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New Power Shed

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OperaHouse:
Read very few of the posts, but most are into big dumb power.  Any time you use batteries, the cost per KWH used is about 12 cents. With that you can't win economically.  Add to that, most systems are over designed so they can operate without a bit of thought.   Most of the potential energy that can be harvested is wasted.  Making a system smart and scheduling loads will be the next generation of RE.

I live off grid in the summer for many months and use only a car battery out of a vehicle I don't bring with me.  It is used primarily for initial surge current of the fridge inverter.  Storage is not necessary to the massive extent most moronic solar systems are designed to.  Fridge runs real time off solar only during the day, I store cold for night.  Any excess power is converted to hot water at power point.  Currently I divert over 3KWH a day to heat water, more than enough for my uses.  It is possible to operate appliances real time without storing energy if done one at a time under processor control. I have next to nothing invested in all the electronics.

My neighbor commented during construction, "For a guy with no power you sure have a lot of power tools.

OperaHouse:
OOPS, copied wrong item.

The PV water heating system has been working better than expected and it was time to build a shelter
to house the two water tanks. This would insulate them better as cold weather sets in. I am also
thinking about moving all the electronics and batteries to this shed.  The location beside the
house is only suitable for a 4 X 6 foot enclosure.  I used up two windows and a sun roof I've had
hanging around for a while.  The sun roof had a date stamp of May 13, 2000.  Siding is fiber cement
Hardie Plank.  I love the look of this stuff and won't rot.  The sun roof gives lots of light, but
it won't overheat the shed due to tree cover.

DamonHD:
I agree, smart scheduling of as many loads as possible is the future.  Those who don't or won't, even on the grid in the UK, are predicted to pay 3x more than those of us who will help match load to energy availability.

(On the other hand, I may be rather guilty of overspecing my off-grid PV storage that runs my Internet server for earth.org.uk amongst other things, to nominally cover 3 months worst case.  Just today I have been fiddling with the settings (http://www.earth.org.uk/RPi201406/code/powermng.c) to more aggressively divert excess energy to my Internet modem to try and keep all of it off-grid more of the year.  And right now I am running my Mac directly off the secondary panel and battery.)

Rgds

Damon

Bruce S:
Though I am on the grid; I do have a small but very effective solar setup that continues to be used as a learning setup as well.
The issue that most have had to go with , mostly due to "what's out there" is over spec'd.
From what I can see from a DIY'er and a consumer, there just doesn't seem to be enough items on the market that wold allow the mainstream people to buy, install and save.
Even on forums such as this one, allot of items being built can be viewed as a one-off device, OR , there is a sharp learning curve people no longer "think" they have the time to commit to.

Your power shed posts will be if great interest to me 'cause I'm a tinkerer and will garner lessons from it that I can possibly use at my home.
The power scheduling is something I'm still playing with , even while on-grid to save my hard earned $$$.

Cheers
Bruce S

OperaHouse:
Although I am 12V for storage, I am getting into using a raw 52 buss from the solar panels from a 36V string.  With that I can hang things off it at "power point".  The device with the lowest power point wins in the simplest example, just 100mv will do it and it can get more elaborate with communication.  Wife wants a dishwasher.  I could operate it in several minute slices turning everything else off or shutting down when there is a cloud. It doesn't really matter if it takes twice as long. 

There aren't the products out there for diversion or the understanding of how to use them effectively. It does take a lot of effort. I still waste power.  When the beer is cold,the milk doesn't stink  and there is hot water in the shower, it doesn't seem important.  I have a mish mash of 12V panels that just don't seem to contribute much.  Four of them are matches Sharp 80W that I will put in a 24V string.  That should be enough to run the fridge on good days.  That change should happen when I move the electronics.  It is now located in the basement stairway and the basement usually has a couple of inches of water in it, not good for the electronics.    I built this a couple years ago to have some place to sleep if the house caves in.

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