Looking to maybe do a DIY off grid solar installation and I'm

>>1139675
they should last around 2 years if they are well kept, but it depends how often you discharge them.

Does anyone have experience with the 10w 12v panels?

>>1139675
Use lifepo you goose

>>1139675
Batteries are the worst part of home energy. The fewer you can get away with using the better. Getting more panels or wind turbines to make up for fewer batteries is a far better idea and cheaper thing to do in the long run.

>>1139675
Just so you are aware Tesla is close to selling their Power Wall 2 for like $5500. It totally destroys every other battery solution out there and can run a house for a day or more (14 kWh). Long warranty, built in inverter.

>>1140024
What type of batteries are they can you deplete them to 20 percent

>>1140024
>$5500

So the cost of 12.5 years worth of power I currently use. Then again I never really understood how people can use so much fucking power. My neighbor has a $250 electric bill every month on average. That's over half my electric bill for the entire year.

>>1140295
I don't know. Part of their LG partnership and made at the Gigafactory.

>>1140302
You use much less power than everyone. I imagine you are using natural gas for most things.

>>1140365
>I imagine you are using natural gas for most things.

We both use gas for cooking, heating, and hotwater. They still have a massive electric bill.

I actually have a lead acid battery that is charged from the grid. I only use it when the electric is out due to storms. I can also charge it manually, but that's no fun at all.

>>1139934
What about when there's no wind at night? The germans ran into the same problem when they opted to replace their nuclear with renewables. (They built more coal plants.)

Ideally find a private bit of land with a small (possibly artificial) lake, maybe one used for irrigation. Why store power in chemical tubs when you can just use hydroelectricity?

Why do people who want an off grid retreat seem surprised when it costs a lot of money to do?

>>1140465
Go to bed.

Seriously though, you don't need all that much power and fewer batteries needed would only be used at night.

>hydro

You really do need to be johnny on the spot with that. It is a pipe dream for most people while solar, wind, and batteries are not. I do agree it would be better. I live right next to a river can can't use it for hydro because there's literally 0 head and the river raises 15 feet during flood stage about 10-15 times a year.

>>1140473
Because they want to keep their current way of life and energy use. Like those Power Wall 2 units are 14kwh each and that's considered "average" power usage for a 2 bedroom house. I'd need to turn on every device in my house at once to reach 14kwh a day average. Even then I'd maybe reach 10kwh a day. Anyway, people don't like actual change. Changing how they live is something most people don't want to do. If they want to live off the grid at that same energy use then they have to pay through the nose for it.

Hell, most people still don't have energy saving and low energy use appliances yet.

>>1140475
Zero head. What do you mean? Can't you make a different type of water power, like a water wheel?

>>1140480
Yeah I agree most people don't watch their electric usage. Kill-a-watt meters are cheap for the potential savings.

More than anything it annoys me how attached people are to incandescent bulbs.

>>1140481
Head is the distance the water can fall from a height. The higher the head the more energy you can harness. This is so level that there isn't any head to speak of. When it isn't flooding it sometimes stops completely in summer, but that is rare. It is very slow. Due to the type of flooding, anything you put into it will be destroyed. We have entire trees and vehicles wash through all the time when it floods.

>>1140484
I switched to CFLs a long time ago. I haven't been able to switch those to LEDs yet due to cost, but they are coming down. I recently pickup up some LED shop lights. They are amazing (80watts for the old fluorescent ones and 40-42watts for the LED ones) and have much better looking light.

Most of my electric bill comes from my old 600watt gaming computer ($20-$30 a month in electric.) I have a 35watt netbook that I try to use more often for stuff that isn't resource heavy.

I can't even imagine using incandescents anymore.

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>>1140486
But people diy stuff for low head.

>>1140475
But on farms there are sometimes small lakes in them for irrigation purposes, especially in the dry country, at least where I live in New Zealand. I'm not telling him to build a dam or anything, just that if he happens to be able to be near an artificial lake or pond with a head, he should take advantage of it. While batteries and all that are pretty good for recharging and living off the land, you've still got something you can't service and can't replace without driving fifty miles to the nearest town or ordering things on eBay.

I just don't feel you can be self sufficient when you could need a help call to modern civilisation at a moments notice, but that's kind of inevitable unless you've got a hospital on hand.

>>1140530
My feelings are your bunker isn't medically equipped if it can't remove an appendix.

