i need solar power ?

Discussion in 'Do It Yourself' started by MIDLIFE, Dec 24, 2011.

  1. does anyone run solar for their grow room ??
    i would like to be up and running in a large room with a 5ft x 10ft grow space in the centre 3x led lights, i have a light rail , with 18 r-dwc(Budslingers), 45wt air pump, 50wt water pump, 2 x 25wt fans , extractor fan plus a few tubes to veg with.
    the 2 600wt hps lamps i have now will go

    only want to run this once/twice a year then use the solar system to run some tubes in the workshop if thats possable.
    anyone have any idears how the best way to run LEDs from solar, ie; storage for the power 12v 24v or 220/240v , i dont want to put the solar power into the grid system !!!
    i'm a carpenter not a sparky so you might have to type slowly so i can keep up.

    thanks Middy in cz


    RIP havel
     
  2. I'm also waiting for solar panels to get better and more efficient.

    It's currently in the 8-track stage of it life.
     
  3. my first car had a 8 track, god i'm getting old.
    Middy
     

  4. You need to look at solar again. It was in the 8 track stage about 8 years ago. It has improved drastically in the last 3 years.

    Of course most of the new style and efficiency solar is so expensive it would be impractical.

    I would say another 5 years if the research actually keeps going forward. You would think that since we get so many hours of free sun a day this would have been solved years ago but things just don't work like that in our world right now.
     
  5. The problem these days ain't making it but storing the power you make, best to use golf cart type or marine batteries, and the cost is just too much.
    Cz I think is Czech Republic, you gotta ask yourself if you have enough kilowatt hours a year to justify the expense, and how many KWh do you need from start to finish,

    "V"
     
  6. i have a friend with a truck repair shop that can get me a lot of batteries cheap.
    and if i use the solar for just the veg time of say 5/6weeks and then use mains power for the hps flower,
    but then i wanted to do my next veg lighting 12on 5.5off 1cfl on 5.5off ,
    next things i need to look at are
    wind power; we are 460mts high,
    water power; we have a small stream running through our front field.
    I'LL BE BACK
    Middy
     

  7. Ive thought about the same thing,
    One of my ideas was a recirculating hydroelectric system, where there are 2 reservoirs 1 being at a higher elevation. with a pump in between. Thats for a place that doesnt have a steady stream.

    As for solar, thats a while to go. Mate works installing them. For only 3kw worth of panels its like 2000$ or more.

    And I was thinking ( good time for someone else to chime in here ) the start up current even for a smaller wattage HID would never get supplied with the batteries available to the public.

    I would love to start using more green energy, cutting the cost of my elec bill.
    As well as helping the environment.
    Oh and of course have a back up so the mains can switch in if the batterys die/ something goes wrong.
     
  8. #8 bonghit therapy, Jan 7, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 7, 2012
    Depending on the type of material used, you generate about a watt per square inch, but thats at a certain temp, at full sun which is strongly reduced by shading and hot temps. Sucks that most solar modules are only 13 percent efficient and all made in china. Plus you need battery storage if you plan on using any power at night which could include several banks of car batteries. Also you need a charge controller and an inverter. Not cheap by any means. I would recommend 4 banks of 4 batteries. 16 total. Get 48 volt solar modules. (the higher voltage you get on the solar side, the more efficient the inversion process. If you can get 240 on the AC side, that would be best.
     
  9. i'm still looking at alternative power and i hope by the end of the year the new roof will be done ready for some pannels .
    thanks for all your input.
    Middy
     
  10. Yeah I am $4,200 every 6 months in gas and electric. We have a Co2 machine hooked up to a gas line here though...6k watts in BR, and 2,400 watts in Veg now.

    Solar Panels are pretty much useless....I could buy another light for the price of a panel that might power my water pump for free.

    The way to do it is to just hook up electricity illegally if you know what you're doing. We have 2 of our lights running without paying, and anything we add will also go onto this extra box we ran off of the meter (very well hidden).

