Does anyone have a SOLAR GENERATOR?

[EppsDynasty]

SO..... just yesterday I was speaking with one of my "Off the Grid" neighbors. When he bought his property less than 5 years ago it had 12 panels. They only produced a little over 11 volts so he paid for another "Rack." The 12 new panels he bought and had PROFESSIONALLY installed lost 20% in the first year. Now the new panels only produce about 60% of advertised. So he hooked up the old ones to try and get more power. The new panels only produce 11.5 volts and the new ones produce 11.5 volts. So old panel produces more than a panel thats less than 5 years old. I ask why do you think that is? Nothing. I then said it shows how CHEAP new panels are. You happy with your almost $30,000 solar system I asked ... he just laughed. He has done all this and still uses a gas generator for 25-50% of his power needs. He is selling and trying to move to electricity, just not sustainable anymore. I do have to say that he is a "Die Hard" climate alarmist and so proud of being on solar. Just can't use a light to see his proud face in the mirror. (joke). I am a person that lives in FACTS not fictional fairy lands. Solar has applications where it works but not in producing a homes needs in a emergency.
I posted this knowing that it might be a little different than your original question BUT a solar generator is any solar home that is on solar. Solar panel(s) charging batteries to be used as energy. I wanted to let the unknown people know exactly what solar is.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

PROPANE ... Never goes bad. You do only get a little over 60% of what a gas one produces.

I have a natural gas water heater and stove. Hooking a big, standby generator up to that is certainly on my short list.

 

[jeff kushner]

Kerry just filled her 500 gallon Propane tank for the stove top and fireplace.
I checked the gauge before she ordered and it was showing 38% but they don't fill propane full-full.

They pumped 257 gallons......and charged her over $1,000.....she was blindsided by the cost. Guess I know what to get her for Christmas! LOL

 

[EppsDynasty]

Kerry just filled her 500 gallon Propane tank for the stove top and fireplace.
I checked the gauge before she ordered and it was showing 38% but they don't fill propane full-full.

They pumped 257 gallons......and charged her over $1,000.....she was blindsided by the cost. Guess I know what to get her for Christmas! LOL

A propane tank is only filled 80%, so a 250 gallon tank only holds 200 gallons. Propane prices fluctuate so it is significantly cheaper in the summer. I live in CA so the biggest consumer is AG, so summer is the only time you don't have to compete with them to. I'm not a "Generac" employee or advocate but they make their own parts mainly in CA and make more than 75% of the generators used (under several names). Our doomsday setup is 2 250 gallon tanks (400 gallons) of propane and a duel fuel generator big enough for a well... and a big fence.

 

[Yvonne G]

I've lived here in this house for almost 30 years and before 2000 I could count on one hand the number of times we lost electricity. But here lately it's almost a monthly activity. So much so that I've considered buying a back up battery system for my solar system or a solar powered generator. So bring it on! I'm lovin' this information

 

[EppsDynasty]

I've lived here in this house for almost 30 years and before 2000 I could count on one hand the number of times we lost electricity. But here lately it's almost a monthly activity. So much so that I've considered buying a back up battery system for my solar system or a solar powered generator. So bring it on! I'm lovin' this information

when the doggie doo hits the fan where do you get parts for some china made piece of .. doggie doo generator? People today buy generators of whatever kind based on the warranty, uhh what happens when that warranty is worthless cause we are unable to get the part or parts. Propane will never go bad and can be stored indefinitely. A gas backup for when you have gas is great, because it produces more energy .... Wait heres a little info. Power is how fast and much the generator delivers, energy is what YOU can use of that.
Our Princess of a Governor here has ok'd tax payer money to fund battery backup for the solar farms in my area. They are TESLA battery systems. Our solar farms are so large they can be seen from space. How solar works is there is ALWAYS a Fossil Fuel backup running at all times. My California county buys electricity from as far away as the east coast. When the solar can't provide what the consumers are demanding where do they get the extra power? There is always a electric backup for ANY solar power being put on the grid. For this reason we are paying for batteries to be put at all solar farms to make great sounding claims of Net Zero Energy or Green Energy. When CA went Green this summer it was for a mili second only and we were paying Coal plants in Illinois to be are back up. Don't get me started on the PUBLIC LAND that houses our Desert Tortoises that is being given away for solar farms.
This year a solar company paid Southern Cal Edison for their customer information and used it to solicit solar. The first bid was $110,000 for 50 panels and a 30 year payment plan for panels with a 25 year warranty. The panels would only provide me with 60% of my power needs by their admission. 40% of the time they are worthless, and we're in the desert. I couldn't believe it so I called the company and explained what I was told. The man was very nice and said sorry he would do another estimate because that didn't seem right. 2 days later we received the bid for $125,000 again for panels with a 25 year warranty with a 30 year payment plan.
My honest opinion on solar is it is STILL not a reliable source of power even in a non emergency situation. There are better options. AGAIN I'm just a little old nobody living out my wife and I's dream in the paradise most call the desert.

