Generator powered by Solar Panels

[djwright]

Hey guys
I'm kinda new to this I'm looking into doing the solar system on my house I seen all the normal setups for the solar leases.
It will be tied into the city grid. why don't more why don't more people use solar powered generators. The idea being that a little bit of power from the solar panels powers the generator which puts out more power. You then would not need as many solar panels on the roof and keep the cost down. Also, so far I have only seen 1800 watt generators are there larger ones out there? The main consumer of energy at my house is my pool pump, with straws almost 3000 watt alone for 6 hours. I was wondering if anybody is using solar generators to supply power to their house not just as backup.

I do understand 1 of the problems we may run into with using solar generators is that they're moving parts in the generators and life expectancy of the generator maybe compromise by continuous use. Are solar powered generators designed to be used non stop? My thinking is that I need around a 7000 - 8000 watt system to power the pool, House AC and all the normal stuff frig and so on. I will even need to use a welder at the house sometimes but since I'm tied into the grid I should be okay.

I would appreciate any thoughts. Thank you

[billvon]

I'm kinda new to this I'm looking into doing the solar system on my house I seen all the normal setups for the solar leases.
It will be tied into the city grid.

Sounds good.

why don't more why don't more people use solar powered generators. The idea being that a little bit of power from the solar panels powers the generator which puts out more power.

No motor/generator/transformer/system of clever gears etc will ever output more than you put into it. Laws of thermodynamics prevent that.

I was wondering if anybody is using solar generators to supply power to their house not just as backup.

No one has used "solar powered generators" for decades. They used to be used to invert power; a DC motor would drive an AC generator. But there are now much better electronic inverters out there that do the same thing, with fewer losses and less noise.

[Naptown]

What you are referring to is a grid tie solar system. It uses an inverter and feeds the house with what ever power you generate and if there is excess power it feeds back to the grid. The utility companies will refer to these as a solar generator but there are no moving parts.

[russ]

The 'solar generator' must be the new green craze - it keeps popping up as the best thing since sliced bread whereas it is just a con in today's world.

[Sunny Solar]

This thread reminds me when I was about 8 or 9 yrs old.. I could not understand why people just didnt get a "D" cell and connect that to a small transformer and step the voltage up to something higher then connect another bigger transformer to get 240v so you could have power for your house..

[inetdog]

This thread reminds me when I was about 8 or 19 yrs old.. I could not understand why people just didnt get a "D" cell and connect that to a small transformer and step the voltage up to something higher then connect another bigger transformer to get 240v so you could have power for your house..

That would be silly. Everyone knows that transformers do not work with DC. You would have to use a DC to DC converter to power your house from a D cell.

[Sunny Solar]

That would be silly. Everyone knows that transformers do not work with DC. You would have to use a DC to DC converter to power your house from a D cell.

HUH ???? I dont think a DC to DC CONVERTER WOULD BE THE ANSWER???
I think you mean DC to AC ?

There were no ELECTRONIC DC to AC converters here then. ?? I think no one had got around to inventing one at that time?

[Sunking]

There were no ELECTRONIC DC to AC converters here then. ?? I think no one had got around to inventing one at that time?

Incorrect John. New York City and a few other electrical systems were all DC. Con Edison opened the Pearl Street Electric plant in 1882. Manhattan Island was DC right up to December of 2007 when the last DC distribution was decommissioned. The early inverters of those days were MG sets to power the new fangiled AC appliances.

Many of the older high rise building in NYC still operate DC today primarily the elevators and air conditioning systems. They had to have rectifiers installed.

[Sunny Solar]

But there were NO ELECTRONIC INVERTERS then.. 1950
I know there were a very long time ago DC motors that ran AC generators. And "converted DC" to AC then And remember seeing one donkeys years ago. If there were other types of inverters or ways to convert DC to AC I dont know about them.

[Sunny Solar]

If im wrong Well tell me who made an ELECTRONIC DC to AC inverter in 1950 ?? I dont think the word was even in use then to describe that.???

[Sunking]

If im wrong Well tell me who made an ELECTRONIC DC to AC inverter in 1950 ??

That is real easy to answer my friend. Names like Motorola, RCA, Phillco, Delco, Collins to name a few. Every mobile radio made from 1920's up to the late 60's early 70's used inverters to take 12 volt DC in vehicles up to several hundered volts even up the thousand's for traneivers. Back then they called them vibrators and inverters. They used Triode vacuum tubes.

The early inverters used mechanical switches to do the switching in the late 1800's. Vacuum tubes replaced mechanical switches in the 1920's for low power applications. Eventually semiconductor based switches (diodes, transistors, F.E.T.s, S.C.R.s, etc.) replaced both mechanical and vacuum tube switches. So there were a lot of Electronic Inverters pre 1950.

From Wikipedia

Early inverters

From the late nineteenth century through the middle of the twentieth century, DC-to-AC power conversion was accomplished using rotary converters or motor-generator sets (M-G sets). In the early twentieth century, vacuum tubes and gas filled tubes began to be used as switches in inverter circuits. The most widely used type of tube was the thyratron. for high power applications such as those used in NYC to convert Con Edison DC supply to AC.