Awesome stats man thanks for posting that. How much do you have invested into your solar array and what's the lifespan for it? Also for everyone that offset their heat with miners, is there a particular plan you have for that and do you kind of just put a rig in each room lol xD
I have 80 panels, each rated for 260W, so a total of 20.8 kW DC. Each panel cost roughly $200 and each micro inverter $100, so a total of $24,000. On top of that there is mounting for roof and ground, and running the electrical. I did it all myself, so I was able to do all that for an additional $3,500 in parts. So the grand total was $27,500 not counting my own labor. So that worked out to $1.32 per watt. Lifespan should be 25+ years. By then production will likely be down to 85% of what it is now due to the cells in the panels slowly degrading over time.
As for heating the house with the miners, yeah, my plan is to spread them around the house. I thought about ducting it into my central HVAC, but decided it would probably have had more cons and pros.
Wow man that is freaking awesome & impressive, would you mind sharing some pictures of the setup? What's your projected timeframe where the solar setup will pay for itself? You saved big $$$$ doing it yourself
Here are some pics. It was LOT of work, but I enjoy these types of projects.
Pic from the other day of the panels from a distance:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fsolarvalley-01.JPG&t=665&c=yUKvy5gtoG_Agw)
Shot from the house looking down the hill where the panels are:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fsolarvalley-05.JPG&t=665&c=CW74ejUqn0ZCdA)
But let's start at the beginning.
![Smiley](https://bitcointalk.org/Smileys/default/smiley.gif)
In August of last year I had the POCO come out to disconnect my 400A service to my shop:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2FPole%2520Disconnect%252001.jpg&t=665&c=seqBvOjtAcvfpA)
The POCO gave me a new 400A meter base for the house, and I picked up a used 400A fused disconnect on eBay. 12 oz coke can for scale. That is a big disconnect!
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2F400AXfer-01.JPG&t=665&c=YzONu5eXGxYGVg)
Made a big mess on the backside of the house digging up the live service feed:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2FHouse-Mess-01.JPG&t=665&c=dX5WLATEDnGPtw)
And finally the 400A automatic transfers switch joined the party:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2F400-Trio-01.JPG&t=665&c=dhQJNkrN0dRV3g)
So now it was time to re-route the 500 MCM cables the POCO dropped that went to the shop, up to the house and tie in to the 400A disconnect:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2FShop%2520500%2520MCM%2520run%252001.JPG&t=665&c=BW_BwGDBgm2TVw)
The ditchwitch was not able to handle the rocks, so I had to redo the trench with a backhoe before I could drop the cables in:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2FShop%2520500%2520MCM%2520run%252002.JPG&t=665&c=PFj8GAW0Cnk2Yg)
Next up was getting the new meter base and disconnect mounted and tie on the feed from the shop:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2FHouse400A-9-20-09.JPG&t=665&c=KaYMrv99zU78HQ)
And finally on September 26th I got the service at the house switched over to the new equipment with the shop building where the solar is, on a 400A disconnect:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2FHouse400A-9-26-02.JPG&t=665&c=TrixR0XluvpzCw)
Now I was finally able to start installing the solar system! Panels and related hardware arrive on October 26th:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2FsunMAX-01.JPG&t=665&c=66kLSvFNkVjPmQ)
Mounts installed on shop roof and the first couple of panels are installed on October 31st:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fmax-01-10-31.JPG&t=665&c=TcFdIQXCFBczsw)
Most of the 1st section done by November 4th:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fsunmax-11-4-01.JPG&t=665&c=mrP7qvlzHyyICQ)
What the panels look like ready to go on the roof:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fsunmax01-11-6.JPG&t=665&c=INheN4lxpT1CQg)
Last roof panel installed on November 6th:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fsunmax08-11-6.JPG&t=665&c=aQ9wIUm5JEwXWA)
Next up was pulling on the 1 1/4" steel conduit from the roof conduit box down the 200A shop sub-panel:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fsunmaxconduit01.JPG&t=665&c=f3gEyWsjj3Lsdw)
All the 10 gauge wire pulled through on the roof end:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fwirepulledroof.JPG&t=665&c=SpBt-aZBoV6CDQ)
And sub panel end:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fwirepulledpanel.JPG&t=665&c=ug9fZYcz6Oxh3A)
Next up was the 24 panel ground mounted array. Since this was going on recently back filled dirt, I decided to do a full pour between the 3" pipes that would support the array. It is now November 26th:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fgroundmount11-26-02.JPG&t=665&c=UMZcmmyLQrqHKA)
Pour completed on the 28th:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fgroundmount11-28-01.JPG&t=665&c=jtl9PADJ8XjJ8A)
Aluminum rails installed on December 2nd:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fgroundmount12-2-01.JPG&t=665&c=48mc2Ltvv3WlHQ)
Panels go in on the 3rd:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fgroundmount12-03-02.JPG&t=665&c=NGnhKqshg_MkcQ)
Back side:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fgroundmount12-4-02.JPG&t=665&c=DRaa-Za8wxbG_A)
All done and online by the 4th:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fgroundmount12-5-01.JPG&t=665&c=cnHbwcfueUgWVA)
Roof array power on December 7th:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fpico12-7-2pm.JPG&t=665&c=XiKRsqtNDu_Ywg)
Ground array power:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2Fsuntop24array2-10.JPG&t=665&c=tmAmlXew2y-hHg)
Pre-mining days I was making way more power that I used:
![](https://ip.bitcointalk.org/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cstone.net%2F%7Edk%2FsenseCT-14.PNG&t=665&c=pi3OWJXa91VDeA)