Feast or Famine, The off grid solar dilemma.

[Daddy Tanuki]

one thing I will add, i heat with wood, and dry most 90% of our clothes hung over the wood stove... it dries them fast, but we have had one or two accidents of shit falling off of a hanger and getting melted onto the wood stove... clothes pins have fixed that issue but it is a concern.

 

[JeepHammer]

i am currently at 4-5 days of battery with no/poor solar at my skimpy use... but once i retire completely I am sure things will change.

Try that with lead/acid...

I'm Lithium for a reason. They don't care if you don't ever get them to 100% SOC and last longer/less danger if you leave some head room.

I'm WAY over battery now and adding more. (Got a deal on cells)

Weather fronts here never last for more than 3 days, and we always have several good days afterwards, so let the gain charge after the fronts... I'd recommend 3 days minimum to anyone.

Figures now that panel prices per Watt came down after I paneled up for lead/acid (100% SOC every day, even in winter) batteries that just don't care came along... and of course they are the expensive part...

Mr. Murphy's law strictly enforced at my place, I think the bastard is hiding in the weeds around here...

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Ah the Ghosts of countertop cookers past. The waffle maker, deep fat fryer and electric griddle saw much use in their time but eventually were tossed out as no longer fitting my diet or household population of 1. More dubious use cookers such as the hard boiled egg maker, Brat cooker, the rather odd clam shell toasted cheese sandwich thingy, and some weird others that elude my mind at the moment, have also come and gone.

Those are just the plug in cookers, I am not counting all the other stuff like coffee makers, blenders, slicers (it slices, it dices, it even juliennes) that populate the countertop, drawers and storage areas.

ETA: I forgot the crock pot. It has not been tossed out but it has faded into the rarely used category.

Try that with lead/acid...

I'm Lithium for a reason. They don't care if you don't ever get them to 100% SOC and last longer/less danger if you leave some head room.

I'm WAY over battery now and adding more. (Got a deal on cells)

Weather fronts here never last for more than 3 days, and we always have several good days afterwards, so let the gain charge after the fronts... I'd recommend 3 days minimum to anyone.

Figures now that panel prices per Watt came down after I paneled up for lead/acid (100% SOC every day, even in winter) batteries that just don't care came along... and of course they are the expensive part...

Mr. Murphy's law strictly enforced at my place, I think the bastard is hiding in the weeds around here...

yeah I was up paneling due to my AGM bank dyeing then switched to lifepo4. with lithium my system is overpaneled as the batteries charge up to almost full without slowing down... then at the last minute they slow down so I get to full charge even on slow production days.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Ah the Ghosts of countertop cookers past. ETA: I forgot the crock pot. It has not been tossed out but it has faded into the rarely used category.

no no no.. the crockpot is essential in the summer when I am not running a wood stove... so much tasty goodness....

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

Puny little foreigners with their puny little cars and homes.

Ha ha ha F350 Turbo Diesel Dualie.... in Japan Godzilla Cometh.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

But if you really want to look at signs of excess, look at the gazillion self storage units in this country. Half the new construction around here seems to be more and more mini storage units. I've never been guilty of paying rent on a place just to store more junk. I get it when you're in the middle of a move or some other valid reason but I've known countless people who have one or more units they rent for years and years. Just to store their stuff. The rent often costs more than the stuff is worth. Is this an American phenomenon or do y'all see it elsewhere too?

I see a lot of it starting in Japan as well... I think it is one of the visual cues of a country on the decline. japanese used to throw away perfectly good appliances on a 2 to 3 years cycle.. that was back when the economy was booming... now they hold on to stuff if they can...into the storage wars level.

 

[JeepHammer]

yeah I was up paneling due to my AGM bank dyeing then switched to lifepo4. with lithium my system is overpaneled as the batteries charge up to almost full without slowing down... then at the last minute they slow down so I get to full charge even on slow production days.

I'm about to double my storage capacity. I'm WAY over paneled right now, I was thinking lead/acid when I expanded in 2020... My brain is broken or the stroke did more damage than I thought...

I got a deal on over 2 truck loads of panels, Just cause I had them didn't mean I had to use ALL of them... took all the panels over 5 years or so old out and replaced with newer, higher efficiency panels and got carried away.

We do run businesses here in the daytime, and the sun doesn't always shine bright...

