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Switching To Solar Power – One Month Later

Posted by Soulskill on from the bright-idea dept.

ThinSkin writes "After an interesting article on solar panel installation for the home, Loyd Case at ExtremeTech has written a follow-up after about a month of normal use. Posting an $11.34 electric bill (roughly 3% of previous months), Loyd shares his experiences using solar power and how it can be fun for the geek, with computer monitoring services and power generation data. Of course, solar power isn't all fun and games, given the amount of required maintenance — even unpredictable maintenance, like wiping off accumulated ash from fires in Northern California."

7 of 730 comments (clear)

  1. My PC is running great on solar power ... by krkhan · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... even though it was raining cats and dogs today. I'm still using it withou

  2. Questions? by 140Mandak262Jamuna · · Score: 4, Funny
    1. How heavy are these solar panels? Easy enough to be lifted and carried down by one or two persons?

    2. Are they bolted on? Any locking mechanisms?

    3. Is it easy to climb on to the roof?

    4. Do you have good access to a road from the home?

    5. When are you planning to take a vacation?

    6. Does it have any kind of GPS thingie or Wifi thingie attached that will phone home?

    Thanks buddy.

    --
    sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
  3. Re:Questions? (Answers) by Surt · · Score: 5, Funny

    1. They are somewhat heavy (50 lbs). They are awkwardly large at 5ftx3ft. Two person job if you don't want to risk a rooftop fall.

    2. They are typically bolted on. Uninstall time will be in the several minutes per panel range. Be sure you have an electrician with you to avoid death by electric shock.

    3. You can see in the pictures he has a typical roof. Bring a ladder. And a crane if you want an easier time lowering the panels.

    4. Yes, see the pictures.

    5. Don't know about that one. Probably end of December or next summer.

    6. Doubtful.

    --
    "Who is the Journal of Quantum Physics going to believe?" --Stephen Hawking
  4. pink by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    He's should've bought like 2 less solar panels and used the money to paint his house some color other than pink.

  5. Re:haha by mrbluze · · Score: 3, Funny

    I prefer that people stick to doing what they do best and thus provide greater wealth to humanity through specialization (as mathematically proven by Ricardo [wikipedia.org]).

    You and every banker.

    --
    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  6. Rookie mistake by ciaohound · · Score: 4, Funny

    You forgot to engage the hydropower backup generator.

    --
    Oh, yeah, it's not easy to pad these out to 120 characters.
    1. Re:Rookie mistake by krkhan · · Score: 5, Funny

      I did turn the backup generator on but it somehow failed during commissioning. It isn't easy maintaining a beowulf clusters of generators, ya'know.