TigerPaws: I am generally very reluctant to post any images of our ranch in Colorado but I believe this will show what can be done, we have 3 such systems at 7,500w each in different locations. Each system can be tied together or operated independently. Now that it is finally warming up a little we will be installing 2 more systems this spring to cover the remaining homes on the property. Once these are installed and fully operational we will be totally power independent.

Wow! I'm totally impressed. I wish we could afford that now.
How do they work in the winter? I've heard that many times, solar actually works better in winter, but do you have to continually keep them clear of snow and ice?

Nice!!How much did a 7,500watt setup set you back??You know about PV solar shingles,and roof tiles??Matt

Herbalpagan wrote:Wow! I'm totally impressed. I wish we could afford that now.
How do they work in the winter? I've heard that many times, solar actually works better in winter, but do you have to continually keep them clear of snow and ice?

Yes you have to keep them clear of snow, ice is not as big of an issue but snow is. We wash and clean the panels weekly to keep the power coming at peak levels. We use a dedicated laptop to monitor the power output on a real time basis to our battery banks.

goinpostal wrote:Nice!!How much did a 7,500watt setup set you back??You know about PV solar shingles,and roof tiles??Matt

Installed as you see with inverters battery bank, laptop, wiring the complete system turnkey $36,500.00 per system.

that sixw would take care of all of our needs, but aside from the safety issue of having power, it's still too steep for us.

TigerPaws wrote:

goinpostal wrote:Nice!!How much did a 7,500watt setup set you back??You know about PV solar shingles,and roof tiles??Matt

Installed as you see with inverters battery bank, laptop, wiring the complete system turnkey $36,500.00 per system.

WOW! I wish I could find some affordable panels. I do have 4 brand new hot water panels, 4' X 8', and only going to use 2. I would be willing to trade the other 2 for some solar panels.

We opted for "portable" solar panels. Friends got some from Harbor Freight for under $200. We took a look at them and what they could operate and decided to get two sets to start out with.
They are a set of 3 with a frame that will allow them to be set up outside and moved as needed. Eath set will recharge all the tool batteries, run a small apliance for a time or work a water pump. It's not perfect, but it will be a huge help in a shtf situation.

Herbalpagan wrote:We opted for "portable" solar panels. Friends got some from Harbor Freight for under $200. We took a look at them and what they could operate and decided to get two sets to start out with.
They are a set of 3 with a frame that will allow them to be set up outside and moved as needed. Eath set will recharge all the tool batteries, run a small apliance for a time or work a water pump. It's not perfect, but it will be a huge help in a shtf situation.

I'm looking a getting a couple of those too HP. I read here or somewhere else on the web that if you open the inverter up and check all the connections they are pretty good. They come from china so QC is bad. If you know how to solder you can get them cleaned up and working at optimal.

we haven't gotten an inverter or the batteries yet, those are next on the list. hubby knows electronics and soldering, so no worries there. I figure they are better than nothing at will at least afford us some electric when needed. of course, hubby says it will run our tv for videos and stuff if we wanted (not that I do, but ya know guys and their tv's )
I'd like to keep collecting them as I can so that we have more electric.

Something i don't understand...batteries. My hubby is one really smart guy, and most of our group are pretty on the ball too. But when it came to batteries, we were totally divided on sexist lines. The guys couldn't get over the fact that batteries have a limited life and there wasn't any good reason to store them. I had hubby do research and talk to a battery expert so he could give a talk on batteries. We learned that most batteries start their "life" when the fluid/acid (whatever) is put int them. Then they have a limit to how many times you can recharge them. That sounded pretty bad to all of us...until we found out that most recharges are about 500+ times and the "life" is 20 years! The men all still thought batteries were a poor investment but not a single woman there agree'd.
Can someone explain this to me? They see nothing wrong with spending $120 on a case of canned bacon that has a 10 yr shelf "life" and can't be refilled even once (at no cost) but spend $120 on a battery that can be recharged 500 times and has a shelf "life" of 20 years makes no sense to them...