Electricity needs when the grids down.

[earthman]

(28 February 2024, 22:23)Pete Grey Wrote: If I had a large solar power bank I would reduce some of the needs, say lights all LED powered by batteries at night, and the central heating pump, when the panels aren’t charging.

In day time when the panels are working (21 panels should give a fare old wack), I would use timers to stager the times for the freezer and washing machine and probably also an immersion heater if possible. When NOT using 240volts I would charge the battery bank.

With 21 panels, most likely 180W = 3.8kW, If only 75% efficient 2.8kW - 11.5amps at 240volts.
If just 50% efficiency 1.9kW - 8amps, (240v), still very useful, but would need to schedule use.

Going by own real world experience, all such calculations fall short in real life, just like with the claimed range of these electric cars for examples.

I researched solar set ups for months before I bought mine, watched videos of two different homes running domestic appliances in the States for example, they disconnected their expensive Tesla wall system from the grid, just to see how long they could run for whilst living normally shall we say, the longest run for 29 days if I remember correctly.

Unless you have land to put a farmers size solar array of panels and enough battery storage, forget it, it's just not possible to run a 'normal' domestic home 24/7 off a solar set up, especially here in the not so sunny UK.

My system is currently set up in 'eco mode' so my consumption switches between grid, solar panels or battery, which ever is the cheapest/best to draw from at what time of day and conditions basically. The excess can be sent back to the grid, we get money back for that which is nice, during the Summer months we get close to £1000 compared to the Autumn and Winter, it's around £300 or £400 if I remember correctly.

[iaaems]

I came across a 'site' a while back which might be of interest
http://www.free-energy-info.tuks.nl
There is a lot of 'info' there which might just appeal to the technically minded.

[earthman]

(1 March 2024, 12:21)iaaems Wrote: I came across a 'site' a while back which might be of interest
http://www.free-energy-info.tuks.nl
There is a lot of 'info' there which might just appeal to the technically minded.

Thanks for the link, will check that out fully later. I certainly feel that the likes of Nikola Tesla were onto something all those years ago.

[Skean Dhude]

Some interesting files on there. Thanks for the links.

[Pete Grey]

Energy can not be created or destroyed, all though it can be changed from one form to an other.

Energy out = energy in. No gain.

Unless you’re into fission or fusion.

[bigpaul]

a few houses here have solar panels but I bet not one of them has any way of storing power in an emergency.

[Pete Grey]

(5 March 2024, 11:30)bigpaul Wrote: a few houses here have solar panels but I bet not one of them has any way of storing power in an emergency.

They’ve probably just got them for reduced electricity bills.....not worth it.

[Skean Dhude]

Most solar panel on houses link into the system in such a way that they can only put their electrickery onto the national grid. What that means if the mains goes down then your house goes with it.

You can easily convert that but you need additional hardware and the capability of rerouting the system. This is not recommended by the electrickery boards as it creates a H&S risk if they are working on a system that is being supplied power.

IMO best get the kit and after an event you can modify it to get your output. Disadvantages are obviously that if you miss a part or break something while converting then it won't work. You may also discover then that your sized supply doesn't provide the power you planned on.

[earthman]

(6 March 2024, 01:00)Skean Dhude Wrote: Most solar panel on houses link into the system in such a way that they can only put their electrickery onto the national grid. What that means if the mains goes down then your house goes with it.

You can easily convert that but you need additional hardware and the capability of rerouting the system. This is not recommended by the electrickery boards as it creates a H&S risk if they are working on a system that is being supplied power.

IMO best get the kit and after an event you can modify it to get your output. Disadvantages are obviously that if you miss a part or break something while converting then it won't work. You may also discover then that your sized supply doesn't provide the power you planned on.

The system that I have is by GivEnergy, well the battery storage, inverter and wiring are, solar panels were already fitted to this property when I bought it. I don't think that there's any risk of a national grid worker getting a shock off this system because when the auto change over switch kicks in, the main fuse box is disconnected, only a smaller, secondarily fuse box is supplied with AC from the inverter/stored batteries basically.

You are right though, some systems have a manually operated change over switch, personally I didn't go for that just in case I'm away when the grid goes down, I could come back to find all the food in the freezer spoiled for example.

[Pete Grey]

As nights are getting longer and electricity demand is increasing who knows when the power cuts will come, so i’m making sure everything I can is fully charged.

Leisure batteries, AA and AAA, usb lights (all charged by solar), power tools and all vehicles not used daily.

I am not sure if the charger/maintainer’s i’ve been using will “cook” the vehicle batteries if used continually, so they’re now on timers one hour a day, just to be safe, a timer is cheaper than a new battery.