My Solar Power System

[scotlandmadman]

When you said the 240v feed goes to the lighting circuit of the house, do you mean it is just wired into the trip switch on your main fuse box.?

[ICUC007]

Himmm...fumes from battery needs venting. That seems somewhat of a negative effect, no? Is that releasing noxious fumes into environment...greenhouse gasses or whatever?

[drugbaron2007]

nice setup mate ... are they car batteries? and how much did your setup cost?

[ianrkav]

The key here, for me at least, is the battery efficiency. How long will the batteries alone run the appliances, in normal everyday use, for?

Also, what gases are emitted from the batteries during charge?

[MrEnergyCzar]

Great video...I converted my home to a net-zero solar powered home that uses no oil or gas...I made a video about it called, "Preparing for Peak Oil"....

[ianrkav]

@MrEnergyCzar Hi. What do you mean by 'net-zero?'

Thanks

[MrEnergyCzar]

@ianrkav it means that I produce 100 percent or more of what my home needs over the course of a year and no oil or gas is brought in. I really have a "carbon neutral" home which means I produce all my homes energy for the year plus an extra 20 percent surplus that goes back into the grid over the year...with my heat pump hot water heater now installed, I'm now making a ridiculous 160 percent of what my home needs or an extra 60 percent in preparation to power a plug in hybrid vehicle...

[ianrkav]

@MrEnergyCzar I like this system. Unlike other systems yours works of a night too, mainly because you store your energy in a battery. Others use solar of a day, when most people are at work, therefore not using it, and grid energy of a night. Because of your battery storage you're having the benefit of daytime solar energy at night. Magic:-)

How much do you earn from selling excess energy back into the grid? Does the power company send you a cheque every month?

Thanks.

[mummybot]

cheers great vid

[MichaeljacksonAFG]

you must better use and 12W energy saver

but nice vid

[Fatarsepirate]

Hi jogn

[cabbaze]

wheres you protection i saw no fuses from panel to controller or from batteries to circuits or inverter ,i didnt see any fuses very dangerous.

[jonnyrizla]

20 amp on charge controller, 6 amp in connection box on panel, 5 amp in plug coming out of inverter and 40 amp inline on battery leads.

[cabbaze]

thanks, its good to tell people ,there are alot out there with systems with no protection, just a fire waiting to happen

[kallumkadavu1]

@cabbaze it is a trade secret

[TheSolarmechanic]

@cabbaze Dude look again

[TheAkb10]

Be smart - don't pay any more electricity bills. more info: solar.xfollow.me (Copy to your browser's address bar)

[shitzulovey]

how costly was this , I would love to be able to do the same.

[packagewarren]

great work, nicely done and very understandable. good info. if you ever update, i'd like to see it on the TUBE.

[ivrz]

very elegant and informative many thanks

[54spiritedwill54]

very informative, wat a fantastic insight into solar power

[mb523]

Brilliant! Great job on the system and video! I am planning on building a similar setup to power small devices such as cell phone chargers, small lights, and maybe a laptop computer.

[DRYKERK]

Excellent stuff. People like you are true pioneers. The more folk who do this then the better. Bring the likes of EoN to their knees.

I am seriously considering this myself.

[lozzdude]

Great Video, Nicely explained not to complicated. Do you mind me asking how much in total (roughly) you had to pay for the solar panel and batteries and all the controlling gear etc.?

Thanks.

[johnnybball]

Nice work! Great job on the video too! Thanks for the info.

[goranbozo]

Nice job Jonnyrizzla

[marsL001]

great video

love your system setup

have three car battaries my self

[carot2003]

Cheers, very interesting..

[neprajah]

Hi,

great help,thankyou,just setting my own up,so really helpful,cheers

[tonygsuriano]

Really great demo of your set up. It motivated me to begin my own. Thanks!

[Redstick27]

Solar in the UK???

Well whatever works!

I think you guys are better off with offshore wind though.

[nuclearthreat545]

he is supposed to use offshore wind from his house? How the heck would that work?

[Redstick27]

More like wind farms, yes I know you would not be independent from the power companies. But I was talking about the nation as a whole

[ChooseCarefully]

Wonderful!

