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You all that have solar panels...

Potts said:
I had a small solar panel that powered my electric gate. That was wonderful...until some asshole decided to steal the entire gate opener ram, bracket, and the solar cell! It's back to manually opening and closing the gate, these days.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you need a Solar Powered security camera too.
Or, at least a $3 sign.
View attachment 1169558[/QUOTE]

Might work in some areas... Thieves around here don't give a **** about your camera...

I have video of some asshole stealing my camera... I know who he is & where he "lives"... I provided the info to the cops, they won't do anything.... But if I do anything I'll go to jail...

I also have video of a neighbors car being hit & the car driving away... I know who the guy was, I have pictures of his car in his driveway with the matching plate # & matching damage.... Cops told us they could be sued for harassment if they knock on his door....

Security cameras are great if you keep your mouth shut & go extract justice vigilante style but cops are better with doughnuts than they are with criminals... Maybe there really is some logic to this defund the police crap....
 
Micro-inverters solve a lot of problems, but now you have power electronics right on the hottest part of the system (bad place for them). The good news is you can replace those one at a time as they fail so that helps (it will be happening over time). They still need replacement and they are a safer option. They also do a better job keeping the MPP in the optimal range. It can be hard to verify they are working though.

Same efficiency issue happens over time.
 
1 Wild R/T said:
Sounds like you need a Solar Powered security camera too.
Or, at least a $3 sign.
View attachment 1169558
Click to expand...

Might work in some areas... Thieves around here don't give a **** about your camera...

I have video of some asshole stealing my camera... I know who he is & where he "lives"... I provided the info to the cops, they won't do anything.... But if I do anything I'll go to jail...

I also have video of a neighbors car being hit & the car driving away... I know who the guy was, I have pictures of his car in his driveway with the matching plate # & matching damage.... Cops told us they could be sued for harassment if they knock on his door....

Security cameras are great if you keep your mouth shut & go extract justice vigilante style but cops are better with doughnuts than they are with criminals... Maybe there really is some logic to this defund the police crap....[/QUOTE]

Here's a other cheap sign.
Screenshot_20210921-112525_Chrome.jpg

But, unfortunately, in CA it prob means nothing... Cops not interested? Gotta blame the Defund the Police idiots, getting there way!
If you believe the cops are to blame? Try this...
Defund your wife, see where that gets you.
Lol
 
Potts said:
Might work in some areas... Thieves around here don't give a **** about your camera...

I have video of some asshole stealing my camera... I know who he is & where he "lives"... I provided the info to the cops, they won't do anything.... But if I do anything I'll go to jail...

I also have video of a neighbors car being hit & the car driving away... I know who the guy was, I have pictures of his car in his driveway with the matching plate # & matching damage.... Cops told us they could be sued for harassment if they knock on his door....

Security cameras are great if you keep your mouth shut & go extract justice vigilante style but cops are better with doughnuts than they are with criminals... Maybe there really is some logic to this defund the police crap....
Click to expand...
Here's a other cheap sign.
But, unfortunately, in CA it prob means nothing... Cops not interested? Gotta blame the Defund the Police idiots, getting there way![/QUOTE]

Both these incidents pre-date the defund crap...
 
I think it'll work out nicely.
 
Out here in the West, there seems to be a lot of push on homeowners getting it. I did allow a company to at least give me an idea of what I was looking at and went as far as the plans being submitted for approval and then the next step. That step is to procure the necessary permits and all so that an install can proceed. What changed that for me, is I wanted to see what the bottom line cost to me would be and have yet had any contact on that so I haven't signed the documents I was sent. I have decided not to go in that direction and will instead opt for a stand by generator, both propane and Natural gas, with an automatic switch for any power outages. We seem to be getting a lot more of that occurring lately so I would rather have that instead because Solar won't do that unless you have storage batteries. I can do the generator for roughly 1/2 the total for Solar and still pay cash for it instead of financing a part of the Solar project. I could see me hooking up a small Solar setup for a green house and such for my gardening, and still be able to have power when I need it. Nope..not convinced that Solar is a workable idea. My neighbor next door had it done to his 2 story home and the total was 43,000 and 31 panels. After he had it installed, FOOKING Pigeons have moved in underneath the panels, started having babies, and shitting all over the place. The installer didn't even mention some critter guards around the bottom of the panels to not allow birds to next and breed. Big problem up here in the high desert...cr8crshr/Bill:usflag::usflag::usflag:
 
To clarify, one of my safety concerns:
As for Firefighter safety, there is a tremendous risk of cutting into a conduit beneath the roof line.
This can occur during normal roof ventilation procedures on a residential roof.
Alot of municipalities have no code on where that "constantly energized" conduit is ran. Also the disconnect switch will not de energize the circuit between the panel and wherever the switch may be.
Bottom line, DC current produced by a typical Photo Voltaic Array, is deadly.
 
