Switching To Solar Power – One Month Later 730
ThinSkin writes "After an interesting article on solar panel installation for the home, Loyd Case at ExtremeTech has written a follow-up after about a month of normal use. Posting an $11.34 electric bill (roughly 3% of previous months), Loyd shares his experiences using solar power and how it can be fun for the geek, with computer monitoring services and power generation data. Of course, solar power isn't all fun and games, given the amount of required maintenance — even unpredictable maintenance, like wiping off accumulated ash from fires in Northern California."
My PC is running great on solar power ... (Score:5, Funny)
Questions? (Score:5, Funny)
2. Are they bolted on? Any locking mechanisms?
3. Is it easy to climb on to the roof?
4. Do you have good access to a road from the home?
5. When are you planning to take a vacation?
6. Does it have any kind of GPS thingie or Wifi thingie attached that will phone home?
Thanks buddy.
Re:Winter MegaHurtz (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Questions? (Answers) (Score:5, Funny)
1. They are somewhat heavy (50 lbs). They are awkwardly large at 5ftx3ft. Two person job if you don't want to risk a rooftop fall.
2. They are typically bolted on. Uninstall time will be in the several minutes per panel range. Be sure you have an electrician with you to avoid death by electric shock.
3. You can see in the pictures he has a typical roof. Bring a ladder. And a crane if you want an easier time lowering the panels.
4. Yes, see the pictures.
5. Don't know about that one. Probably end of December or next summer.
6. Doubtful.
Re:Eh (Score:3, Funny)
No way a panel will last 16-18 years.. Try 2-3. You've got to factor in the price of complete replacecement. Hell, lets say he gets really lucky and they last 10 years.. he's still making a net loss.
pink (Score:3, Funny)
He's should've bought like 2 less solar panels and used the money to paint his house some color other than pink.
Re:haha (Score:3, Funny)
I prefer that people stick to doing what they do best and thus provide greater wealth to humanity through specialization (as mathematically proven by Ricardo [wikipedia.org]).
You and every banker.
Rookie mistake (Score:5, Funny)
You forgot to engage the hydropower backup generator.
Re:Wait to winter time when there is less sun to s (Score:3, Funny)
I think I saw that on the Red Green show. Only instead of a 12VDC to 120VAC inverter, he tried to use a step up transformer. Which might even work if you hooked up a DPDT toggle switch and jiggled it back and forth 60 times per second...
Re:Rookie mistake (Score:5, Funny)
Think about it (Score:2, Funny)
I have no TV. No washing machine. Not even a boiler (my hot water is run off from the power plant). I wash my clothes in a laundromat, I get my TV fix on a cheapo laptop and my lights are LED. I think the only appliance I have that draws any real power is the refrigerator... If I could power the lights and refrigerator on solar I'd have no bills. A trip to the laundromat is also more comfortable than doing it myself, imho. A really pretty Pakistani girl does the hard work and as a sideline I get to chat her up. Not many attractive Asian babes in my basement last time I looked.
Re:380.00 bill? (Score:3, Funny)
I think you need to investigate this whole solar thing a little bit.
Re:Questions? (Score:1, Funny)
1. How heavy are these solar panels? Easy enough to be lifted and carried down by one or two persons?
2. Are they bolted on? Any locking mechanisms?
3. Is it easy to climb on to the roof?
4. Do you have good access to a road from the home?
5. When are you planning to take a vacation?
6. Does it have any kind of GPS thingie or Wifi thingie attached that will phone home?
Thanks buddy.
7. my dog is a 180lb Mastiff/pitbull mix that hates strangers so you might want to wear a pork chop around your neck to make friends. He doesn't bark and he kept breaking the car chain I was using so I gave up and had to let him roam free. Also if he gets you pinned to the ground my apologies. He gets really frisky around this time of year. It really makes him angry if you try to stop him so it's better to let him finish. He gets hungry afterward so try offering him the pork chop. Be careful of the six foot holes in the yard and if you see the mail man please ask him for me why he stopped delivering mail a few weeks ago?
Re:Why can't he sell it back? (Score:2, Funny)
I thinks the Arabs, the Canadians, the Chinese, and the Russians might not appreciate you nationalizing their oil.
Re:Why can't he sell it back? (Score:1, Funny)
Who wants a working healthcare system when you can privatise it
Who wants a working health care system when you can blame greedy corporations and socialize it instead??
Falcon
Re:Global Warming (Score:3, Funny)
Why would that ever be a problem? They could just drink Brawndo, The Thirst Mutilator. It's got electrolytes, It's got what plants crave.
http://www.brawndo.com/ [brawndo.com]