Unisolar Off grid - Alternative energy store cabin system #3

Posted by John D on February 20, 2008, 09:53:20 AM

Re: Unisolar Off grid - Alternative energy store cabin system #3 (Reply #5)
Hello again Robert,  I'll try to answer your questions:

First of all, I don't want to mislead you.  I use electricity from the utility company, and natural gas for my furnace, water heater, and clothes dryer.  Still, my goal is to minimize, if not eliminate, those.  I'm working on that a little at a time.  Most of my lights are CFL's, and I replace older appliances with the most energy efficient ones I can find. 

I live in Southern Illinois, 13 miles east of St. Louis, MO.

My stove, which serves as a supplement to my natural gas furnace, burns shelled corn.  I've cut my heating bill since I started using it, even though the price of corn has doubled in the past two years.  I've written about it here:  http://solarjohn.blogspot.com/2007/11/i-burn-corn-to-heat-my-home.html

I put up my first PV panel about 2 years ago, and I add to that whenever I can afford to.  It has served us well when grid power failed, and I'm now trying to use power from the system on a regular basis in order to reduce my electric bill.  I'm about to install a voltage-controlled switch in order to automate the process.  Too much energy goes unused while I'm at work during the day.  I write about that on my blog as well.

My chest freezer is small, about half the size of a "typical" chest freezer.  Instantaneous watts ~ 100.

When I decided to buy a new refrigerator I looked for one with a low energy-star power rating.  I didn't want a small one because extra trips to the grocery store use more energy than the extra electricity I'll use with a larger one.  I ended up with a 25 cu. ft. Sears Kenmore, with an energy-star rating of 499kwh/yr.  In reality, it uses more than that.  When the compressor first kicks on, the Kill-A-Watt meter shows about 150 watts.  That drops to about 120 after it has been running for a few minutes.

I don't use DC for anything.  My inverter is an Exeltech 1100 watt (pure sine wave).  I love it.  About the only thing it won't run is my washer and dryer.  The motor-starting current is just too high I suppose. 

I'm interested in knowing how much you can get out of those batteries before you have to shut things down.  My next major purchase will be the replacement of my battery bank, and since funds are limited, I want to choose wisely.

John
 
 

Posted by Robert C on February 20, 2008, 01:33:58 PM

Re: Unisolar Off grid - Alternative energy store cabin system #3 (Reply #6)
thanks for the kind words.  you can post (copy and paste) your comments as a review of the package here.

http://store.altenergystore.com/Kits-and-Package-Deals/Off-Grid-Systems-Cabin-Systems/Off-Grid-Cabin-Special-Pkg-3/p5693/

it no longer contains unisolar modules, but remains mostly the same.  the forum post may go away quickly, but the review may be helpful to others considering similar systems.

thanks for participating,

james
Alt-E staff

 Done James , Thank you
 

Posted by Robert C on February 20, 2008, 02:46:33 PM

Re: Unisolar Off grid - Alternative energy store cabin system #3 (Reply #7)
Good day John
A small world friend. My girlfriend of twenty years was born in Rock island Illinois then when her mom met her man they moved to corn country Iowa, lol .Christine used to live on the Rock River.Thats some cold country guy,mercy.
Thank you for the link to your blog spot, we will be checking that out.

 I understand how you feel about not being able to use what power the system can make ,now that we are making it (smile)
 No work for me right now so ,thankfully it gives me the opportunity to monitor the system closely and learn a lot fairly quickly,from people such as yourself who have put their knowledge on the web for people to educate themselves about such really great, positive things to help our futures
 including our wallet haha.

 Here we also have a Kenmore. 22.6 cu ft Refridgerator
it is a side by side. energy guide said it was the lowest of the side by side /icemaker dispenser type but it calls for 686 Kwh. so..your 100 + 120 = 220 which is about the same as my combo Except for the fact that my start cycle is 400 watts for about 5 minutes if it has been unplugged, a couple hours, then it resorts to 220 watts.
That particular load sounds real close !

 I learned a couple things today. When the batteries are up at about 13,13.7 volts and you turn on a device like the 160-225 watt computer(usually 160 when idle but jumps around when using some 3-D programs to 225 or so.)
The prostar will let the current push 35amps!!!!
 Could not believe it. That was kind of exciting to me
 was yelling the numbers as it kept soaring in disbelief.
 It has been buried in clouds here today all day, fairly thick, more cloudy than sunny so the power output through the day may be down but that edge of cloud effect is awesome.
2)With the tree down (they finished this morning)it seems there is more light available even when the sun is already on the opposite side of where the tree was.

  A lot of places, say that the current will come down with the Unisolar panels to their rated power after 3 to six months (3.88 amps) so I expect that to happen but it sure is cool to see them have the ability to put out 5.816 amps each right now.

 On the batteries discharge I will let you know within two days. If after using everything today the charge is up to 12.9 when the charging stops...let you know tomorrow

 There is a lunar eclipse tonight John
 starting about 8:45 if your interested
 Take care and thanks, good talking to you.

 oops did not mean to lie to you , controller said 34.9 amps
 (same math used however):>)


« Last Edit: February 20, 2008, 02:50:21 PM by Robert Clay »
 

Posted by Robert C on February 21, 2008, 11:57:24 AM

Re: Unisolar Off grid - Alternative energy store cabin system #3 (Reply #8)
John
 Voltage at 12.9, 7:00pm last night. We got 5.5 hrs before going to bed @12:30 am ,then this morning used another 2 hrs
= 1.160 Kwh. Controller meter said 12.2 v but was noticing after shut off in morning after use,as soon as the system was getting 1 amp charge it bumped it to 12.4. so i think it was at the top of 12.2 or about 65% battery capacity left.

 According to the charts i have, thats leaving a 60% charge
in the batteries at 12.2. The controller never lit up the, only half full battery led light.Think that happens about 12.1 we do not take it there. Did that once early on to check correct operation though.

 Hope that helps you
 

Posted by John D on February 21, 2008, 01:22:05 PM

Re: Unisolar Off grid - Alternative energy store cabin system #3 (Reply #9)
Thanks Robert,

that information is helpful.

John
 
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