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[–] carnold03 ago 

What's the solar power set up at your home like? I imagine if you're using a backup power supply to power your computers, you've got some way to recharge them in a prolonged power outage.

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[–] bikergang_accountant [S] ago 

None, except some panels that directly heat one room in the house and some others that preheat water to make the water heater more efficient.

Many people get into storing power after they start solar but I have no problem storing grid energy. It's there, it's cheap, and mine is pretty green.

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[–] carnold03 ago 

Is your water heater electric or gas? Is the tank insulated? How much do you pay per kilowatt hour?

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[–] 1WinfieldBlue ago 

How long can you run your laptop for?

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[–] bikergang_accountant [S] 0 points 1 point (+1|-0) ago  (edited ago)

Looking at the voltage drop on the lead acid I would say all day. I ran it for a few hours. A cfl on an inverter will last about two to three before I get to a voltage on the lead acid where I worry about sulfating the battery.

With these plans I'm making the goal is to double down on batteries. I'm currently bid on 100 dead laptop batteries on ebay. One cell goes bad per laptop (how most things break). The others are 70% fine. By running the batteries in parallel en masse it is easy to both keep them under reasonable load and keep the amp-hours balanced across the series.