Solar energy just for your reef tank: Have you thought about it?

[BrandonS]

An experiment

 

[laverda]

Not sure what state you live in, I’m in AZ. The solar company that installed my panels told me that an HOA can not stop you from installing solar panels, regardless of what they put in the HOA documents.

I have heard the same thing.

 

[FLSharkvictim]

Living in FL with all of the Hurrannces and power outages some sort of generator is a must if you own a fish tank down here or you're rolling the dice.

I have been looking into Solar panels and Automatic Home Generators Ffor a year or so. Instead of going with panels, I am going another route. I am going to get a Briggs & Stratton home generator. This Converter is specifically so if the power goes out for an extended period of time the Briggs and Straton automatic home generator kick right on automatically so power never gets interrupted.

@revhtree - I have decided I will be going with a standby Enclosure Aluminum Generator instead of the solar panels since I want my entire house to power up during hurricane or power outages.

Anyhow, I just wanted to show you a picture of it and share a shot vid on how it all works.
Now, they run anywhere from $4999.00 to $6K ones everything has been installed and hooked up to your house.

Its a B&S 20kW with Corrosion Resistant Aluminum Enclosure, Includes B&S 200 Amp Service Rated Automatic Transfer Switch, Unique Airflow Technology - design pushes engine exhaust out the front away from your home, Flexible Placement - Approved for installation as close as 18" to a building, Commercial-Grade Briggs & Stratton Vanguard Engine, Symphony II Power Management intelligently orchestrates the balance of high-demand with lower-demand appliances. (Requires the purchase of Symphony II Remote Modules) Quality Clean Power - Ensures your electronics are safely powered

Here is a short video on how they work and get installed:

 

[Bigboned]

I have an off-grid cabin that it is powered by solar. Solar works, and could easily work as a stand-alone system for your tank. It needn't be overly expensive, but would likely take years to pay itself off.

Start by getting yourself a Kill-a-watt meter. (You can often borrow them from a library) Plug your tank into the meter and monitor your usage for a few days or more. From this, you will be able to determine your energy usage in amp-hours (AH). You will use your daily amp-hour consumption to size your battery bank.

For example, if your tank uses 100 AH daily, and you want to be able to run your tank for 3 days off the system (to account for bad weather/no sun days), then you would, in theory, need a battery bank capacity of 300AH. However, most people use flooded lead-acid deep cycle batteries, and you generally don't want to run them below 50%, so you'd need to double the capacity to 600AH.

Once you've decided on a battery bank, you'll need to determine the size of the solar array required to charge them. A general rule of thumb is that the array will need to be able to produce enough current that equates to roughly 10% of the battery bank capacity (in our example, that would be about 60 Amps.) This would require roughly 2400 watts of solar panel. An array of this size has a fairly large footprint.

You'll also need a decent charge controller to take the energy from the panels and charge the batteries, and you'll also need a pure-sine-wave inverter to convert the DC current from the batteries into AC current.

A system of this size could be DIY'd for $7-8K. Note that it would be totally independent of your existing household electrical system.

You probably wouldn't need a system this large, but it will give you an idea of the steps required to plan it out.

Brilliant explanation thankyou

 

[truepercs]

I did not make a setup for the aquarium however I did follow this fellows version and made a "48v" system with Chevy volt batteries. These smaller systems are used for off grid/tiny home type applications. For certain areas a smaller system may not be appropriate for all seasons. The components used in the video would be of high quality and still considered reasonably priced.

*higher voltage systems will require some reading as it is much different than the 12v systems many are currently using*




ps I am using 3 of those battery modules

 

[MnFish1]

Have any of you considered going solar for just your reef tank? Is this something that is even feasible? I must admit I have zero knowledge about this topic so educate me!

Also how much energy is your tank consuming monthly?

We considered this - part of the answer I would give relates to the 'reason' you're considering it. Is it to improve cost? Is it to help reduce CO2 emissions? Is there another reason?

There is a program here where you can sign up to be part of a solar coop - that is somewhat 'out of the city' - whereby - x percent of your electricity comes from 'the grid' and x percent comes from the 'energy coop'. Its less costly, you don't need to install or maintain anything. (BTW its not a lot less expensive - most people do it because they are concerned about CO2 emissions).

Our energy company is constantly calling with solar offers - which we have not signed up for yet - waiting for better battery technology. If I was going to do it I would do it for the whole house (or most of the house) rather than just the tank

 

[truepercs]

[QUOTE="MnFish1, (BTW its not a lot less expensive - most people do it because they are concerned about CO2 emissions).
[/QUOTE]

Where some folks do not have much of an option to get electricity it can be less expensive, sometimes it is an only option for electricity.
However, not the case for folks in the aquarium hobby.
Lithium technology is here and proven... Just not mainstream for solar YET... (Yep costs more upfront)


If you like solar and want to experiment, setting up something for the aquarium may be fun... Nice way to learn about Solar on a small scale. You may find limitations depending on how much money is spent on a setup.

