# What's your advice wind or solar?



## maine_rm

I'm pretty handy with handtools I can build stuff home a barrier I can fix a car I can work on small engines I can prepare and store food I can start a fire. I'm pretty good with a rifle I've seen worse with a pistol I've worked in the woods and served in the military.


What I'm not so good with is electricity. I know/comprehend hardly anything when it comes to generating/producing/storing/distributing power it's simply overwhelms me I am continuing to do research but it's nearest I can figure when it comes down to it I'm just better at mechanics. So here I am asking for your input I live in central Maine we have some wind project locally and a very large solar project going in less than a mile from my house as the (crow flies). I'm thinking the simplest set up would be a small wind generating system? 


Pretend I'm a dumb guy what's going to be the easiest for me to maintain? What's going to be the level of maintenance required? Yes I have done some Internet research on it and I better understand wind power so I lean more towards this Avenue... but I can't help but notice it seems to be a A old tool? Aren't we finding those are most often the best?


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## sideKahr

Wind is like real estate: location, location, location. What are your local physiographic conditions, are they favorable for wind?

As far as solar, Germany is the world leader right now, and Maine gets 30% more sun than they do.

The electrical installation would be similiar, right? Charge controller, batteries, inverter? So that shouldn't be a factor.


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## 8301

With solar and wind you need pretty similar skills. Both require charge controllers (slightly different types), inverter, batteries, breakers or fuses, and wire gauge charts. Without knowing the wind zone in your part of Maine I'd suggest solar since cooler temps make solar panels slightly more efficient

Maintance... both require regular battery maintance but wind and hydro require more maintance with the bearings and moving parts while solar is good to go for many years. But while the solar panels are good for many years without maintance the battery bank will always need some tending, even with using AGM batteries.

....so pick your poison and enjoy being off the grid. 
P.S. I maintain a fairly large solar system and love having it but.... it does require 2 hours every month to maintain.


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## dwight55

Since I'm in Ohio, . . . only wind I can count on comes from the state office building & tower, . . . and it's mostly gas.

So, . . . I opted for Solar, . . . going at it slow for now, . . . very happy so far, . . . all the house is on LED bulbs, . . . have a 2000W inverter, . . . couple large batteries, . . . have not hooked up my one and only panel yet, . . . 

The battery / inverter / led bulbs allows me to have my normal lighting back up and running 3 minutes after the power goes down, . . . and will last at least all night.

Plan on adding capacity a bit at a time.

May God bless,
Dwight


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## Kauboy

First, which one offers you the best use of your natural resources.
A wind turbine don't work without wind.
A photo-voltaic cell don't work without photons.

Which do you get more of? Wind, or sun?

Going with one when you should have gone with the other is a bad place to start.

Figure this out first. Then find a solution to get there.


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## budgetprepp-n

I have Solar and have had it for a few years. I'm happy with it. I run all my lights
and a few small appliances. It's been running trouble free for a few years now.
I check the water in the batteries once a month.


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## Back Pack Hack

Remember the adage.......... _having two is one, and having one is none_. So having both means you have a back-up for your back-up.

If given my druthers, I'd have both solar and wind. But wind is not an option for me.


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## Camel923

Back Pack Hack said:


> Remember the adage.......... _having two is one, and having one is none_. So having both means you have a back-up for your back-up.
> 
> If given my druthers, I'd have both solar and wind. But wind is not an option for me.


Agreed. If anything ever happens in the long term where the batteries fail to hold a charge, the wind does blow at night.


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## LunaticFringeInc

Both depending on your location and if you get enough wind to be usable.

With out some kind of supplemental power, you will need a large solar array, that can get expensive real quick! Even in a good location you only get about 6 hours of prime time sun where your panels will produce close to what they are rated at. The rest of the day light time your panels will produce a small fraction of what they are rated for, something like 25% in my experience. That will also require you to have a pretty sizable battery bank as well. Thats expensive as hell!

With wind power you have the potential to make power 24/7 if you got enough wind. In my experience with this you will need about 7 mph plus of wind constantly to produce much in the way of power. My 403 was mounted on the mast of my sail boat about 60-70 ft above the water surface and usually made more power than my 6 x 120 watt panels did.