 

[jaizei]

Solar panels are toxic...did you know that? Lead is what compromises most of the weight of a panel excluding the glass.

Other than leaded solder, where is all the other lead in solar panels? Would have to be something significant to weigh more than all of the other obvious materials.

 

[Cathie G]

I've lived here in this house for almost 30 years and before 2000 I could count on one hand the number of times we lost electricity. But here lately it's almost a monthly activity. So much so that I've considered buying a back up battery system for my solar system or a solar powered generator. So bring it on! I'm lovin' this information

That kind of stuff went on with us for a while after an weird outage. I think it took them a while even years to find the worn out part in the grid. After they did we haven't had those long outages. But you still gotta have backup. Even that's different making sure it's changed and available. So yes something might work 😜

 

[ZEROPILOT]

I've lived here in this house for almost 30 years and before 2000 I could count on one hand the number of times we lost electricity. But here lately it's almost a monthly activity. So much so that I've considered buying a back up battery system for my solar system or a solar powered generator. So bring it on! I'm lovin' this information

Google some JACKARY

 

[ZEROPILOT]

when the doggie doo hits the fan where do you get parts for some china made piece of .. doggie doo generator? People today buy generators of whatever kind based on the warranty, uhh what happens when that warranty is worthless cause we are unable to get the part or parts. Propane will never go bad and can be stored indefinitely. A gas backup for when you have gas is great, because it produces more energy .... Wait heres a little info. Power is how fast and much the generator delivers, energy is what YOU can use of that.
Our Princess of a Governor here has ok'd tax payer money to fund battery backup for the solar farms in my area. They are TESLA battery systems. Our solar farms are so large they can be seen from space. How solar works is there is ALWAYS a Fossil Fuel backup running at all times. My California county buys electricity from as far away as the east coast. When the solar can't provide what the consumers are demanding where do they get the extra power? There is always a electric backup for ANY solar power being put on the grid. For this reason we are paying for batteries to be put at all solar farms to make great sounding claims of Net Zero Energy or Green Energy. When CA went Green this summer it was for a mili second only and we were paying Coal plants in Illinois to be are back up. Don't get me started on the PUBLIC LAND that houses our Desert Tortoises that is being given away for solar farms.
This year a solar company paid Southern Cal Edison for their customer information and used it to solicit solar. The first bid was $110,000 for 50 panels and a 30 year payment plan for panels with a 25 year warranty. The panels would only provide me with 60% of my power needs by their admission. 40% of the time they are worthless, and we're in the desert. I couldn't believe it so I called the company and explained what I was told. The man was very nice and said sorry he would do another estimate because that didn't seem right. 2 days later we received the bid for $125,000 again for panels with a 25 year warranty with a 30 year payment plan.
My honest opinion on solar is it is STILL not a reliable source of power even in a non emergency situation. There are better options. AGAIN I'm just a little old nobody living out my wife and I's dream in the paradise most call the desert.

As for Home generator?
I have a HONDA powered BALDOR.
Real HONDA engine.
Real BALDOR powerhead
As far as gasoline powered go, you'd be hard pressed to find an equal to it.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

The power goes out for a few minutes every few days in SW Broward county Florida. It's so common that you probably wouldn't notice it if the clocks weren't always blinking.
About once every 2 or 3 months it'll go out for about an hour for whatever reason.
But this place only goes all LORD OF THE FLIES after the power has been out for several hours. And in several days your neighbors will kill you for some air conditioning or WiFi.

 

[jeff kushner]

when the doggie doo hits the fan

LMAO


I just got my Gas/Elec bill for my home. I pay 17.4cents per KW, out the door. For gas, it's 73 cents per therm.
I bought a 7.5kw generator a few yrs ago, put in on a cart and rolled it under my sunroom in a lattice enclosed 16x 30' space and installed it, complete with a Transfer switch......to keep the power from ever going out anymore, apparently. lol I fire it up every 3-4 months and switch it over to carry load for a while. I treat the standing fuel with Stabil Marine grade and tt starts w/i 1 second, every time. Still has the original Yusa battery.


