Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Residential Solar Panels?

Someone please explain the math. I see folks spending $30-$40k on these things for their homes. If your bill was $200/mo. before and $0/month after, it takes 12 years to break even.

Selling back to the grid or something? What’s the life of these things?

Kinda reminds me of Kirby vaccuums.

A friend of mine has a solar system, but he got it several years ago when the gov. would subsidize the cost. One solar panel is about a 12x20 and the other is about 8x12. He got rid of the batteries and now has a special meter that cost $6/mth. The power company doesn't send him a check for the extra power he produces, they credit his account. In the summer he makes more electricity than he uses, but in the winter he uses more than he makes. Other than the $6 monthly bill, he said that he usually gets 2 bills in the winter for about $30-$40 each. So his yearly electric bill is about $150 per year.

He's had this system since the early 2000's, so they must be pretty reliable.

His is the only one I know about.

I paid about 20k for ours. Payoff based on rates in our area is about 9 years. I got a zero interest 10 year loan through the solar company. I'm making larger payments and should have it paid off in 7 years. My payments are less than what I was paying on my monthly bill averaged over the year. I should be paid off in 4 yrs. The warranty on the system is 12yrs so I'm hoping most of it lasts longer but I won't be out any money if it takes a dump after 12.
We get a little back from the power company at the end of the year for the extra power we put back into the grid.

Shut your festering pie hole about Kirby vacuums!


People pay big dollars for the "economy" of diesel engines.

They never get ahead unless they keep em like I do.

Try and convince someone that a 50 percent off sale on goods they wouldn't have bought otherwise.....is a 50 percent savings.

An ROI of 12 years on a house is pretty good, especially when you think your loan is probably 30 years. I've taken a lot of solar continuing ed credits and designed one system myself. Current ROI's are closer to 8 years and I was told by a PhD EE that in four more years that should be cut in half. I'm skeptical of a 4 year ROI, but if true, you'd be borderline stupid not to. I'm already tempted. Energy prices will not go down. Demand is continually increasing and the less government reliance in my life, the better.

Solar systems have a lot of options too. Might just augment your daytime electric usage. Other options include battery storage (which is the most expensive part), generator backups, servo's on the panels to optimize sun intake, and reselling back to the grid.

my son's place is off grid. He has a solar array that feeds into a control shed, which feeds the battery shed, which goes back into the control shed and is converted to AC. He runs his small house, well pump and everything else off the solar. No hookup to the power company. I believe the cost was $16K for everything. His father in law, a master electrician hooked it all up. Running trouble free for 5 years now.

The power companies won't issue a check for excess electricity you add to their grid. You might not get a bill, but neither can you expect a credit.

What about Rainbow vacuum cleaners.....................

those things suck.

No,...................... they really do

Electro-lux........lux lux lux lux lux......

My cousin had a vacuum repair shop

We made a giant water bong out of rainbow vacuum cleaner.

The look on peoples’ face was priceless come on there to pick up their vacuums smelling like indonesia in there. “Yes uhh ma’am we’re still working on it, the parts have been back ordered...ok thanks bye”

“Lock that door PeeWee, we closing early today”

My son has them on his, power company paid for them, he gets rate break.

solar is not what it appears to be.

You get a Rebate from the Feds, and that will end in two years, with less next year than this year.

Electrolux hose intake side with a large tea strainer. Dump a pound of weed in the strainer. Light er up. Fog the whole damn house. Great for parties !

Denny

Man, that would be cooler than a wine jug water pipe!


On topic though, if our electric rates weren't so reasonable here with our Co-op, I might have considered some panels here, especially for the shop where I could easily store the power I need in a battery bank. Wanted some for the well too, but when I checked, the whole system would have cost a big % of my yearly gooberment fixed income.

No way Ray, I may not live long enough for the amortization to work out in my favor and I'll be danged if I leave it to some future buyer of the 7 Acre RANCH!

Here's a bit of a mind game for those interested in solar now to think about. How inexpensive and better made would solar panels be, given economy of scale and technological improvements over time, if every new home in SoCal, Metro AZ, Las Vegas, and parts of NM and TX had been required as part of a zoning law to have them installed since the 1970's when the boom started in the Sun Belt areas?

NO breaks, every developer would have put them in. If they cost $10K at the time added to a brand new $90K home in Moreno Valley, or Poway, or Glendale, or Henderson, rolled into the financing, would that have deterred Mr and Mrs Minnesota from moving to a nicer climate to work as managers at the new Video King?

have been off grid for 30 years. the components have come a long way. over the last 30 years i have spent about 30k for 2 properties.
that includes generators for those days the sun is lazy. my battery pack will run the house for 3 days for a full deep cycle. i don't think i have ever made a full discharge. try to keep the battery at 80% or above.
My panels equal the AH rating of my battery.
i lucked into some new tech. panels are 475 watts each and i have 8. on a good day i can wash clothes, vacuum, pump water and weld all at the same time, if the wife does her part and still be putting a charge on the batteries.

i really enjoy NOT sending a check every month of my life to a utility that is already sucking up my tax dollars.

Wow, I never heard of that before.
Is that some sort of grant or special program?

Way back and going from memory, I think yours are what 4-5 times the average consumer panel?

Thats seriously major power.
In the N.E. near Pittsburgh, I don't think its doable for winter to be solar dependant, but I.may be wrong. If I could save that up for two years and make it work I would at those prices.

We installed a 6.36 Kw ground mount system in 2013. About $32,000. We had state and federal tax credits and a utility rebate that covered 2/3s of that cost. Since ours is on a great solar site, it paid for itself in 7 years. We are on a common net metering program where our solar generation is netted against our monthly usage. State regulation of solar varies considerably and will continue to do so. In many states solar generation is credited to the monthly bill based on the retail price of electricity, not the market price of electricity. That is a big win for those that have solar. Some states have modified their net metering programs to credit back solar generation based on the market price of electricity, which is normally (current Texas and 2000 California excluded) considerably less than the retail price.

How did you learn how to type, without learning how to read?

If your interested in Solar take a look at Victron Marine. The make some of the best solar equipment i've seen.

Victron Marine