Neither are a silver bullet!


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## Chipper

If your near a river or stream I'd go hydro. Small paddle wheel turning a generator. Works all the time regardless of weather.


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## maine_rm

There are several streams that run through my property none that are very large but all would push a paddle unfortunately they're nowhere near my residence. Closest one is maybe a half hour walk. My idea is not to be off the grid just to have somethingfor back up that I could set up in a few days time if need be. Solar seems to be the more viable option but also more expensive? My budget is (as most) little to none. So this is not something that we bought all at once but piece by piece. 

If I did go with the wind set up how crazy is this idea. Having several small mills that I can put up in the trees. I have a pretty stable variety (hack) that can cut the top off and will stand for 10-15 maybe 20 years I think it would help with the concealment issue plus it would get it up off the ground. I wouldn't say the wind is constantly moving here but there's usually a light breeze. My worst-case and Ariel theory is a windmill with the chain to an alternator connected to a battery I think that's pretty simple? Is that simply ridiculous? No the chain would not go from the top of the windmill to the generator directly I would write up some elbows. Shaft driven to a chain. Not looking to power the whole house just a few things maybe a freezer possibly a couple of lights?


If your not handsome , best be handy!


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## maine_rm

Here is the tree right across the road from me that is a hack that has been dead since my father was a child roughly 40 years.


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## SOCOM42

I live in the bay state, if I were to install either it would be solar, 

the sun always comes up, but the wind does not always blow with any force, especially in the summer.

This year, I have watched three solar farms being built, huge at that.

They average about 200 yards square.

The transformers are the size of an SUV, can't see much with them fenced in.

There is one a mile from me that is about 50 X 100 yards and owned by the town.

It is built on the old closed dump.

Putting panels up and working on them is safer than trying to work on something 50 feet in the air.

My problem is I would have to cut down a lot of trees and still have only limited sun exposure.


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## Medic33

I have both wind a solar out on my remote BOL for about 11 years now -before I ran solar when I replaced the panels for some new and improved ones I decided (well actually the wife decided) to add wind and it was a good idea.
but coastydad or Sidecar can't remember witch one is probably the expert on this subject.


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## Medic33

actually chipper has a valid point hydra can produce so serious power and is way more simple that either solar or wind a lot of farmers have used hydro since electricity was invented-so that is something to think about -the only experience I have is when we had a sailboat we had a generator that we dropped into the water as we sailed to charge up the batteries and such.


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## 8301

double post


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## 8301

Solar and wind compliment each other, When the weather is bad (little sunshine) the wind is usually up. The problem for me is that I know enough about wind (and solar and hydro) to know that the turbine needs to be at least 20' (preferable 30') above anything within 200 yds in order to get good straight winds. For me that means a 65' tall tower to get the 20' of clean wind. Towers that high are expensive and not very productive in my high wind 1 zone area (almost a zone 2). https://www.bing.com/images/search?...608045174756740557&selectedIndex=0&ajaxhist=0

In addition a wind turbine needs at least annual maintance so I'd have to raise and lower the tower annually. Time and money permitting I'd love to have both but reality says stay with solar only, at least until I win the lottery and retire.

I've considered adding a small wind turbine on a 20' pole but it wouldn't be very efficient and still require a separate charge controller and "load dump" to burn excess power.


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## LunaticFringeInc

> Not looking to power the whole house just a few things maybe a freezer possibly a couple of lights?


If thats the case and stealth is an issue then I think a few panels and a couple of 8D batteries would do the trick. I am currently using 3 x 20 watt non cystaline (sp?) panels that cost me 40 bucks each on sale from academy, 3 x charge controllers that cost me about 18 bucks and a 36 amp hour sealed gel cell battery that cost me 70 bucks in my shed for a total cost of 210 bucks or there abouts.

It powers my lights and a Saltwater Aquarium with corals in it just fine without dropping my battery below 50% charge. I am running up to 3 LED light strips with about 20 LEDs on it to light my shed up when I am out there and reloading. The Aquarium is running a 100 watt heater controlled with a thermostat (winter time only about 4 months of the year), a Koralia Nano 425 gph power head (24/7) for water movement and a Aqua-Illuminations 26 LED light fixture (12 hour light cycle).


