re: Scrooster

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So we're solar grid tied here at the farm and solar with battery bank at my shop and the main barn. One of the reasons we sold the lake house was because SCANA blocked us from putting in solar at the lake claiming it was an aesthetic reason ... but it was really just SCANA's anti-alt-energy bs.

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Just got a quote from our solar guy in GA to do the install in KY they want 120K and that was NOT using the solar shingles as the supplier in CA will not ship out of CA. Talked to the accountant and no way to recover that cost, especially after Trump killed the tax incentives in place from his predecessor. RR did the same to Carter in the early 80's and set back ALT fuels by 30 years in the USA. Politicians need to quit doing this crap just to appease Big Oil donors. Canada has really embraced wind and South America has gotten farther with cane than the US with corn because they keep the political side in check.



I was looking at a B&S unit - not cheap - in the 8KW to 12KW range but their rep in not available for another week or two. Is the sine wave inverter built into the B&S unit or is it an add on at the breaker box and more the electricians domain? Main thing is to make it all automatic with a nat gas fuel line off the home service with full auto capabilities so it will turn on and off with no human intervention and will not send electricity back up the line and zap any workers getting service back on for the surrounding neighbors.

I looked at Generac about 15 years ago for another property my cousin had and they went with GE back then an love it tho it does make some serious noise when it is running. Their neighbors lost power for about 2 - 3 weeks in Indiana type cold winter (real snow and ice) and they had enough juice to keep the house comfortably warm through it all. It helped they already had gas HVAC and HW so the electric load was much less in the first place. Mainly needed electric for the blower and not the element. Big lesson learned.

If I am running Nat Gas you are saying it can accept propane as emergency backup? If so what kind of propane we talking about? Big arse fixed tank on the side of the house like you saw a lot until the 1970's or those little Blue Rhino jobs you pick up at the local convenience store? While nice an portable, not sure how long they would run a standby generator for.

As to the Mitsubishi systems are you talking the single room ones with the wall straddling setup like HVAC in motel rooms? Had one of those in GA and we had icing issues and mold issues on a porch we glassed in for full year use. Not so much from the heating issue but cooling as the room got hot with all that glass once the exterior temp got to 70 or above.

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I do have old school lead acid at the barn but you don't want to risk it in a closed element.

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Older heavy metal Buicks and Cadillacs had the battery under the back seat and you paid big to replace them because they needed to be vented. Makes you think about WWII subs and the issues they must have faced. Eventually they will make smaller and more portable batteries but at our age they will not be in service in our lifetimes. I hope kids in their 40's today will see it tho.

SOS explained the Mitsubishi units really well.

You can buy two 5500 Watt genies (the Champions) and parallel them for a lot less money that an 11kw. You just have to make sure to sync the two gennies you parallel so they are sending out the same wave pattern. Have an electrician do that for you with an oscilloscope scope.

Now, if you do decide to invest in a battery bank you'll need to educate yourself on charge controllers and inverters.

The bigger genies have built in inverters ... some of them pure sine wave but you're going to pay more.

Battery banks require separate inverters because they have to convert DC power to AC at 60hz. The bigger the inverter the more expensive. Or you might choose to set up a fuse box off of multiple inverters, say four (4) 4000 watt inverters.

Avoid chinese made inverters ... they're shite. Go with either German made, American made or Australian made. The Aussies have been doing it better longer than anyone else in the world, they've got it down to a science given their Outback experience.

When you are ready for batteries and have a budget in mind let me know and I can steer you in the right direction.

First things first ... you need to do a survey of your needs, what you would need and want to run in your home in the event of a power failure.

One last thing. I highly recommend spending a little extra and hardening your panels and everything else on your system. Harden them from EMP, solar flares and such.