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With the cost of utilities skyrocketing, we thought it would be neat to review some of the energy saving products we have tried. Please take note that these are our personal observations only. |
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1. Outback MX60 Charge Controller - Awesome product! Currently, we have it temporarily connected for reconditioning four Trojan L16 batteries that we got for free because they were almost dead. We are using four KC120 Kyocera panels wired for 48 volts as the input to the MX60. We are programming the MX60 for a 24 volt battery bank. This is the nice part about the MX60; you can wire your PV's for a high voltage and then program it to charge a wide range of battery voltages. 2. Solar Converters Inc., BD-2, Battery Desulphator - A desulphator shakes the sulphur crystals from the battery plates and, hopefully, they re-dissolve in the battery acid solution. For long battery life, a desulphator is a must have. Steve picked up 8 Trojan L16 batteries (4 near dead, 4 dead) from a job and brought them home (he's a solar installation and custom control system contractor). He attached the desulphator to four of the better L16s we are using to power our tiny cabin. After about 6 months the batteries were no longer dropping below 12 volts after minimal use. Now under medium to heavy usage, the lowest we've seen them drop is 12.2 volts. They still have a ways to go but are greatly improved. As for the 4 dead batteries that have been sitting unused for at least 6 months, we are now just starting to rejuvenate them. One was so far gone, it froze in the cold. After letting this battery thaw, we connected the 4 batteries up as two 12 volt pairs. We now have the 48 volt PV and the MX60 connected to these batteries. We have the MX60 set to continuously equalize these batteries (at 15.1 volts), and have the desulphator on them. After three days of this routine, the batteries are now maintaining 12.6 volts after being disconnected from the charge controller for a day with no load. 3. Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs - A must have no matter what kind of house you live in! They seem to be getting better and cheaper all the time too. Don't be fooled that a 12 watt compact fluorescent light bulb is dim, they are not. Do buy one and check the color of the light. We bought Phillips Earthlights for the kitchen in our old house and they made some food, like chicken and turkey, take on a green tint. Look for ones that have a more natural spectrum light (daylight type). We replaced 19 of our most used light bulbs in our old house with 12 watt compact fluorescent bulbs and saved an average of $25-30 a month in electricity and that was in 2003, before the rates started climbing. That savings probably would be close to triple that now. 4. LG Front Loading Washing Machine - I'm absolutely in love with this machine! It only uses 5 amps of power and variable (minimal) water level, depending on the wash load. It's model WM1814CW and is one of the lower end models so it doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles but has a tub that is over 3 cu. ft. and washes better than any machine I have used. I've just washed six pair of dirty jeans with room to spare in the tub. It will also hold a queen sized comforter easily. If you're looking for a new washer, this is one to check into. 5. Solahart Black Chrome XII - We have
been using the Solahart since August 2004 and are really impressed with
this hot water system. It's a thermosiphon system so, there's no pump
needed to move the glycol between the collectors and the tank. We do
not have the optional backup gas or electric booster installed so, if
we have more than two days of gray skies, the water becomes lukewarm.
Part of this problem might be because the system is mounted out in the
open and subjected to strong, cold winds and snow. It's not unusual
to get 40-60 mph winds around here and that cools everything off mighty
fast. But when the sun comes back out, it only takes 2-3 hours for the
water to get back up to near scalding. For a picture of our Solahart,
see the bottom of the Plumbing page. 6. Sears Kenmore Elite Refrigerator - We pulled this refrigerator out of storage and got it running in our little cabin. There had been a mouse living in it for a while before we trapped him and the little guy made a pretty big mess. Luckily all the wiring was OK. It just took a lot of scrubbing before we would even bring it in the cabin. It's an 18.8 cu. ft. top freezer refrigerator and it uses almost the same amount of power as the high priced Sun Frost. We paid only $600 for it on sale and, the last time I checked, the Sun Frost was running around $2600. It's worth looking into.
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Home First
Steps Excavation Plumbing Setting
the Bales Solar Electric |
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