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## quinnbrian

Put the solar in first, that way you can run the lathe to make a great wind turbine!! Maintenance is almost 0...if you do it right, yes you have to check batteries and connections and you still need a back up generator.
I lived with just batteries an a inverter for 4 years, when I got solar...no more generator in the summer months  and about half as much run time in the winter months.
The sunny will always shine...sooner or later...I hope LOL, and at sometimes in the year the wind will blow, for a week or two hard! Solar is more constant.... I think, with less maintenance.
That said I will have a wind turbine/ mill one of these days,for those nights that you can't sleep because the wind is blowing so hard, that you think the roof is going to come off.


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## edprof

As an owner of three solar generators, I'd say the remarks about location are spot on.

In Arkansas where we now live, it has to be solar. If we still lived in Oklahoma, wind might be a better option.


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## 0rocky

You haven't said (I didn't notice) whether you are off-grid or you want to have power when the grid goes down. My advice is if any part of your system is solar (off-grid or using a grid tie inverter) is to purchase your panels rather than lease them. Quick view of my off-grid system on a very overcast day: [video]http://rocky1.net/movies/cloudy_day_solar.mp4[/video]


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## MountainGirl

0rocky said:


> You haven't said (I didn't notice) whether you are off-grid or you want to have power when the grid goes down. My advice is if any part of your system is solar (off-grid or using a grid tie inverter) is to purchase your panels rather than lease them. Quick view of my off-grid system on a very overcast day: [video]http://rocky1.net/movies/cloudy_day_solar.mp4[/video]


Are you grid-tied? That's a HiVolt system you got there... We thought about 48 but went 24. I saw your Volt read... twin meters? Also saw your half-Kw coming in - ours is sending down about that (428) right now with overcast skies (solid heavy white, not clouds like yours) on bright sunnies we get just under 2Kw comin in. Which is more than enough to keep da Ton+ of batts happy.


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## 0rocky

Hey neighbor @MountainGirl. It's a long story but to reduce the wiring size (gauge) and to lessen voltage drop I elected to wire the 80 volt panels series parallel which necessitated the use of some reasonably voltage tolerant Battery Charge Controllers. They can handle 100Amps each at "any" voltage. To your question: I'm totally off-grid. BTW, you have an impressive battery bank. I'm currently using a set of Rolls Surrette for my storage needs.


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## MountainGirl

0rocky said:


> Hey neighbor @*MountainGirl* . It's a long story but to reduce the wiring size (gauge) and to lessen voltage drop I elected to wire the 80 volt panels series parallel which necessitated the use of some reasonably voltage tolerant Battery Charge Controllers. They can handle 100Amps each at "any" voltage. To your question: I'm totally off-grid. BTW, you have an impressive battery bank. I'm currently using a set of Rolls Surrette for my storage needs.


That's what ours are, 16 6V 428AmpHr L16s. I am curious about the twin meters... if not here, can you PM me about why 2? Are you running two systems? Or? Thanks!


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## 0rocky

MountainGirl said:


> That's what ours are, 16 6V 428AmpHr L16s. I am curious about the twin meters... if not here, can you PM me about why 2? Are you running two systems? Or? Thanks!


Happy to indulge further. A little math follows and I'd be more than pleased to drill down even further. Each Battery Charge Controller can output a max of 100 Amps. 24 Volt system (which is what I'm currently wired for) X 100 amp= 2400 watts. I have more than 2400 watts of solar so I needed at worst case (you can think of it as best case in the sense that when my panels are _really_working hard/I'm getting the most bang for my $$$'s)a second Charge Controller.

For others on this forum considering going off-grid solar - the "system" works like an automotive electrical system in that your vehicle alternator only outputs sufficient power to keep the battery charged and any accessories and operational circuits going. So, if you looked at an ammeter, once the vehicle is started there is a large amount of current coming out of the alternator for the first few minutes which tapers off to keep your ignition and accessories running.

On a typical day, my system will start out somewhat low on output (the sun is just coming up and the panels are giving me 'all they got') which then ramps up to whenever the batteries are topped off from their usage at night. Later, output tapers off to provide enough juice to power whatever I'm using at that moment.

