10K Canadian Solar System

[J.P.M.]

Mark me down as another person with a spare panel stashed away.

FWIW, +1. Always seemed like cheap insurance to me. Maybe 1 panel or 5 % excess or so.

[peakbagger]

Mark me down as another person with a spare panel stashed away.

[bcroe]

. Should I get a couple of spares in case of failure?

.

It is way cheaper and simpler to order an extra panel initially, than to try and find an exact
replacement in the future. I have one spare panel just in case. Less justified, my favored
but somewhat dated inverters went on clearance sale, and I picked up new backups for a
very good price. Perhaps the concern here more is quick minimum repair down time. Bruce Roe

[hardwired]

Thinking about using some of the Canadian solar All Black panels in the back of the house. They appear to match the look of my all black LG Neon2 panels in the front, The Canadian Solar 325W is less than 200 per panel and the LG 335W is $100 more.

Canadian Solar HiDM CS1H-325MS 325W Module

What's is HiDM and how do these compare to the LG Neon2 black? Panels will face east so efficiency won't make much difference.

Should I get a couple of spares in case of failure?

[Ampster]

But what are the costs if you are not using the grid?

There are fixed costs for having the grid connection. That is the cost of having the grid as backup.
If you are asking about the cost of energy that I self consume it is the cost of the equipment divided by the amount of energy that I expect to generate over the life of the equipment.

[CanadianOffGrid]

Note: solar systems don't do welders.

I would imagine that you would need to use at least a 10Kwatt generator that can run at 220v to do any kind of serious welding.

[Bennimat]

But what are the costs if you are not using the grid?

[Ampster]

Hi Cherokee,

I would love to go off grid as well but its my understand from the investigation that I have done you must live in a unorganized township in order to disconnect from the electrical grid. Is that the case for you or are you running a config in a not so legal way and just hoping no one bothers you.

There is a difference between going "off grid" and what the original poster is doing. He has a grid connection but only uses it ocassionally. We do have choices but it is important to know the actual cost of not using the grid. Batteries and hybrid inverters are not cheap and they do wear out.

[Hosinfefer]

Hi Cherokee,

I would love to go off grid as well but its my understand from the investigation that I have done you must live in a unorganized township in order to disconnect from the electrical grid. Is that the case for you or are you running a config in a not so legal way and just hoping no one bothers you.

[Cherokee140d]

This system has allowed me to live off grid 99% of the time for eight months of the year (March to October). For the remaining months (November to February), I operate off grid during the day and switch to the grid at night. Basically with little light and tons of snow, daytime production is minimal. I plan to add a 2.5 K wind generator primarily to improve winter performance. The original idea was to discover whether or not one could survive off grid in southern Ontario, if the need arose.
Spring, summer and fall allows virtually normal living including heating hot water, 2 tanks 100 gallons, a/c in the summer, dishwasher, clothes washer etc. Note: solar systems don't do welders. I also operate a mill, lathe and various other machines in my shop.
Now to the 1%.
i do switch to the grid to operate my clothes dryer as it draws 6000 watts. While the system can do it, I just don't like the whine from one of the inverters. A note on the a/c. It's old (20 years) and shut down the system when turned on. I had a choice, replace it or source a soft start add-on. Fortunately, a US firm sells such a device and it works.

SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS:
10k of panels (32- 310,330 w) , 8- 6 volt rolls surrette series 5000 820ah batteries, 2- Trace 4048 inverters, 2- Midnite Classic 200 Controllers. The inverters and batteries were purchased used two years ago and are 17 years old. Can't say enough about the batteries.