Solar Energy 101.

Leading the way...

Keep going, get the word out.

[jonnyrizla]

Hi, the cost is whatever you can get an 80 watt panel, charge controller and batteries for, if you get a 20 amp charge controller then you can start with a small panel and add to the system as you can afford to, check your local suppliers and also ebay often have good prices on panels. I would recommend a new panel if possible because they will drop their output over time and the technology of recent panels makes them more efficient.

[woggins]

Nice setup!

Yes, how much did the setup cost?

[sickbuffalo]

What was the total cost of the product with instalation?

[sabrinaworcester1]

nice one mate. good vid

[autograssboy]

how much did all that cost you m8 wb ;-)

[cgavin1]

Jon sorry if this has been covered but how much did you spend on the batteries and panel + inverter. Looking for a ball park figure for total spend inc. all the miscellaneous stuff that inevitably inflates the bills.

[bigtimeweb]

thanks for that! Seems a lot eaiser that I initially thought. Can you recommend any sites with information on calculating your needs to ensure you have enough battery?

[Microillusions]

Nice work on the video, nice system

[Adventurestud]

Thanks for that. I am in California and am very aware of the costs of power lately and am thankful to know that there are alternatives available to me in terms of alternate energy. Kudos!

[helrokelash]

Excellent video. We are suffering from power outages here in SA and I was happy to see so many videos on solar power. Thanks also for showing the brand names - it helps.

[MindsiMediaThePlan]

First rate video and thanks for doing your part to make this a better world. If governements can't act it's incumbent upon the people to do what they can.

[jonnyrizla]

there are 8 ceiling lights in my house, each uses a low energy bulb 11w, if they were all on it would take about 88w from the inverter which is about 9 amps from the batteries.

[dbriffa]

that controller is a 20amp load out controller, ain't it?..and do you managed to have home lighting running on a 20 amp load? What is the power of the inverter?

[QuitGas]

Thanks for the video! It's interesting to see a solar system IN USE and practical.  Great job. I'm considering a system to power my electric motorcycle (video on youtube) and found your video helpful.

[jonnyrizla]

Hi, yes i have to be very careful with the system in the winter. i only use the house lights on it and have to make sure I turn them off if i'm not in the room. The summer is no problem though. take it easy jonny

[diamondsmajestic1]

A very clear description and explanation. You seem to have a lot of equipment running from one 80 Watt system. Have you had any problems so far and what will be your next project ?

[Herr2Cents]

cost per watt for your set up?

[AccountManager25]

1,000,000 bucks lol

[peterangeldiaz]

Brilliant, I loved your video John. I'm planning out a system for my home in NYC with great southern exposure. Your video just tipped my scale, I'm doing it!

[london1817]

Hey John, This is Rick from NC...wanted to say hi and tell you I really enjoyed your video. check mine out. I'm going to be building a better battery bank soon.

[blft]

good to see hes put his idea into practice instead of just talking about it down the pub ,huge respect !!!

[tkemmere]

nice vid. thanks.

A 16 to 20% subsidy on PV pannels is due by the beginning of 2008. I'll wait till then and go for it!

[sou3789]

how much did u spent on that panel?

[markkaminsky]

5/5. Good explanation.

[tabulator32]

Awesome! I just purchased my first solar panel and charge controller on line yesterday and am waiting for them to be delivered. I wasn't exactly certain how to hook everything up but, after watching this, I have confidence I will be setting it up correctly when it arrives.

Thanks so much for posting this video! 'Just what I needed!

[chersthoughts]

Hi, Did you get your system hooked up? If you don't mind me asking, what system did you purchase and what is the cost. I am seriously thinking about alternative energy.

Thanks

Cher

[pwmpower]

I give 5 stars! Free energy is great especially for my household. I wish I had something like that. Awsome work.

[SidewaysCowboy]

Hi John, I really liked the tour. Kudos for putting up the system and making such a pleasant film about it. We put up a system 2.5 years ago. Store bought and really great. I made a film 'bout it to try to 'suade others to look into it. I'll send you a link to mine if you care to look.

