays out.
Minus 57.9 Amp Hours at about 2:20 pm. We are catching up while producing power at the same time.
We’ve already produced 134 amp hours and the sun is still shining!
170 amp hours produced by the end of the day.
The sun stayed out and the batteries are full. Not bad for an autumn day.
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 