Solar Panel Question
jemdandy
4 years ago
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Comments (15)
graywings123
4 years agoRelated Discussions
Hunter Hybrid batteries and solar panel
Comments (2)koo, Here is a link to Hunter Industries. They have tech support to answer questions. http://www.hunterindustries.com/irrigation-product/controllers/xc-hybrid Aloha...See MoreSolar Panel Question.
Comments (1)Maybe two 250 watt panels would be better since that would give ne 40amps. Can someone also recommend an MPPT charge controller? Kt...See MoreSolar Panel Installation questions
Comments (39)New problem: Everything seemed to be fine last month (January). On clear days, the power generated (kW), as shown on the Solar Edge app, was 14 kW, which is the installed capacity of the system. I left for a three-week visit to family and, as soon as I left, my Solar Edge app read zero kW. I know we had a lot of snow the first day of my absence (18") and I figured that the panels were covered (although they are supposed to self-clear because there is a little heat generated in the panels themselves). Well my wife got back early this week and we had a phone conversation with the installer (who was remote). He said to check the internet connection, but that seemed fine. I was concerned that the electricity generated and fed back to the grid shouldn't depend on an internet connection, so I asked her to check the meter and see what the reading for the amount used was. On Feb 2 (the day we left) it was 322 kWh, and yesterday it was 903 kWh. So in 22 days, I generated 581 kWh, or 23 kWh per day, which tells me that it's working fine (on the days in January that it was clear, I was getting 60 kWh/day, assuming it was cloudy 12 of those 22 days)....See MoreDoes anyone have solar panels?
Comments (15)Elmer, my cash flow point is correct. But for some, cash flow is a difficult concept. Your comment entangles a lot of financial concepts, so let me try to make order of it. “monthly cash flow savings”: Cash flow is not savings...it is cash flow. It can be positive or negative. If debt costs me $10 a month for an investment that generates $12 a month, then I have a positive cash flow. And that’s not a “so what”. If that investment is cash flow negative, then there must be another stream of cash used to make the investment possible. For some, added cash may not be available. If an investment has a negative cash flow, it hopefully has a larger payback in the future in order to make sense…such as buying a home which entails a negative cash flow but presumably an appreciated asset upon sale. But with an investment that is not expected to appreciate…such as buying a car…then we have to look to the service received from that investment — such as getting us to work where we can make money to pay the car loan — to determine if the payback from that investment is worthwhile. Solar panels don’t appreciate. Studies I’ve seen are a mixed bag as to whether they add to the sales price of a home, so we’re left with the service received off of them, the value of which is subject to the vagaries of electricity costs. But based on specific locational factors such as the local cost of electricity and insolence, it may pay. “Investment return is lost from the reduction in invested funds and that's a real cost that would otherwise offer a compounded return.” This is opportunity cost…what is the return of the foregone investment, and does it exceed the return from the investment under consideration. If the funds are losing money, then switching them to a positive return investment is a good thing. But if the funds are making more money than the proposed investment, that’s not a good thing. But that is not specific to an investment in solar panels. And that’s different from cash flow. “If the utility cost savings isn't enough to pay for the equipment within a reasonable period of time, putting in solar equipment if thought to be done for money reasons would be a poor choice, a net cost and not a savings.” This is bringing in the issue of payback time….how long it takes to recoup your investment. Maybe the payback is too long based on the opportunity costs of other investment choices, or the useful life of the asset, or the costs of the foregone liquidity, but that doesn't make it cash flow negative. Moreover with a positive cash flow, the payback begins immediately, not at some future date....See MoreAnnie Deighnaugh
4 years agoAnnie Deighnaugh
4 years agoMichael
4 years agoElmer J Fudd
4 years agochisue
4 years agoAnnie Deighnaugh
4 years agoAnnie Deighnaugh
4 years agoElmer J Fudd
4 years agolast modified: 4 years agoAnnie Deighnaugh
4 years agoElmer J Fudd
4 years agojakkom
4 years agoAnnie Deighnaugh
4 years agoElmer J Fudd
4 years ago
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