New solar system finished!

[RandomJoe]

This past weekend I received the last bits of "essentials" for my small off-grid solar/wind system.  I was originally going to get a Trimetric and two more panels, but the computer geek in me overruled - I wound up getting the Outback FM-DC monitor and the Mate (since I already have an FM-80 charge controller), which set me back enough I could only get one more solar panel, but then it let me tie everything into the "monitoring computer" and now I can satisfy my desire to know what's going on while I'm at work! :-)

After installing everything, I found I was being overly conservative - I thought I was pulling the batteries down a little farther than it turns out I am.  Well, hey, let's put more on them!

I had pondered putting my cablemodem and router off-grid for a while, but hadn't run a line back there.  Well, I did that.  I had also forgotten about the Vonage VOIP box, so there are actually three loads there.  But they are all "12V" (all Linksys) and after measuring by putting a WattsUp meter in their power cords, I found all three wall-warts were running just shy of 14V anyway while operating.  Cool!

So now I have my entire set of (what I would call) "essential loads" off-grid!  The items above (15W total draw), a fanless ITX-style Atom-based computer (25W draw), my ham bench (depends what I do, but there are a LOT of radios and scanners available!) and through an inverter a 15" flat panel for the computer and the floor lamp with two 15W CFL bulbs.  I also have a couple LED lights that I'll use instead on occasion, I just don't like the very blue color of them for regular use.

With the network gear and computer on 24x7 (the computer collects weather data as well as battery bank / charge data, and does a few other things on occasion) and using the light, monitor and radios in the evening for several hours, I'm drawing the 660AH bank down to all of 89% before the panels start recharging the next morning! :-)

And they have finished charging by noon to 1PM!  So I get some "free power" for a bit when I get home, running straight off the panels until the sun goes down.  That'll be even better on weekends, when I'm home all day anyway.  (I'll probably still go ahead and get the fourth panel, to help on cloudier days.)

On a semi-related note, I've also been working to reduce my other loads on the grid side.  When I started this about a month ago, I was using (and have been for some time, according to the bills) about 21kWh/day.  Within a week I had that down to 9kWh/day, and I'm holding it there!  A few days it's dropped to 7kWh.  

Oddly, analysing what I have left I'm just not sure where all that is going!  Looks like it's time to start measuring currents on each circuit and see what I find.  I figure I have about 4-5kWh/day I just can't account for!

The best part of this reduction is that I haven't adversely affected my lifestyle at all!  I still do the same things I want to do, I just had to change how a few of them got done.  Can't complain about that!  Amazing what waste can be found just by paying attention - I thought I was already doing a pretty good job!

Fun With Electricity...! :-D

I'm still working on a webpage that details what I've done more (I'd never make it as a 'blogger'! but I did post a few pics for some friends who wanted to see what I was doing.  They're here:  (Big pictures warning!)

http://okcforum.org/~martine/solarsystem.html

[dnix71]

Nice looking mount. Did you drill through the roof for the panel stubs?

[RandomJoe]

The mount is lag-bolted to the roof.  I didn't want the bolts to go into the rafters, in case of leaks, so I nailed 4x4 cross-pieces between the rafters at each point where I wanted to run a bolt and the bolts go into them.  I used some "roofing-tar"-like sealant that says it's usable with asphalt shingles, seems to have set up quite nicely.  No leaks so far, although we haven't had much rain since I put them up.

I had initially thought to do some more "professional" attachment to the roof, some sort of stub-up with flashing and whatnot around it, but most of the existing-roof installs of those I read assumed I could lift shingle tabs without breaking them.  I found mine are all VERY well sealed to each other, and I don't think will take much flexing at all before breaking.  It occurs to me that the roof is now probably at least 10-12 years old at this point...  Anyway, I may do something different when I eventually replace the roof.

[wdyasq]

"The best part of this reduction is that I haven't adversely affected my lifestyle at all!  I still do the same things I want to do, I just had to change how a few of them got done.  Can't complain about that!  Amazing what waste can be found just by paying attention -"

Good job there .....

