Alternative energy

[Hoosier]

I have to strongly disagree. My wife and I have been living offgrid for 5yrs. Powering our home with solar and wind. We have never been in the "no power for you" situation.

Awesome, what do you use for storage, deep cycle batteries? Do you track your power consumption in the house, or have any idea what you're using in terms of Kw/hr average?

H.

[offgrid]

Awesome, what do you use for storage, deep cycle batteries? Do you track your power consumption in the house, or have any idea what you're using in terms of Kw/hr average?

H.

Have sealed AGM batteries. Our battery bank gives us 6 days of storage. Rarely do we cycle our batteries below 15%. Installed a utility KW meter on the output of the 240AC inverters. Average 270-300KW's a month consumption. Also have meters on the output of the wind and solar.

Will be glad to answer any questions about this stuff.

Crappy picture of my Outback power panel.

[Hoosier]

Have sealed AGM batteries. Our battery bank gives us 6 days of storage. Rarely do we cycle our batteries below 15%. Installed a utility KW meter on the output of the 240AC inverters. Average 270-300KW's a month consumption. Also have meters on the output of the wind and solar.

Will be glad to answer any questions about this stuff.

Crappy picture of my Outback power panel.

Do you ever have to halt the turbines to prevent the system from being over-filled, say if it's been very sunny and windy and the temperatures were perfect so you didn't need to run AC or Heat for several days in a row? Do you have a generator backup just in case? I'd love to go this route in the future, and was thinking about using propane to heat the house and power a backup generator for emergencies. That's something I'd like to do regardless of being on/off grid.

H.

[ERNO]

It is imperative that the human population on our earth must harness the main process of the sun and stars,which is fusion power.
I know the process can be harnessed, because in 1976 I witnessed one in the night sky,over Virigina:A Ball of Fusion Plasma ie: "FOOFIGHTER",which I am sure was not of this earth.

[ronaldrwl]

It is imperative that the human population on our earth must harness the main process of the sun and stars,which is fusion power.
I know the process can be harnessed, because in 1976 I witnessed one in the night sky,over Virigina:A Ball of Fusion Plasma ie: "FOOFIGHTER",which I am sure was not of this earth.

What? Explain please

[Irving]

What? Explain please

He once saw a UFO.

[offgrid]

Do you ever have to halt the turbines to prevent the system from being over-filled, say if it's been very sunny and windy and the temperatures were perfect so you didn't need to run AC or Heat for several days in a row? Do you have a generator backup just in case? I'd love to go this route in the future, and was thinking about using propane to heat the house and power a backup generator for emergencies. That's something I'd like to do regardless of being on/off grid.

H.

The silver box on the right in the picture contains two wire wound resistors. When the batteries are full, reach a certain voltage, the two white box on the lower right divert the wind turbine only power into those resistors. Have two resistors/two diversion controllers for redundancy. The solar has it's own controller that tapers off the power from the solar.

Don't have AC, no need for it at our elevation, 10,000'.

Have 12KW propane generator. Used it to build our house before I installed the solar/wind system. We are over two miles from utility power. The generator is a back up in case of a unlikely inverter(s) failure.

If I lived on grid, would absolutely have a back up generator. Would also consider having a dedicated propane tank for the generator, maybe 300-500 gallons. Depending how our generators is loaded, it will burn 1-2 gallons per hour.