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Forum Index : Solar : the back shed
| Author | Message | ||||
| flc1 Senior Member  Joined: 20/11/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 242 |
anybody have pics of their back sheds to add ? |
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Madness Guru  Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
Mine is not that fancy :( There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| flc1 Senior Member Joined: 20/11/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 242 |
give us a pic anyway madness |
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| Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
No you win. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| flc1 Senior Member Joined: 20/11/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 242 |
oh sorry, I didn't know it was a competition???who cares what your shed looks like, just doing this for a laugh . |
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VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
My shed. 6 x 300 watt panels and in the next few weeks I'll be adding another 3 x 300 watt panels and new mounting hardware. 
My system is here. Regards, Matthew Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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| flc1 Senior Member Joined: 20/11/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 242 |
nice, thanks for posting Mathew |
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| joebog1 Senior Member Joined: 07/11/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 114 |
One I did a few months ago. All second hand stuff, but all in excellent condition. 
I made the stand for panels from mis formed C section, welded together and held in the ground with 20 little bags of cement ( where did 20 kilo bags go ??? ) Batteries are supported on the origional pallet from Yuasa. They are insulated from the tin shed ( can get 35C or more here ) Batteries still had 3 years of factory warranty left on them. 1500 watt inverter. No DC into the house. Cost of solar panels, battery bank, and inverter $4500 New cost would be close to $25000. I used to work for a solar company, so had some experience. Joe |
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| flc1 Senior Member Joined: 20/11/2011 Location: New ZealandPosts: 242 |
what type of panels Joe? looks good ,mine are all in strings of diffrent size panels that I bought from diffrent places over time, not as tidy,Fred |
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| joebog1 Senior Member Joined: 07/11/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 114 |
They are 80 watt Solarex, that I origionally fitted in the Daintree about 15 or 18 years ago. The people upgraded and I managed to get them for $1000. The stand to make it "neat" was made from badly rolled C section from the local shed company. Its from the scrap bin in fact. Just cut checks into it so there is plenty of "grip" when its welded together. ( I just grind the galv off the C section and mig it together, then spray over the grinding/welding with spray galv. The whole stand only cost the cement and some flux cored mig wire, some grinding and cutting discs. Joe |
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| Georgen Guru Joined: 13/09/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 462 |
Nice arrangement. I definitely miss access to still good second hand forklift batteries. George |
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| Madness Guru Joined: 08/10/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2498 |
My 1600AH 48V battery bank is all used golf cart batteries. I buy them for scrap price and those that have shorted cells go straight to the scrap dealer and I get back what I paid for them. Been working well for the last few years, occasionally I get a dead cell, but compared to the price of new batteries I am way in front and very happy. There are only 10 types of people in the world: those who understand binary, and those who don't. |
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| joebog1 Senior Member Joined: 07/11/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 114 |
The batteries were ex telephone company. Had been the standby bank for five years. The factory warranty is eight years. Cost me $2500 for the pallet load  When I need a set for myself I bet they will want twice retail  Joe |
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| Phil23 Guru Joined: 27/03/2016 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1664 |
You'd have to be a bit sceptical about their capacity after 5 years. Seems condition can change hugely with installation environment. One of the recent UPS battery order I placed came in Panasonic's original cardboard boxes & contained a leaflet I hadn't seen before with identical batteries. They state a huge difference in lifespan between the different operating temperatures. They were LC-R type, for UPS use & the 2 years they state is about the best I see. It's not very often I see UPS internal operating temps below the 25°C mark. Guessing your batteries would belong in either the 2nd or 3rd group based on their 8 year warranty.  Cheers Phil |
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| joebog1 Senior Member Joined: 07/11/2015 Location: AustraliaPosts: 114 |
HHmm well, the installation environment is way out west all neatly built into an insualted 1/4 container with air con. Its the backup for a telephone tower 700 kliks west of Cairns. So far they have performed faultlessly. Im not gonna complain Joe |
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| VK6MRG Guru Joined: 08/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 347 |
I've just added three more panels and moved the existing six panels. My solar array now looks like this with the same to be installed next year on the east side.  more photos here Its easier to ask forgiveness than to seek permission! ............VK6MRG.............VK3MGR............ |
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