More than 12 hours off-grid today for the laptop

[DamonHD]

This reinforces my calculation that if I doubled my panels to ~240Wp (and greatly expanded my battery storage) then that would keep me off-grid 24h/day in high summer, and ~360Wp would cover the (new) DSL modem too.  (Finding space to expand to 360Wp other than on my roof would be tricky though probably do-able.)  And that way I'd basically never have any real excess 'wasted' (ie that I might have otherwise exported to the grid).

For mid-winter of course I'd need getting on for 3x that with London's latitude and climate (eg lots of cloudy days)...

My new 36Wp of horizontal amorphous panels on the porch on the east of the house do seem to work pretty well putting a charge into the battery from ~4am GMT right now.  The Voc in bright sunlight is well over 20V.

Anyway, today I therefore drew about 0.25kWh less from the grid than otherwise I would have done because of the off-grid system, and my on-grid system generated a passable 5.34kWh (the record two days ago was ~7.5kWh).  Thus we were probably about net zero on grid energy overall today.

Rgds

Damon

[valterra]

Damon,

You demonstrate a perfect example of the proper balance of conservation and generation.  Also, your laptop server and grid-backup circuit (that acts like a "reverse UPS" and allows grid power to reinforce your RE, give real-world answers to the question, "How can someone use this in their daily life?"

You show people like me that this stuff is worth pursuing, even at small levels... that you don't need to start out with a full-house, multi kw system.  You can start simple and build up.

Thanks! and Congratulations.  I hope to see a "ONE WEEK on RE!!" post from you some day.

[DamonHD]

Not until I get a new source of income post-credit-crunch!  B^>

Thanks: glad it is interesting.

Rgds

Damon

[wooferhound]

Too Cool !!

I have a system very much like yours and growing, I feel like I'm Following you Up the Renewable Energy Ladder. When I tell people that my entire utility bill runs about $85us for 6 months of the year, they are amazed.

[elvin1949]

  Woof

 You are wasting power.The largest bill i have had in the last 10 years was $65.That was when my daughter came to stay for 2 months after i had neck surgery.She has to sleep under an A/C.

 Normal bill is $45 to $55 a month.Don't even have my solar hooked up yet {still need batteries}that will be fixed next month.

later

Elvin   HEHE couldn't help it.

[DamonHD]

Men boasting about something other than a phone being smaller!  %-P

Even at my 30c+/kWh retail rate our average bill will be less than $40/month year-round!  B^>

Rgds

Damon

[kurt]

our electric bill runs $25 in winter but we have gas boiler heat in summer with a/c the electric runs $40 -$60 a month depending on the weather.....

[elvin1949]

 Damon

 My water well is on a meter by it self.

$6.00 for the meter $0.67 for the electric for water {i water my garden}

later

Elvin