Home Power Setup Evolution

 

I am currently considering implementing an alternative home power
setup.

Knowing how systems evolve over time to changing needs and newer
technology, I would like to hear from you how your system has changed
over the years. Hearing of the changes in wiring, newer technology,
better/bigger batteries, etc. have affected you and your installation
will hopefully give me some valuable insight as to how to plan for
growth and future improvements. It's the old "If I had known then what
I know now" approach to design. ;<)

Thanks for all suggestions/comments and links to pictures would be
great.

Thanks

TMT

 

wrote:


I designed my system 6 years ago and implemented it 5 years ago.

It was a wind system with propane genset backup.  It has not required
change to meet its initial goals.  However, a year ago (following a
particularly good year in the stock market :)), I added a goal to reduce
generator run time from about 350 hrs/year to 100hrs/year and added about
2kW of solar panels to implement that.

I would not have added those panels at the start as it would not have been
cost-effective.


-- ron  (off the grid in Downeast Maine)

 

On 13 Jun 2005 09:17:38 -0700, "Too_Many_Tools"


Our setup is now nearly ten years old. Our original plan was for 1200W
PV, 3 or 4 300W wind generators, 2 4000W inverters, 29kWh battery, and
an 8kW welder-generator for backup. The multiple small wind generator
idea didn't work out, so that ended up being one 300W unit, and one
1000W unit. A third inverter (500W) was added so that it could supply
power without glitches to sensitive stuff when the main units were in
charging mode. Another 800W of PV was added, and a 2000W DC generator
was custom built for backup as the large unit was overkill. All of the
original equipment is still in service and doing well, including the
batteries. Repairs I'd count as major include the small wind
generator, two of the tracker controllers, one of the main inverters.
Minor repairs have been done to the small inverter, the system
monitor, and the large wind generator.

Additions to the original planned use included 4DTV satellite
receiver, full-time Ethernet radio/phone, and a  DVR. Those 3 boxes
all draw considerable juice 24-7. We also have 3 computers instead of
the one planned, and use them many more hours per day than we could
have imagined twelve years ago when we first decided to move off-grid.
LCD monitors helped reduce the computer energy use, so you might call
those subtractions from the additions.  ;-) Major shop equipment was
added as well, but that doesn't change our use much since one can only
use a single piece of equipment at a time anyway. Despite all the
additions, backup generator time is much less than planned. It's often
zero for many months straight thanks to wind power, PV tracking, and
scheduling discretionary loads for periods when the charge regulators
would otherwise have been limiting input. That's a case where
increased consumption results in increased production.

Things we'd do differently if the hardware had been available ten
years ago - all PV on a single tracker, and MPPT charge control.

Link to photos sent via email.

Wayne

 

On 13 Jun 2005 09:17:38 -0700, "Too_Many_Tools"


I started thirty years ago, with one room, 12V, and an extra car
battery that rode along in my truck on trips to town. With the old
mechanical voltage regulators, it was easy to crank up the charging
rate to fill both batteries during the drive. My first inverter was
from Heathkit, and had a switch to run from 6V or 12V. About 70W,
square wave, random frequency.

The first big improvement was six 30W PV panels. Then I drilled a deep
well and put in a windmill-style reciprocating pump with a 24V DC
motor. The panels got a switch to select 24V directly to the pump or
12V to the battery.

As the Home Power scene developed, things we hadn't dared imagine
became commonplace. Inverters with load sensing, frequency control,
sinewave output, and idle current low enough to be left on full time
have transformed home power from a tinkerer's toy to mainstream
technology. There is no longer much difference between a new
self-powered home and a grid powered home.

The lessons of my evolutionary process are probably not very relevant
to your new system. There is no longer a need to keep batteries close
to the house to run large DC loads. Almost all large loads have
migrated to AC, so my next major revision will be to move batteries
and inverter to a "power shed". I've been glad many times that all my
wiring was "home runs" to a wiring closet and all was to AC spec, even
the originally DC circuits. It has been relatively easy to convert
more and more lines to AC.

The feature I've wished for most has been a system of  large conduits
connecting the wiring closet with the crawl space and other utility
areas. Occasionally it would be nice to add power circuits, but mostly
it has been coax for various antennas, and then for satellite, and
CAT5 for networking. The latest need for more and more cables is for
centralized computer control of all the pumps and valves and actuators
that formerly had separate, stupidly independent controllers.

For a new system, I'd say make your house as conventional as possible.
Keep all the unconventional stuff in your power shed, keep the layout
very open, and leave lots of space for adding and revising the
components and wiring. Maybe a good rule would be to design enough
power shed  space to build a parallel system alongside your original
one. Be sure to run a large conduit from the power shed to a central
location in your house, so you can run remote control wiring and
computer circuits between them.

Loren

 



evolution of my system... still evolving...

http://rickryen.isa-geek.org:8000/Lake%20House/Power/Power.htm