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Post by mzgarden on Jun 19, 2024 18:44:28 GMT
Titan Solar told employees on June 13 that it was “closing its doors” because no one would buy the company, according to Time. Titan said that it put solar panels on more than 100,000 homes. The fate of consumers who have panels on their homes and no one to maintain them is uncertain. |
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Post by sunny225 on Jun 19, 2024 18:48:12 GMT
Solar is good for a backup to the grid but it's not the "answer" that the stupid elites keep telling us it is.
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Jun 19, 2024 23:41:57 GMT
Solar is good for a backup to the grid but it's not the "answer" that the stupid elites keep telling us it is.
I'd argue it's not even good backup for the grid. If the grid goes down, and so does the sun, oops!
Now, that's not to say solar in some instances doesn't make sense, but certainly not on a massive scale. A single dwelling with proper equipment can do well being self-sufficient without the grid, but the fatuous claim that wind and solar can power a society is no more than grifting at its highest level.
We're extremely small scale as far as solar power. Three panels on the garage roof total output 100 watts. Enough to keep a deep cell battery charged to power our alarm system and recharge small batteries. Keeping three freezers and two refrigerators, plus lighting and well pump came to an estimate of $42,000! Nope, we can cope without grid power if necessary.
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Post by sawmilljim on Jun 20, 2024 0:49:11 GMT
Don’t most solar systems rely on charging a bank of batteries ? Then converting DC back to AC using a converter or inverter ? At a sum of $42,000 from where I sit looks like they are blowing a lot of smoke or is it sunshine up the public’s rear. I would think most of those that paid big bucks for their system don’t know diddly about how to repair them.
Looks like when a solar Co skims off all the Government money they can they suddenly close down their operations and fade into the sunset ! But maybe I’m the one a French fry short a happy meal.
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Post by sunny225 on Jun 20, 2024 2:22:38 GMT
Ozarks Tom, that is basically what we had ours for. We don't have one now but are thinking of getting another small system again. We live down here in the hurricane prone area & the last storm that came around had electricity off for a week. Katrina in 2005 we didn't get it back for 2 weeks. It was miserable. 
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Post by David! on Jun 20, 2024 3:34:32 GMT
Many of my neighbors lost power for a week after Hurricane Zeta in 2020. My roof went bye bye. I have some battery back up in case of another hurricane. I can run a few things but no a/c or refrigerator for about 30 days. Just running fans, small lights, cell phone recharging, a CPAP and microwaving some food and making coffee I could go in indefinitely by connecting my few solar panels I have. Solar components are cheaper now than in my first foray in the early 90’s. I keep a few small wood and pine cone fueled cookers on hand also.
It’s a bad idea to have solar without some working knowledge of how it operates. They all need attention to keep functioning and for keeping batteries in top shape.
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Post by sunny225 on Jun 20, 2024 4:05:46 GMT
Yep, it was Zeta! I couldn't remember the name of it. It was pretty bad here. Lots of trees and power lines were downed.
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Post by David! on Jun 20, 2024 13:56:49 GMT
I was still managing service and repairs for 2 condo complexes for Zeta. I had 264 condos that needed new roofing and trees down everywhere. One of the condo boards questioned my spending $400 on a new chainsaw. I just laughed.
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Post by rybach on Jun 26, 2024 18:55:05 GMT
Solar is good for a backup to the grid but it's not the "answer" that the stupid elites keep telling us it is.
I'd argue it's not even good backup for the grid. If the grid goes down, and so does the sun, oops!
Now, that's not to say solar in some instances doesn't make sense, but certainly not on a massive scale. A single dwelling with proper equipment can do well being self-sufficient without the grid, but the fatuous claim that wind and solar can power a society is no more than grifting at its highest level.
We're extremely small scale as far as solar power. Three panels on the garage roof total output 100 watts. Enough to keep a deep cell battery charged to power our alarm system and recharge small batteries. Keeping three freezers and two refrigerators, plus lighting and well pump came to an estimate of $42,000! Nope, we can cope without grid power if necessary.
Yep, self sufficiency is a good reason for solar. If you tie it to the grid, you risk the grid destroying your system if an EMP burst comes through the lines. Or like many Californians found out, the grid tied systems required there years ago didn't work when the power was out because the inverters depend on grid power to set the AC frequency. I haven't heard if that has since changed. I like solar but I find myself shaking my head at some of the idiotic things people do with it. Like my neighbor up the road who put solar panels on his roof, then noticed his trees were shading his panels so he cut the trees down. Now without the shade his air conditioning runs more, using more electricity than the panels generate. |
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Jun 26, 2024 23:50:59 GMT
rybach, Okay, tell me your neighbor is a democrat without outright telling me he's a democrat.
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Post by joebill on Jun 29, 2024 23:04:58 GMT
We have good friends who have a house powered long term by solar, and prob'ly DO save some money, BUT all of his shop stuff has to run on generators plus the solar system just naturally eats a battery or two from time to time....expensive....and long term how are you supposed to replace them?
At one time I aspired to re-creating the old glass cased batteries that folks used to have on the farms that could be opened up and refurbished with a minimal amount of material and labor, but I was too near the end of my working years to be messing with heavy and troublesome stuf like that.
Until batteries can be replaced or repaired with material readily available, solar is not only temporary but of pretty short lifespan for the prepper.
To go all of the way back to the constant and reliable power supplies of the industrial revolution, one would have to begin all over with a steam engine and some sort of reliable fuel to run it.
NOT impossible, considering that most steam engine advances were to make them more efficient, and if you have a full wood lot, efficiency is a minor consideration, so the most simple of steam engines ever designed would be quite serviceable......Joe
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Post by Ozarks Tom on Jun 30, 2024 11:52:13 GMT
I tried at one time to try finding "dry" batteries. Batteries that hadn't yet been filled with electrolyte, which would be stored separately. The battery for our tiny solar system that we'd depend on for our alarm base station and recharging AA batteries for our alarm sensors won't last forever. Matter of fact, about every 6 months I have to add distilled water to it. I haven't found a source for dry batteries, so the best I can do is hope if needed the batteries from our vehicles would suffice for a while.
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Post by joebill on Jun 30, 2024 20:33:20 GMT
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