$700 budget solar power for my home where to buy, what to buy?
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Sergeant Patrick Webb of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police welcomes visitors to Team Alberta?s solar-powered home on the first day the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon opens to the public, taking place on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., Friday, Oct. 09, 2009. (Photo by Stefano Paltera/US Dept. of Energy Solar Decathlon)
Question by : 0 budget solar power for my home where to buy, what to buy?
I live in Latham NY 12110. Ive done some research but am looking for tips from people who know the field better. Looking to get the most for my $ and learn more about solar so one day I can be independent of the big power company’s. Will a $ 700 set up work to run my fridge, a computer and some LED lights during power outages
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5 Responses to $700 budget solar power for my home where to buy, what to buy?
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Mike,
A small and efficient fridge uses about 15W, a more typical model is about 30W, a large and uneconomical model could be as much as 80W.
If your computer is a laptop then energy consumption will likely be between 20W and 60W, for a PC it’s probably going to be between 100W and 150W.
Your LED’s can be ignored their power consumption is so low.
Best case scenario is that you need to produce 35W, typical scenario could be 100W, worst case would be over 200W.
You can get a 40W kit for about $ 200, you may need to buy more than one of them. These kits will put out 12 Volts, you’ll need to convert this into mains voltage so you’ll need transformer a well – allow about $ 50 for this. You may need to buy some cables, adaptors etc but these shouldn’t set you back all that much, a maximum of $ 50.
Depending on just how much power you need to generate, you’re looking at typical costs of between $ 300 for a 40W rig to $ 1100 for a 200W rig – whether it’s a PC or laptop you’ll be running is the biggest factor.
Trevor
August 16, 2012 at 7:11 am
Hi Mike, $ 700 is enough to you started for sure. The cheapest way to get the most bang for your buck is to either buy a kitset or try and find some used panels and tools. Check out ebay and amazon.
Seven hundy probably won’t be enough to do what you require, but once you save a little money with the first set, you can always add to it.
Rangi
August 16, 2012 at 7:20 am
I think it would be sufficient for start.
Recently I found out about a way to make your own solar panels, and to become almost energy independent during a few months.
It is important to have available surfaces to mount solar panels, on your roof or on the ground (metal racks). There should not be any trees to block a direct sunlight.
The roof should be facing south or south-west, etc.
You can download a free e-book here if you want, it also has a simple explanation about how to calculate your energy needs, or power in Watts.
coreDumped
August 16, 2012 at 8:18 am
The $ 700 solar panel would probably run a couple of LED lights. That is about all. The initial cost for solar is quite high. Perhaps you should look at wind power if you have windy conditions. For about $ 10,000 you can get a system that will run a typical house when the wind is blowing at least 10 mph. My refrigerator will NOT run on a 800 W inverter. Most refrigerators use a lot of energy. A notebook will require about 100 watts while a desktop and monitor typically take 150-300 watts.
Mr.357
August 16, 2012 at 9:01 am
Not sure about fridge and computers, but LED lights can definitely save a chunk on bills from my experience so far. I’ve switched my whole house from florescent bulbs to LED bulbs (about 35 bulbs) including outdoor flood lights and my monthly bill went down to about $ 50-$ 60 less.
Hope it helps an by the way http://www.happyledlight.com This is the site i bought from because they had $ 5 shipping worldwide and the lowest price i found online.
John
August 16, 2012 at 9:56 am