I think half of the 'power problem' the industrialized world has could be cured just by paying partial attention, about half the time. I know I cut power by installing a switch a  water heater (apartment) circuit one time and cut my power use in half for the 'normal' month.

Your use of a low power computer is a fine example of how one can save. I doubt many of us use 10% of the computing power we have on a regular basis.

Ron

[DamonHD]

Very good on your consumption reductions!

My family is now down to about 5kWh/day or a little over 1kW/day per person (at home).

I wonder what a reasonable target is in the West?

Rgds

Damon

[RandomJoe]

I've been really impressed with this Atom-based system.  There is the occasional stutter if I try to get too much going, but I pretty much do everything I used to do.  Even more impressive is the Eee PC "netbook" I recently bought.  Including the LCD screen, the whole computer pulls 10W!  It also is powered by a 12V adapter.  Not too sure I want to risk running it up to 14.5V, so I will probably just get a DC-DC auto adapter for it.

I am somewhat tempted to switch this current off-grid PC to another Eee, just for the power reduction by half, but it does run a fair bit warmer than this one.  Not sure how it would hold up.  This one, the HDD is barely over room temp and the chipset (the highest-power part of the whole thing!) is only at 117F.

I've made some cursory searches for an Atom-based ITX board that would give comparable performance to the Eee, but haven't found it yet.  Everything I find still uses Intel's power-hungry chipset.  If I do, I may swap out the board in this system.  Or not - I seem to be doing very well with it right now!

And I do still have the "behemoth" to work with if/when I desire.  I do prefer it, if only because it has three monitors!  Lots of space to spread out!  But it does pull considerably more, nearing 300W with everything going.  I used to run that all the time (with the panels turned off when not in use, just the computer itself pulled 170W).  Now I just use it occasionally on weekends.

[wooferhound]

""powered by a 12V adapter.  Not too sure I want to risk running it up to 14.5V""

You should check the voltage coming from the power supply that is running your computer now. I have many 12 volt wall-wart power supplies that run between 14 and 17 volts. As a matter of fact, I have never seen a 12 volt wall-wart running at less than 14 volts. Inside the computer is a regulator that takes the voltage down below 12 volts anyway.

[RandomJoe]

The thing that is going to blow my usage out of the water is when summer gets here in force and I have to turn the central A/C on.  I like it warm anyway, so I don't run it nearly as much, and it is a very efficient unit.  My summertime electric bills are often 1/4 what others I talk with are paying!  But still, it does shoot the usage up considerably.

If I'm right, and there is 4-5kWh I "can't find" that could be dealt with, I may be nearing where you are.  The past few mornings have been 7kWh readings, so I'll be down to 2-3kWh.  Of course, I'm also in a 1730 sq ft house (just me - and three cats!) so there is some extra cost for heating/cooling, but the furnace (also extremely efficient, thankfully) has been running quite a bit the past few days as we dipped back below freezing.  That after being teased with a couple of wonderfully warm 70+ days!  So still holding to 7kWh even with the furnace blower running a fair bit.

Unfortunately, there is a huge difference (at least in my mind) between what is "reasonable" here, and what people are willing to accept.  We have in the past tried some moderating of the heating or cooling at my office, and the results were quite annoying.  Huge savings in cost, but you never heard people whine so much.  Nothing drastic, just 3-4 degrees at most.  

Same thing with everything else, no one wants to turn things off.  Especially computers!  "It takes too long for it to boot back up!"  This from the same people who - after booting back up - go off to visit with everyone in the office anyway!  Don't even dare giving suggestions what they could do at home!...

[AbyssUnderground]

Even 1 degree difference can save 15% in costs. Just sneak that 1 degrees difference in and nobody will even notice!

[RandomJoe]

Right, most I have measured have been that way.  Certainly all the networking gear was.  But the Eee has a brick-type switching supply, not a wall-wart, and it is a very well-regulated 12.0V!  My assumption would be that it's fine with a bit more, since most laptops don't use 12V for much anyway.  But without knowing for sure I'm not too keen on risking it yet.

The part I'd be most curious / concerned about is the battery charging portion.  It's a lithium-ion, I'd sure hate to have combust! ;-)

[RandomJoe]

Unfortunately, most of the complaining is that they can't control their temp at will.  They hit the lower limit of the thermostat and realize they're being "controlled".

