The DeckPower 120 was developed to be a "plug and play" grid compatible solar appliance for the "do-it-yourselfer." Not only did we want to make it as simple as plugging into a 110-volt receptacle, we wanted to make it easy enough for an average homeowner to install. The solar panel and the micro-inverter are both UL listed to insure safe use in the household electrical grid. In researching, we found that most homes and apartments built in the last 20 years have a deck and, in most cases, an outdoor 110-volt receptacle. Since most decks also have three sides, it increases the chance that one side of the deck is facing the sun. We designed a deck mount that allows you to simply hang the solar panel off of the deck railing.
Source: Planetsave
Until now there haven't been many truly easy solutions for the average homeowner. Professional installations can cost upwards of 15,000. With SpinRay's solar panels you can buy one at a time for about 1,000 each, connecting up to 5 for a total of over 1300 watts supplied to your house.
So far, this is the easiest and most inexpensive professional solar energy system that I've come across. If you live in a sunny area, consider purchasing a set for your home and watch your electric bills plummet.
"WHAT EXACTLY DOES 1300 WATTS MEAN? "
We have to do a bit of calculations here. Let's assume you will receive 6 hours of sunlight per day. That works out to 7800 total watts.
According to TLC's "How Stuff Works":
This means that what you would be powering with solar electricity are things like the refrigerator, the lights, the compute-r, the TV, stereo equipment, motors in things like furnace fans and the washer, etc. Let's say that all of those things average out to 600 watts on average. Over the course of 24 hours, you need 600 watts * 24 hours = 14,400 watt-hours per day.
So that means just about half (7800/14,400, or 54.1%) of your home's energy use can be supplied by these 5 solar panels. Imagine cutting your electricity bills in half every month. That's a lot of savings, especially as solar panels are designed for long term (30-40 years) use. It would be even greater savings in sunny areas like California and desert areas.
For my home state of New York, they offer tax credits of 25% of the total cost of solar panels, up to a max of 5,000. That would bring down the price of each panel to about 750. Since the rebates differ by state, you can find out here how much of the cost you can recoup.
In the long run, it is an investment, but a smart one. Energy costs will only get more expensive so it's smart to invest in green technology now that harnesses the power of nature. The sun isn't due to power out for another hundreds of millions of years, after all!
"DeckPower 120 available now on Amazon."
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