New solar panels installed.

[w0mbat (Ian)]

Alex, having lived off grid I support your policy of turning everything off at the wall at bed time.....people do not appreciate the effect of small power drains over long periods.
However I question whether you will benefit much if at all by turning off the fridge especially if it is a modern efficient unit. I would experiment if I were you. It may be that the power consumed by the fridge recovering from the overnight temperature rise combined with normal daytime openings of the fridge MAY lead to a greater overall consumption.
This is similar to what I say to people with air conditioners.....don't let the temp rise above the thermostat setting before turning it on. Keeping the room cool uses a lot less than cooling it down again once hot.
Of course your issue may be that the electronically controlled fridge will not bring the inverter out of sleep mode or work at all if the inverter is asleep.( as distinct from mechanically switched thermostats used in old fridges.)
Ian

[Nebulous (Chris)]

Originally Posted by w0mbat

However I question whether you will benefit much if at all by turning off the fridge especially if it is a modern efficient unit. I would experiment if I were you. It may be that the power consumed by the fridge recovering from the overnight temperature rise combined with normal daytime openings of the fridge MAY lead to a greater overall consumption.

Ian

Good point Ian,

It's often hard to work out the real position as opposed to the theoretical one but, as you say, it can often be worth the effort.

Testers aren't as expensive as i first thought (for those of us on 240v). I can't say how good these are (from Jaycar) but I've got something similar and it's been very interesting to see how much various different things really cost to run.

https://www.jaycar.com.au/mains-power-meter/p/MS6115

Cheers,

Chris

[sharpiel]

Originally Posted by xelasnave

I went to ring bark the trees I spoke about but I could not do it...
What was I thinking to destroy them just to gain a small efficiency.
Thank goodness I did not hurt them.
Alex

Love your work

[xelasnave]

Hi Ian,
You make a very good point.
My thoughts are these.
The battery bank is old so my hope is that by cutting off draining them at night they may last longer.
If they go I have to fork out another 6k and frankly the longer I can put it off the better.
I figure with the available power coming in during the day that maybe I may get an advantage.

Alex

[xelasnave]

Hi Chris
I have a similar unit which has enabled me to get a handle on where the power goes.
The net connection huge drain was discovered using the unit.
Alex

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by sharpiel

Love your work

Thank you Les..
Alex

[xelasnave]

I am wondering if it is viable to run an electric hot water unit...
Sounds crazy but my motivation to consider such an approach is that running water up to the roof will be more expensive than running wire to solar panels.
So if I had an additional 4 panels not connected to the system but dedicated to heating hot water it seems one could get 1000 watts...so would 1000 watts fed into a conventional electric hot water service work ...it would be nice if you could feed in 12 or 48 volts direct from the panels even an inverter if necessary....ruff costing tells me this idea may have merit even going to 8 dedicated panels.

Alex

[raymo]

It really depends upon your hot water consumption. For a family of four
or five, with everyone showering every day or two, plus the washing
machine usage etc: you'd need your entire roof covered in panels.
If there is only two of you, you might get away with six or eight panels.
raymo

[xelasnave]

Originally Posted by raymo

It really depends upon your hot water consumption. For a family of four
or five, with everyone showering every day or two, plus the washing
machine usage etc: you'd need your entire roof covered in panels.
If there is only two of you, you might get away with six or eight panels.
raymo

Thanks there are only two of them and being country gals are frugal with the tank water.

Thanks for your input.

Alex

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

I'm connected to the grid, but have about 2kW of 12V panels to play with for a hobby and blackouts / cyclones etc. Have 12V ceiling fans, 12V TV, 12V Engels, LED lights. I'm planning on 3kW eventually, when I make somewhere to put them. They're not going on the roof. I'm afraid of heights!

Our 240L fridge is a sucker compared to Phil's. Ours draws 1.2 kW per day when running through an inverter. The auto-defrost most likely the culprit as standby is only 62 watts.

I'm having trouble with battery life. Those 12V deep cycle batteries don't seem to last long, even with a DOD of 20%. I read that 2V cells in series are the way to go for 10 years of cycling. I'm only getting 2 to 3 years out of these others.

[xelasnave]

Hi Kevin
The batteries here are three 4 vlt acid units.

Regular maintenance is critical with lead acid.
Water levels, clean terminals and even a clean case particularly the top.

There is some sort of balancing thing that should be done that I have yet to do.

With the panels I purchased 500 amp hour gel batteries six two volt which I believe will be better than the acid but they are twice the price.

These days many folk are forgetting about 12 vlt appliances and have an inverter and 240 vlt appliances.
This is the case here although the lighting is 12. Vlt all led.
48vlt is the way to go really.

You mention fear of heights.
Me too.
So my life's greatest accomplishment as rated by me was when to retrieve a halyard jammed at the top of my mast on my boat drove me to fit mast steps one by one up the mast until finally I reached the top..
When I made it I thought I could do anything and it seemed so high but probably only 35 foot.
I only did it cause my shipwright would not use the bosens chair using the excuse that the rigging was dangerous...so that played on my mind that the mast may come down as well as not being happy about being so far above the deck.
I was 64 or 65 so I was rather happy about it.
I have done many things others may rate as a greater challenge but inside it took a lot.

May I recommend the Rainbow Power Company at Nibin they explain the differences in the available batteries.
They were the first in the game well before solar became popular...their address says it all..1 Alternative Way Nimbin.

Thanks for sharing your story.
Alex

[xelasnave]

The fridge here measured at the he power point 546 watts in 24 hrs. Or 45 amps at 12 vlts per day.
Alex