100 Watt Solar Power System at Costco Online

[Franz]

I'm new to solar. I want to spend more than just weekends on my 12 acres
in the bottom of the Northfork American River canyon (Sierra Nevada). It's
off-grid, and without land or cell phone access.

The only electricity needs I'd have for the next year are for a 17-inch
Mac Powerbook, a 20-inch LCD monitor (original Apple Cinema Display), and
1 (or 2?) watts for a DirecWay satellite connection, and a Dell Inspiron
laptop (needed for the DirecWay modem).

Costco Online at

http://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?trg=subcat.asp&catid=114&subid=3241&log=&NavTop=


has this '100 Watt Solar Power System' to offer for 750 bucks.

Would it be sufficient for my needs, and is it a good deal, batteries not
included?

Thank you,

Franz

 

[tat-2]

Save your money on a "Kit" and buy the components and build your own.

You can get a 400W inverter for about $30-40
2- 55W panels for $563.00
http://www.solar-electric.com/solar-panels-40-to-80-watts.html

A quality 12A charger (trace c-12) $93.00 or a 40A trace c-40 (btw skip the
optional $75 meter, looks pretty but not much real function.

and 2 (6-volt golf cart batteries) (about $100.00 Sam's club)

$756.00 including batteries, you need to supply #12 wire.


Btw: The reason I stated build your own is based upon my experience and
cost. I have one of those 7A charge controlers and they are absolute crap
(single stage).
(Send me $5.00 to cover Shipping and I'll send you mine). I got it with a
30w Kit from ICP solar (basicly the same kit except for the type and wattage
panels.) I paid $140 delivered and at this price the panels alone were worth
the $70 each.

I own a c40 charge control with the optional meter (3-stage). If I were to
do it again I'd look at the morning star Pro 30 (with meter).

just my thoughts....

Ed

 

[mnaan]

Need more info to answer your question.

Curious tho, whats the complete cost for thr the DirecWay satellite these
days. Still $600 for setup?


Pete

 

[Scott Willing]

I'm new to solar. I want to spend more than just weekends on my 12 acres
in the bottom of the Northfork American River canyon (Sierra Nevada). It's
off-grid, and without land or cell phone access.

The only electricity needs I'd have for the next year are for a 17-inch
Mac Powerbook, a 20-inch LCD monitor (original Apple Cinema Display), and
1 (or 2?) watts for a DirecWay satellite connection,

Do you have experience with the DirecWay gear? I checked into it
locally and the dealer said the supply is rated 2A @ 120V - obviously
a maximum. However he measured it at 1.3A in operation, which is over
150W, more than twice what either of my Dell laptops require.

and a Dell Inspiron
laptop (needed for the DirecWay modem).

Costco Online at

http://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?trg=subcat.asp&catid=114&subid=3241&log=&NavTop=


has this '100 Watt Solar Power System' to offer for 750 bucks.

Would it be sufficient for my needs, and is it a good deal, batteries not
included?

Other posters have addressed the issue of "kit" vs "component" so I
won't go there. "Pete" laid out a series of pertinent questions.

Here are a couple of underlying concerns fleshed out a bit.

(1.) Your inverter must be able to handle all the stuff you plan to
run at the same time, and I don't think a 150W inverter is nearly
going to cut it. Sounds to me like your gear could easily draw 300W or
more. The two laptops and an LCD monitor are likely to exceed 150W
alone, and the DirecWay requirement could double that.

(2.) The percentage of the time you expect to run this stuff, compared
to amount of energy you can harvest.

It's OK to use more instantaneous power than your panel(s) are
instantaneously bringing in (e.g. 300W of gear with a 100W panel), as
long as [load power times hours of use] averages out to something less
than [panel power times hours of sun].

(That's "full sun on the panel" of course, not "morning sun behind a
tree.")

It's just like filling a water tank. It's OK to take it out faster
than you put it in, but on average you have to replace what you're
removing or you're going to run dry.*

If it turns out you do have 300W of gear, you'd only be able to use it
for 1/3 of your average full sun hours with a 100W panel. Actually
even less, since in the real world there are additional considerations
such as losses in electrical and electro-chemical conversion, wiring
etc.

*A further note - lead-acid batteries live long and prosper when they
aren't worked very hard, so you need to buy enough battery that you
never take more than 50% of its capacity, and preferably much less on
a regular basis.

-=s

 

[Nick Pine]

*A further note - lead-acid batteries live long and prosper when they
aren't worked very hard, so you need to buy enough battery that you
never take more than 50% of its capacity, and preferably much less on
a regular basis.

Unless you don't have money to burn.

Nick

 

[tat-2]

I was tryi9ng to keep him within the $750, although looking at the site they
want another $92 and change for S&H...

I picked up a coleman 1000W inverter with meter built in for about $95
delivered.

Ed

 

[Bill Kaszeta / Photovoltaic Resources]

Note that the voltage regulator does not include any load low voltage disconnect feature to
protect the battery.

--clipped text ----
Costco Online at

http://www.costco.com/frameset.asp?trg=subcat.asp&catid=114&subid=3241&log=&NavTop=


has this '100 Watt Solar Power System' to offer for 750 bucks.

Would it be sufficient for my needs, and is it a good deal, batteries not
included?

Thank you,

Franz

Bill Kaszeta
Photovoltaic Resources Int'l
Tempe Arizona USA
[email protected]

 

[MSH]

I am amazed in this thread at how cheap and mainstream inverters have
become. I'm wondering how this affects Trace who I thought owned the market.
I paid $700 for a 1524(1500w) about 8 years ago and I hadn't noticed an
appreciable decline in their prices. Ready to upgrade with the idea of using
the 1500 as a backup but is it unfair to compare Trace with these cheapies?
No battery charger, no low battery shutdown, is all that worth what they
charge?? btw, my Trace has run steadily without a glitch for ALL those 8
years.

MH

 

[Solar Guppy]

Trace was bought by Xantrex , and is the manufacture of the inverters
mentioned in this tread

Manufacturing costs have come down significantly in concert with dsp/micro
processors prices that control the inverters internally. This combined with
large volumes and you get the current crop of inverters

It really isn't any different than any other consumer electronics device ...
Just look at PC's for an example

 

[William P.N. Smith]

The Direcway system (for which I need solar power) currently is also going
through changes--DW6000 is about to be released, and it's got the
previously known DW4020 router built in, and it'll be Mac compatible. So,
less need for a PC notebook to interface with the system.

Let us know how this works, they've been a real disaster up to now,
and I'd love to hear that they've solved all their problems and are
usable. I've got a dozen clients who would buy them tomorrow!

 

[Steve Spence]

only if it included batteries, and a high quality charge controller and
inverter.

 

[Bob Adkins]

I'm sorta aiming for 1K to hopefully power my notebook, LCD monitor, and
Direcway internet access and maybe one reading light.

Again, I'd like to ask y'all in a more focused fashion later.

Good luck Franz! May your PV panel catch every last sun ray.

Bob