Last week I happened into “Northern Tool” a store devoted to cheap tools and equipment. It has very few brand name tools that I recognize. As I looked around the store I noticed that they were selling small wind machines and a few low powered solar panels along with an assortment of job site and back up generators, nothing very note worthy. I had a lot of time to spend so I went down every aisle and examined every deal in the store. I found a couple low-cost items that I wanted to buy. I proceeded to the check out counter and was in line behind a man who was returning a solar charge controller. The cashier asked,”Is there anything wrong with it?” The man replied that he had 24 volts in and 14 volts out so there must be something wrong with it. The next thing he asked gave me a green light to but into the conversation. He asked the cashier, “Whats the difference between amps and watts anyway?” I couldn’t let that go without a comment. “Watts is a unit of power, you multiply volts times amps to get watts. Amps is a unit of current, the amount of current flow.” The man stepped back as though I had just discovered Ohm’s Law. I explained to him that I was a certified solar installer and an electrician. And so the conversation continued. The man was installing solar panels on his fish house and explained that he had plans to add a wind generator that he bought ”on the computer”. I explained to him that his PV modules were of too little wattage to really do what he wanted them to do. He wanted to charge his battery at the same time that he had his lights on in the fish house. He must not have any windows in his fish house was my first thought. I have never met anyone who was so excited about the knowledge that I had just shared with the man. He asked me if I had a card and he was impressed that I indeed had a card to give him. I have found a new friend.
This situation got me to think about the ice houses on the winter lakes of Minnesota and just how many run generators to run things. I have a friend that likes to run a pizza oven and a have the Viking’s game on the television along with running the electronic fish finder. I could easily design a stand-alone solar /wind system known as a “Hybrid system”. The cost would certainly be greater that running a gas-fired Honda generator.
The people who by Solar, buy for the same reasons that people who buy a Hybrid car. They could get more bang for the buck if they just buy a Ford Festiva instead of a Pyrus. They buy because they want to impact the environment in a positive way. Not because it is the best financial decision. Doing things for the right reason alway is worth the extra cost.
