Have you tried the soft white ones from WalMart? They don't have that sterile operating room white color.
- Thread starter Ringo
- Start date
Changed to solar and...... Wow!
Have you tried the soft white ones from WalMart? They don't have that sterile operating room white color.
I may have -not WalMart 'tho
Look at the Phillips LED - it has a yellow bulb that burns white when turned on.
It is equivalent light to the incandescent bulb.... $$$, but good.
I get them at Lowe's /Home Depot
Our place on Lake Huron is much like RD.... costly electricity that goes off regularly.
Costly b/c its considered rural and intermittent b/c of the rough weather on the Great Lakes - all seasons
Look at the Phillips LED - it has a yellow bulb that burns white when turned on.
It is equivalent light to the incandescent bulb.... $$$, but good.
I get them at Lowe's /Home Depot
Our place on Lake Huron is much like RD.... costly electricity that goes off regularly.
Costly b/c its considered rural and intermittent b/c of the rough weather on the Great Lakes - all seasons
I'll look into getting some of those bulbs, but only for inside. When the squiggly fluorescent bulbs came out we bought a bunch. Imagine our surprise to find out all the ones outside were stolen and replaced with burned out regular ones. Ah, life in DR, never dull
The exemption can only be applied for by the consignee or agent of consignee, and is only done through CNE, you must apply for the exepmtion and deliver the approvel to Customs House. ONLY Solar panels and ONLY the inverters are eleigible for the exemption, all hardware, cables, wire, screws whatever else is taxable.
Solicitudes are available online @ CNE
Been there done that, now in proccess for net metering program.
g'luck
OK, I have the Philips bulb in my hand...
Philips, AmbientLED...replaces a 40W bulb (has 470 lumens) and is very good light , qualitywise.
Average energy cost (US) is $0.96/year.... savings of $88/year
Lifetime of 22.8 years.... using 3 hrs/day/7days/week
BUT - they're about $15 each.
The way I look at it- I can buy these and enjoy them (saving $$, etc) or I can buy a bigger coffin - this bulb could outlive me!!
We're in RD six months a year............ that's 45 yrs from this bulb
Please remember to to turn it on at my wake
Last month's Ednorte bill.
I continue to be pleased with our progress. Our eight panels and little wind generator have done well. I'll say that with the weather fronts sitting on us and LOTs of wind... our little wind girl is helping to fill in.
As posted above we have had lots of clouds. Half of our 12 outside lights come on at 5 PM and off at 7:30 AM.... or later. Indoor lights and energy use extended the same meaning more energy used and not enough sun with eight panels. BUT! Let's go back to where I started, and others, and see where we are now. IF you are just joining this thread and REALLY interested in solar then ….. start at the beginning. Lot's of good information. I'm NOT reposting above posts. OH... for for a little kicker??? My horse has leaned how to turn on lights and I'm finding a couple more on in the AM and now on a regular basis. ROFL. (that's my boy.)
Edenorte from 10/02 to 11/02. Total Kwh's 623. Total R.D. $5,237.34. U.S. $131.76
Estimated diesel used: 30 gallons @ U.S. $5.00 = $150.00
I fertilized the lawns/gardens last month so extra water means more water pump and energy. (I for one welcome all the rain that we are getting but can't we do it with the sun out at the same time.)
So I think that for this time of year and only 8 panels things are doing very well and staying under the 700 kwh is my aim for this time of year. I just have to get my horse to stop turning on lights. (this IS really true.. )
How the rest of you doing? (oh dang... on gen. So I can turn on the TV.)
have a good night all.
I continue to be pleased with our progress. Our eight panels and little wind generator have done well. I'll say that with the weather fronts sitting on us and LOTs of wind... our little wind girl is helping to fill in.
As posted above we have had lots of clouds. Half of our 12 outside lights come on at 5 PM and off at 7:30 AM.... or later. Indoor lights and energy use extended the same meaning more energy used and not enough sun with eight panels. BUT! Let's go back to where I started, and others, and see where we are now. IF you are just joining this thread and REALLY interested in solar then ….. start at the beginning. Lot's of good information. I'm NOT reposting above posts. OH... for for a little kicker??? My horse has leaned how to turn on lights and I'm finding a couple more on in the AM and now on a regular basis. ROFL. (that's my boy.)