Fran Blacker said:
I'd have to spend $10k to 15k to cut trees. My house is surrounded by 75' to 90' trees. Sun on roof starts close to 11am ends 3:30pm. At age 72 the buzzards are circling, tell me I've 15 more years. No way. Just a fact.
Patrick you don't say your age, that's a factor.
Click to expand...

Those are big trees. What kind of trees and ever look into the value of what those trees would be worth? Not that you'd want to cut them anyways. I kind of like trees.
 
Sam69sat said:
Those are big trees. What kind of trees and ever look into the value of what those trees would be worth? Not that you'd want to cut them anyways. I kind of like trees.
Click to expand...
Mostly white oak and hickory. If they were red oak they might be worth something. Some aren't on my property, have a 140' x 50' access lot. 40' in front of my house property line and 4/5 trees are neighbors property.
 
cr8crshr said:
After he had it installed, FOOKING Pigeons have moved in underneath the panels, started having babies, and shitting all over the place. The installer didn't even mention some critter guards around the bottom of the panels to not allow birds to next and breed. Big problem up here in the high desert...cr8crshr/Bill:usflag::usflag::usflag:
Click to expand...

Good point, I'll need to call today about that. I have a couple of very pesky birds that nest at the edge of the proposed installation area.
 
1 Wild R/T said:
Sounds like you need a Solar Powered security camera too.
Or, at least a $3 sign.
View attachment 1169558
Click to expand...

Might work in some areas... Thieves around here don't give a **** about your camera...

I have video of some asshole stealing my camera... I know who he is & where he "lives"... I provided the info to the cops, they won't do anything.... But if I do anything I'll go to jail...

I also have video of a neighbors car being hit & the car driving away... I know who the guy was, I have pictures of his car in his driveway with the matching plate # & matching damage.... Cops told us they could be sued for harassment if they knock on his door....

Security cameras are great if you keep your mouth shut & go extract justice vigilante style but cops are better with doughnuts than they are with criminals... Maybe there really is some logic to this defund the police crap....[/QUOTE]
Ummm.... you live in Comifornia. Of course they won't do anything. Their hands are tied by the state. In AZ, they would be arrested because the cops can do their job. Remember, it's not the cops 99% of the time, it's the politicians. Elected government officials to include DA's n judges who do not prosecute. Cops don't want to arrest if the politicians won't prosecute.
 
Yep.
I guess the majority there are happy with the likes of Gov Newsome.
The people had a chance to inflict some positive change...
Oh well.
 
From a fellow Okie, why didn't you choose wind energy over solar? For example, Leno did it for his humongous shop using the new style upright wind turbine.
 
I gave wind some thought. Might even do a small wind turbine solely to power the shop, in the future. Solar fits what I'm looking to do in the long run. I'm no "greenie", but when we get as much sun as we do here, it makes sense.
 
patrick66 said:
You need softball-sized hail or larger to damage these. I've endured baseball-sized hail in the past, necessitating the replacement of both the shop and house roofs. And yeah, we get hail. Tornadoes. Monsoons. Our annual two-week long Icy Apocalypse. Nice thing is that I'm not solar-dependent, like true off-gridders are. Plus, my shop has absolutely ZERO trees around it. Not one, so my unimpeded Sun exposure is all-day, every day. Might as well take advantage of that.

Would I do this in Seattle, Bangor, or Duluth? Probably not. Where I am in OK? Absolutely.
Click to expand...
Syracuse NY actually gets less sunshine than Seattle, according to a recent study.
 
Solar is huge here in Australia. We get plenty of sun....
Apparently 20% of all houses have it and I can believe that. Ours has been great, reduced the electric bills dramatically and was paid for by a Govt. interest free loan over 10 years. The repayment is much less than the difference in the power bill, so we are definitely in front financially.
There have been a few fires reported, although not many considering there are 2.7 million systems installed here - as with anything there are good and bad installers and different quality systems.
If you live in a sunny place it's definitely worth considering.
 
A coworker had solar panels put on his home a year ago. He says so far so good his electric bill is around $100 cheaper each month. Not sure how much his payment is for the solar panels are or what the break even point would be. His has a 25 yr warranty also.
 
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