solar power in fern forest

[ericlp]

I say plan for a 3 years of 300 bills about 8-9K should make life really easy.

Get a Flex Power 1 (outback) wired panel with Inverter and Charge Controller (outback quality and $3200 well spent). Then, you can get your golf cart batteries and panels 12 - 18 should be enough of them at costco. Just don't expect to run microwaves and hairdryers. Propane cooktop and propane tankless water heater is a must. You can get buy with a small 18 CUFT 1KW a day fridge. Get the most effient you can find appliances.

Tho, if you are concerned about hair dryers and microwaves, AC, Fern Forest probably isn't the life for you to begin with.


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[bluesboy]

I live between fern forest and fern acres. I have an outback 2524, 8 270 watt panels and 4 L16s. I can run a microwave and hair dryer no problem. I have a sun frost rf12 fridge. I just bought a washer and gas dryer, and will hook them up soon. I expect for them to run just fine on 'sundays'.

[ericlp]

How about your wife that has long hair and wants to run her hair dryer for 20 mins @ 2K watts at 10PM right before bed time. As she is doing that she has a cup of water for tea in the mirowave another 1800 watts for 5 minutes. Hmmm, yeah I know... Sundays don't happen at 10PM.

And yes I know, one has to make adjustments in life styles switching from the grid to off grid. Just saying the best way to go here is outback. It's a bit pricy, but worth it for longevity.

It's not that you "CAN'T" do it, but the question is for how long. I have a solar dryer. Works great!


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[tada]

I bought an Outback FM80 charge controller and a Xantrex inverter for $1400 from Dennis Walsh 2 years ago-

http://kokuaelectric.com/

Haven't built my system yet because I keep changing my plans but I thought I got a good deal. Though he said his business keep him shuttling all over the country.

[kalakoa]

wants to run her hair dryer for 20 mins @ 2K watts at 10PM

Perhaps the problem isn't with the power system?

[bananahead]

ya, blow dried hair in Hawaii? and 20 minutes to do so lol

I wanted to add, I have a much smaller system than all noted here, I have 2 panels and 2 batteries... and it rains alot where I am in upper HA. The key with my small system is I only use 1-2 things at a time (TV/VCR, stereo, computer/printer/scanner, blenders, tool battery chargers, etc.). I have 13 watt 'twister' light bulbs in all the lights. Use some things only during the day (ie X-Box), And #1 I use propane... ie I have a propane fridge (Servel), stove, BBQ, shower/waterheater (Paloma), and spaceheater (I never use).
and I have a clock (wall type) that uses AAA batteries because if I plug in a VCR clock or digital one... the time will be way 'off' within 2 days

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save our indigenous and endemic Hawaiian Plants... learn about them, grow them, and plant them on your property, ....instead of all that invasive non-native garbage I see in most yards... aloha

[greywolf74]

We also live in Fern Forest. We have off grid customers in Fern Forest who are running dishwasher, disposal, big screen TV's, and an auto shop with compressors and fluorescent lighting. All Off GRID. There are no limitations , only budget.

Hope this was helpful to you... for more information please come by our store located in Hilo on the main hwy right before Mirandas feed store driveway, or visit us at http://www.builditgreen808.com
808-969-1133 Mon-fri- 9am-4pm

A Hui Hou!

[greywolf74]

Our panels are $275 for a 250 watt panel can come down in price if you buy quantity

[HI_Someday]

quote:

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Originally posted by greywolf74

Our panels are $275 for a 250 watt panel can come down in price if you buy quantity

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Hey Greywolf, just curious to see if you could tell how to calculate the number of these panels would be needed to meet my electricity needs if I knew what my current use is by kWh? I'm sure I could look it up but it may be helpful to others...

In July I used about 600 kWh, or an average of approx 19 kWh/day, with a peak usage of 32.4 kWh on one day.

How do you compare/convert an x__kilowatt panel to kWh usage? Thanks!

[kalakoa]

an average of approx 19 kWh/day

For a guesstimate you can run the formulae backwards: divide KWh/day by "usable sun-hours/day" to get the array size, then add 20% for battery storage overhead.

Example: (19KW / 6h) * 1.2 = 3.7992KW, or about 16 * 250W panels (4KW).

rainier spots like Fern Forest?

Compensate for cloud cover by fudging the sun-hours down.

Example: (19KW / 4h) * 1.2 = 5.7KW, or about 24 * 250W panels (6KW).