Edenorte from 10/02 to 11/02. Total Kwh's 623. Total R.D. $5,237.34. U.S. $131.76
Estimated diesel used: 30 gallons @ U.S. $5.00 = $150.00
I fertilized the lawns/gardens last month so extra water means more water pump and energy. (I for one welcome all the rain that we are getting but can't we do it with the sun out at the same time.)
So I think that for this time of year and only 8 panels things are doing very well and staying under the 700 kwh is my aim for this time of year. I just have to get my horse to stop turning on lights. (this IS really true.. )
How the rest of you doing? (oh dang... on gen. So I can turn on the TV.)
have a good night all.
I cannot be as arithmetic as Ringo but I'm trying my new system in anticipation of the shorter days and the heavier household load.
This morning, cloudy - rain likely, I turned on the the gen and went to town.
Returned to torrential, tropical downpours.... so decided to leave it on a bit.
Parked the car outside for a free wash.
In 3 hours, from 9:30 to 12:30 ,I was fully charged w/virtually no sun.
Gasoil prices drop at midnite tonight........ estupido, I bought 50 gals of gasoil and filled the car (3,000 drp) before learning that.
RE: Horse
Teach it to turn the lights off.... conservation counts !! lol
This morning, cloudy - rain likely, I turned on the the gen and went to town.
Returned to torrential, tropical downpours.... so decided to leave it on a bit.
Parked the car outside for a free wash.
In 3 hours, from 9:30 to 12:30 ,I was fully charged w/virtually no sun.
Gasoil prices drop at midnite tonight........ estupido, I bought 50 gals of gasoil and filled the car (3,000 drp) before learning that.
RE: Horse
Teach it to turn the lights off.... conservation counts !! lol
Sorry ww. I don't want you to feel bad and I enjoy any and all your posts concerning what you are doing. Times that you run ur gen. and what life is when it concerns solar living.
I WAS very surprised that my gen. did not auto start today. I did NOT adjust my energy schedule and wanted to see the "what if/when/what".
But we got thru the day without adjusting or gen starting any extra time.
Solar only gave us 1.8 kwh today but the batts still up at over 50 volts. ???
From the Phantom of the Opera.... Sing to me Christine... SING. That's what we call our little AirX marine wind generator. She must have sung last night and part of today since the batts are still up..... and enough wind that I close up. I checked her pulse a couple of times and she was putting out 3 to 7 amps. So Christine has done well.
I DO NOT recommend that everyone run out a buy a wind generator. She works fine/sort of/ in our location and situation.
Wife is home and SUCKING UP AMPS. That's ok.... that's what real life is about.
I WAS very surprised that my gen. did not auto start today. I did NOT adjust my energy schedule and wanted to see the "what if/when/what".
But we got thru the day without adjusting or gen starting any extra time.
Solar only gave us 1.8 kwh today but the batts still up at over 50 volts. ???
From the Phantom of the Opera.... Sing to me Christine... SING. That's what we call our little AirX marine wind generator. She must have sung last night and part of today since the batts are still up..... and enough wind that I close up. I checked her pulse a couple of times and she was putting out 3 to 7 amps. So Christine has done well.
I DO NOT recommend that everyone run out a buy a wind generator. She works fine/sort of/ in our location and situation.
Wife is home and SUCKING UP AMPS. That's ok.... that's what real life is about.
Changed to solar assist with one 120 watt panel. Latest elec. bill was 880 pesos for one month with elec here at 15 pesos a unit - well pleased!
Phillips bulbs now one year old - very pleasant light ( not harsh ) and only 8 watts each! Fan is 8 watts.
Laptop - doubles as TV 8 watts.
Save the planet!
yapask1
Phillips bulbs now one year old - very pleasant light ( not harsh ) and only 8 watts each! Fan is 8 watts.
Laptop - doubles as TV 8 watts.
Save the planet!
yapask1
Everyday this month, and part of last, has had cloudy sky?s and rain in just about every 24 hour period. We have kept to our schedule as posted above with a little extra generator that kicks in when we make the coffee just a little to early before the timer lets Edenorte in. Also a couple of days when Edenorte was off line for several hours. We now set up the coffee in a pot on the gas stove to heat it in the AM. (a .... dahhhh simple thing with a slight change of habit of light stove and not microwave or coffee maker. Not toooo bright in da AM before coffee.)
We had to buy diesel for the generator. Gosh... darn.... dang. The last time we bought was over 8 years ago when elec being out for 8 hours a day was normal. I don't remember the price back then but we filled our 500 gallon tank. Dang.... used it allllll up. (fuel conditioner additives and a good filter/water separator is used.)
