420SA Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 We've got a thread going on the recent electricity tariff increase a.k.a Eskoms debt collection. In light of that I'd like to try get an idea of costs and what would be needed to power your grow(only your grow) with solar. Seeing as my grow pulls 16.5 units a day what would I be looking at setting up to power that? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PsyCLown Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 I am curious to find out the same, I assume you would need solar panels and quite a few batteries and I know that batteries add up in price very quickly. 12v 100AH battery is around R2500 easily for one, a single battery being able to provide around 600W of power for 1 hour before it reaches its 50% discharged limit and one hour to drain a battery is quick so the overall battery life will be reduced. Add more batteries and this changes things a bit but increases the price significantly. Considering there is no sun during the night and if you need to run lights during the night then you would need to have power available for at least those let's say 8 hours or so. So a minimum of 8 batteries, if you want to run at higher voltages for increased efficiency you can double that to bump it up to 24v and it becomes 16 batteries with the same capacity. I do not know much about solar, although imagine it would need the power to be stored on batteries and then an inverter required to convert from DC to 220 - 240V AC. I have no clue about the price of solar panels and what would happen when it is over cast or rainy for a few days. Larger appliances which some may be running such as AC, dehumidifiers or heaters all use a lot more electricity too and are probably best run off the mains power and not solar / battery solution. On top of the batteries there would be the cost of the installation, inverters and most importantly solar panels. Curious to get some feedback from someone who knows about the costing of solar panels and such. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CreX Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 All the parts and labor are relatively cost friendly... Except for the batteries... To go off the grid for just your grow... The layout would be still fairly costly on batteries. So I'm not up to date on pricing... But I do know what you will need. You need a 24v solar panel A voltage regulator to charge the battery A converting unit from 24v to 230..a UPS pc board really... And batteries.. A fuck load of batteries Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkunkPharm Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 You would need to change up your cycles and run your lights during the day. So that you could maximize the sun. Batteries for the extra hours at night or just run off Eskom. Sent from my VTR-L09 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Green Leaf Organics Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 I have a 12000watt solar system on my 3 phase system , cost me 240k without batteries. My system is grid tied so I feed back into eskom grid and receive credits which get taken off my total from eskom . Solar batteries are fauls economy , takes you 10 years to recap costs and the lifespan of a battery of lucky is 10 years . I get on average R8500 back from Eskom a month 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
420SA Posted July 8, 2019 Author Share Posted July 8, 2019 8 minutes ago, SkunkPharm said: You would need to change up your cycles and run your lights during the day. That just isn't an option for me. Especially in summer 5 minutes ago, Green Leaf Organics said: I have a 12000watt solar system on my 3 phase system , cost me 240k without batteries. My system is grid tied so I feed back into eskom grid and receive credits which get taken off my total from eskom . Solar batteries are fauls economy , takes you 10 years to recap costs and the lifespan of a battery of lucky is 10 years . I get on average R8500 back from Eskom a month I guess in a nutshell this means its best to stick with Eskom? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pat999 Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 I have a 12000watt solar system on my 3 phase system , cost me 240k without batteries. My system is grid tied so I feed back into eskom grid and receive credits which get taken off my total from eskom . Solar batteries are fauls economy , takes you 10 years to recap costs and the lifespan of a battery of lucky is 10 years . I get on average R8500 back from Eskom a month GLO that's insane brother. Well I wouldn't go that big on it thoSent from my G3312 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bos Posted July 8, 2019 Share Posted July 8, 2019 The problem is...you have to over engineer the system. Most solar istallations do well when the sun is shining but, give it 3 overcast/rainy days and you are stuffed. You have to calculate your total consumption for everything-KwhBut what you use in 24hrs the solar panels must put back in 8-12 hrs of daylight and the batts must be able to handle it.What you think you need in batts and panels you likely have to double up if you want to go offgrid with the grow. Solar Panels+Mppt/pwm charge controllers+ mod/pure sinewave inverters+ deepcycle batts. Cables, connections, fuses. Installation costs aren't cheap even if you diy it. FYI....beware cheap Chinese electronics you won't save money here. A basic sized system 50k- 100kOffgrid system for your house R250k easily- just to give you an idea.And then you break even in 10 years. @GLO figures are not far off- like it or not. Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.