"A2" wrote in message
...
On 19-Nov-15 1:48 PM, Larry Jaques wrote:
On Wed, 18 Nov 2015 13:11:35 -0500, "Jim Wilkins"
wrote:

wrote in message

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Thinking about moving to a smaller water heater (20g) which can be
heated with lower power elements fed directly from a 24v solar
array.
Hot water is nearly half my electric use, which now averages
$41/mo.


Sounds cheap, how much is off grid power? I'm guessing you are US
based?

We pay about $0.27 per kW.hr here in Australia.

Here in New England, USA grid power costs me $0.15 per KWH. My solar
power is really for week-long hurricane or ice storm power outages.
Otherwise it mainly keeps the vehicle batteries topped up so they last
longer. I don't normally cycle batteries because I estimate that the
cost of depreciation is more than the savings.

These extra panels should add enough current to support the TV and
laptop longer during the day. My Harbor Freight kit gave about an hour
of Internet access to email and weather radar per day during the last
outage. Phone line and cellular Internet stayed up on their own backup
supplies.

Weather radar shows me much more accurately than the forecasts when I
can repair storm damage and when I must stop and cover it up.

Unwatched generators attract thieves. I made a sound dampening
enclosure from fireproof acoustic ceiling tiles rimmed with aluminum
flashing but it has to be wide open on one side for ventilation and
doesn't quiet the genny enough that I can't hear it from the street.
The noise is mechanical, an extra muffler makes little difference.

-jsw