Yesterday we only put in 100 gallons @ $200 pesos per gallon being U.S. $5.00 per, delivered price. Math does not quite work but it was a total of R.D. $20,000. Should be about 6 months of fuel at the current rate of sucking it up.
We are still well below the magic Kwh of 700 with Edenorte even with very little solar sun. Half an hour a day on generator to bring up the bulk battery charge uses less then a gallon of diesel, then we top off the batteries with Edenorte.
So far we are very pleased. Our addition 4 panels should put us very close to not needing the generator and cutting Edenorte back a little more.
Our solar panels from N.J. are a no-can-do. Everything they had at the N.J place is garbage from Sandy. Another source has been found by our original order people so we hope to have them in another............ I have NO idea.
We had to buy diesel for the generator. Gosh... darn.... dang. The last time we bought was over 8 years ago when elec being out for 8 hours a day was normal. I don't remember the price back then but we filled our 500 gallon tank. Dang.... used it allllll up. (fuel conditioner additives and a good filter/water separator is used.)
Yesterday we only put in 100 gallons @ $200 pesos per gallon being U.S. $5.00 per, delivered price. Math does not quite work but it was a total of R.D. $20,000. Should be about 6 months of fuel at the current rate of sucking it up.
We are still well below the magic Kwh of 700 with Edenorte even with very little solar sun. Half an hour a day on generator to bring up the bulk battery charge uses less then a gallon of diesel, then we top off the batteries with Edenorte.
So far we are very pleased. Our addition 4 panels should put us very close to not needing the generator and cutting Edenorte back a little more.
Our solar panels from N.J. are a no-can-do. Everything they had at the N.J place is garbage from Sandy. Another source has been found by our original order people so we hope to have them in another............ I have NO idea.
It is demand of the time...
Entire world should form an alliance and spread the message to make the people known about the resources shortage.Time has been come when we have to shift our consumtion on solar energy to save our remaining assets and to fulfill our need of energy and resources.
Entire world should form an alliance and spread the message to make the people known about the resources shortage.Time has been come when we have to shift our consumtion on solar energy to save our remaining assets and to fulfill our need of energy and resources.
Nov. Edenorte Bill for 30 days. 512 kwh. RD $4031.88 A little lower then last month with no changes. ???
We are still on the same schedule using generator and Edenorte power.
About 15 gallons of diesel.
8 solar panels about 2.4 kwh per day. Short days and LOTS of clouds.
The 4 new solar panels are in Miami waiting to be ship loaded. The solar panel rack came last week. Shipping from Miami to our place delivered, RD $530. included everything.
Still very happy.
Gotta go, packing then heading out.
We are still on the same schedule using generator and Edenorte power.
About 15 gallons of diesel.
8 solar panels about 2.4 kwh per day. Short days and LOTS of clouds.
The 4 new solar panels are in Miami waiting to be ship loaded. The solar panel rack came last week. Shipping from Miami to our place delivered, RD $530. included everything.
Still very happy.
Gotta go, packing then heading out.
A LONG time to get the panels. H. Sandy was a large factor. The place that was going to ship them was hit hard and it took awhile for them to get in and inspect. They found everything ruined so another source had to be found that would sell and ship to Miami at the same price. BUT.....
EncargoPaq delivered them yesterday. I wanted to open and inspect while the driver was here, but that didn't happen. I found the boxes beat up and looked inside at one corner and found the end metal bent. Opened the box and that one panel is shattered and junk. ARRRRGGGGG!
Called the Sosua EncargoPaq office and the manager was here in 15 minutes. He had already loaded the panel into his truck when I came down to talk to him. He said how sorry he was and that he would take care of this and get me another panel. Polite, friendly and smiles. (I did not ask about how long for the replacement panel.)
All the above quotes are what we paid. Nothing added on. We have used EncargoPaq for other items and are very pleased with prices and service.
So I can at least get the frame and 3 panels installed, up and running in the next few days.
Ringo sorry to hear about your troubles. My panels have arrived in Santo Domingo and if you want some, I can sell these Sharp 235 watt Mono panels for $300 each. You can test and inspect each one if you meet me in Samana. Offer goes out to anyone else who wants some. I am bringing in 68, and 17 are sold already. 17 is a good number if you go with the Enphase microinverter system, which I can get for you also. Message me if you have an interest.
