I have been doing some research on solar panel and wind turbine systems. The pricing is crazy. For a 10Kw solar grid tie kit system is between ,000 and ,000. If you install batteries add ,000-,000. 10Kw will only power a small to medium home without electric heat. Using my electric usage and info from my local electric company payback is 60 years for solar and 361 years for wind. This is unexceptionable. The manufactures of the solar and wind are gouging the consumers. They are using the excuse of supply and demand for the high cost. When demand goes up so will mass production and the price will go down. This is true, but they are making a huge profit on what they are making now. Some items are in the 3000% markup range. Are the power companies keeping the price up so their profits don’t suffer? My local electric supplier has an "ENERGY PARK" that you can go see solar and wind power in action and check out real time data online. They have a 4Kw solar array installed and claim it cost ,378 installed and a 2.5Kw wind turbine that cost about ,000 installed. I think they are giving false numbers to consumers so you won’t go green. I was able to find a 3.5Kw kit online for ,000. This doesn’t include any type of mounting materials. You can add 0-,200 for these materials. An installer will will charge you ,000-,000 to install it. For the sake of argument lets say this will cost you ,000 to install but still way out of line for you and me to install. That is a far cry from the ,000 the power company claims. The power companies don’t want you to make your own electric. They are keeping the cost high so they will still make money off you. A 210w panel sells for around 0. They probably manufacture it for under . The cost needs to be 0-0 to the consumer to make it affordable to the average home owner. 50 210w panels make a 10Kw system. That would be ,000 not ,000. The manufactures are raping us and the power companies are helping them to keep prices high. When will we get the technology at a proper cost? Let me know what you think.
In response to the first 5 answers, Yes, if demand increases so will mass production and thus supply will increase and this will drive the price down. I looked into panels from China. From what I was able to find panels sell for {content}.17-{content}.45 per watt. In the U.S. they sell for .00-.00 per watt. Manufactures in the U.S. have lobbied for a higher tariff on solar products that makes them impractical to import on mass. These companies want to keep the price high so their profits stay high, and the power companies do not want you to produce all your own power. That would put them out of business.
In response to Steve R, You need to do more research before you post another retarded comment like that. Air "DOES" have mass (just not very dense). When air is in motion it is called "WIND". This motion creates energy. Have you ever heard of a "tornado"? Get your facts together next time.
I need a project to do with this kit that I got. It comes with a little solar panel, and a battery thingy. What can I do to make something work with the energy I harness? Or what else can I buy ( that’s not a million bucks!!!) to make something work?
www.newegg.com It’s week 8 of our Spring Into Action series — time to Go Green! The Newegg “Green” Store bit.ly The Kill-a-Watt @ Newegg: bit.ly 80+ certified PSUs @ Newegg: bit.ly Green technology is progressing at a rapid pace, and many of the products that once existed only in science-fiction movies are now readily available to consumers. Rich walks us through several ways green technology can be used to conserve energy, reduce your power bills, and be prepared in case of emergency.
The best solar panels currently available are about 13% efficient in converting sunlight to electricity. A typical home will use about 40. kWh of electricity a day (1 kWh = 1 killowatt hour; 1 kW = 1000 J/s). Assuming 8.0 hours of useful sunlight per day, calculate the minimum solar panel surface area necessary to provide all of a typical home’s electricity (The sun supplies energy at the rate of about 1.0 kilowatts per square meter of earth )
It costs approximately ,000 to install a solar panel and battery kit this size with a 20 year warranty. If electricity costs continue to average {content}.10 per kilowatt hour for the next 20 years, how many years will it take for such a system to pay for itself?
I’m thinking about making a nice little solar panel (not cell), any help?
Allowed:
Purchases of solar cells
purchase of other stuff (ie copper flashing’s, wires, etc.)
usage of basic non-electric tools
purchase of any material you can find at a local Home Depot/Walmart
Not allowed:
purchase/usage of electric tools (They scare me)
kits <(this is the big one)
I’m not sure if I can get my hands on a battery or meter thing or whatnot
No kits!
Anyways, I’m planning to buy cells on ebay, that might help
The panel doesn’t have to be macho, it’s just a little experiment… I’ll be perfectly fine with anything that makes over 3 volts/watts/whateverthestandardunitis and it doesn’t have to last more than a year
I want to make solar powered fountain for my husband’s birthday. However, we do not get enough direct sun all day to power a "direct sunlight" solar panel. I would like to use a solar fountain pump and add a battery system to it so that the battery will charge and accomodate for periods of shade during the day. (Kind of like how solar garden lights power up all day and then run at night.)
I’ve seen systems and kits you can buy, but they seem ridiculously expensive and I’m sure this can’t be that difficult to do. Can anyone help me out w/ a How To?
I do have a basic understanding of electrical theory and wiring, but I am not an engineer, so please try to keep it simple. (I know about wiring, watts, volts, amps… I can install outlets, fix lights and understand balancing an electrical system to make sure the source is providing enough power and that the lamp won’t blow up, etc…. to give you an idea of where I am coming from.)
I have the solar panel and everything that comes with the kit, but I was wondering if anyone knew how to make them any faster. Its for a race so any help is welcomed. Thanks so much!!
Watch in HD Watch The First Part of This Project First At: www.youtube.com Visit Solar Tech Town for the full video: www.solartechtown.com Links To Where To Buy Items SunForce Charge Controller (cheaper version): www.northerntool.com SunForce Charge Controller (one seen in the video): cgi.ebay.com Deep Cycle Battery (you need a “deep cycle” battery): www.autozone.com Whistler 400 Watt Inverter: www.walmart.com
I want to extend my WiFi so I can sit at my pond and surf the net while fishing, However its around a corner and below a hill. SO I was thinking of having a repeater connected to two cantennas. I have a car 12 volt Solar Panel, it has an LED light that pulses when it sends electricity to the car cigarette lighter. It can be found at harbor frei&ht. I also have some 12 volt batteries that go into backup UPS. Any Ideas how I would hook up the repeater to the batteries, and convert the 12 volts to the needed 5? The repeater would need one amp. I can solder and have a very basic understanding of electronics. I’d love a kit or something. I would put the repeater and the batteries in some sort of container to protect from rain. Anyways, thanks ahead.
I have some old pc power supplies, I wonder if I can strip what I need from them since, they have 3, 5 and 12 volt dc out. hmm.. Thanks
UPDATE: I found a decent instructable that show how. Thanks everyone.
I had my solar panel set up for a couple months now and just started to monitor the power output. Right now I have a 90 watt harbor freight kit, and 2 80 watt mono and 2 80 watt poly panels. All are wired in parallel so it should add to about 410 watts at around 20 volts right? I know voltage drop for battery bank after charge controller. So it converts it down to 13 volts. I have an amp meter wired in series before the charge controller and at peek time I only see it reach 14 amp. 14 x 13 volts is 182 watts I am only getting out of the panels. So I cam losing almost 60% of my potential power output from the panels!!!! Why is that? I thought that the amps do not change only the voltage drop for the batteries, so my meter should read almost 20 amps. Which would be 20 x 13 volts = 260 watts output from panels. That is only around 40% of power loss. I am so confused and not happy with the results I am reading here with the amount of money I spent for all of this. Thanks for every ones time and help.
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