Kerry, who has her own home has propane and electric and it's where we plan to live.

Her home is in the woods, on a hill with a very small stream behind it and tidal waters that touch her property on extra high tides......I would love to find a system or combination of systems to reduce grid-cost. I don't have to produce a lot of power, just a little all the time adds up. Capital costs have to be offset in 7 yrs or less, 3 is optimal and I'm brutally honest with #'s. I measure what is, not what I want it to be!

I'm thinking very differently than many apparently. I've been watching what Toyota has been playing with since 2005 and done quite well with it....a refillable-stack hydrogen fuel cell.....powered by solar. The single solar panel(easily and cheaply replaceable) provides enough power easily for electrolysis then it's just a matter of harvesting the FREE hydrogen and converting it to power for use or storage.


So I love these threads too

 

[EppsDynasty]

Other than leaded solder, where is all the other lead in solar panels? Would have to be something significant to weigh more than all of the other obvious materials.

It's not just the solder that is made of lead. The most common ones have lead in solder and the "RIBBON" that connects the cells. The least common use cadmium telluride, copper indium gallium (di)selenide. If it isn't lead then it will be arsenic or some other metal more toxic than the lead. There are even panels with a leaded glass as well. So this whole "solar is clean energy" is BU!!****. Most panels as I've said end up in landfills or burned, either way it's not "Clean Energy."

 

[EppsDynasty]

LMAO


I just got my Gas/Elec bill for my home. I pay 17.4cents per KW, out the door. For gas, it's 73 cents per therm.
I bought a 7.5kw generator a few yrs ago, put in on a cart and rolled it under my sunroom in a lattice enclosed 16x 30' space and installed it, complete with a Transfer switch......to keep the power from ever going out anymore, apparently. lol I fire it up every 3-4 months and switch it over to carry load for a while. I treat the standing fuel with Stabil Marine grade and tt starts w/i 1 second, every time. Still has the original Yusa battery.


Kerry, who has her own home has propane and electric and it's where we plan to live.

Her home is in the woods, on a hill with a very small stream behind it and tidal waters that touch her property on extra high tides......I would love to find a system or combination of systems to reduce grid-cost. I don't have to produce a lot of power, just a little all the time adds up. Capital costs have to be offset in 7 yrs or less, 3 is optimal and I'm brutally honest with #'s. I measure what is, not what I want it to be!

I'm thinking very differently than many apparently. I've been watching what Toyota has been playing with since 2005 and done quite well with it....a refillable-stack hydrogen fuel cell.....powered by solar. The single solar panel(easily and cheaply replaceable) provides enough power easily for electrolysis then it's just a matter of harvesting the FREE hydrogen and converting it to power for use or storage.


So I love these threads too

Toyota went to Hydrogen and Tesla went to Batteries technology. If the consumer is not left to make the choice then it will not be the best technology that wins. It will be where we are now subsidizing failing technologies. Henry Ford did not invent the Factory Line or the model T with Government help.

 

[dd33]

If you need truly reliable backup power diesel is the way to go. Compared to propane the running costs are easily less than half, even with diesel prices today. People with 25kw whole home propane generators are stunned when they figure out it can cost several hundred dollars a day to run them. Storing enough propane is tough, a 250 gallon tank with 200 gallons of propane will be used up in 2.5 days at 50% load if you could squeeze every last gallon out of it. You are at the mercy of the gas company coming to refill your tank that often. I know that our gas company would flat out refuse to come that often and we spend staggering amounts of money with them, 5,000+ gallons a week during cold fronts in the winter.
Trying to run a portable LP generator on a 20lb propane tank is an exercise in futility with each tank lasting only ~4 hours IF you can get it to run on a tank that small. If you are doing this with pre filled tanks from 7-11 you are burning though at least $5/hr in fuel.

Natural gas should be cheaper to run that LP but you need to have a plan for the utility company to turn off the gas for at least some period of time after a natural disaster.

Diesel generators have significantly longer lifespans that gas generators as well. Gas generators run at twice the RPM and are built as cheaply as possible for mass marketing.

Storing diesel isn't a walk in the park but it isn't as bad as commonly believed.

