The Solar DIY Blog

CASIO MS-300M 3-LINE SOLAR DESKTOP CALCULATOR WITH COST- SELLING PRICE & MARGIN 8 DIGITS WITH LARGE- EASY-TO-READ DISPLAY & 3-DIGIT COMMA MARKERS TIME- TAX & CHANGE CALCULATIONS INDEPENDENT MEMORY PROFIT MARGIN % CHANGE SIGN (+/-) KEY ROLLOVER AUTO POWER OFF AFTER 6 MIN SOLAR PLUS POWER WITH BATTERY BACKUP Manufacturer’s Part No.: MS-300M USA Orders Only (no international orders, please). Generally leaves the warehouse in 1-3 business days.

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If you have any knowledge in this it would be very appreciated.
I just bought a foreclosure house with a 20 x 40 built in pool and i heard the bills are big to run these, Luckily i live in Michigan and i cant use it year round.
the house was listed 2 years ago at 340000 i picked it up for 162000.

How much energy does your pump consume?

A 200W solar panel generates between 0.5kW to 1kW per day (depending on your location). That’s 15-30kWh/month. So if your pump consumes twice that much, you would need two panels plus an inverter. That’s a pretty poorly designed system where inverter and installation costs will be disproportionate to the return on investment. One can make the same argument for basically all systems below 1-2kW peak power output. At probably $6/W (including installation), that’s at least $6000-$12000 for a minimal system.

I just wanted to know how expensive solar panels were and how much to install, also I know just sunlight itself isn’t "energy" its just light, you have to convert it, don’t you? How expensive is that? So basically how much would it cost for everything?

(please tell me if i forgot anything)

Normally, you can purchase and have installed for your home a solar energy system for in the 20 to 30 thousand dollar area. These costa are also offset in a lot of states that will subsidize this cost to varying extents depending on your state. The federal also provides income tax incentives.

For a home of about 1500 to 2000 square feet, you would be looking at about 300 to 400 square feet of panels. You would be generating only in the daylight hours, sunny or cloudy days.summer and winter. The panels should be directed close to perpendicular to the sun’s rays at noon. The optimum would be to follow the sun through its arc (not reasonable at this time). The energy is changed with an inverter to A/C power and connected to the main electric grid, sold back to the power company when you are producing excess, you would draw back from the grid when you are needing more than you are producing.

Do a search for solar panels through "google", you will find more information than you can read.

Do not listen to the "Nay sayers", this can be done.

I’ve been doing a lot of experimenting with renewable energy lately, mostly with the kits you buy online for solar-powered cars and whatnot. My question is: how can you convert the electricity coming from the solar panel (positive and negative wires) into a standard household 120V AC current? Preferably DIY, but I’m open to buying some equipment, as long as it’s not expensive.

Inverters are rather complicated. The way that I would likely do it is set up a solar panel array so that I get somewhere around 12-14 v dc voltage. I would then use a car inverter to turn this power into the form used for household items. Inverters can be found for at least the range of 75 to 2500 watts, depending upon how big your solar panels are. hopefully this idea will help.

Here is the first inverter I found:

http://www.theinverterstore.com/the-inverter-store-product.php?model=pwrcup150cg

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Fight back against soaring energy costs! Harness the sun’s energy and have a reliable free source of 12V power! Just what you need to keep vehicle batteries fully charged and ready to go, operating 12V DC lights and appliances and more! Harnessing the sun’s energy is easy and affordable with this solar charging kit. It sets up in just minutes to deliver 60W (4 amps) of clean, safe and reliable power every hour. It’s maintenance free, too! Also features 7 amp charge controller, 175W inverter, built-in blocking diode to protect battery discharge at night, amorphous solar cell and durable PVC frame. Works in any weather. Male DC plug, alligator battery clamps and wiring included. 74W x 49H x variable length when in use. Need more power? Link up to 10 panels together for increased power.

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Authorized Solexx Dealer. Lots of room to grow! The aesthetically pleasing Solexx Garden Master Greenhouse is perfect for the gardener who want to maximize their growing space. With 6 feet 6 inch outer walls and a gable that peaks at 8 feet 9 inch you will have ample room to trellis plants like cucumber, cantaloupe and tomatoes. The steel reinforced bench frames give you lots of growing area and each shelf supports up to 500 pounds of distributed weight. Plant hanging rods run the entire length of the greenhouse and support 200 pounds each so you have plenty of space to over winter all your hanging baskets. The large 24 x 12 inch vent is in conjunction with base vents which produces natural convection to create a complete circulation system for healthy plants. An optional solar louver opener opens and closes the louver when you re away. Strong and shatter-proof, double-walled Solexx panels will protect your seedlings and plants from strong winds, hail, driving rain, snow and other harsh weather conditions. With insulated Solexx panels, you will keep heating costs low while extending your growing season from early spring to late fall. Double UV inhibitor is added as the plastic is processed, and is not just a coating, Solexx panels create an evenly diffused light so no matter where your plant is in the Greenhouse. it will benefit from optimal growing conditions.The Solexx Garden Master Greenhouse is available in G-508 Solexx XP, G-508 SP Solexx Pro, G-512 Solexx XP, G-512 SP Solexx Pro, G-516 Solexx XP, G-516 SP Solexx Pro, G-524 Solexx XP, G-524 SP Solexx Pro models … click to read more

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OK so I’m in scince class right now and were doing a project on "Solar Power Plants"and we can’t find anything on them…so would anybody know on how much it would cost to build one?

This is a very open ended question.

It could be as little as $10. But this solar power plant would only produce enough energy to light a very small light bulb!!

It all depends on the power output of the power station. I would estimate that it would cost about 100 times what it costs to build a fossil fuel powered plant for each megawatt of power produced.

So, a 10GW (Giga Watt) oil fired power plant may cost $1billion to build, so a 10GW solar plant would cost about $100billion to build (and would probably take up 1000 times the land space required for the oil plant)

And they wonder why solar hasn’t caught on yet!

If you are asking about solar electric, then the amount of electricity you use and if you have a good south facing roof for mounting them tends to matter more than the size of the house.

My guess is that you are just wondering if it is a good idea.
Well, it looks like about $11,000 for 1300watts for a grid tie system.
That’s 1300watts on the perfect day.
From a payback stand point it still tends to take 12-20years for the system to pay for its self depending on your electricity cost and location.

Solar to heat is more efficient so solar hot water heat has a better payback.

Anybody know much about DIY wind or solar power house installations. I am basically looking for ways to produce energy from the elements, be it from solar or wind. The government in the UK try to promte the use of it but from what I can see it’s very hard to find anything out about it, the grant system is poor and generally very hard to progress or experiment with it? Any ideas, pointers would be appreciated. Thanks

B & Q have a new windmill that plugs straight into your mains