 

[MnFish1]

Where some folks do not have much of an option to get electricity it can be less expensive, sometimes it is an only option for electricity.
However, not the case for folks in the aquarium hobby.
Lithium technology is here and proven... Just not mainstream for solar YET... (Yep costs more upfront). If you like solar and want to experiment, setting up something for the aquarium may be fun... Nice way to learn about Solar on a small scale.

Yeah - I was specifically talking about the program here (what you quoted above) - where if you're concerned about CO2 emissions you can join a solar co-op so that part of your energy is coming from Solar - but its not a lot less expensive than just using regular electricity. The benefit is that it doesnt require anything at your house.

It was part of the reason I asked @revhtree why he was considering it. (i.e. his motivation).

I wasn't aware that there were people out there with no access to electricity (except solar). I mean I guess I can picture a couple of scenarios - I mean there are propane generators, other types, etc. It is interesting to think about though - if I wanted to build a cabin in the middle of no where (in a sunny location) - and it would be an option

 

[dantimdad]

I figure my tank has an average demand of .6 kW and a peak of 1.5kW. 0.6kw demand would be 0.6kwh*24hours*30.3 days. So, my tank uses roughly 436kwh per month at a cost of $.08 per kwh for $35 per month. It would be hard to get payback on it for me.

You are in my area and my cost figured out to be about $21 a month so it would take forever to pay back the install cost as well.

The real killer in my town is water and sewer. I tried to invent instant water but couldn't figure out what to add.

 

[truepercs]

You can read about small Lithium based set ups here.... I found him by searching on Solar, I was curious also and wanted to experiment.

https://bobolinksolar.com

The fellow is in Canada and started a business creating small Lithium based Solar set ups for smaller applications such as tiny homes, off grid etc...
There is a lot of good information on his site.

 

[truepercs]

[QUOTE=" if I wanted to build a cabin in the middle of no where (in a sunny location) - and it would be an option[/QUOTE]



Yep... that is the scenario. Folks can now have electricity living in the middle of nowhere

 

[Rybren]

[QUOTE=" if I wanted to build a cabin in the middle of no where (in a sunny location) - and it would be an option...



Yep... that is the scenario. Folks can now have electricity living in the middle of nowhere

It is a very affordable solution for folks like me that have a place in the middle of nowhere. I mainly use my place from mid-April to the end of November and occasionally through the winter months. Although I have a generator, I have never had to use it to top off my batteries - solar is enough. The generator is only used for construction projects when I'm running a table saw, mitre saw and air compressor. My inverter (1500w continuous) can't handle that size of load.

 

[sde1500]

My tank is in the front of my house... which gets sun all day long.. but thanks to an association we cant install solar panels..

I want to move so bad.. never again with assocoations... i love how they csn tell you what to do with a house you own and pay bills on..

Tesla solar roof. Boom

 

[BigBossReefer]

I have a 175 Reefer Peninsula that costs about $70+ month to run. I have 4 Kessil A360X’s in a T5 hybrid fixture with 3 powerheads, skimmer, reactor, UV, and a chaeto reactor. This thing is power hungry so I looked into and installed a 16 panel system, I live in Colorado. It produces 120% of the energy that my entire house needs and I get credited for that extra 20%. It cost $18.8K minus $5.6k tax credit, $13.2k total with a 25 year warranty. Previous energy bill = $175/mo and the new solar loan = $115/mo(12 yr loan). If that doesn’t make sense I don’t know what does. If you have a big system like this it’s the responsible thing to do as well. Unless of course you believe that climate change is make believe and a border wall is going to keep the bad guys out! No but seriously it’s completely worth it.

 

[KidA]

I have a 175 Reefer Peninsula that costs about $70+ month to run. I have 4 Kessil A360X’s in a T5 hybrid fixture with 3 powerheads, skimmer, reactor, UV, and a chaeto reactor. This thing is power hungry so I looked into and installed a 16 panel system, I live in Colorado. It produces 120% of the energy that my entire house needs and I get credited for that extra 20%. It cost $18.8K minus $5.6k tax credit, $13.2k total with a 25 year warranty. Previous energy bill = $175/mo and the new solar loan = $115/mo(12 yr loan). If that doesn’t make sense I don’t know what does. If you have a big system like this it’s the responsible thing to do as well. Unless of course you believe that climate change is make believe and a border wall is going to keep the bad guys out! No but seriously it’s completely worth it.