Thanks, but no real troubles. The people that we ordered from in the States are being great and also looking into insurance. EmbaroPaq is being great BUT have given us a Credit that covers the panel cost, shipping and some in our pocket BUT does not pay us cash OR replace the panel. So a little back peddling from them but we are OK with that since ship in a lot of stuff. (One box from our daughter arrived today and .... charged to our plus credit acct.)
BIG QUESTION: We have one set of 4 matched panels the same but are a little different from are other set of 4 matched panels. All wired into the same line to the breaker and then to the controller. No problem.
IF we have 3 panels matched and ONE a little different in the 3rd solar bank of four connected into the same wired system... any problem?
I'm thinking not and that the controller is the brain that converts all the solar. After all, each panel will produce differently with a shadow or being more dirty.
Thoughts?
Thanks.
Ringo, you can mix and match, but you will lose voltage. If one of your panels produces less voltage, it will drop down all the voltage. Here is an answer that I will steal from another forum:
"If the 24 watt module is 17.1 volts and the 60 watt module is 24.3 volts. You will pull the 60 watt module down the the voltage of the 24 watt module. You loose amps because the voltage is not being down converted.
You get the same effect when using the cheap charge controllers. A cheap charge controller just opens up and allows the solar modules to connect direct to the battery bank which pulls the solar voltage down to the battery voltage. So if you had a 24 volt module hooked to a 12 volt battery bank you loose 12 volts and half of your amps"
That is why I like the microinverters. They eliminate this problem. You mentioned about shadows and being dirty, that is a big issue, especially when clouds come by. When you use a central inverter, if one of the panels is dirty, or has shading from a cloud, it will reduce the output of the WHOLE system. However, if you use microinverters, like Enphase, they will harvest the max power from each panel, and send AC current off the roof right down to your panel in your house. I wish I would have done this, instead I have two large SMA inverters.
Rielleyp, WW
It was nice of you to offer panels to Ringo and you have obviously been in the solar business for a while. I looked at you last post and would query the use of SMA and Enphase invertors in the DR environment.
Many people already have invertors and battery banks and the requirement would be to charge the batteries while running off the existing DR invertors. This would avoid the use of expensive DC to AC invertors such as SMA and Enphase ( US$ 600 to 800 each ), and use the existing invertors here, with something like a Solar Charge controller Xantrex C60 linked directly to the batteries. This is capable of 60 amps so on a 24 volt system it represents about 1.4kW into the batteries (48 Volt 2.8kW). It is much cheaper at about US$170 and you dont have to change anything. The change over from Batteries to Line feed could be automated or manual when the batteries are low.
Yapaskis comments about Solar Panel Helpers is quite good too - adding a solar panel about 3-5% of the capacity of the batteries with a simple controller or even just a blocking diode to help keep the charge up - on 4 batteries it would be one 225 Watt panel plus a 50amp/250 volt blocking diode costing 50Rd$. It would prevent discharge through the panels at night!
So I think you might want to look at the sytems you are talking about to get the most econmomical system based on the existing situation here.
And by the way WW I did contact in August the firm you recommended asking about qualifications and acreditations and have had no reply. So draw your own conclusions!
Olly and the Team ( Sosua Division)
It was nice of you to offer panels to Ringo and you have obviously been in the solar business for a while. I looked at you last post and would query the use of SMA and Enphase invertors in the DR environment.
Many people already have invertors and battery banks and the requirement would be to charge the batteries while running off the existing DR invertors. This would avoid the use of expensive DC to AC invertors such as SMA and Enphase ( US$ 600 to 800 each ), and use the existing invertors here, with something like a Solar Charge controller Xantrex C60 linked directly to the batteries. This is capable of 60 amps so on a 24 volt system it represents about 1.4kW into the batteries (48 Volt 2.8kW). It is much cheaper at about US$170 and you dont have to change anything. The change over from Batteries to Line feed could be automated or manual when the batteries are low.
Yapaskis comments about Solar Panel Helpers is quite good too - adding a solar panel about 3-5% of the capacity of the batteries with a simple controller or even just a blocking diode to help keep the charge up - on 4 batteries it would be one 225 Watt panel plus a 50amp/250 volt blocking diode costing 50Rd$. It would prevent discharge through the panels at night!
So I think you might want to look at the sytems you are talking about to get the most econmomical system based on the existing situation here.
And by the way WW I did contact in August the firm you recommended asking about qualifications and acreditations and have had no reply. So draw your own conclusions!
Olly and the Team ( Sosua Division)