solar hot water using PV solar panels

[windpower]

ive seen this divice on ebay called Solar Hybrid Hot Water Controller and im at the point where im making more power then i can use. 3.2KW of solar 2.5KW of wind. my batt bank is rather small 8-6 VOLT US 2200 XC so ive been thinking of putting the excess power to good use. instead of just dumping it.go to a small electric hot water heater to preheat my gas heater.i was wondering if any body here has one or heard of it

[solarside]

Thanks. I googled that and it looks like a good idea. When the charge controller says float all the time I know I have to do something. And when the power company comes by and plops a smart meter on me it's not going to be fun. I think it's funny to think of a water tank as a battery but it makes sense.

[russ]

Until someone supplies more information about the unit it falls in the junk classification.

Very few people have extra PV to use for electric water heating and adding panels for such a thing would be nonsense.

[windpower]

thanks for your input ill keep doing some reserch on it.im curently having an issue with the power co. they dont bother to come by and get a reading they just guess.anyways i have enough panels but my batt bank is rather small so i need to get more batt and im prety much done with the solar/wind so thats wy im looking to save on the gas and thought that was a good idea.thanks

[rick1]

thanks for your input ill keep doing some reserch on it.im curently having an issue with the power co. they dont bother to come by and get a reading they just guess.anyways i have enough panels but my batt bank is rather small so i need to get more batt and im prety much done with the solar/wind so thats wy im looking to save on the gas and thought that was a good idea.thanks

I just use a regular 240 volt hot water heater. My grid tied PV solar makes more power than I use and my power company has net metering available.

[solarside]

my power company has net metering available.

Must be nice, how much extra does that cost you? Insurance? Not everyone is that lucky.

I'm also considering what happens when the grid goes down or I tell them to stuff it, possibly soon!

thanks for your input ill keep doing some reserch on it.im curently having an issue with the power co. they dont bother to come by and get a reading they just guess.anyways i have enough panels but my batt bank is rather small so i need to get more batt and im prety much done with the solar/wind so thats wy im looking to save on the gas and thought that was a good idea.thanks

I read all about it on the web, lots of good info to digest and I can see how it would let you use your solar panels with less batteries which go bad after a while anyway. Good concept and just another way of taking $ away from the greedy power company. I'm working on getting a couple more panels just for this, space is not a problem, the power company is (always). Did I mention how much I hate the power company?