Installing HVAC control systems in many buildings over the past 13 years or so, I have come to the conclusion for most office spaces there is no need whatsoever to allow the thermostats to work at all.  But just try convincing anyone of that!  Every time, though, a new install gets tons of "I'm hot" / "I'm cold" complaints.  I go in and lock out every stat, set everything to the same temperature.  After the building settles in to that temp, wow!  Almost no complaints!  (You never get rid of all of them.)

But, invariably, someone complains to the right person and they are given control.  Someone else hears about it,...  And it snowballs.  Soon they're right back where they started.

There is one school district I work with that (I think) handles this VERY well.  But it takes some backbone.  They have hired a guy whose sole job is the "energy czar".  He spends his time making sure everything is operating to spec, and all major adjustments MUST go through him.  He does allow each teacher about 2-3 degrees of adjustment around the common setpoint everyone otherwise gets.  So they are able to make a just-noticeable difference, but not upset the system.  (Especially true for the schools that have multizone air handlers - terrible energy hogs anyway, particularly if each "zone" wants the temp run in the opposite direction.)

Many teachers dislike him, some would love to work in a meat locker given the chance.  The custodians absolutely HATE him.  The minute the kids leave, the buildings shut down!  So the custodians are working in a slowly-warming or -cooling building.  It never gets too bad, perhaps a bit uncomfortable by the end of a full week off (the system does come back on as needed to maintain a "setback" temp, maybe 85F summer and 55F winter) but they sure do call him names...

The administration LOVES him.  He more than pays for his salary with the energy savings they've seen.

[DamonHD]

Yes, it's distressing the push-back and sense of entitlement that some people show.

Maybe in offices if 50% of the savings in energy were shared out amongst staff as a bonus the social pressures would act in the same direction.

I remember one dealing floor where all the men had to come to work in suits but one (spoilt, IMHO from my interactions with her) woman came to work in what was barely more than a bikini, trust me, and demanded that all the temperatures be turned up making all the men uncomfortably hot.

I think, in the end, that majority prevailed one way or another.

Rgds

Damon

[TomW]

HD;

Ha, you trying to say it was a bit too nippy in there?

Poor fellows.

Couldn't resist.

Tom

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

By the way:  Don't tick off the HVAC installers.

One of the things they can do is swap the stats between two zones.  Then one zone, say, gets a little hot, the locals turn down their stat, which cools the other zone, where they turn theirs up, making the first hotter in a positive-feedback vicious circle.

[RandomJoe]

Heh...  That's one of the more entertaining aspects of my job! :-)  

After I get the control system installed, I have to train the end users on how to run it.  This can be a bit of a pain, as frequently they are fairly computer-illiterate maintenance staff.  Some don't want to have anything to do with computers.  But, after I get them in front of it and they get comfortable, after they start making a few changes here and there, the light bulb goes off in the head and the joking begins!

"Hey, we can have some fun with (insert name of major-pain) now!  Tell them if they don't (do what we want / stop bothering us) they aren't getting any heat/cool!"

Or maybe run the temp up one day, down the next...

All from the comfort of their office, and usually the rest of the employees don't have a clue what's going on! ;-)

I got to embarrass a teacher at a high school one day.  I was there to train the maintenance guys, while doing that we noticed one of the room temps on the graphics (pretty crude by today's standards, this was a while ago) showed "10 degrees".  Hm, perhaps a stat wire came loose?  No, the graphic didn't have room to show the full number, the actual sensor reading was over 100 degrees!

The head of maintenance started laughing and said he'd had some trouble with this teacher in the past and thought he knew what was going on.  So we headed over to the classroom.  Door was open, we walked in.

There's the teacher, sitting at his desk, with a full room of students.  And an incandescent desk lamp propped on a stool pushed up against the thermostat to warm it up!  I'll never forget the look on his face, especially when the maint. head told him he couldn't get away with that anymore - "I'll be watching you!" :-)  Caught like a kid in the cookie jar...  The kids thought it was hilarious.