22 Oct 2015

Solar Panels? - NOT amateur radio

Just received this from Steve G1KQH. I thought about solar panels on the roof but decided not to in the end. Our electricity bill is well below average already due to widespread use of LED and economy lights. I doubt solar panels would repay the investment in my lifetime. Also they have a finite lifetime too. Also new panels are getting smaller and more efficient all the time.
"The washing stacked up there wasn’t enough produced to heat the kettle? Soon the subs will be nowt..
 
Only once in Summer did the output peak at 3.9KW read on:
 
Glad I have never bothered.

73 Steve
http://www.g1kqh.talktalk.net/"
at

2 comments:

  1. G1KQHThu Oct 22, 05:15:00 pm GMT+1

    What they also don't say, as the panels age the output will decrease, also the invertor might go pop with age, all that will have to be replaced! Plus as these companies go bust in the next twelve months (some already have) as the UK Gov subsidy is removed, will your company still be around to fix them whether under guarantee or outside of it?

    I don't think Mrs KQH would like a weeks worth of smelly washing stacked in the basket waiting for the sun to shine.

    73 Steve

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  2. PE4BAS, BasThu Oct 22, 08:31:00 pm GMT+1

    The only thing that is running on solar here is my autotuner and ocassionaly my 30m WSPR transmitter. Indeed the output has decreased already. When it was new the current could rise above 2A (50W panel) sun shining directly in it. Now I would be glad to have 1,7A of current. I expect to have lower current in the future. I think I'll just wait to invest in solarpanels. It will become cheaper and they will get more efficient over the years. 73, Bas

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