12-19-2005, 12:50 PM
Aloha HADave, nobody's answering, so I guess I'll jump in. I lived on solar here in the early 90's, on a 12V system. It was enough to run a couple lights, water pump, radio, and an 8"TV for a few hours in the PM, but not enough for lights and TV at the same time- (we used Kerosene lamps while TV was on). We had 2 panels and 2 deep-cycle batteries. It worked OK, except in really dark, rainy weather- if it lasted more than 2-3 days straight we were SOL for power. I'm not familiar with the more advanced systems of today, though a friend is off grid, has a backup generator and 4 panels, 6 batteries, and an inverter, which allows 110V power, but at low wattage. She has enough power to run computer, TV, pump and lights at 110, but not enough for toaster or microwave. It does have it's own set of problems- uneven voltage and surges, her PC got fried once, TV another, and her gas stoves elect. clock timer on a third incident. I'm pretty sure though if it was more professionally installed that wouldn't have happened. I stayed at a B&B in Opihikao once that had a full-on system that ran everything for 2 households, including 2 fridges, a freezer, W/D, micro, etc. The owner said he paid something over $18K for the set up. He still needed a backup generator for prolonged stormy weather. That however was about 6 years ago, I'm sure technology is much improved since then. I found this website- www.powerlight.com