I guess it could be worse, I could be under paneled with lead/acid storage, i did that for 30 years and it sucked.

 

[SilverbackMP]

Yokosuka VA office is a bunch of contractors that suck up to officers... they try to pawn off the rest of us down to Okinawa to get us to drop our claims... pretty shitty, I am lucky to have Japanese insurance which is actually better than what USNH Yokosuka offers... but it still sucks.

My VA in Missouri is decent. But it doesn’t touch my single payer plan when I’m in Korea.

 

[mib]

6 years in on solar and I am totally at the feast stage. even in the winter. I have been trying to figure out a dump load into a really large water heater. as in the several thousand gallon type. but still trying to figure out a controller that i can use to trigger a relqay with. i want one that runs on either 48dc or 120ac. one that I can read the battery voltage with and hen it gets to 54.4 volts turn on the water heating elements. let it run until the voltage drops to say 54dc and shut off the elements. i have the tank and insulation figured out as well as what to use the hot water for. just have not figured out the control circuits. I am not good with things like raspberry PI or the other offerings, though several members wee willing to do the coding portion. its just not my style unfortunately. i would nearly need a person to hand walk me through that. where as if i find the right voltage reading controller it would be easy with a magnetic switch. i did find a voltage reading relay just have not had the chance to test it out. maybe this is the year.

look at this controller, it can turn on or off the power depending on the battery voltage settings

XH-M602

https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0VVAdK

 

[Rocksnsalt]

look at this controller, it can turn on or off the power depending on the battery voltage settings

XH-M602

https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0VVAdK

I wonder if it’s available anywhere else than alibaba.

 

[mib]

I wonder if it’s available anywhere else than alibaba.

try searching google for the name

I'm from Ukraine, we have it for sale locally

 

[wattmatters]

my mind is boggled at how much power some people use.

That's because...

hot water is on demand propane, as is stove and oven.

Convert your gas appliance energy consumption to electric appliances equivalent and then you might understand. Water and space heating are the two of the biggest energy consumption items. Space heating demand is very dependent on location/climate as well as the thermal properties of the dwelling.

Each kg of propane ~= 14 kWh. A propane on demand water heater will be ~85% efficient, so from that 14 kWh of propane you'll get about 12 kWh of heat into the water.

Same heat can be delivered with 12 kWh of resistive element water heater or about 4 kWh of electrical energy using a heat pump water heater.

 

[houseofancients]

That's because...

Convert your gas appliance energy consumption to electric appliances equivalent and then you might understand. Water and space heating are the two of the biggest energy consumption items. Space heating demand is very dependent on location/climate as well as the thermal properties of the dwelling.

Each kg of propane ~= 14 kWh. A propane on demand water heater will be ~85% efficient, so from that 14 kWh of propane you'll get about 12 kWh of heat into the water.

Same heat can be delivered with 12 kWh of resistive element water heater or about 4 kWh of electrical energy using a heat pump water heater.

and yet, power i can generate my self, propane not
while self generating more and more i gain independance , a little step at a time..
indendance from politicians, bills, oil sjieks, oligargs and just about every other nasty one out there
it also gives me freedom, to work less, spend more time with my family and dogs
freedom from monthly bill stress.
it also means i leave this planet better than i found it, polluting less

so yes while it takes more energy to heat, it choose to do it that way ( with a backup of wood off my own land)

call me an idealist, treehugger ( maybe not so.much), or what ever you like, i could care less


btw this topic really is getting sidewinded

 

[wattmatters]

and yet, power i can generate my self, propane not

Exactly.

My point was people pointing to someone's "high" electrical energy consumption without recognising that's often because their electrical energy consumption includes replacing home consumption of liquid/gas fossil fuels used for heating water, heating homes, cooking and transport.

 

[Daddy Tanuki]

That's because...

Convert your gas appliance energy consumption to electric appliances equivalent and then you might understand. Water and space heating are the two of the biggest energy consumption items. Space heating demand is very dependent on location/climate as well as the thermal properties of the dwelling.

this is why I am spending 50k this summer to rip off all the outer walls and old aluminum frame single pain glass and replace all with double pain and newer insulation I know my "wood bill" is pretty high so if you figure in chasing down wood to cut, chainsaw fuel splitter fuel etc. it does add up. (about 15k of that is asbestos abatement, removal and disposal.)

