I'm on the 5th year with a 5400 watt system. Array has twenty-seven 200 watt panels hooked in series-parallel. I built a special barn with one roof pointing south as the desired angle 600 feet from house. Besides housing solar equipment we also use it for farm equipment. I.e. dual-use.
Solar panels are hooked up to twin 3600 watt Outback inverters and twin Outback MX80 charge- controllers. Battery bank has eight Rolls-Surrette 6-volt deep- cycle batteries. S-460 rated at 350 amp-hours, cost $310 each, and estimated life is 7-10 years.
Also needed - is a way to charge the batteries if run down - like during a long power outage when the sun doesn't shine. That required getting a large 48 volt Iota battery charger that I can hook to the 13 KW PTO generator on my tractor to charge the batteries. If someone has no back-up system to charge - a they get severely run down - they could get ruined.
Note that all the equipment except the panels themselves only has a 5 year warrantee. After that - anything fails and I pay for it. And yes,stuff fails. I've had to fix the Outback inverters twice already under warranty.
We make, on average, 320 KWh per month every year. Even though we use slightly less - we still pay $17.35 per month hook-up fee to the power company.
I paid - out of pocket - around $8000 cash (that is no longer getting any interest on). In reality the total system was 40-something thousand bucks. This system - in theory - would pay me back for only my out-of-pocket cost . . in 10-11 years IF nothing ever broke or wore-out. I find that doubtful but we'll see. I doubt I'll be around to find out anyway.
Note that I am in central NY. People in better sun areas can use less solar panels.
Also note that last year we were away for 8 months. Made a lot of extra power that the power- company has. We will not get it back not will we get paid for it. National Grid runs a credit for one year and then wipes it out. I.e. they pocket it.
Also - solar panels are half the cost now then when I installed. But the electronics cost more.
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Today's Featured Article - Talk of the Town: How to Remove a Broken Bolt - by Staff. Another neat discussion from the Tractor Talk Discussion Forum. The discussion started out with the following post: "I have an aluminum steering gear housing with a bolt broken off in it. The bolt is about a 3/8" x 1 1/2" bolt. I've already drilled the center of the bolt out with about 7/64" drill bit the entire length of the bolt. Only one end of the bolt is visible. I tried to use an easy out but it wasn't budging and I didn't want t
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