solar power storage?

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grinling

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solar power storage?
« on: June 28, 2012, 22:24 »
would it be possible to store some of the power from solar panels on a roof so that you could power household lights?

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grendel

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Re: solar power storage?
« Reply #1 on: June 28, 2012, 23:47 »
you could certainly have them feed a 12v battery bank and run led lighting off of that.
Grendel
we do the impossible daily, miracles take a little longer.

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rcf100

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Re: solar power storage?
« Reply #2 on: June 29, 2012, 00:08 »
Depending on the size system there is a commercial product out there. It's only beneficial for over 2kw and is expensive. However as we are converting to air source heating once the extension is done, I reckon it will pay for itself in a few years. It will also provide electric during power cuts which panels alone won't. It's called a grid buddy the one we are having installed next month.  It is essentially a big lithium ion battery bank that goes in your loft

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SG6

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Re: solar power storage?
« Reply #3 on: June 29, 2012, 17:11 »
You can store it in batteries, you would need the deep cycle variety and you would have to add a seperate wiring circuit to the house to power whatever seperately from the 240v mains.

LED lights should be good also the 12v halogen lamps.

You could also look at 12 volt appliances. A 12v kettle - used in cars (I have one) which will mean coffee, tea etc from the solar panels. Also you can get a 12v slow cooker and a 12v toasted sandwich maker.

Not a lot but they are things that would enable you to save money from elsewhere.

I think that the system would also need to be able to dump excess if it is not connected to the grid. This often takes the form of heating an emersion tank of water.

Which adds another use for solar power, simply heat a load of water.

Another option is sore in batteries then add an inverter to power a 240v appliance. Catch here is you would need a decent battery bank to be able to get the power.

I would tend to go for the seperate 12v circuit and run the 12v options from this to reduce costs elsewhere.

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Markw

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Re: solar power storage?
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2012, 15:46 »
I work in wind and solar engineering. I would not waste my time and money putting up a 2Kw PV system. You might ask why, well your base load that your house uses is about .3 Kwh
so only generate your base load and no more.
If you want to get paid for putting it back into the grid you will need an approved installer to fit the system (Loads of money). time you add in the cost of the GTI.

The best way to use solar is as a hot air heating system. it does not need expensive controllers to run. and it runs its self, it can be run off a small motorbike battery and a couple of fans and an inexpensive controller. you are talking about 6k for a 2Kw PV system . compared to about 1k for 3Kw hot air system.
The biggest cost is the ETFE foil.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2012, 15:48 by Markw »
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grinling

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Re: solar power storage?
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2012, 21:24 »
Thanks for this guys, all sounds very technical to me. Will pass comments onto my neighbour.

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SG6

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Re: solar power storage?
« Reply #6 on: July 01, 2012, 21:42 »
Could you use trace heating film and wire for low level heating ?



 

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