    If you are paying 800-1,000 a month in electric I feel like I am doing more than enough making that place money time for them to pay me back...and give me free power without them knowing :)
     


  11. Thief. You are the kind of folks that give us paying growers a bad name. If I use the electricity then I will pay for it.. plain and simple.

    You aren't any better than the rippers in my book.
     
  12. And I don't really give a shit what you think :)

    Go ahead and be great to those electric companies that turn off peoples heat in the winter when they got kids.

    Not only are they charging us 100x what is cost for them to produce power, they are absolute pricks about it.

    I'm running 8,000 watts legally...if I feel like it's my right to take a couple thousand watts for free then so be it.

    If you want to save money, do it...

    If you are dumb and will get caught, dont do it. you can't go from 6,000 watts to only 1,000...if you are going to do it you need to add the light to ir right from the start so your bill does not change.
     
    • Like Like x 1
  13. Oh, and irnhed....

    I probably pay 3x as much as you do in bills, so therefore I am still more beneficial to the electrical company than you...

    Don't be mad at me because you aren't intelligent enough to do it yourself without getting caught. Don't hate the player, hate the game...

    You could always call DTE and tell him "someone in michigan is stealing your power!" and maybe they will come check.

    So my ultimate reply to your thread....BITE IT
     
    • Like Like x 1

  14. Ok thief.
     
  15. #15 anneparker786, Jan 16, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 16, 2012
    Well, I am also thinking of buying a solar panels form this company but this is the first time I am dealing in solar panels. I want to know what kind of thing I should keep in mind before making any payment to the solar panels Michigan based company because I don’t want to get rip of.

    solar panels michigan
     

  16. Don't steal electricity and you will be just fine!:D:D
     
  17. This thread interests me because in a few months i'll be moving to florida and living on a sailboat.I want to be able to start and veg about20 plants under led's then put out to bud on island or mangroove patch of my choosing.I'll be living on the anchor for some of the time and will be limited to amount of power i will have.I'm going to shoot for a 175 watt system with a possible wind generator to help out which is around 20 amps/hr on a windy day.anyway look forward to hearing or seeing anyone trying this. As for stealing electric robin hood isn't a hero for nothing!!!! just remember to share some bud with the less fortunate :)
     
  18. robin hood was made up.
     
  19. #19 fyrhazzrd, Mar 5, 2012
    Last edited by a moderator: Mar 5, 2012
    I've been looking into this as well to power just my 1000W HPS HID light. At first I thought I would need 1000 Watts in solar power in order to power it, but I was wrong. Don't look at it in watts, but look at it in Amps.

    You could buy a $200 120 Watt solar panel system. Then add your necessary hardware of a charger and a monitor, Inverter, and your batteries.

    A 120 Watt system will supply about 10 amp hours of power. A 1000 Watt HID light on 120V power grid will draw 8.33 amps.

    If you have those solar panels in direct sunlight for 10 hours a day then you will be collecting 100 amp hours of power per day.

    my 1000 Watt HID draws 99 amp hours per day.

    Now what you want to do is run 6V deep cycle marine batteries. And if you run two of them in series you should have 400 amp hours available.

    If you are keeping track just the batteries could run my light for 4 days without being charged.

    So in a perfect world you would be running off of the batteries, and your solar panel will fully charge your batteries every day.

    Of course in my example 120 Watts is technically not enough. You don't want to gamble with exact numbers. I would probably be safe if I bump up to a 200 Watt system. That should give me about 16 amp hours of charge.

    What I've come up with so far is for a $500 investment I would be saving $60/mo. It would pay for itself in less than a year.

    Edit: Also if you want to really be efficient you could do a grid tie in, so that if your batteries are fully charged, and are being charged at a rate that is faster than your current draw, then you could bleed off any overages back into the power grid. By doing this you will reduce your overall electric bill on a monthly basis.

    Oh and did I mention that if you live in the US, this will qualify for a 30% tax credit on your federal taxes? And in the state I live in it will also qualify me for a property tax exemption. That alone pays for the system and then some.
     
  20. thanks fryhazzrd , i will look into the marine batteries.
    Middy
     

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