About Dan
Dan is a school teacher for the Deaf 35 years. He is a CODA, which means he is a Child of Deaf Adults, though he is not a child anymore. His parents are Deaf and his twin daughters are Deaf too. They attend universities back East and are doing well as Juniors. They graduated with honors as valedictorian and salutatorian at the same graduation. Dan loves solar and going green and is doing his small part to help the planet.
Hi Dan –
Nice blog – keep up the good work about promoting solar!
Jim Jenal
Jim Jenal - February 19, 2011 at 2:26 pm |
Hi Dan, I was searching for solar power solutions and came across your blog and I hope i can get your advice on solar issues.
I am working on a project that requires constant year round power for our device that works outdoor through all regular weather conditions(rain, snow etc). The voltage required is 3-5V and at least 500mAh. We are hoping that we can get a panel that is smaller than 1×1 foot. The main concern is the durability since it will be exposed to all kinds of weather outdoors.
Do you have any suggestions or ideas that can be of help? thanks!
Jay - September 1, 2011 at 8:58 am |
Shop around the internet for the panel you want. The small panels that are hooked up to signs along the roads handle all kind of weather and I know that the solar panels on my roof handle all kinds other than maybe 6 inch hail or meterites. Smile. Good luck in your search, i am sure you will find what you need.
dansolar - September 4, 2011 at 9:02 am |
I have seen small panels online, search and you will find it hopefully.
dansolar - December 1, 2011 at 1:29 am |
Dan, I’m also a teacher (Fontana). I’ve installed a solar array with micro invertors on my home in Lake Arrowhead. But I’m now having trouble permitting. Do you have any tips you can share about permitting through Building and Safety Department of San Bernardino?
Travis Wood - October 13, 2013 at 8:35 am |
Maybe call another solar company for advice? I have a lease so did not bump into that problem. Lease company Sungevity took care of all that for me. Wish I could help? Maybe ask some neighbors with solar about ideas for you. Good luck.
dansolar - October 13, 2013 at 8:00 pm |
Travis – are the microinverters from Enphase? If so, they have a guy who works with permitting issues and can help. Send me an email at this address: questions AT runonsun DOT com. I will hook you up.
Jim
Jim Jenal - October 14, 2013 at 5:56 am |
Hi Dan, thanks for all the solar info. I have a Chevy Volt and on PG&E’s E9-A rate plan with peak, partial peak and off peak rates. All the solar companies I have talked to (Solar City, Sun Run, Sun Power, Sungevity) couldn’t give me hour-by-hour power generation graph. I saw one of the 24-hour graph on your blog. Do you have more samples I can use for my calculation? My thought is, with net metering, if I generate 1 kwh in the peak hour (at higher rate$), it can worth 2 or 3 kwh in the off peak hour (at lower rate$). None of the company I have talked to understood that and could only gave me “basic” usage comparison and system sizing. Thanks,
Julian
Julian - January 25, 2014 at 12:32 pm |
The only graphs I have are up here on the blog. The graphs are for 24 hours and there is no solar power generated during the night. The feed back to the grid is not a graph that I get. I can say during the winter months the elec. bills were from $3 to 12 and the other months $25 to 85 not bad compared to 85 to 285 normally. I saved over $1000 each year, well worth it.
dansolar - February 24, 2014 at 4:41 am |