Each kg of propane ~= 14 kWh. A propane on demand water heater will be ~85% efficient, so from that 14 kWh of propane you'll get about 12 kWh of heat into the water.

Same heat can be delivered with 12 kWh of resistive element water heater or about 4 kWh of electrical energy using a heat pump water heater.

don't use much propane as we cook on the wood stove in the cool-cold months so for me that October - May. we also have an outdoor bath that i built that heats with wood. that why my next project will be the power dump to a large water tank for hot water.

my current situation panel wise is good enough that two years ago I installed an inverter style 200 volt split pack and run it pretty much may through October. it keeps house dry during the rainy season and after last year after some testing i found that it could keep the cabin reasonably warm in the changeover months, of October - November and from April - May but not the December-March time frame.

 

[SilverbackMP]

this is why I am spending 50k this summer to rip off all the outer walls and old aluminum frame single pain glass and replace all with double pain and newer insulation I know my "wood bill" is pretty high so if you figure in chasing down wood to cut, chainsaw fuel splitter fuel etc. it does add up. (about 15k of that is asbestos abatement, removal and disposal.)


don't use much propane as we cook on the wood stove in the cool-cold months so for me that October - May. we also have an outdoor bath that i built that heats with wood. that why my next project will be the power dump to a large water tank for hot water.

my current situation panel wise is good enough that two years ago I installed an inverter style 200 volt split pack and run it pretty much may through October. it keeps house dry during the rainy season and after last year after some testing i found that it could keep the cabin reasonably warm in the changeover months, of October - November and from April - May but not the December-March time frame.

Man, IDK how you accomplish all of that in Japan. I find trying to do anything DIY in Korea to be an absolute frustration. I never “cracked the code.” Though there now four to five Ace stores in the Seoul area.

The countryside may be a bit better but I still see shops selling nothing but one or two items. One place may have nothing but plate compactors and another selling nothing but sewer pipe. You want a lock set? Go to alleyway in Jungno with tiny shops that sell nothing but lock sets. I can’t see Japan much different.

That’s one reason why I went back to the states.

 

[OffGridForGood]

that's often because their electrical energy consumption includes replacing home consumption of liquid/gas fossil fuels used for heating water, heating homes, cooking and transport.

plus all those sun-belt guys (Texas/Arizona/Nevada/So-Cal/New Mexico, etc) with their huge A/C systems running 24-7 to deal with the ambient 125F temps they are living in...{just poking some fun...from the land of ice and snow..no harm intended...LOL}

If we had longer sun in the winter (instead of the other way around) I would use solar to heat my home, you can be sure.

 

[time2roll]

Exactly.

My point was people pointing to someone's "high" electrical energy consumption without recognising that's often because their electrical energy consumption includes replacing home consumption of liquid/gas fossil fuels used for heating water, heating homes, cooking and transport.

Yes and the thread is about the high cost of the last 5% to 10% of conditions that warrant a supersize and possibly expensive solar-battery system. Having a temporary store of essentials can allow extreme conservation of electricity in difficult but temporary conditions. Reserve water tank and an alternate fuel can fit those times very nicely. Yes by all means go full electric during the easier 80% of conditions.

 

[EastTexCowboy]

plus all those sun-belt guys (Texas/Arizona/Nevada/So-Cal/New Mexico, etc) with their huge A/C systems running 24-7 to deal with the ambient 125F temps they are living in...{just poking some fun...from the land of ice and snow..no harm intended...LOL}

If we had longer sun in the winter (instead of the other way around) I would use solar to heat my home, you can be sure.

I've done cold and I've done hot. I prefer hot but I have to say, not by much. It also depends on when you ask me. I'm much more of a fan of winter along about the middle of August. Come February and I can't wait for summer. But I love spring and fall!

I'm looking forward to see how well these new heat pumps handle the winter we get here. Looking good so far but it's early days. But the POCO came out to do a wellness check on me last week because without me paying them for AC they are struggling to make ends meet.

 

[OffGridForGood]

It will be on the list soon to add in a minisplit that can do heating in the shoulder months as well as some cooling in the peak of summer. Often in our area we just open some windows at night, and close them up during the day to maintain house temps, but this seems to be getting less effective during the last number of years, leading to the minisplit on the list. Ample solar is only likely to encourage moving the time line up sooner.