The Tasmanian wrote:That's great news - working at home is the bomb !
I hope to start building the solar "shedio" very soon - I'm nearly there....
Give me an idea on the solar setup? - can you run lots of outboard, mac,monitor, tools ,ADDA, mic pre's, valve stuff, guitar amps, Active monitor's etc all day (say 12-14 hrs?) from solar charging your battery bank ?
And powering the rest of the house - or seperate 2 systems ?
Looks like Solar Systems are gonna be getting cheaper from tomorrow onwards - this can only be a very good thing.
Chris…I think we should start our “solar…why the bloody hell not?” thread in the main forum.
This is something that a few people might have in mind considering the future prospects with solar design and increasing power prices.
We work in an industry that requires power and lots of it…. so let’s open up the topic…
To answer the question;
It’s one main solar system. All panels > batteries > regulator > inverter. 2kw panels and 24v battery bank. Clean uninterrupted 240v power. It’s been running for 6 years without a glitch.
This is what I’m expecting to run off the power in addition to normal house going ons;
Mac tower, interface, monitor, active monitors, a few valve comps, bunch of other stereo comps, couple of eq’s and couple of verb units… I’m not tracking at home (yet) so my mic pre’s won’t be fired up much here (maybe just for reamp or occasional OD). I am planning an extension of the studio building to have a live room with booth and bathroom while keeping it as extra guest accom. I’m hoping to do recordings here in the not to distant future.
In relation to the extra power usage;
I’m planning to turn things off when I’m not using them. I’ve become really good at this through living under solar. I’ll probably find myself recording some of the processing I do so things aren’t always on. Also when I shut things down at night, everything will be turned off at the wall – including those power boards with lights on them. Those little power indicator lights are enough to keep your inverter on. Good little note for later.
Also planning work during daylight/early evening hours so I’m working in tandem with the incoming power. My experience is that stand alone solar systems like being used, and in a routine fashion. That is, consistent positive usage with the incoming rays. Just keep the charge up above 24v.
Because my little studio is 50m away from the house I’ll be using more lights (lamps) than normal plus the extra equipment… so I’m adding a couple of extra panels to the system to give it an extra boost. These extra panels will take the system to around 2.4kw. I’m hoping this will help balance out my additional power usage.
With those fierce direct winds down there in tassy I would also be considering wind power as an extra source, so you can continue to charge at night when it’s blowing a gale. Good wind power needs open space with direct wind. Where we are the wind swirls around a bit too much for strong direct wind. One property near us has a small turbine… i should go and ask them how it’s going.
I know you’ve got a lot of toys to plug in Chris….. and a shedio man cave to build… but what size system are you considering to install and will the tape machine be on the list to power?
Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2011 11:30 am