Harbor Freight solar panel kit...

[ultramegabob]

I have been wanting to play around with one of these from Harbor Freight http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=90599
has anyone on here played around with one of these? I want to learn about solar and wind power, but would like to do it on a budget. how hard would it be to link a couple of these together? my plan would be to run a small window air conditioner with them.

 

[kbsparky]

You'd need more than just a few of those to have sufficient power to operate a window AC unit.

 

[ultramegabob]

You'd need more than just a few of those to have sufficient power to operate a window AC unit.

yeah, i thought about it a little more, maybe my t.v. would be a more practacle choice.

 

[iwire]

how hard would it be to link a couple of these together? my plan would be to run a small window air conditioner with them.

You can series / parallel the panels almost as much as you want to get the voltage and current in the range you need / want.

In this case the kit comes with a charge controller sized for the three panels, I have no idea if these particular charge controllers could be paralleled.

 

[dereckbc]

my plan would be to run a small window air conditioner with them.

Sorry but that will never happen, solar PV just cannot handle large loads like that. Well they can if money is of no object.

To run a little 1-ton window shaker, say in Kansas City, would take 3600 watt solar panel array, 150 amp charge controller @ 24 VDC, 4000 Amp-hour battery stack @ 24 VDC, and a 3000 to 5000 watt true sine wave inverter.

You are talking $45 to $60 thousand dollars worth of equipment to generate $1.50 worth of electricity per day. Payback to break even is over 73 years, take that back because the batteries have to be replaced every 5 to 7 years, there is no payback.

 

[cowboyjwc]

Sorry but that will never happen, solar PV just cannot handle large loads like that. Well they can if money is of no object.

To run a little 1-ton window shaker, say in Kansas City, would take 3600 watt solar panel array, 150 amp charge controller @ 24 VDC, 4000 Amp-hour battery stack @ 24 VDC, and a 3000 to 5000 watt true sine wave inverter.

You are talking $45 to $60 thousand dollars worth of equipment to generate $1.50 worth of electricity per day. Payback to break even is over 73 years, take that back because the batteries have to be replaced every 5 to 7 years, there is no payback.

Wow in in CA that kind of money will have your meter running backwards (no credit, you simply zero out) and in the summer with the A/C going your bill may only be $1.50 a day.

 

[petersonra]

Wow in in CA that kind of money will have your meter running backwards (no credit, you simply zero out) and in the summer with the A/C going your bill may only be $1.50 a day.

A 3600 W solar array in SoCal will give you maybe 20 kw-hr per day of electricty, or about 600 kw-hr per month. I'd be willing to bet most homes there use more electricity than that in any month.

 

[cowboyjwc]

A 3600 W solar array in SoCal will give you maybe 20 kw-hr per day of electricty, or about 600 kw-hr per month. I'd be willing to bet most homes there use more electricity than that in any month.

I didn't say that size system, I said for that kind of money.

Some of the people here don't put in a big enough system to do that, but you'd be surprised at how many 1800 sq ft houses will spring for a solar system. Of course you also get tax credits here in CA so that helps the cost a little, at least I think you still do, they keep changing it.

 

[petersonra]

I didn't say that size system, I said for that kind of money.

Some of the people here don't put in a big enough system to do that, but you'd be surprised at how many 1800 sq ft houses will spring for a solar system. Of course you also get tax credits here in CA so that helps the cost a little, at least I think you still do, they keep changing it.

A $50 grand system w/o batteries is probably something like 6000 watts. So maybe you are making 1000 kw-hr/month. I gotta bet most houses of that size are still using more than that.

 

[ultramegabob]

the windo unit draws 5.5 amps at 120 volts, that comes to 660 watts, its not possible to make a small system to run somthing like that?

 

[petersonra]

the windo unit draws 5.5 amps at 120 volts, that comes to 660 watts, its not possible to make a small system to run somthing like that?

the 5.5 amps is probably at some non-unity PF so lets say you can get by with a 1000W array and a 1000W inverter.
You will probably only get 4-6 hours of enough sunlight on an average day to run your A/C.

Even after the 30% federal income tax credit you are still looking at maybe $6000.

 

[dereckbc]

the windo unit draws 5.5 amps at 120 volts, that comes to 660 watts, its not possible to make a small system to run somthing like that?

Battery stand alone, or grid-tied system. Two different animals. Your reference was a battery stand alone system and you did not specify the daily load requirements so I assumed (gets me in trouble every time) Battery stand alone systems are much more expensive that require larger panel arrays, charge controller, batteries, and a different kind of inverter.

A grid-tied system can have a ROI or payback in certain areas like California where your neighbors pick up most of the cost and very high utility rates. However a battery stand alone system has no payback period.

So to answer your question tell me how many watt-hours your Ac unit needs in a day, your location, and is it grid-tied or stand alone.

For a basic stand alone design, check this link out.

 

[ultramegabob]

dereckbc~ i figgure the a.c. would use 15840 watts in a 24 hr period, I live in central Indiana, and I was wanting to just build a stand alone system, it is sounding pretty impractical. maybe I should look into wind generators more....

 

[cowboyjwc]

Battery stand alone, or grid-tied system. Two different animals. Your reference was a battery stand alone system and you did not specify the daily load requirements so I assumed (gets me in trouble every time) Battery stand alone systems are much more expensive that require larger panel arrays, charge controller, batteries, and a different kind of inverter.

A grid-tied system can have a ROI or payback in certain areas like California where your neighbors pick up most of the cost and very high utility rates. However a battery stand alone system has no payback period.

So to answer your question tell me how many watt-hours your Ac unit needs in a day, your location, and is it grid-tied or stand alone.

For a basic stand alone design, check this link out.

Sorry, guess I could have been clearer too. Very few batteries here, only see them about every 10th install or so (just a guess). Most people figure that if your service runs backwards all day what ever you use at night is likely a wash. Gotta remember we get better than 300 days of sun a year probably.

 

[petersonra]

dereckbc~ i figgure the a.c. would use 15840 watts in a 24 hr period, I live in central Indiana, and I was wanting to just build a stand alone system, it is sounding pretty impractical. maybe I should look into wind generators more....

wind is bad as solar. in some respects worse.

unless you go for a grid tie system, you would need some kind of battery system in almost all cases.

incidentally, your units are not correct. watts are a unit of energy used per hour, so it is not meaningful to say watts in a particular time frame. i am guessing you really meant 15840 watt-hrs per day.

it seems you got that by multiplying the VA draw by 24. Keep in mind that your PF is not unity, and the A/C probably won't run 24/7. I took a look at a few window A/C specs and it looks like most run about a 0.80 PF.

So even if it did run 24/7 you would only have perhaps 13 kw-hrs per day of electricity to run it.

 

[Mr.Sparkle]

I bet if you cut open one of those panels you will find it is full of gypsum, sulfur and a bag of rocks.

 

[ultramegabob]

I just bought "Solar Power Your Home for Dummies"

 

[cadpoint]

I just bought "Solar Power Your Home for Dummies"

Wait didn't U start this, I'd go with an Attic exhaust fan and call it a day.

Wants verse needs ...

 

[satcom]

I think it's great, that the OP is taking an intrest in solar power, a great topic.

 

[iwire]

It Couldn't Be Done
Edgar Guest

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
Who wouldn't say so till he'd tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin,
Just take off your coat and go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.

History is littered with those that have said things will never be done. We have no chance of making renewable energy feasible until we actually try to.