-batteries are good for IMMEDIATE DEMAND, -solar panels 2x maximum daily draw(mainly cooling/refridgeration/fans/lights/light vacuum/tools/appliances)
-get as much appliances that can run at your basic voltage without inverters. Your laptop ships with an inverter block/feel that heat/wasted power. Try to wire things/buy appliances that work at your setups base power. You'll actually go farther with it then
-have things that can use excess power(since you will idealy have 2x power you need generation)(like well insulated water heaters/heat pumps(cooling/heating),water pump to pump water and lift it into a second story or higher water tower/tank in house, flywheel if you can get it cheap.

Don't JUST use solar, install heat exchanges Under those solar panels too(will increase their lifetime usage/efficiency by reducing their temperature,provide hot water/heating)
Install 1-2 turbines, they'll generally generate energy during bad weather(more power less sunny days)as well as during the mornings and evenings/night.

Most who do their own power do so because they'd have to pay several tens of thousands of dollars PER POWER POLE/wiring/etc. If you are a farmer, you MIGHT be able to get some of that cost reduced via government bonds/grants/etc...

also 12 volt appliances/look for the MORE EXPENSIVE ONCE WITH REFRIDGERANT USAGE/Brushless motors/etc. THey'll generally outlast YOU/work a LONG TIME ON LITTLE POWER.

>>1140545
Not sure your point of that water tower, but everything else seems pretty good. Overkill in my eyes though.

>>1140522
>Due to the type of flooding, anything you put into it will be destroyed. We have entire trees and vehicles wash through all the time when it floods.

>>1140590
Then make it so it can float.

>>1140793
>trees and vehicles
>floating hydrogenerator

Yeah, naw.

>>1139675
Sunelec is selling 300W panels for $0.13 per W. That's a 300W panel for $36!

https://sunelec.com/

I'm probably going to buy a pallet or two myself. When I design a solar system I want a system that will charge the batteries fully with one hour of direct sunlight (or a day of clouds).

>>1142279
>Sunelec is selling 300W panels for $0.13 per W. That's a 300W panel for $36!
They have some sort of wiring defect.

>>1140461
I was just thinking about this kind of set up, couple of deep cycle marine batteries. We just had a power outage that lasted a few days, i was taking all my electric devices to work to charge.

How do you have yours set up? I was just thinking simple, trickle charge, batteries inverter. Enough to charge a phone, tablet, and run an alarm clock 6 hours a night.

>>1142611
-One 105aH deep cycle marine battery.
-Inverter.
-Strapped to a Dolly for easy running around.

I use a large battery charger, the type used for cars. I power most things down during a power outage and rely on a few LEDs, a 36watt netbook, and an external HDD. Since the inverter is being powered by a battery, there's no problem using it with PC equipment like the external HDD. I wouldn't do that with a generator since the inverter is a cheap Harbor Fright knockoff.

>>1140475
Can you build a dam?

>>1140481
Even for extremely fast-flowing rivers, horizontal flow just isn't viable. Might as well put a dynamo on a hamster wheel. Of course, you don't need a natural height difference if you're planning on making a hydro battery as opposed to a hydro generator.

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>>1142362
Is this the face of a liar?

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>>1142769
If you click on his mug on sunelec.com you get a youtube video which talks about them and shows this.

So if i'm building a house should i make a 12V circuit on it? I'm asking because i already put all the 220v circuits in the house.

>>1144897
If you are putting in a power wall then don't bother with the 12v lines. If you are just doing amateur solar stuff then I'd want one room in house that can do 12v.

>>1139675
AGM batteries have a few advantages over flooded but they don't last as long and they are a bit more fragile.
AGM can be charged as high as 30% its 20 hour rate which means rapid charging and larger solar arrays for overall more power going into a battery so they stay topped off.
Flooded batteries typically have 20-30% more cycle life except in the case of rally high end AGM's. They can only be charged at 10% of the 20 hour rate but are very durable and sulfation can easily be reversed.

If you want a good battery and you are serious about a larger long term off grid system, get a fork truck flooded cell.

If you want something really nice but costly, try a tubular fork truck cell. AGM or flooded. They can last up to 20 years. The secret to making them last is only using 20% of the batteries capacity and making sure it gets a daily charge. Best thing is to over size the array. Use a midnite classic, it supports multiple controllers and current limiting. So lets say 1000 watts is all the batteries can handle, you build a 4 1000 watt array and current limit them to 250, that way even on the most cloudy days the batteries are under full charge all the time. Panels are cheap now, batteries are not.