John and Cecil
10 kW
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2018
- Messages
- 529
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UPDATE 04/07/2021:
At least my posts are not being deleted now that Fechter has been told about what is happening. This a warning to anyone using this forum, the moderators here can threaten you with private messages and delete your posts asking for administrator assistance and they will harass you for no good reason and then lie about it. Other moderators will lie for them as well. You really want to consider this before posting here, until this situation is fixed you might want to just read the posts here but not participate. When moderators break the rules you are descending into chaos.
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Hello, I have been trying to design a system for when I buy my house. I was hoping battery prices would drop by now but they are still crazy expensive in this part of Europe. Therefore I am trying to design a system with less or no batteries. I have no equipment yet, I am designing a system before I start buying what is required. I am trying to keep my upfront costs down.
First point, I cannot connect to the grid because of the bureaucracy here - I know that is the best option but unfortunately it cannot happen You need a license and a contract with the utility company to be able to connect to the grid and the companies are refusing the contract because they don't want to pay for any uploaded electricity.
There are several options I am considering but the first option is to buy an e-motorcycle and use that battery (something like the Zero 7 - 10kwh motorcycle) to power the house at night and to have extra reserve capacity in winter. I have read that solar panel output in winter is only a fraction of what it is in summer so I am designing a system to provide enough power to the house in the winter and then in the summer I will use the excess electricity generated for other needs (like air conditioning or riding the e-motorcycle).
I figure if I switch water heating methods and use mostly gas to cook I can get my winter electricity needs down to under 4kwh per day (although in an emergency I could cut that number in half). We get a lot of light rain and cloudy weather here in the winter so I assumed I would need enough panels to generate at least 4 - 5 times the 4kwh winter requirement. I am thinking I would need a 4kwh per hour solar panel array (8x 500w panels).
I am also considering building a small electric fishing boat, plus I have an e-bike. I was thinking that I could possibly purchase some smaller batteries for the home electricity storage (maybe 2x or 3x 1kwh batteries) and also use the motorcycle battery to increase the home power storage. I probably won't be riding the motorcycle too much in the winter unless the weather is better. Then in the summer I would ride the motorcycle for a few hours during daylight hours and leave the house running on and charging the 1kwh batteries. Or I might take the boat out for the day (with the small 1kwh batteries), so I would leave the motorcycle at home to charge and to power the house.
I am hoping that in a couple years battery prices will drop and a larger dedicated home system battery will become more affordable. But fuel prices are very high here so the e-motorcycle makes sense even if the batteries in the motorcycle are high priced. Plus should I run low on power I might be able to ride the motorcycle to a charging point and recharge the battery there, then use that power for the house.
So I am wondering if something like this is possible to do without outrageously expensive equipment. I imagine I would need the 8x 500w solar panels plus a controller. I would like to be able to hook all the batteries up at one time, even though they may not be the same voltage and amperage.
Another option would be to leave the house connected to the grid. Perhaps there is some sort of programmable breaker switch that can run the house on the solar panels using a small 1kwh battery during daylight hours and put all the excess energy generated into the motorcycle battery. Then in the evening the timer disconnects the house from the solar panels and connects it to the grid. In the morning the timer would switch the house off the grid and back onto the solar array with battery.
Anyway I am new to all of this but I am trying. Has anyone tried anything like this and have any suggestions? Thanks for reading.
UPDATE 04/07/2021:
At least my posts are not being deleted now that Fechter has been told about what is happening. This a warning to anyone using this forum, the moderators here can threaten you with private messages and delete your posts asking for administrator assistance and they will harass you for no good reason and then lie about it. Other moderators will lie for them as well. You really want to consider this before posting here, until this situation is fixed you might want to just read the posts here but not participate. When moderators break the rules you are descending into chaos.
******************************************************************************************
Hello, I have been trying to design a system for when I buy my house. I was hoping battery prices would drop by now but they are still crazy expensive in this part of Europe. Therefore I am trying to design a system with less or no batteries. I have no equipment yet, I am designing a system before I start buying what is required. I am trying to keep my upfront costs down.
First point, I cannot connect to the grid because of the bureaucracy here - I know that is the best option but unfortunately it cannot happen You need a license and a contract with the utility company to be able to connect to the grid and the companies are refusing the contract because they don't want to pay for any uploaded electricity.
There are several options I am considering but the first option is to buy an e-motorcycle and use that battery (something like the Zero 7 - 10kwh motorcycle) to power the house at night and to have extra reserve capacity in winter. I have read that solar panel output in winter is only a fraction of what it is in summer so I am designing a system to provide enough power to the house in the winter and then in the summer I will use the excess electricity generated for other needs (like air conditioning or riding the e-motorcycle).
I figure if I switch water heating methods and use mostly gas to cook I can get my winter electricity needs down to under 4kwh per day (although in an emergency I could cut that number in half). We get a lot of light rain and cloudy weather here in the winter so I assumed I would need enough panels to generate at least 4 - 5 times the 4kwh winter requirement. I am thinking I would need a 4kwh per hour solar panel array (8x 500w panels).
I am also considering building a small electric fishing boat, plus I have an e-bike. I was thinking that I could possibly purchase some smaller batteries for the home electricity storage (maybe 2x or 3x 1kwh batteries) and also use the motorcycle battery to increase the home power storage. I probably won't be riding the motorcycle too much in the winter unless the weather is better. Then in the summer I would ride the motorcycle for a few hours during daylight hours and leave the house running on and charging the 1kwh batteries. Or I might take the boat out for the day (with the small 1kwh batteries), so I would leave the motorcycle at home to charge and to power the house.
I am hoping that in a couple years battery prices will drop and a larger dedicated home system battery will become more affordable. But fuel prices are very high here so the e-motorcycle makes sense even if the batteries in the motorcycle are high priced. Plus should I run low on power I might be able to ride the motorcycle to a charging point and recharge the battery there, then use that power for the house.
So I am wondering if something like this is possible to do without outrageously expensive equipment. I imagine I would need the 8x 500w solar panels plus a controller. I would like to be able to hook all the batteries up at one time, even though they may not be the same voltage and amperage.
Another option would be to leave the house connected to the grid. Perhaps there is some sort of programmable breaker switch that can run the house on the solar panels using a small 1kwh battery during daylight hours and put all the excess energy generated into the motorcycle battery. Then in the evening the timer disconnects the house from the solar panels and connects it to the grid. In the morning the timer would switch the house off the grid and back onto the solar array with battery.
Anyway I am new to all of this but I am trying. Has anyone tried anything like this and have any suggestions? Thanks for reading.