Step 1 Solar/Wind Power: Determining your electrical requirements
Published on Aug 19, 2012 • I apologize for this video taking longer than it should have. I didn't know I had to jump through 3 hoops, say 20 Hail Mary's, and toss a flip to get a video on longer than 15 minutes.
This video primer will help you to determine you electrical needs for solar/wind power. DON'T go look at your kwh usage from your bill, or it will just convince you that it can't be done. Just measure each item in your home. If your kids have TV, game console, stereo, etc. in the same location, buy a power strip, plug everything into the power strip and then the power strip into the meter. That way you don't have to measure everything individually.
Don't worry about big electrical items such as water heater, heat pumps, welders, or anything else that is 220v.
If you have a well, you can determine it's wattage by calling the company that installed you pump and asking how many amps it draws and calculate your wattage from the formula in the video. Mine draws 9 amps at 220V, so the wattage for my house well is 1980w (1.98kw). It runs for a total average of 15 minutes per day (Wife likes two long showers each day). My water situation requires 0.495kwh per day.
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Next week we will have a look at sizing a battery bank for your needs. If time permits, we'll have a look at inverters as well. Things will move along more quickly now that we're done with overview.
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