Wednesday, October 30, 2013

This of course

View outside my door on the 30th.

Solar panels enjoying their 7am wake up call. Me. Not so much.

12 comments:

  1. Looks like snow has the power to shut down both on the grid and off the grid power. Good news it can not shut down a wood stove. Stay warm my friend. I hate cold weather.

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    1. Long term, it could shut it down if I never got sun to power the batteries. Nice thing about Colorado and this altitude is that winter still involves a lot of sun and dry air, regardless of temps. This firebox is doing me well! Toasted me out the other day. Hope all is well in FL.

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  2. I am so interested in your living, lifestyle and abilities. thanks for sharing.

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    1. Thank you kindly. It appears you have a bit going on over on your plot of land, too. :)

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  3. I was wondering how solar would do in a snowy/icy environment. So will they still charge up, albeit slower, with snow filtered light coming through? Or once they are covered with snow and ice, do they shut down or something? Just curious. Not that we'd ever have to worry down here about snow, ha. Ice perhaps...rarely.

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    1. Solar is fine in cold climates. Actually, they produce more in colder temperatures. That is one of the calculations you do when sizing up your charge controller and how many you wish to connect together. Say, my 4 tied together, then the other 4 tied together get combined in a box before going to the house. They produce 150 volts ant 8-9 amps. When combined with the other four it is 150 volts and 16-18amps. In -40F, the record im basing my calculations on... they would produce almost 200 volts. Hence the reason for a 200V charge controller.

      But hey. Not quite your question. They were covered in snow. I didnt have to dust them off but figured why not. Even covered/shaded they produce something. Not if totally covered unless the bright light filtered through. But in such a case, they would melt and resume operation. Or when I get up, I can dust off and go. I only need about 2 hours of good sun to recharge my batteries, so if I clean them in the morning, even with less winter sun hours... should be good to go!

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    2. It is all solid state stuff. :) Nice part about colorado, in winter, we still get heaps of sun. Rarely is it cloudy. Unlike other parts of the US (Though solar would still work, just need larger battery bank to get through a few days of bad weather) it rarely has more than a day or two of weather where you wouldnt get anything.

      Even in Cloudy murk skies and rain... out of my 2000 Watts of solar, I get 1/8th of that which is fine over the course of the day. I am a minimal electricity user and can adjust accordingly.

      BUT. Im only 4 months into this solar thing so we shall find out come winter. :)

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  4. Having to go out at 7am in the snow is not fun at all. At least if didn't stay around for long!

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  5. You have still not told us what the hole is for?????

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