Hope it makes sense.


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## MountainGirl

0rocky said:


> Happy to indulge further. A little math follows and I'd be more than pleased to drill down even further. Each Battery Charge Controller can output a max of 100 Amps. 24 Volt system (which is what I'm currently wired for) X 100 amp= 2400 watts. I have more than 2400 watts of solar so I needed at worst case (you can think of it as best case in the sense that when my panels are _really_working hard/I'm getting the most bang for my $$$'s)a second Charge Controller.
> 
> For others on this forum considering going off-grid solar - the "system" works like an automotive electrical system in that your vehicle alternator only outputs sufficient power to keep the battery charged and any accessories and operational circuits going. So, if you looked at an ammeter, once the vehicle is started there is a large amount of current coming out of the alternator for the first few minutes which tapers off to keep your ignition and accessories running.
> 
> On a typical day, my system will start out somewhat low on output (the sun is just coming up and the panels are giving me 'all they got') which then ramps up to whenever the batteries are topped off from their usage at night. Later, output tapers off to provide enough juice to power whatever I'm using at that moment.
> 
> Hope it makes sense.


Thanks for your reply; ours is set up a little differently. Have a good one!


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## Smitty901

First do not buy any products made by companies in the solar industry that Obama supported with tax dollars.


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## BookWorm

@maine rm I've got both. When we lived in CA for 5 years, our RV was rigged to work off both. We had a 400 watt wind generator on top of a small hill, roughly 25 feet off the ground, and that was another 12 feet higher than where the RV was sitting. It spun a little here and there, but never fast enough (at least 16mph) to make any juice. Of the 2 years we had the windmill up, it blew enough less than five days to make the minimal 100 watts of power (16mph). SO do your research on average wind speed in your area. 

I like solar, cause some panels will still make a little power on cloudy days. However, what I didn't learn until I did some dry camp testing was... above 90 degrees and the panels start to lose efficiency. So a 100 watt panel may only collect 90 watts at 95 degrees. At 110 it may only collect 60 watts (estimated). The new thin film design panels are a little pricey, but more efficient than many others. They have dropped in price, I got my first in 2006, a 12 watt and paid $120 for it. Two years later, a 25 watt panel came out for $199. I think I saw a 50 watt for $225?? 

Also... 6 volt deep cycle batteries (gold cart) hold the most juice. If you daisy chain (I think that is the correct term) them together to make 12 volts you will get longer lasting power. But, they will take longer to fully charge as well. I hope this helps.


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## Back Pack Hack

BookWorm said:


> ...... If you daisy chain (I think that is the correct term) them together to make 12 volts........


Series wiring. Hook the positive of one battery to the negative of the other. The remaining two terminals will be 12 volts.


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## BookWorm

Back Pack Hack said:


> Series wiring. Hook the positive of one battery to the negative of the other. The remaining two terminals will be 12 volts.


 @Back Pack Hack yes... from + to - is how we did it. It worked pretty well with four 6V deep cycle to gen the 24 volts needed for the 30 amp inverter we used.


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## budgetprepp-n

8301 said:


> With solar and wind you need pretty similar skills. Both require charge controllers (slightly different types), inverter, batteries, breakers or fuses, and wire gauge charts. Without knowing the wind zone in your part of Maine I'd suggest solar since cooler temps make solar panels slightly more efficient
> 
> Maintance... both require regular battery maintance but wind and hydro require more maintance with the bearings and moving parts while solar is good to go for many years. But while the solar panels are good for many years without maintance the battery bank will always need some tending, even with using AGM batteries.
> 
> ....so pick your poison and enjoy being off the grid.
> P.S. I maintain a fairly large solar system and love having it but.... it does require 2 hours every month to maintain.


 What maintenance are you preforming? I have 15 batteries and 9 of them are lead acid type. Other than checking the water once a month
in the 9 lead acid type I don't have any maintenance at all. When ever the lead acid batteries go bad I'm going to replace them with the sealed 
jell type and have no maintenance at all. Even if the batteries are low it takes like 10 minuets. 
My system has been up and running for years with no repairs or maintenance to speak of.
What are you doing for 2 hours?


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