Hello from the UK

[bookrabbit]

I have always wanted to 'go solar' but with children and no money it was never an option. For the past couple of decades I had to settle for buying from a solar utility company instead. Expensive, yes, but I always saw it as as much a charitable donation as a utility bill and an investment in my children's future. Anyway those children are grown up and I live on my own in a cabin with a roof I can reach. So although I couldn't get my head around the technicalities or do a good job of planning I decided to take the plunge and buy a power station/ solar generator unit and a flexible solar panel that wasn't very heavy and that I could manage to get up on the roof by myself. And retrieve if there is a storm.
From there I have bought several more power stations each with a panel avoiding complicated wiring as my head just doesn't work these days. I have had long covid really badly. Fatigue and brain fog and shortness of breath. None of which helped but which didn't stop me either.
I have the solar bug badly. I get a ridiculous amount of pleasure from seeing those batteries charge up. I think it has even been helpful in clearing some of the fog out of my head, better even than Duolingo, my previous obsession.
Anyway I have lived entirely off grid for the last six weeks or two months or so. As opposed to the time living with just an extension cord for power. I moved out here at the end of 2019 and it has evolved from there spurred on in part by a fear of a tree falling on my power cable. One came very close only missing it because it got tangled in a vine and stopped about a foot above the cord! The cord got badly stripped where it came out of a window from the outbuilding where the mains reached and I knew I really shouldn't be using it. That spurred me on. Next winter will be difficult without that cable as a life line but I am determined to manage. So far Spring and Summer have proved easy. I more often have excess power than too little.
It hasn't been smooth sailing but the problems are manageable, more challenges than barriers. Of course I am still only practising a watered down tame version of solar life but the terms etc are becoming more familiar again. I did some physics at university level so I haven't always had this difficulty. That knowledge is still in this malfunctioning head of mine somewhere. Well hopefully it is.
I came across this forum while trying to work out what solar panel to match with my bluetti eb70 and have been back several times. Now when I am considering moving on from prebuilt units to buying individual components I thought I would join and ask for some advice.
Louise

 

[Tim Tim]

I have always wanted to 'go solar' but with children and no money it was never an option. For the past couple of decades I had to settle for buying from a solar utility company instead. Expensive, yes, but I always saw it as as much a charitable donation as a utility bill and an investment in my children's future. Anyway those children are grown up and I live on my own in a cabin with a roof I can reach. So although I couldn't get my head around the technicalities or do a good job of planning I decided to take the plunge and buy a power station/ solar generator unit and a flexible solar panel that wasn't very heavy and that I could manage to get up on the roof by myself. And retrieve if there is a storm.
From there I have bought several more power stations each with a panel avoiding complicated wiring as my head just doesn't work these days. I have had long covid really badly. Fatigue and brain fog and shortness of breath. None of which helped but which didn't stop me either.
I have the solar bug badly. I get a ridiculous amount of pleasure from seeing those batteries charge up. I think it has even been helpful in clearing some of the fog out of my head, better even than Duolingo, my previous obsession.
Anyway I have lived entirely off grid for the last six weeks or two months or so. As opposed to the time living with just an extension cord for power. I moved out here at the end of 2019 and it has evolved from there spurred on in part by a fear of a tree falling on my power cable. One came very close only missing it because it got tangled in a vine and stopped about a foot above the cord! The cord got badly stripped where it came out of a window from the outbuilding where the mains reached and I knew I really shouldn't be using it. That spurred me on. Next winter will be difficult without that cable as a life line but I am determined to manage. So far Spring and Summer have proved easy. I more often have excess power than too little.
It hasn't been smooth sailing but the problems are manageable, more challenges than barriers. Of course I am still only practising a watered down tame version of solar life but the terms etc are becoming more familiar again. I did some physics at university level so I haven't always had this difficulty. That knowledge is still in this malfunctioning head of mine somewhere. Well hopefully it is.
I came across this forum while trying to work out what solar panel to match with my bluetti eb70 and have been back several times. Now when I am considering moving on from prebuilt units to buying individual components I thought I would join and ask for some advice.
Louise

Welcome Louise, Sorry to hear about your long term Covid and I wish you a speedy recovery. What part of the UK are you? I’m originally from Newport South Wales. Winter will be hard for you especially with little sun so firstly you may wish to consider a backup power source like a generator. Also, if you are considering installing solar panels then maybe ground mounted would be a better option for you.

