a Solar Christmas (Bandwidth)

[Kate]

We went out this weekend, searching for Christmas lights.

This was my favorite.



And this was the best part of all!



Really amazing, it was the hit of the block.

Kate

[tenders]

Doing 719,323 of something (counting, installing, etc) in 4.5 hours is 44 per second. That's a big crew of elves!

[Kate]

There was a whole crew, they described the homeowner as a "treehugger"

I didn't tell him how much we use solar in the motorhome.

Kate

[M>B>]

Sorry, I couldn't help from posting again.

[Kate]

"Sorry, I couldn't help from posting again."

Keep posting, I love looking at Christmas lights and displays.

Kate

[deckeda]

How do you light that much from solar ... at night? Does the tree-hugger have a lot of lead-acid batteries?

[Kate]

If I'm not mistaken, all spolar set ups (except passive water heaters) rely on battery banks. i wanted to talk to the owner, but he wasn't available, just the guys that installed the decorations, and they seemed pretty clueless as to the setup.

Kate

[gabester]

I'd be curious to know more about the setup and the cost as well. I'd do solar-lit xmas if I had the panels... but in that case wouldn't it also be more efficient to remove any AC/DC conversions? Solar panels generate in DC but it's usually converted to AC somewhere along the line; most of the LED lights you get at the store are then converting it back (although I never quite understand HOW they do that given that they don't have a huge power supply on the string and you can connect multiple strings in series.)

g=

[OWC Jamie]

Kate wrote:
If I'm not mistaken, all spolar set ups (except passive water heaters) rely on battery banks. i wanted to talk to the owner, but he wasn't available, just the guys that installed the decorations, and they seemed pretty clueless as to the setup.

Kate

PV solar doesn't require battery banks unless you want to be off the grid or want the back up power.
A very high percentage now just dump excess power into the grid while they are generating.

[davester]

Battery banks make zero sense for a grid-connected house. Batteries are high maintenance plus they create a huge hit on efficiency. As billb noted, grid-connected PV dumps power into the grid, running the meter backwards during sunny afternoons, then takes it back again when needed. The grid is better than 100% efficient since sunny afternoons are usually peak periods when rates are high, whereas nighttime is not. At my house, my PV system generates power that I sell at 32 cents/kwh peak rate, which I buy back at 8 cents/kwh.