Solar Panels.

[mikek1]

In the Uk many houses are now installing solar panels as a way of generating electricty,and saving money.I have not seen this method in the Philippines and wondering why,with the high cost of electricity it is not used.
We have a new built 4b/3br house in Mangaldan,Pangasinan. The house is in a sub-division so has no overhanging obtrusions ,such as trees. We also have no immeadiate neighbours so there would be direct Sun light to our roof which is 2 story high.
Have any members experience or advice on solar panels.Eventhough the initial cost might be high,with the general expense of electricty in the Philipppines it must soon become a \'must have\'

[RUFUS]

Batteries are not that expensive...
You can get a Trojan 6v deep-cycle lift battery for about $150us.
And if you are not trying to light up Times Square, you should be able to run an LED lighting system and a small car stereo for a week+ with 2 of them.

[BingColin]

It is not possible to feed back into the grid in the Philippines, so any small system can only be used for backup in place of a generator or perhaps something like night-time external lighting. Anything else could involve some form of dual wiring system. The best answer here would be a full roof/house system and become independent from the mains, but that would be expensive with a long payback time. It has been used here on Palawan on a house the other side of the mountains with no access to mains.

[gbrown6usa]

My 3 bedroom home in CDO runs me $50US on a bad month, 1/5th of what I paid in the states.  I don\'t see it as a high cost.  Thats with aircon.

[wildbill]

I know this post is old but I want to add a little bit.there are many opions here for solar here is one site that may help you its a local dealer here in philippines.scroll down..http://ph.california-electronics.com/products_search.php?search_category_id=387&search_string=solar+panels&search=+Go+

[Art, just a re(tired) Fil-Am]

I've seen other commercials like that on You Tube, but that site was interesting. Not too bad for a 1.5 HP split type A/C and the solar panel shown in the videeo clip is not very large let alone it was made in the Philippines. I'm just curious how large the batteries and it's AC/DC invertor are? Just read the answer to that below the video clip, solar aircon does NOT use solar panels and batteries as most people think. While solar power generators use solar panels and batteries to power up lighting, computer and other loads, the solar aircon is entirely different technology. The solar collector is basically the same as what is found in solar water heaters. During the day, the solar collector will receive and store the sun's heat energy inside it. The sun's heat trapped/stored inside the collector will convert liquid Freon into gas. The resulting liquid-to-gas conversion results in cooling. A circulating fan inside the fan unit distributes or circulates the cool air as in the case of conventional aircon. During the early hours of night, the trapped or saved sun's energy is still used to cool. Just hope for good clear sunny weather! Eventually I may look into it! P38,000 sounds like a lot of money to your average person, but for that type of solar A/C setup it just may pay for it itself in just a few years as long it doesn't break down too soon, because the repair service charges may be over the top and may not be cost effective in a short period of time! Anyway, it's good to see progress of that nature in the Philippines!
Only if electric vehicles can come down in price, that would be a winner too!

[Metz]

You can feed power back into the Phil's grid.  It's just so few are doing it.  I have a customer who sells solar systems that do just that. 
2 weeks ago, I made a prefabricated solar panel holder for some place in Davao.  It has a galvanized and powder coated weather proof box, and everything sits as one unit including batteries.  Just run a 220v line to the box and you got electric.

[Art, just a re(tired) Fil-Am]

You can feed power back into the Phil's grid. It's just so few are doing it.  I have a customer who sells solar systems that do just that. 

So why is that? One would think that there's a huge demand for a cheaper source of electricity in the Philippines! Solar panels should be popping up all over the place! Why isn't more interest generated here? I'm sure there's a lot of interest if one would just advertise it correctly of what it cost to make and who the reliable manufacturers are and where! I know they are all over, just look on the internet!

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Solar+panel+companies+in+the+Philippines&btnG=Google+Search

[Gray Wolf]

It's just so few are doing it. 

So why is that?

Cost is the primary drawback, IMHO.  If you look at how much the solar panel industry has changed just in the last 5 years with more efficient units that run cooler, etc, the cost is still way ahead of the payback. 

I do see better things coming however.  As newer more efficient panels are developed, as well as cheaper manufacturing processes, more people will be able to afford solar electric systems.  JMHO 

[Art, just a re(tired) Fil-Am]

  Mangaldan,Pangasinan.

I put in a large off-grid solar system just down the road from you in Brgy Imelda.

So if it was off the grid! What happened in Mangaldan, Pangasinan and Brgy Imelda?
What was all that about batteries by LIS, what's the application? For a light bulb was it? AC or DC? Must be DC with all them batteries!
This post was back in July 2012!  

[Frosty]

L.I.S.
I just replaced 8-6VDC batteries in one of my traffic control boards they have solar panel to charge the batteries, I only got 5 years out of the batteries. Replacement cost was almost $900.00.

Tell us more about the system that you put in.
Is solar your only source of power?
Do you send power back into the grid?
Other then batteries have you had any othe maintenance problems?

[Gray Wolf]

LiS,

You certainly know your solar power!  And yes, I bet your barangay is happy on sunny days! 

If it don't move I whack it with a stick and then plug a charger into its butt or hose it down.

Bwahahahahaaa!!  I love it!  Exhibiting your engineering skills in every way possible! 

[Metz]

You can rejuvenate lead acid batteries using a pulse charger.  Not all batteries will come back, but usually half will. They work by breaking up the sulfur on the plates. 

http://www.diy-electronic-projects.com/p75-Pulse-Charger-for-reviving-tired-Lead-Acid-batteries

I would love to have me some nickel batteries.  The open surce ecology project has proposed open sourcing a build method but sadly the leadership there is rather lacking to complete any project

[Frosty]

L.I.S.
I can't tell you alot about about the traffic control boards I work on most of the info has been lost to the wind and weather, What I do know is one has a 75 watt solar panel and has 8-6 volt batteries it is a 12 volt system. the other two have 40 watt panels and 2-12 volt batteries also a 12 volt system, the smaller ones have 25 LED lights, the larger one has about 100 LED lights. I have not had any problems other then needing to replace batteries about every 5 years.
 

[Pulalei]

This is too high tech for me but you got me curious when you mentioned your problem  finding good distilled water. In the late 80's prior to immigrating here in the US, I worked for the government. At one time we have an outbreak of foot and mouth diseases around the country and we have to do a massive animal vaccination. At the time  we used vials in powdered form and mixed it with distilled water...then we ran out of distilled water. I am not sure how it came about but we were told to use COCONUT water as an alternate for distilled water. Sounds funny huh but hey..think about it...coconut water is the cleanest water on earth!