DownTown Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Well, I bit the bullet, and signed the paperwork to have solar panels installed on my roofs. They will cover my main and garage roofs. The direct result of this will be no more room on the garage roof for my 15 mini trees . The indirect result is that I will also not have any place to hang my mega trees and strobes from, as most of the trees in the front and side yards have to come down . That adds up to 33320 lights (out of a little over 44000) that will need new homes, and all sequences will have to be re-done. Since the panels won't be installed for another 6-8 weeks, that will leave precious little time to make the changes for this year, and so I think I will scrap this year's lights. Boo-HooOn the up side, the decision was a simple one, because the economics of it are such that it was a no-brainer. Over the life of the panels, I'll save about $170,000. That will buy a lot of CCRs and DMX fixtures . One of my ideas for the panels is to outline each panel with a tricolor super string, so I can do some cool patterns on the panels themselves. We'll see what I can put together for 2010.For this year, I'll just have to enjoy the work of you guys, as you begin posting your Christmas lights this year.Wish me luck.D.T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max-Paul Posted September 7, 2009 Share Posted September 7, 2009 Sorry to hear you wont be doing a display this year. But as you say, there is good side of all of this.May I ask, what kind of power do you expect to get from your panels, presuming that these are PV panels. Is this going to be a on the grid system or an off the grid system?I am looking at and dreaming of a wind turbine on the grid system myself. Would love to expand to solar PV on the grid system to work in conjuction in the future.Either way, good luck that the install goes without a hitch. I am sure your 2010 display will be better still yet.edited to correct to read on grid for the solar PV system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cenote Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 DownTown wrote: Over the life of the panels, I'll save about $170,000. D.T.Could I ask you to post a link or info on what kind of panels you are installing and how they work? Sounds like great savings Sorry to hear you might scrap lights this year, I am in the same boat with a possiable demo/rebuild job on my garage. But have decided, no matter how small of a display I might down size too, I am still putting lights out, even if they just fade back in forth of three strings, with no music. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DownTown Posted September 8, 2009 Author Share Posted September 8, 2009 cenote wrote: Could I ask you to post a link or info on what kind of panels you are installing and how they work? Sounds like great savings Sorry to hear you might scrap lights this year, I am in the same boat with a possiable demo/rebuild job on my garage. But have decided, no matter how small of a display I might down size too, I am still putting lights out, even if they just fade back in forth of three strings, with no music.Yes, they will be photo voltaic panels - at this point we think about 50 of them. BP solar has contracted an installer to draw up the final installation plans. Can't wait to get this moving forward.Here's a link to the BP solar site: http://www.bp.com/modularhome.do?categoryId=8050&contentId=7035481. I'm in NJ, so I get a decent rebate from the state (over 16k), plus a 17.5k tax credit next year. That makes it all more affordable.D.T. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Herberger Posted September 8, 2009 Share Posted September 8, 2009 cenote wrote:Sorry to hear you might scrap lights this year, I am in the same boat with a possiable demo/rebuild job on my garage. But have decided, no matter how small of a display I might down size too, I am still putting lights out, even if they just fade back in forth of three strings, with no music.:shock: Chuck does this mean there will be no Twelve days of Christmas wire frames this year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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