 

[EppsDynasty]

If you need truly reliable backup power diesel is the way to go. Compared to propane the running costs are easily less than half, even with diesel prices today. People with 25kw whole home propane generators are stunned when they figure out it can cost several hundred dollars a day to run them. Storing enough propane is tough, a 250 gallon tank with 200 gallons of propane will be used up in 2.5 days at 50% load if you could squeeze every last gallon out of it. You are at the mercy of the gas company coming to refill your tank that often. I know that our gas company would flat out refuse to come that often and we spend staggering amounts of money with them, 5,000+ gallons a week during cold fronts in the winter.
Trying to run a portable LP generator on a 20lb propane tank is an exercise in futility with each tank lasting only ~4 hours IF you can get it to run on a tank that small. If you are doing this with pre filled tanks from 7-11 you are burning though at least $5/hr in fuel.

Natural gas should be cheaper to run that LP but you need to have a plan for the utility company to turn off the gas for at least some period of time after a natural disaster.

Diesel generators have significantly longer lifespans that gas generators as well. Gas generators run at twice the RPM and are built as cheaply as possible for mass marketing.

Storing diesel isn't a walk in the park but it isn't as bad as commonly believed.

Exactly correct ... except in my state you need Fuel Storage Permits for any liquid fuel over 50 gallons. BUT you can store as much propane, go figure. There is a property that's almost 2 miles from me with a Propane Generator. Original builder, worked for the local propane company. Next buyer owned the feed store, couldn't afford to use the propane generator. With living rural, having to commute for work and school propane was to expensive. Current occupiers are a illegal marijuana grow and I got no idea what the heck they do for power. Propane is ONLY an emergency situation option. Where I live there is no cheaper energy than Southern Cal Edison. I can't be the power station cheaper than them, no matter what I do. Been proven by every house off the grid in my area.

 

[Yvonne G]

If you need truly reliable backup power diesel is the way to go. Compared to propane the running costs are easily less than half, even with diesel prices today. People with 25kw whole home propane generators are stunned when they figure out it can cost several hundred dollars a day to run them. Storing enough propane is tough, a 250 gallon tank with 200 gallons of propane will be used up in 2.5 days at 50% load if you could squeeze every last gallon out of it. You are at the mercy of the gas company coming to refill your tank that often. I know that our gas company would flat out refuse to come that often and we spend staggering amounts of money with them, 5,000+ gallons a week during cold fronts in the winter.
Trying to run a portable LP generator on a 20lb propane tank is an exercise in futility with each tank lasting only ~4 hours IF you can get it to run on a tank that small. If you are doing this with pre filled tanks from 7-11 you are burning though at least $5/hr in fuel.

Natural gas should be cheaper to run that LP but you need to have a plan for the utility company to turn off the gas for at least some period of time after a natural disaster.

Diesel generators have significantly longer lifespans that gas generators as well. Gas generators run at twice the RPM and are built as cheaply as possible for mass marketing.

Storing diesel isn't a walk in the park but it isn't as bad as commonly believed.

Here in my area propane is almost $4 a gallon.

 

[zovick]

Here in my area propane is almost $4 a gallon.

Is that for propane delivered to your home or bought at a store in a small tank such as for a gas grill?

My wife was a district manager for Suburban Propane for 27 years. It is common practice in that industry to charge higher prices per gallon to people who use very little propane, IE those who use it only for cooking. Bigger users get lower pricing. If you use propane to heat your home and your hot water, plus cook with it, the price is lower than for the person who uses it only to cook.

Also, the larger the storage tank you will accept, the price will be reduced as they need to make fewer deliveries to you which saves them $$.

 

[jeff kushner]

we spend staggering amounts of money with them, 5,000+ gallons a week during cold fronts in the winter.

I have to ask, what the heck are you doing using those amounts of gas, in Florida? Groves? Got to be, right?

Suburban Propane is Kerry's provider too. She got tagged with $150 'tank fee" because she didn't fill it in the past year! So she had to pay the $1100 fill cost + the 150. Ouch.

Hey, I'd love for you guys to figure this out for us all......but I spent years reading books then on the various site dedicated to Free-energy Mr Stanley Meyer's car, Tesla's deep and dark secrets and being a hand-on guy, my basement if filling with things related....yet you guys see where I am, no nirvana, no easy solution lurking out there that I've found.

 

[dd33]

I have to ask, what the heck are you doing using those amounts of gas, in Florida? Groves? Got to be, right?

Fish hatcheries. Heating them over 80f during a 30-40f cold snap burns a lot of gas.