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Solar Panel Info Needed
- Thread starter Urban_M86
- Start date
Urban_M86
New member
i was looking at something like this
http://www.solarhome.org/20wattdo-it-yourselfsolarenergystarterkit.aspx
http://www.solarhome.org/20wattdo-it-yourselfsolarenergystarterkit.aspx
wade
Save The Humans
That is a 20 W panel you are looking at. Do you understand that solar panels produce 12V DC electricity to be used to charge batteries with. All of your snake stuff is 120V AC. A 20 watt panel produces very little. In full sun it would take you all day or more to charge a car battery.
I don’t think it sounds very practical. That panel was 5 or 6 hundred dollars. It would take 50 years to produce enough electricity to pay for that.
I don’t think it sounds very practical. That panel was 5 or 6 hundred dollars. It would take 50 years to produce enough electricity to pay for that.
If you want to heat with solar, it's probably more efficient to do so directly. I don't mean by putting the viv in the window, but the idea gets my head turning with things like those solar showers.
Only as a hypothetical and something to play around with- not pretending this would be cheap or easy- but I'd start by plumbing something in copper that just went into your viv from outside, around the area you want to heat, then back out. Cover that portion with whatever substrate you use. Both ends of the copper should go to a primered black water holder of some kind. (maybe a milk jug or something?) Fill the whole thing with water and put the milk jug in the sun.
I'm sure you'd actually get too much heat for corns this way, but maybe you could do something where you have the copper pipe under the flooring and not touching so that it diffuses the temperature somewhat? It would be fun to play with but not practical unless you can do it much better then I've described..
Only as a hypothetical and something to play around with- not pretending this would be cheap or easy- but I'd start by plumbing something in copper that just went into your viv from outside, around the area you want to heat, then back out. Cover that portion with whatever substrate you use. Both ends of the copper should go to a primered black water holder of some kind. (maybe a milk jug or something?) Fill the whole thing with water and put the milk jug in the sun.
I'm sure you'd actually get too much heat for corns this way, but maybe you could do something where you have the copper pipe under the flooring and not touching so that it diffuses the temperature somewhat? It would be fun to play with but not practical unless you can do it much better then I've described..
wade
Save The Humans
Tom, how about putting a water tank like a water heater tank in the snake room. The water that goes through the snake cages would be circulated out of that tank. Then have a pump that was regulated by a thermostat that would circulate the water through the solar panel. The goal would be to maintain 85* water in the tank and it could circulate constantly through the snake cages.
You would need to have some kind of regulation to shut off the pump to the snakes if the water got too cool. You would also need to regulate some how so it would not circulate to the solar panel if the panel was cool, like at night.
I think with some serious engineering and 10 or 15 thousand dollars you could save $30 or $40 a year.
You would need to have some kind of regulation to shut off the pump to the snakes if the water got too cool. You would also need to regulate some how so it would not circulate to the solar panel if the panel was cool, like at night.
I think with some serious engineering and 10 or 15 thousand dollars you could save $30 or $40 a year.
Pruddock
Gig 'Em Ags!! Whoop!!
Copper tubing is almost as expensive as the solar panel itself. I think my answer to the question would be (D) none of the above. The cost of any of the items discussed would far surpass the return and even the USGBC only looks at payback rates through 6 years and with what you're looking at plus the necessary maintenance on either soft copper tubing being bent or busted or damage to the PVC solar panels would send you into a 30-40 year payback most likely. Just get a thermostat and an effective controller and you'll be about as efficient as you can be. When looking at therms though, remember that variable thermostats are more efficient than on/off thermostats because the logic in them is digital (normally) and uses an FFT to search for the desired setpoint rather than analog which just uses a capacitor switch.
With all of that said, I did see a pretty cool set-up on a City of Houston community center the other day for their pool heating system. They used a specialized condensing heat-pump unit paired with a "Solar panel" array that consisted of black-body tubes that used solar radiant heat to heat the water to a certain temp. They said it saved them a pretty good deal of money and the life-cycle payback was only like 7 months. Might be something cool to look up if you're somebody who is interested in solar energy and stuff like that.
