Audible improvement going SOLAR?

nooshinjohn

For those of you that have switched to solar power at home, did you see any audible improvements by making that switch? Our electric bill has been climbing to the point of getting out of hand and I was wondering if making the move yields sonic benefits. That might be the push I need to at least think about making the switch.

EndersShadow

@BlueFox

mhardy6647

If you use the HV DC direct from a PV array to run, say, a nice vacuum tube amplfier, maybe. Otherwise, remember how PVs generate 60 Hz AC -- they use inverters (nowadays, mostly "microinverters").

Our system is a net metering system, so I am not sure we're actually using the power we generate as much as just feeding it back to the grid for credit.

But, then again, this house has had PVs since day one, so I guess I don't know, either way.

DSC_1532 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

nooshinjohn

Thanks Mark. Maybe ‘Fox will chime in as well.

tonyb

I don't know myself, but I'd imagine you might save some line noise by going solar. Then again, nothing a good Power Conditioner wouldn't net you also.

Costs for solar can be a bit high, depending, so it still may be worth the switch if you plan on staying in the same house for a long time. Also, consider the shape of your roof. If it's near the end of it's life cycle, add the cost of a new roof into that. You don't want to install panels then 3 years later remove everything for a new roof.

Another thing to consider, is you may want to give a yell out to your homeowners insurance and see if there is any adjustments that they require.

BlueFox

I haven't noticed any audio difference. Just a much lower electric bill. I do most listening at night, and solar doesn't work then.

nooshinjohn

The roof is just a year old now, so good to go on that. Thanks for chiming in Fox. I was hopeful there would be a sonic benefit. Do you have battery backup in your setup?

BlueFox

No battery backup. If PG&E loses power then I have some quiet time.

nooshinjohn

There are systems that run the house off of battery power, using solar to grab power to charge them.... this is what I am looking at. I would love to tell DWP to pound sand.

mhardy6647

nooshinjohn wrote: »

There are systems that run the house off of battery power, using solar to grab power to charge them.... this is what I am looking at. I would love to tell DWP to pound sand.

Probably fairly practical where you are -- probably not practical where we are (at least without a tracker on the PV array), since we're so far north and our weather is so mercurial.

TESLA Power Wall seems to be the sine qua non.

Again, though, the issue with going that route is you have a bunch of (digital) microinverters (or, I dunno, maybe "macroinverters" with batteries) converting the DC to AC and (probably) generating plenty of high-frequency hash while doing so. The quality of the AC sine wave itself from an inverter is good (our Honda generator uses an inverter for AC with - yes - very low THD ); it's the grunge that might not add value for hifi. Does it subtract any value? Dunno.

In all seriousness -- if vast amounts of DC power are available, the best case, I would think, would be to simply bypass the AC to DC power supplies in all of one's hifi hardware, and mainline DC into 'em as needed. More efficient, too.

On the other hand, the one nice thing about our ancient AC linear power supply technology is that it's easy to generate many different (AC) voltages through the magic of a power transformer with multiple secondary windings! Not that it's impossible to generate different DC voltages, but the 'analog' way to do it (with power resistors and Ohm's law) seems a little inelegant.

rooftop59

How energy efficient is your house John? It is much sunnier where you are than here in central TX (though its much sunnier here than in Vermont lol) and my electrician when he bought his older house gutted it (including taking down all inside sheet-rock) and did all foam insulation, energy efficient windows, and sealed everything up real tight. Its a 2200 SQ ft house and he told me he keeps the temp at basically 72 year round and pay only about $115 a month. If I knew we were staying in our house, I would get new windows and really amp up my insulation. Cheaper than going solar but still would save $$$ in the long run...

mhardy6647

One very nice thing about solar -- when one makes one's own electricity, electric power becomes much more attractive, even for things like heating and A/C.

Thus did we add a high-efficiency heat pump and a single air handler (so far) on the first floor of our house this past summer. This sucka is pretty remarkable (to me) -- it can extract heat from the air outside down, claims Mitsubishi, to -12 degrees F. There is no electric heat 'backup' on this heat pump (!?!).

We've already been down to zero one morning this 'fall' (it's not winter yet) and the air handler inside was blowing very pleasantly warm air. I was impressed.

We also ran it in hot (by local standards) weather in July and still 'banked' electric energy (kW-hr) on our "net metering" connection with the grid. I was pretty pleased with that, too.

DSC_1842 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

DSC_1840 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

afterburnt

nooshinjohn wrote: »

There are systems that run the house off of battery power, using solar to grab power to charge them.... this is what I am looking at. I would love to tell DWP to pound sand.

DWP is going to charge you anyway and if they are like AZ power the sir charge will increase in proportion to the revenue lost to home solar.

nooshinjohn

You raise excellent points Rooftop. We have some older replacement windows, and the front door and side door are doing me no favors. I have a 12" blanket of new insulation up in the attic, but the only room in the house with any insulation at all is my audio room, which has 9" in the walls all around and 12" up top.

New doors and triple pane glass are on the upgrade list. Having the walls filled with foam and a new ac panel are also on that list. We are thinking about selling one of the condos we own to fund the upgrades and pay off the house.

delkal

If you listen to your stereo mostly at night (like I do).....then NO you will not hear a difference.