Home Solar Power ??

[Big Frank]

I just read again in a few different places that if you face your solar panels west instead of south they'll produce 15% less electricity. BUT, if you have Time of Use (TOU) electric billing with high peak rates, you may benefit from having your panels point south (or southwest). It all depends on if you want to generate the most power possible or not. If you do, then you keep them facing south. But if you have TOU billing and want to generate the most energy possible WHEN THE POWER COMPANIES CHARGE MORE FOR IT (peak rates) point them south. Or southwest. And they also pointed out that the angle of the solar panels is much more important than the direction. You want the sun to hit perpendicular to the panels. That may mean they need to sit at a 45 degree angle, but maybe your roof is only at a 30 degree angle. If so, you need to prop them up. And speaking of direction, whatever direction you choose, it should be based on geographical direction, NOT magnetic direction. A lot of people won't even think about that.

[Rastus]

That would be the only reason to face west.  I need the max number of photons on my panels since I'll have battery storage. 

So someone would have to have a very high bill and no storage available...that is to say they are converting their DC solar panel voltage to AC home voltage without a battery.  If you have a battery you want to point in the direction where at your longitude and latitude you will get the most peak sun hours and hence the most photons and electricity generated from that interaction of photons with solar panels.  The angles change throughout the seasons a bit.  Better to be able to track the sun overall. 

There are quite a few website where you can input your lat-long or pick your location on a map to optimize the electricity generated throughout the day.

[Big Frank]

Yeah, for charging batteries you want the maximum amount of sun possible all day. Unless you have a tracking system to turn the panels, that's going to be west. I read something funny about solar power systems a long time ago. Either the system was made in Australia and being used here, or made here and being used in Australia. Whichever it was, they followed the instructions EXACTLY when they installed it, and it didn't work worth a darn. It was facing the complete opposite direction it should have.

[MikeBjerum]

It seems to me that the industry is not advancing or adapting. The entire solar industry is all about lobbying the government for programs to subsidize their high prices, and to force citizen to purchase and use the systems. If this industry was left to mature on its own it would be doing a better job of building durable tracking systems that would work with roof mounted systems and sturdy enough to withstand weather and age. They would also be improving the durability of the base panels to withstand storms.

And example of their lack of beneficial engineering is in the cables themselves. Wildlife is an issue with these systems. Where do we need to go to find engineers that could speck armored cables? You know, the basic stainless covering on power cables like they put on hoses for our washing machines. One of the top causes for system failure is squirrels and other varmints gnawing through the insulation.

Wind and solar are continued examples of DC attempting to control the People. Throw money at it to entice us and let the industry and the people abuse the system.

Drift advisory:
This week I have been hearing that Illinois wants to increase the number of fully electric vehicles registered in the state to reach one million. To "help" reach that goal, ComEd will subsidize customers installation of charging stations to the tune of up to $3500 each. Even if they do only 500K chargers at $1500 each, that is $750,000,000 passed from customers and the government to a select group of sheeple blindly following.

By  the way, this $750 million does not include the reduced energy rates that will be charged for kilowatts flowing through these chargers, the dollars given to help purchase these overpriced vehicles, or the lost road taxes.

[Rastus]

Solar is a niche.  No doubt.  It's going to work in my specific application but widening it to other applications isn't cost effective.

However...if there were an EMP (note CME solar activity that is ongoing) solar could be a lifeline.  I believe that if you were to disconnect each of your solar panels from wiring they would survive EMP.  Due to the nature of the charging and inverter equipment if unhooked from wiring those to may very well survive along with unhooked batteries. 

Another consideration that might make solar appealing is if electricity is "rationed" or unavailable for a while.  Increased costs of electricity to support just what Mike wrote about above...would also expand the applications where solar makes "sense".

Again, I'm thinking about now is a good time to start looking at solar applications you may have because solar systems prices are beginning to look more attractive.  I also think a recession in the solar industry is here and hope to see cost reductions from today's prices.  See link below about the solar industry:

https://time.com/6565415/rooftop-solar-industry-collapse/

[Sponsor]

[MikeBjerum]

Another consideration that might make solar appealing is if electricity is "rationed" or unavailable for a while.  Increased costs of electricity to support just what Mike wrote about above...would also expand the applications where solar makes "sense".
https://time.com/6565415/rooftop-solar-industry-collapse/

This is the Al Gore marketing model!

I would need to search deep to find the actual printed, and possible recorded, statements, but I recall clear as day when he stated that all he needed to do was make gasoline too expensive for Americans to use, and we would change our ways. This was back when he was still serving as VP, and possibly even before he was the presidential nominee.

[Rastus]

Now there is another possible reason to have some solar power at home.  The Russians may be recruiting extremist to attack our infrastructure which I posted about here: https://www.michaelbane.tv/forum/index.php?topic=34676.0.

Recently there have been attacks on power substations.  I don't know what ever became of most of those occurrences except that a couple of guys in Washington State plead guilty to knocking our the power to rob ATM's.  So...I'm going to go ahead and get all of my solar stuff on the way this week and keep a little gasoline around to run a generator.

[Big Frank]

The solar industry is enjoying the status quo with no incentive, and no reason to improve ANYTHING. But if there's a large enough CME I don't think anyt power system is going to survive, not eve a home solar system. It will be the closest thing to a sci-fi style zombie apocalypse that's likely to ever occur, IMNSHO.

[Rastus]

So Alf (and everybody else....) I am putting together a solar system (48 volt) for the new barn that's being delivered soon.  I'm going to put a small system (400 watts solar) together as a "dry run" to power my routers, wifi bridge and security systems with a 48VDC 50 ah LifePO4 battery and some of the components below.,

Here's what I have so far:
Battery terminals...yeah a lot of the LifePO4 come without that.
40 Amp circuit breaker for 12-48 V.
24 100 watt solar panels (delivered to the house about $1,650 with tax)
some 4AWG wire
250 feet of 10 AWG half black and half red
Cable lug crimping tool for the wire.
Various solar branch connectors.  Not enough but enough for the dry run to make sure I have the right stuff.
Victron Smartsolar MPPT 250V 60amp charge controller with bluetooth.
Victron pure sinewave Inverter, 48 volt input 120 AC out 2,200 watts peak power about 1,000 watts continuous.  This draws only 3 watts in zero power and very little in general.  I'll have two power systems...one with this to power motion detector lights and the tankless water heater, the other for everything else.

Known Future Purchases Going forward:
Something to mount the panels...store bought is WAY too expensive.
Connectors and wire for all of the panels.
Another charger/power inverter.  This one is for the big stuff and to input a generator if needed.
Four 48 Volt 100 ah (maybe 150 ah) LifePO4 batteries.
All the other stuff.

I need to add some lightning protection, circuit breakers for the solar system, etc. as soon as I ferret that out I'll get it.

The power for the barn will require two breaker boxes or a split input box.  One low power side as mentioned above and a high power side for power tools, welding machine, etc.

And, oh yeah....solar prices are down and should continue to go down.  Which makes now the time to jump in.  For my barn application it made sense...a ~5 year payout versus running commercial power to the barn.  Solar companies are talking about the normal financial gyrations to stay open but he magic words "market share" mean that a price war is imminent.

https://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2025/01/major-residential-inverter-manufacturers-weather-industry-headwinds/

[alfsauve]

With the falling prices of LiFePo batteries it is a good time to jump in.