With all of that said, I did see a pretty cool set-up on a City of Houston community center the other day for their pool heating system. They used a specialized condensing heat-pump unit paired with a "Solar panel" array that consisted of black-body tubes that used solar radiant heat to heat the water to a certain temp. They said it saved them a pretty good deal of money and the life-cycle payback was only like 7 months. Might be something cool to look up if you're somebody who is interested in solar energy and stuff like that.
Arpolis
Corn Snake Breeder
I have looked at solar energy before and have crunched a lot of numbers on trying to use solar panels, Wind mills and a combination of both and here is what I have come up with. To run a house or even a room you are looking at any where from 3 - 10 years before you see any return on your investment depending on the size of the project. I am not saying it is a bad idea but you have to be in it for the long haul is all. Now one Idea that I think is kinda cool & "cheap" is glass bottle heating. The idea is that you have a lot of open ended glass bottles with the open end pointed inwards towards the center of the room. The bottles are just mortared into thick walls that are well insolated with a bit of the bottom of the battle sticking outside. When the sun is hitting the glass it heats the air in the bottle and since heat rises it flows out of the bottle and colder air comes back in until heated by the sun and recycled out again. If you watch the movie transformers 2 when the main character and his girl are hiding from the decepticons in the end of the movie you see one of those abandoned homes with this kind of heating system. Now can that be used in all climates? How well does it heat and to what temps? I am not sure but that may be worth looking into.
Arpolis
Corn Snake Breeder
No the live action movie! lol I just used the movie so someone could get the visual idea of the concept. I just did a quick search on google and here is an example of the same concept I am talking about. Granted this is to heat water but I think it can be used to heat air in the same manner.
http://www.greenpacks.org/2008/06/04/diy-beer-bottles-to-create-a-solar-water-heating-system/
http://www.greenpacks.org/2008/06/04/diy-beer-bottles-to-create-a-solar-water-heating-system/
alan
Guest
I made a heater for a swimming pool out of PVC pipe painted black. I just ran the skimmer/filter water through it. It raised the water temp almost 8°F from inlet to outlet, it would have been more if I could have slowed down the pump. In a large system like that it just barely kept up with the cooling, but It made a difference when you were in it!
I think it could be done with an aquarium pump, some tubing and insulation. You would need something like a UTH on a thermostat under the tubing for times when there isn't enough sun, unless you also incorporated a large tank to store heated water.
It wouldn't replace the heater, but it could help it during the day if you can sort it out.
Edit: I think they're right about the solar/electric panels. Heaters take a good bit of power. Unless you use a DC heater of some kind you would need an inverter to change the DC to AC, and you lose power there, too. You would also need storage batteries in that system. We have replaced some photo-voltaic panels where I work, we have them on some highway signal-boards. They're very expensive.
I think it could be done with an aquarium pump, some tubing and insulation. You would need something like a UTH on a thermostat under the tubing for times when there isn't enough sun, unless you also incorporated a large tank to store heated water.
It wouldn't replace the heater, but it could help it during the day if you can sort it out.
Edit: I think they're right about the solar/electric panels. Heaters take a good bit of power. Unless you use a DC heater of some kind you would need an inverter to change the DC to AC, and you lose power there, too. You would also need storage batteries in that system. We have replaced some photo-voltaic panels where I work, we have them on some highway signal-boards. They're very expensive.
CaptBogart
False Prophet
I'm a Planet Green channel addict and have seen lots of shows on solar panels. The only way to do it to make it worth while is to go all in. The initial investment would be $10k at least, for the panels, converters, wire, and electrician to tie it into your grid. There is a large tax credit to subsidize the cost, but you still have to have the initial investment. Depending on how much electricity you drew from the power grid prior to the installation, it could take at least 10 years to pay for itself, and that's if you combine it with other power saving alternatives, ie; tankless water heater, LED lighting, energy efficient appliances... The good news is that any unused power you feed into the grid, you're paid for. I believe there are only a handful of homes that qualify as 0 cost, and only because days they pull from the grid are countered by the ones they add to it.
There is a new flexible spray on plastic solar panel coming out of R&D that has a real low cost and should be available to the public soon, so with the reduction in panel cost, it should make it worth while to convert, but until then, the cost outweighs the savings IMO...
There is a new flexible spray on plastic solar panel coming out of R&D that has a real low cost and should be available to the public soon, so with the reduction in panel cost, it should make it worth while to convert, but until then, the cost outweighs the savings IMO...