So I have been thinking lately....anyone out there run any solar panels for electrical use? I mean i looked on ebay and if you spend like 2.4 grand you can have like 2400 watts of solar panels shipped to your house... im no genius but thats like 2 1000w systems, and some for everything else so you would theoreticlly save a bundle on your electric bill. Anyone doing this atm? I mean think of the possiblities. No power caps. you could make the grow room of your dreams and not have to pay for the power in the long run. Of course its a big sum upfront... but learning to save cash in hand and eating pbnj for a month isnt that bad. After all is said and done your electric bill will be substancally less and if you sell any amount of "vegitables or fruits" its money in the bank.
If would be hard to hide a out side hydroponic farm. inside very easy. secondly just saying yes might as well. but im looking for alternatives to save money for growing inside. outdorr growing may not be an option. anyone out there have the same idea? just an idea wondering if anyone has or is useing this cocept?
Yeah, when ever my career takes me down the path of house buying, I'm stack some solar panels, no for growing. but just to be energy suffienct. well, with rain catchers, solar panels, wood burner backup.
Just keep in mind that those 2400 watt solar panels aren't completely effecient...ur looking at a minimum of 10% power loss...most places have a maximum of 4-5 peak hours for solar collection...since ur lighting ur grow 12-18 hours a day u will need roughly 3-4 times the solar panel wattage as ur grow room will need...so if u want 2400 usable watts in ur grow room ur looking at 6000 watts worth of solar panels minumum
To set it up properly I also believe you need battery banks to store the electricity. I do not believe that you can run your lights directly from the solar panels themselves. The 2400 watts is at ultra - peak sun at midday. A cloud goes by an it's down to, lets say 1600 watts. Too much fluctuation to run a light directly to the panel - it would need a transformer (I believe). They are getting much much more advanced with the technology though. I do know that you need to run the panels into a battery bank or it won't work properly, only because I have an uncle who has an ultra cool house on top of a mountain and it would have cost a million to run power lines to the house so he put in many solar panels and wind power and it all goes trough some kind of transformer and battery banks to store the juice so that he can have power at night and on crappy days. It certainly is an excellent idea though - seriously. I just don't think you should get your hopes up thinking you can run two thousand watt lights off of a $2,400 unit. Unfortunately. I'm sure someday but it's still expensive to set up properly. J
Jerry is spot on. You def need a huge battery bank to run a garden. Probably like 20-30 batteries to store enough power. None of the equipment would be able to run directly off the solar panels. You have to store that shit, then convert it into usable electricity. Don't get me wrong it could be done, but would not be cost effective yet. Another 5-10 years, and I think you will see this become a possibility. Or another large gas price increase. Say $6-$7 per gallon in the U.S. and I think you would see the technology sky rocket.