Solar Power for your Residence? Buy, Lease, Wait??? (1 Viewer)

[re_guderian]

I have the same fossil of a load controller. WPOS

Yeah, that was an eye opener...

This was the timer that was mounted through the wall from the load controller in my garage. I hope I set it right, I just set it to turn on at 8:45 each day, and off at 9:15, M-F. There's some small circuit board epoxied onto the back of it. WTF?

And this tells me my total usage in real-time.

 

[Saddletramp]

That's newer than mine, ours is all LED from 1986

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Water heater timer payback is very good IMO less then a year for most
Average power usage ~.5KWH/hour when running

Installed ~$130.00

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Led lights payback are best when used 6-8 hours a day

 

[Onefastrx7turbo]

I have LED coach lights and I leave them on most of the time since the power draw is so low (right?). I was surprised at how bright they are too.

 

[murf]

Im still trying to get my daughters to turn off all the lights/tvs/computers/ac-heat/ that are left on constantly....

 

[Living in the Past]

And this tells me my total usage in real-time.
View attachment 1020334

What this needs is a set of aux. contacts that you can use to be sure you shed the loads before you go into peak time. Problem with time clocks is something happens and you pay the higher rate for the whole month. Never have a peak meter for just this reason. Not going live by life based on a power bill. Retired now but couldn't see getting off work early and sit at a bar or go walk around a mall because I can't go home and turn my thermostat down without screwing the whole month's bill up.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Im still trying to get my daughters to turn off all the lights/tvs/computers/ac-heat/ that are left on constantly....

I had this problem with my X so I installed 15 timer switches

 

[re_guderian]

aaaaannnnddd... just got my latest APS bill and understand why Solar City was pressuring to get this done, pronto. My new flat-rate payment is now less than what Solar City quoted my two weeks ago, taking into account my fixed costs for 20 years to SC, plus a residual pmt to APS. Still have plans to get it even lower, will update when needed. My new AC unit is saving my ~$80/mo. Or better said, my old one was costing me that much.

 

[rightlane]

Great thread. i almost asked if the wood an that timer was real, until i saw the sticker, too funny. i divorced and installed a swamp cooler to attain a 100$ monthly savings. i just took her off the account, and was forced into the new rate plan. not too happy about that, aps swore that i would have saved 17$ a month over the past year on the new plan, but it sounds too good to be true. kind of like the sales pitch by solar reps, i mean, it has to get better right? any reason solar hasnt taken off in other parts of the world that are dominated by sunshine? you think if it worked that well that it would dominate those areas. is it a "green" thing here in this country?

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Total KWH used last month 585

This month 632KWH used

 

[murf]

This month 632KWH used

still better than most there Phil

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

Im thinking of set up similar to the picture.

I figure pedaling while surfing MUD I could easily generate 1000KWH/month or more

 

[Living in the Past]

I see where SRP is thinking about a $50 a month charge for new solar users and a grace period of ten years for those that already have solar. Than after that the same $50 a month charge. Plan would kill new solar customers in SRP neighborhoods and also hurt property values in home that already have solar installed. If I remember correctly it wasn't that long a APS went to the corporation commission asking and getting a rate increase because of lost revenue to customers using more efficient devices. Pretty good deal product less electricity and make the same profit. Unless I'm mistaken they already got a rate increase to pay the cost of building a new power plant to meet future needs. Because of lower usage the plant was never built.

Unless you can figure a way to get completely off the grid the cards are always stacked against the residential customer.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

<SNIP>

Unless you can figure a way to get completely off the grid the cards are always stacked against the residential customer.

With AC loads what they are I dont see it happening in my life time

 

[Living in the Past]

With AC loads what they are I dont see it happening in my life time

If I really wanted to go to all the trouble getting off the grid rural N. AZ would be a much better place. Currently in the valley I'm opening up the house in the evening, close it up in the morning, then open it up again in the evening to keep the heat pump off. That works at 7,000' in the summer. Heating with a woodstove is cheap. Unlike Flagstaff rural areas aren't subject to no burn days. Northern part of the state has plenty of sunny days making solar a good option to produce the electricity you do need. Biggest issue if you need to generate a income and can't do that solely off the internet it can be hard to do. It's also something I wouldn't do if I was raising kids. Traveling fifty miles a day to go to school and nearest neighborhood kids to play with a mile away is not way to be raised. More of a area for those retired.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

This month 632KWH used

This month Total electricity used in kWh 506 beats 2014 & 2013 but my bill keeps going up

 

[Living in the Past]

This month Total electricity used in kWh 506 beats 2014 & 2013 but my bill keeps going up

You haven't figured the biggest winner when you save energy is the power company. Lost revenue = rate increases.

Looks like the solar option for SRP neighborhoods has gone down just a little. Besides the solar company collecting rent SRP want their share too.

I lowered my daily usage by 2/3 by undoing my thermo mass heater for the kitchen. It's also lowered my water usage.

 

[re_guderian]

With AC loads what they are I dont see it happening in my life time

say more about this. What type of load does an AC unit draw at start-up, and what type of battery (amps?) would it take to power that?

BTW, my monthly usage continues to fall, but Feb/Mar is typically my lowest month of the year.

 

[LandCruiserPhil]

say more about this. What type of load does an AC unit draw at start-up, and what type of battery (amps?) would it take to power that?

BTW, my monthly usage continues to fall, but Feb/Mar is typically my lowest month of the year.

Start up in the summer can easily 60 to 100A @ 240volts

Just your inverter would need to 15,000 watt inverter minimum requiring a lot of real big batteries