Any comments or suggestions appreciated! Warm regards, Rees

[chersthoughts]

Hi I am interested in alternative energy and would love to see your clip.

I am looking at cost factor as I do not have a lot to invest with but really want to do my bit with finding alternative ways to heat and light my home.

thanks,

Cher

[ahhbloobla]

thats pretty cool, tho batteries that release explosive gas is kindof scary. Its probably better than CO2 but I wonder what would happen if all CO2 emmissions were replaced with hydrogen gas

[blaxpear]

Very interesting! I think I'm gonna try this out myself. I would probably use closed Batteries. I wonder how the optima batteries would perform.

[HAL11000]

If you want your solar pannels to pay its self off many times over it should be 'grid tied'. Its a great idea to start small though. I started out with a 400 W system. And six years later... I was able to save enough to intall a 4 KW solar array with a 1000 amp battery supply. (The batteries are only used for emergencies and last for two days without any help from the solar pannels)

And just a little question. Do you have an electric or gas water heater?

[trophycan]

we had an 8 hour brown out (24 v) last winter, the whole neighborhood went dark- But an LED light string installed above my kitchen cabinets and another LED lamp in our living room continued to glow. Emphasizing the point of lower demand. Excellent job with your video!!

[energyadvertiser]

Does anyone know of any retail outlets that specialise in solar and wind?

[wascillywabbit]

very well done! check out my solar powered hydrogen generator.  Well done again!

[erod1944]

I like the fact that you put safety considerations into your video i.e. the venting of the hydrogen gas from the charging batteries. I would also encourage anyone installing a solar panel in a somewhat difficult area like yours to utilize a safety belt mechanism in case of a slip or fall. Good Job.

[gogiogo]

Superbly done and very well explained. Thanks

[landslave]

Very nicely made video. Technology brought to us by technology. Now humanity must mass produce PV panels. Thanks so much for furthering the cause. I'm trying to get my fellow Americans to listen to the green message with very little success. You've done well.

[fooflame4]

yea me to i was building a wind mill for my class now im thinking of covering some of the PVC at the top with some small solar pannels mabey it can power somthing

[auntycraig]

very informative, I have actually seen this live, and this guy knows his stuff!!!

thanks Jon for sharing with us all.

[asialovesusa]

Thanks. If all the world joined in this effort it would be great!

[molekulaTV]

Thanks! We got the light....

[hejira33312]

can you run a fridge?

[elced1]

All that battery-stuff looks very complicated and expensive. You can just connect your panel with the meter and when you're not using more electricity than you generate, the meter will start to run backwards saving (or even gaining) money from the electricity-company.

[devilpump]

Is it really as simple as connecting the panel to the meter though?

I'm really interested in doing something like this, but with more than one panel. The roof of my garage seems ideal and could probably take 8-10 of these panels (granted they won't all be south facing)

[elced1]

I guess it depends on the local distributer if they do it. But the principle is simple (so i am told).

However, without subsidising from the goverment, solar power is not yet financially interesting.

[chacon191]

Nice Video

[amathongo]

Nice one-getting into it myself-will it power sodium lights for special plants.?

[jzive]

cant wait to do my own.

[ajaxfilms]

Thanks!

[wrightmehere]

not bad this as a greate alternative to hippies more job less bla bla !

[rdxpspo]

Thanks...

[atlanticus]

great, nice insight, one of the most interesting/usefull videos around here, i am just amazed that as it seams one panel is enough to power everything u need to power.. i am paying 2k on every en.bill..

[SirGrant]

never mind I did some reading and yeah they were saying it is best to face it south ;) nice setup!

[SirGrant]

how come you face it south, the sun goes east to west wouldn't it be better to face that way

[nitronixasd]

The sun sweeps round so regardless of east or west, the south facing panel will get it. If you dont do that you will potentially only get half a days power as the shadow in the afternoon will cut it out.

[iamlakota]

nice to see video's like this on Utube... i'll let you know when i put a video up on my system... peace2U!

[pondmonk]

Ive been thinking about solar power for some time now.This video has inspired me to give it a go!

[dazzyw]

What a fantastic insight into solar power, You have made it look so easy. I will be trying this out,

Many thanks