solar system and instalation

[Confidence]

Good day

I bought a house and i don't where to start. I need to all my electrical applience use the solar enegry. how much does solar enegry cost? is there any danger using it? my house got 3 bedroom, 1 toilet, 1 seating room and a small kichen. Is there any drawing that will samplify the function of solar sytem. I only saw solar gysar. I don't even whether the sytem exit.

[AndyD]

A solar powered electrical system capable of running appliances like a small stove, TV, kettle and lighting for a house is available but it's going to cost a lot of money. You can go with a 12 volt system similar to a camping set up but then you need 12 volt appliances as well. You can also go with a full solar PV system with an inverter as well which will generate 220 volts. Either way you're going to spend many thousands of rands even for a small basic system. With solar electrical power systems, the initial financial outlay is very high.

With the geyser it's slightly different because the solar panel normally directly heats the water, it doesn't generate any electricity. This system is more affordable plus there were some government schemes running where you can get a few thousand Rands back if you install one of these.

[Justloadit]

The problem with solar systems is:

Those that can afford it do not need it, and those that need it can not afford it.

First start off and lay out exactly what you need, we can then work our way through it and find the best possible solution.
I mean your consumption - eg - Lights for reading 3 people - 6 hours, general lighting - kitchen - lounge - 10 hours, TV - size and consumption, etc. Be liebral and at the same time be conservative. Understanding your requirements is paramount in deciding what to do and how to solve it.

[murdock]

you can get a solar panel to charge a big deep cycle battery for around R3000 (make sure it is blue...the brown ones ar eold technology)

a 105 amp/hr battery will set you back R1300

the battery charger for the solar panel R700

then lastly an invertor from R1000 to R5000

you can run your tv on a 12 volt battery

i have an invertor which runs my tv and dvd player...charge cellphones...the small light batteries if we have cloudy days...

then you buy a lighting kit which comes complete with a small solar panel...battery and 4 lights complete for R1500 i have seen them for less at around R1100

you then invest in a afrox handigas 2 plate gas stove complete with pipe and pressure reducer R350

put a deposit on either a small 9 kg bottle which you can exchange for a bigger 1 if you find it is running out tooo quickly at no extra cost (deposit R350 once off)

to refill the gas bottle R169 for a 9 kg bottle

if you use the small cadac bottle you will pay R18 per kg to refill and only R13 to refil the big bottle

if you cant afford a solar geyser...just use the 2 plate gas stove to heat water...get a 25 litre bucket...a big sponge and a small jug...bingo you have a hot water wash ever day.ii in winter it works great because it heats up the room when you boil the water...or get smart and join the gym and have a shower at gym every night...and morning if you like...keeps you fit and clean

get a swimming pool (around 8000 ltres) from pick and pay for around R700 with pump (which can run off the invertor)...reroute your down pipes from your gutters and bingo...with your 6000 free litres of water from the council is enough to keep you going.

just remeber the more power you need the more panels and batteries you will need.

i also have a small generator which cost around R1500 which can powers any item if my house if i need to like the washing machine...fridge etc if i need to...the problem is the running cost is huge...with the petrol price increase you pay R10 per hour to run it...it consumes a litre and hour...so we only use it as a last resort.

[murdock]

life is great in africa...people strike for water...lights then sit in the ques hours waiting to sort out outstanding accounts because they can tafford to pay for it so it is diconnected.

i suppose at least then it not a service delivery issue any longer.

[Confidence]

thanks for giving me some idea what to do.Soo the best way is to have gas heater, gas stove, solar gyser and solar lights system. But i still have a problem with Tv, dvd, fm and fridge to comleped everything. Can you help me with that item or give me any idea please.

[murdock]

do you not have access to electricity?

[Confidence]

do you not have access to electricity?

Eskom have poor service so i need some altanartive to live without electricity. They will replie after 3 days even call center is also not in good conditions.when It's winter i struggle with electricty. I always pray when i go find power on. Last weekend there was no power. I use prepaid electricity. I don't wanna use generator because of petrol is increasing all most every day. I also so generators suplying banks at malls may that kind of genarator can solve my problems because it's a diseil genaretor.

[Dave A]

When it comes to generators, diesel or petrol, it costs more to generate electricity than buying it off the grid.

[murdock]

my little generator consumes 1 litre per hour of LRP fuel and can only supply 10 amps max which relates to almost R10 per hour... which is by no menas cheap in comparison yo electricity

which means that i have all my lights on...

the fridge 2 door fridge freezer

the geyser i fitted a 1000 watt element so it takes a little longer to heat but the generator can carry the load.

the tv...dvd and sound system

and my electric blanket on my bed for when i really splash out and spoil myself

and the generator runs no problem and at the same time i charge all the batteries

...the bigger the generator the more petrol it will consume..

[murdock]

the problem with solar power is the batteries need to be replaced ever 5 years at over R1000 per battery increasing depending on demand...when the load shedding kicked in they cost almost R2000 per unit...but in saying that depending on how well you look after them...and if you have a couple cloudy days you have a problem...even one cloudy day effects my system because it only charges enough to get one nights worth of power...but i am rotating 6 x 105 amp/hr batteires so i just connect one of the big batteries to the lighting system.

the other problem i have found is the invertor consumes 4 amps of power and the t etc only consumes 5 amps so the invertor is halving the time...if i could find an more enrgy efficient invertor...it would make a big difference...

i am also doing some research into the duty cycle time of batteries...if they can only be cycled to 50 % then you loose about 4-5 hours...where as if the batterry has a 100 % cycle you can us ethe full 9- 10 hours but the invertor switches off at 11.7 volts...so i will need to do more experimenting before i can comment further.

gas is a good backup option...so long as you remeber to refill the bottles and have a standby one

[AndyD]

Local power generation and backup power systems that will run you appliances will be too expensive. For a decent pure sine inverter plus the batteries plus an intelligent battery charger you're looking at R25000,00 minimum. I have designed a couple of back-up solutions using batteries and inverters that will deliver approx 20Amps for 18 hrs and the price was nearly four times what I quoted above. As Murdock pointed out, the batteries are a killer and good quality high efficiency inverters aren't far behind.

[Justloadit]

You can get a gas operated fridge, they consume approximately 10g of gas an hour I think, so a bottle of gas should run for a month before replacement.

The problem with Lead Acid batteries, is that you must not discharge them more than 40%, as going lower than this reduces the battery lifespan. The lower you go the less times the battery can recover. Discharging a Lead acid completely more than 30 times will destroy the battery. That is why the inverter switches off at 11.7V, to conserve the battery

[wynn]

I read an article where a professor at a USA university was experimenting with a system of generating enough hydrogen by solar power then using the hydrogen to run a generator to power the house and a car even on cloudy days.

I'll try find the link and post it here or on the 'green thread'

here it is http://www.suncatalytix.com/

[IanF]

I read an article where a professor at a USA university was experimenting with a system of generating enough hydrogen by solar power then using the hydrogen to run a generator to power the house and a car even on cloudy days.

I'll try find the link and post it here or on the 'green thread'

here it is http://www.suncatalytix.com/

Wynn here is one base component to generate the hydrogen flame polisher I see it need distilled water to work, but very interesting way to store energy.