I checked to see when I installed the solar panel at Mr. Sok’s
house. It was 2007. Back then Apple revealed that it would soon release this
new thing called the “iPhone”, the final Harry Potter book was released, and
the Green Bay Packers powered to the playoffs under the direction of veteran
Brett Favre.
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| Solar panel specs from 2007 |
A solar panel in 2007 generated about 35 watts of power. The
house where we plan on installing it will only need to run a couple of LED
light bulbs which use 5 watts each. So now for the amazing part…
The new battery I purchased houses a tremendous 120 amp hours.
You could run both of the lights continuously for 3 days and have charge left
over. The 35 watts/hour from the solar panel will more than compensate for the
usage. So, I also picked up an inverter with a cell phone charging USB port. We’re
still good on usage even with the old panel.
While at the solar shop, I asked the owner how much one of
the big panels go for. It’s about $225… and it generates a massive 240 watts. For reference a
60” LCD TV only uses about 75W.
If you want to run the numbers yourself, I like this set of calculators: https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/tools/
We have definitely reached a tipping point of solar power
generation combined with appliance efficiency. I wouldn’t be surprised to see
places like Cambodia at the forefront of going off grid simply because it’ll be
cheaper for daily living.
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