[TheForge] solar systems

[James Binnion]

>
>
>Jim quoted a price of 250,000 for 5000 watts just for the solar 
>panels, I think he dropped a decimal point.  Most panels are around 
>$5 per watt. That makes it more like 25,000.  The good news is that 
>a home and small shop would need a much smaller system.

No, I did not drop a decimal point. I said I needed 5000 watts of 
continuous power this means we needed to have about 10 times the peak 
wattage to be able to store enough power to get through the cloudy 
days and night time.  Solar panels do not give  their rated power all 
the time. Typically they are rated at their peak output which means 
noon on a clear day with clean solar panels. But I am sure you know 
all this due to you solar house/shop.  Are you using Trace inverters? 
We used two Trace 3600 inverters. We built our power supply for the 
radio in a similar fashion to a solar system in that we used the 
generator to charge the battery bank then the radio ran off the 
inverters which were on the DC buss along with the battery. We had a 
2500 amp hour battery which would in theory allow us to get in a 
helicopter and fly up to the radio system if the generator died and 
get the backup running before we went off the air.

Regards,

Jim



-- 
Jim Binnion

James Binnion Metal Arts
Phone (360) 756-6550
Toll Free (877) 408 7287
Fax (360) 756-2160
http://www.mokume-gane.com
jbin at mokume-gane.com
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