[piranhaz]

Very cool bro ! I'm always looking for free energy type ideas

[Cannabis Motiva]

Originally Posted by ChasingGreen

I know this isn't realistic, but go with it for a minute...

If you were able to move the solar panels inside the grow environment during lights on, and that time period was when it was dark outside, could you recapture some of the energy from the lights with the panels?

I don't believe so, because the sun is just ridiculously more intense than any bulb. Even if you put the panels directly under the grow lights - which means no room for plants - you'd probably get less than 1% of the power back..

But the question is legit!

[Cheesegez]

that was worth a read fair play , what a cracking little system.. im looking at a 16kw off grid solar system atm tbf

[miltiano32]

wow that was a read for 2012, wonder what the prices and parts would go for 4 years later now that its 2016. The OP said it cost about 3K for 1000 watts of power so im thinking it would be more viable and affordable to do this now or whats the more optimal way that anybody knows to achieve free power?

[wasgedn]

great thread....
the good people get always banned....the outstanding forum with outstanding members working with state of the art tech...but giving the site to unlearned and low level
mods is and will be not good for ic community...
as soon as there are more breeders subforums in other forums it could change the vorreiterstellung of ic..
there are ic refugee threads in a lot of the forums..
i kno you say he has broke the rules ...but why...cause the mod is bad and nearly everbody is using bad language when his threads which costs hours of work get trolled....
in my subforum no mod is reading all the posts...when you are a mod you have to kno about shit before you get a pm of somebody explaining his situation...

but i dont want to break the rules of TOU......pls dont ban me for my opinion....

EDIT i think ic needs some paid mods...no one is reading all the content...no offense

EDITEDIT..maybe its no mod problem...maybe wrong agenda...the best and biggest german forum is only a archive today cause of wrong agendas

[CrushnYuba]

y'all are into it, I can post pictures of my system. I can also answer basic solar system questions. I live and grow off grid. I really grow outside and in greenhouse but I do run lights for mom's and starts inside and I run supplemental lights in my greenhouse.
I have a 24v outback system.
2 800ah 1500lb forklift batteries.
7kw of inverter
Diesel generator.
Around 4kw of solar panels

Off grid power is always more expensive then grid power. No such thing as free. I do about 400w for mom's and clones off solar. Then they go to the heated and lit greenhouse.
When I want to run real hid lighting, it is on my diesel generator. My system starts my generator if it senses load over 3kw for over 3 minutes. It takes whatever power is left over and charges my batteries.
Running a diesel genny at high loads is less expensive then power from the electric company. I'd say less then half the price.

Heated greenhouse + diesel for supplemental lighting only when necessary= lowest cost per lb

[wasgedn]

Running a diesel genny at high loads is less expensive then power from the electric company. I'd say less then half the price.

wtf

[queequeg152]

Originally Posted by wasgedn

wtf

yea that is absolutly insane... just the cost to transport diesel would amount to cents per kwh when you add in a 10 year amortization of a transport tank and transfer pump and another storage tank.

water plants have to maintain emergency generator capacity for all plants serving more than 250 people...the last serious hurricane we had down here had dozens of these small private water plants running on trailer mounted diesel gensets of like 10kva all the way to 100kva.

they scrapped this setup becasue just paying for private contractors to ferry disel fuel to and from the plants for a week or so was extremely expensive, so expensive that it actually made more sense to convert some gensets to permanently installed propane and natural gas and scrap the ones that were not able to be refitted due to age (no super strict spill containment requirements for gases), and lease new ones.

[wasgedn]

10 kva portable home used diesel generator ---US $880 - 1,500 / Piece

superthanx for heads up queequeg152
sry CrushnYuba , i forgot about the thread...you can always pm if you wonder why this dude doesnt talk anymore...


i was in forums reading about growing years before i started to grow...waiting for possibility to realize it..i hope this will be similar to this topic...

[CrushnYuba]

No diesel is the cheapest by far. There are some mega diesel gen indoor opps in the woods. There is a reason you never see ng or profane powered. Propane is so expensive it never really makes sense. Gallon per gallon you get the most energy out of diesel. That's a fact. Nothing touches diesel by a long shot. 129k btu per gallon for diesel and it's 84k btu for propane. Natural gas is significantly less btu then even propane. Propane and ng is really only for backup power. 99% of lp and ng gensets also can't handle the hours put on them for prime power generating. A diesel can handle 40,000 hours before rebuild. Diesels like to be ran at full load! You can't run lp or ng at full load and they simply can't be run 24/7 like a diesel. Total hours you can put on them are way less.
Gas companies deliver off road diesel just like they do propane if you have the storage. Delivery is free. It's off road died red diesel. It is exempt from road tax and about 50¢ cheaper per gallon or more. This is for farm equipment and is against the law to use in cars. I frequently pay 1.50$ a gallon. If you check fuel consumption data for diesel gensets and do the math, you will see that I am right.
Commercial diesel gennies are also mega expensive. Even used with reasonable hours. They good their value very well. Expect to pay around 1000$ per kw. These are 1800rpm liquid cooled 4 pole. They are usually hand built by a genny builder. They run at half the speed of a store bought genny for backup power. They are meant to run 24/7. Backup gennies can't be run 24/7. Lp or ng will cost more in fuel and will explode if you try to run them all day within a few months.