This is my attempt to teach the average people about alternative energy systems. To the average person the thought of solar or wind power is way beyond their world. Yet they think nothing of throwing their hard earned money to the grid powered systems daily. Most people think you have to be making a six figure income to put one in their modest homes. I am here to tell you that is not so. I know because I live with it….every day and have since July of 1999. Yes, it is a learning experience over time, but it is VERY affordable for the simple living folks like us.
Presently we live with 185 watts of power coming from three solar panels. In the dark days of winter, like now, we have to use our generator more often. In the summer though, it was a very different story. We only had to run our generator about once a week. In case you didn’t know, we have to run the generator to charge our batteries if the sun doesn’t shine enough to do it. I call our system a “add as you can system”. Meaning that we add a component as we can afford it. It’s best to buy good equipment so you have to spend some money on each one. That is better than buying cheaper equipment that doesn’t last.
Right now we have 24 used locomotive batteries that we replaced our original fork-lift truck batteries with. A charge controller is essential to any alternative system as it controls how much of a charge is going into your batteries. Our controller is the Xantrex C-60 charge controller (60 amps, 12 volt) and back in 2004 it sold for $245. at Backwoods Solar. We have never had any problem with this at all. I would highly recommend it to anyone just building their system. A meter comes in handy for letting you know how much power you have going into the system and how much is going out or what you are using. The meter we have is the Tri-Metric meter made by Bogart Engineering.
The generator we use is made especially for off the grid systems and is sold at Backwoods Solar. It is a DC only generator and has made the biggest difference in our system. When we started out we used an old car for charging the batteries and not only did the exhaust stink, the car was noisy and the gas was expensive, which it did use alot of. The generator isn’t as loud as most generators, but you can definitely hear it. Works great and uses way less gas. Some day when our system is built bigger, we will use our generator less and less.
The thing is that anybody can do this. How many people complain about the cost of their electric bill every month? Just start small. Hook up one 50 watt solar panel with a small charge controller and pick up a couple of the golf cart batteries. Then hook up an automotive inverter that can be bought at Walmart or any truck stop store to your system. Now you can run your lights and tvs without adding to your electric bill. And you know what the best part is! You will not be without them during a power outage! Everyone else will be in the dark, and your house will be all lit up. I know many people are very handy and could build the equipment themselves if they knew how. Here is some information on how you could build your panels for about $200. Not bad! Click Here!
I will be adding more information for you every day or close to that. So please check back and if you have questions that need an answer post a comment and I will try to find out the answer.
Copyright © 2008 Kathleen G. Lupole
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Tags: alternative energy systems | solar energy | Solar Panels
September 9th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
Kat, let's say I want to take my two computers and printers off the grid. First question, will this affect our internet connection? Second question, do we unplug from the outlets? Third question, how do we put on solar power? Fourth question, how many panels and at what wattage would it take?
Told you I needed layman's terms for dummies. Cuz I don't understand how to even begin.
September 9th, 2009 at 10:38 pm
Look at the label on your computers and printer that will tell you how much wattage each use. Then add it all together and that is how many watts you need. First, before you worry about your internet connection……you will need 1-2 solar panels depending on how many watts you need. Then you need to hook them up to a charge controller. From there they go to the batteries and from there to your inverter. Now the inverter is where you plug in your plugs from the computers and printer. If you read every post I have made on here, I have covered everything you need.
As far as your internet connection, no using an alternative energy source does not effect that. We have dial-up ONLY because nothing else is available to us out here.
As I said in one of my previous posts and in my book which you have read, we started out with a tiny charge controller, one 50 watt panel, 2 fork-lift truck batteries, an automotive inverted bought fron Walmart and that was our system. We used our old car to charge the batteries when we were low on power. It worked!
katlupe
September 10th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Okay, going to Backwoods Solar to look at there prices. Also, going to check Northern Arizona Wind and Sun.
Backwoods Solar 65 watts @ $425.00 free shipping
Northern Arizona Wind and Sun 65 watts $335.40 Shipping UPS Ground $30.11.
Both same brand name Kyocera.
Will get with hubby to see when we can order. Will not bug you until this process is done. Thank you for all your help. Yes, I know that you probably posted all this later in your blog. But your response to me was more in layman's terms that I could understand and I appreciated you taking the time to say it all over again in a way that I could relate to.
September 10th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Those prices sound very good. One of our panels is a Kyocera. One thing you might think about in the future when replacing your present computers is that laptops are very energy efficient. My new one is a energy star. And you are not bugging me….I like helping you if I can.
katlupe