Looking at the Bluetooth EB70 these are the specifications stated.

Solar Input:

200W Max. OCV 12-28V, 8A

Hope this helps.
Tim

 

[dcGuide]

Hello @bookrabbit from Kentucky, USA. I like @Tim Tim suggestion of ground mounting. Just for fun, I often "clean off" our panels with the hose, which cools them them down and then the power goes up. Across our 5 180watt panels I often see 60–70-watt increase, until they dry and heat up again. It was 32°C yesterday, and the panels were hotter than that! I like your plan, moving one step at a time. How's your vitamin D level, @bookrabbit?! Best of luck.

 

[bookrabbit]

Welcome Louise, Sorry to hear about your long term Covid and I wish you a speedy recovery. What part of the UK are you? I’m originally from Newport South Wales. Winter will be hard for you especially with little sun so firstly you may wish to consider a backup power source like a generator. Also, if you are considering installing solar panels then maybe ground mounted would be a better option for you.

Looking at the Bluetooth EB70 these are the specifications stated.

Solar Input:

200W Max. OCV 12-28V, 8A

Hope this helps.
Tim

Hi, Thanks for your reply. I am in the Midlands, and yes the short days and low sun arw going to make things difficult. Another reason power stations are a good option is that if necessary I can carry them to the house and charge them from the mains rather than freeze. And the exercise will help me keep warm too! I already have to fetch all my water, I thought of them as electricity buckets when I first bought them not knowing how successful the solar was going to be. I would just put the panels on the ground if possible but there are so many trees that the roof is the only spot with more than an hours sun a day. Plus there are lots of animals that might damage them. The squirrels and pigeons traipsing all over them is bad enough. It sounds more like there are elephants on the roof sometimes!
I have noticed how well the panels charge after rain. It means that I actually get as much power on an intermittently wet day as on a clear one, even if the sun hardly actually shows itself. The panels perform quite well with just a little brightness. I didn't come to this expecting to get the full rated power out of the panels given the situation.
The 2 eb70s with the 1000w inverter on the UK version are easily handling giving me enough power to cook with and I expect I will manage alright through October. After that it will get more challenging. But I am learning a lot about how to use less energy and having to lug it about in buckets will no doubt enhance that learning process.

 

[bookrabbit]

Hello @bookrabbit from Kentucky, USA. I like @Tim Tim suggestion of ground mounting. Just for fun, I often "clean off" our panels with the hose, which cools them them down and then the power goes up. Across our 5 180watt panels I often see 60–70-watt increase, until they dry and heat up again. It was 32°C yesterday, and the panels were hotter than that! I like your plan, moving one step at a time. How's your vitamin D level, @bookrabbit?! Best of luck.

Thanks for your reply.
Clean panels certainly do work better, I get really good power generation on wet days even if it seems as if the day should be a write off. I can't put the panels on the ground as my cabin is in the only place without a tree overhanging it so I have to rely on the weather to wash them. Thankfully we haven't had temperatures like that yet this year but unfortunately it feels a bit inevitable that we will at some point. But that is when the trees come into their own. There is a very nice microclimate under them. This garden is significantly cooler than the surrounding area in a heat wave and retains heat well in the winter too as well as being sheltered from wind. So despite the solar power loss from shade I am pleased the trees are here as they mean less energy needs to be used to stay comfortable.

I work outside and take a supplement too so hopefully my vit D levels are ok.

Louise