First month of Solar power!

[fortyshooter]

Yeah I can get used to more of this! Note that current reading was below "00000" in the 99940 range at the time of last meter reading.
It will take them a few monthly cycles to comprehend correct "0" power readings. They just reused the 118 from last month.
Actual bill amount was $ 7.98 minimum cost for having a meter plus city utility tax.

[ChefDuane]

A quick question if I may? I understand that when you install solar panels you don't actually use the energy directly from the panels to power your house. Rather, you still get power off the grid but you get an offset (discount) based upon the solar power that you 'sold' back to your power company. Is my understanding correct on that or am I missing something? Thanks!

[fortyshooter]

Nope... The panels feed right into my main box and do power the house. Any excess power not used goes back down the line and you see that with meter running backwards with the numbers reflecting future credits.
However you are still tied to the grid and if power goes out you cannot power home with the solar system due to no battery bank.
You use the power company as your battery when system is up.

[JEBar]

we installed solar heat and hot water back when Jimmy Carter was President .... our system heated water that was stored in a 500 gallon tank .... lasted us 20 some years .... haven't looked into one of the new systems, please keep posting updates about yours

[fortyshooter]

we installed solar heat and hot water back when Jimmy Carter was President .... our system heated water that was stored in a 500 gallon tank .... lasted us 20 some years .... haven't looked into one of the new systems, please keep posting updates about yours

I tried a solar hot water setup right after a hurricane had passed by us some years ago and the power was out for a few days.
I wanted a hot shower so I rolled out our 50 ft. black water hose in the yard where the sun would hit it.

Ran the hose thru the bathroom window and waited a short while and then hit the spray nozzle in the shower.
Result was plenty of really hot water and had to bleed off a bit to cool it down to a useable amount!!

Worked really well!

[JEBar]

along the same line, Solar Shower Bags have been in use for campers for a long time .... they work pretty well on a sunny day


https://www.amazon.com/RISEPRO-gallons- ... 184&sr=8-1

[Mags]

.
Awesome! Nice to live in an area where Solar works well.

Yeah I can get used to more of this! Note that current reading was below "00000" in the 99940 range at the time of last meter reading.
It will take them a few monthly cycles to comprehend correct "0" power readings. They just reused the 118 from last month.
Actual bill amount was $ 7.98 minimum cost for having a meter plus city utility tax.

[dave77]

Nope... The panels feed right into my main box and do power the house. Any excess power not used goes back down the line and you see that with meter running backwards with the numbers reflecting future credits.
However you are still tied to the grid and if power goes out you cannot power home with the solar system due to no battery bank.
You use the power company as your battery when system is up.

Is it possible and how much would it cost to have a battery bank so you could have power in an outage.

Not a lot of solar here due to cheap power from our publicly owned (non-profit) dams on the Columbia river. Residential rate is 2.7¢ per kWh

[ChefDuane]

Nope... The panels feed right into my main box and do power the house. Any excess power not used goes back down the line and you see that with meter running backwards with the numbers reflecting future credits.
However you are still tied to the grid and if power goes out you cannot power home with the solar system due to no battery bank.
You use the power company as your battery when system is up.

Ah. Thanks for the clarification.

[JEBar]

Yeah I can get used to more of this!

just curious, how much do you anticipate overcast days impacting the amount of current your system will generate .. .. how much (if any) impact do you anticipate the difference in the sun's seasonal path across the sky to make ..