Although I own solar, and agree with you it is the right thing to do. Looking at a simple life cycle analysis, assuming your power rate stays the same, no degradation/efficiency loss over the 25 years of the system, and the delta of $60 savings per month - it pays off in year 19 where $13,680 is total spent vs. initial investment of $13,200. I still totally agree and had similar statistics for mine - but from a cost perspective, it's not a huge savings and you would make more money (if solely looking at this from a cost perspective) by investing it instead.

 

[PhreeByrd]

Maybe the biggest single consideration, even before looking at designs and costs, are your local weather conditions. I've built and used passive solar heating systems here, so I have a good sense (even without referencing real data) of how effective solar energy production is in my area, and it is not great. From October through March, the days are short and cloudy days are the norm. For somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of the year, daytime production is marginal to low. Active solar tech allows some energy production even on cloudy days, but last time I looked, it was not impressive.

IME, people who sell solar tech are also not reliable sources of data at all. Weather data, including solar gain, for pretty much all of the USA and Canada is available (ASHRAE and the DOE are good sources for the USA) if you're new to your area or just really curious. And of course, the data don't cover every square foot (or mile) of the country, so you need some good intuition to apply the data to your application.

All of which is just to point out that in some areas, it may be more trouble and expense than it's worth unless your goal is simply to reduce reliance on the power grid or the production of green power.

Since local conditions vary so greatly, it's probably best to seek out others local to you who have already installed a system and hope that they'll honestly share their experience with you.

 

[jda]

With 300+ days of full sunshine here in Colorado, solar is huge and on many homes. Best way is to just turn the meter backwards when you are producing and not try and store the power yourself (if the utility will allow this). Batteries and stuff can end up being more costly for the wallet and environment to buy, maintain and then destroy.

Here, no city nor HOA can restrict you and the utility has to allow you to hook up with a safe transfer switch and pay you if you overproduce (it is not much money, so nobody really tries to overproduce).

I purchased solar for my reefs, hot tub with some extra. It takes about 6-7 years to pay off with the high production and tax breaks that were in place (no idea about now), but you also get the immediate benefit of feeling good for doing the right thing.

Some people around here with too many trees or small roofs will buy shares/stakes in Solar farms. This is a good option for some.

 

[truepercs]

.

This is funny.... Does not take long for someone to spew political views in a thread... Probably will need to be closed soon.

I think solar is a great option... The technology is awesome, wish I had one of those Tesla solar roofs and battery wall. Although I am curious about what will happen in 30 years when Solar panels and batteries will need to be discarded... I think I read that Australia is trying to figure out how to deal with discarded Solar panels that are toxic. "Save" the planet from fossil fuels only to find a different issue that must be dealt with. (It may not end up being as green as we think) Aside from the panels being large and lack portability, the small 48v system I have... The system can be unplugged put in the car and brought home. I would definitely encourage anyone to experiment with solar. It really is incredible to produce your own electricity from the sun[/QUOTE]

 

[Tastee]

I am Australia based (Sydney) and have just put a 6.4Kw system on our roof. It was alway an intention but the tanks (65g SW and 10g FW) did help push me to do it. I have intentionally gone with a system that gives me outage protection, mostly for the tanks. My system should come online next Thu when my energy retailer swaps out my old meter for a smart meter which is needed in our parts to enable rooftop solar. Initially that will give me backup supply when the sun shines.

Once battery prices drop I plan to invest in that - should then give me 24x7 backup for around 12-24 hours (waiting till everything comes online to accurately measure my draw and production). Down here we expect that will be affordable in 18-24 months ($5K is definitely break even or better, currently $10K).

I run a small UPS (1500VA) for the SW tank as immediate protection, which with some Apex trickery can give me 5-6 hours life for the important stuff.

 

[Lasse]

In Sweden we have a system there we can "buy" renewable energy from our provider. Of cause they can´t say that exactly that electron is from solar, water or wind but - if a provider sell x MW renewable energy - they most show that they either have produced it by themself or buy from another renewable energy source. It was many years ago I start to buy renewable energy and today I buy my energy from one of Swedens largest provider of solar power, I pay a little bit more but all profit in the company will be invested in new solarpanels, hence the solar energy will grow up here. In that cold and dark, snowy country - can it work. Yes it works very well, In cold wether - the panels is much more effective and much of the spare light will be reflected by snow during wintertime. During spring, summer and fall we have much more light compared with countries more south. The days are longer.

Sincerely Lasse