On Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:39:29 -0700, Doug Winterburn
wrote:

On 03/27/2012 09:17 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:

Cool, Doug. What's your setup? Got battery backup so you stay online
when the rest of the block is out?

No, it's a grid tied system - SolarCity. The grid is our storage
device, in fact when the grid goes down, so does our system. Wouldn't
want to be pumping juice into the grid while the repair guys were trying
to get things fixed! Might make their hair look like Guy Fieri. The
inverter shuts off when the sun or the grid goes down.

A grid-tied relay could easily prevent that. Googling "guy fieri".
Hmm, -nobody's- hair should look like Guy Fieri's.

I'm only paying $32-47/mo for electricity, so the $96/mo lease fee
wouldn't be feasible for me.


However, any excess power we generate is banked in the grid for our use
before we slurp power from the utility. Takes a special meter in
addition to the solar meter to keep track of things.

Yeah, so I've heard.


However, I'm thinking of putting two 120W panels on the 5th wheel to
keep the batteries charged.

Why so much? I'm guessing that you already did the math.
Do you do a lot of wilderness camp^H^H^H^Hmobile living?
Or do you just use a lot of electricity at night?

--
"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the
government fears the people, there is liberty." - Thomas Jefferson