03/15/2026
Dry Gulch Ecovillage Photo Voltaic
These three photos are of the small solar power system I installed this month to supplement the electric heat in the Shop. This cost $1,000 for a battery and a microcrystaline collector. Microcrystaline is thinner, lighter, less expensive, and a little more efficient than silicone collectors. There are two photos of the collector I have mounted on the Shop porch roof, and one of the battery up on the Shop loft.
This battery is very heavy, and I could only barely lift it up to the loft. (Dollar bill shown for scale.) The display shows that the battery is 88% charged, with 0 Watt input since I took this photo after sunset, and 558 Watt output to the heater. Under the 88% it says that at the current output the battery will be depleted in about 3 hours.
The solar collector is hinged at the top so I can adjust it depending on how high is the sun in the sky, changing from winter to summer angles. In the summer I'll run the small refrigerator and the evaporative cooler off this collector and battery.
It turns out that my little Shop heater uses up the electricity from this little solar system pretty fast. I can only keep it running part of the night before the battery depletes, and then only heating the room to 50 degrees when it is freezing outside. Yet that is better than nothing! This is saving me a little money on my electric bill, yet it will take a long time to repay the $1k cost.
It takes a whole day of sun to charge the battery, so this solar system is not big enough for the job! Some day I will have to invest more money in solar power.
