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Comment by kylehotchkiss | Hacker News Reader

My solar panels can't power my home if the grid goes down. Thoughts like this make me wish it would (yes, batteries, I know I know, but my panels are already a decade old so I'd rather pair with batteries when I upgrade to something new)

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I am in exactly the same place (my panels are 12yr old, which also means that I can't make any changes to the system without bringing it up to code, which means replacing it all, basically). I have been eyeing the Impulse Labs induction range[1] as a stopgap for one of the biggest pain points of long power outages (super expensive though, even with credits... and doesn't heat the house or keep the food in the fridge good - but it does look like a really nice stove!)

1: https://www.impulselabs.com/

I used a panel made in 1975, in 2012, and it still put out it's rated wattage. A 37 year old panel. Why would anyone replace working panels that still have so much life left in them?

Woah! I didn't realize you get that much life. How's your inverter? Still using the original?

Inverter and batteries had long since been swapped out. I was about the fifth person to use the panel. I was staying with some original back-to-the-landers who had purchased the panel along with several others around the time it was made. They swore by Outback Power for their inverters, though I own and like an awful lot of Victron equipment now.

Efficiency and available roof space

This is a graph of solar panel efficiency over time: http://solartribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/nrel.gov-...

Dark blue encompasses most mass produced commercial panels. Notice there's no change since 2008, and even a modern panel is only a few percent more efficient than the one I used from 1975.

Were you just guessing?

I'm confused. How does an induction stove act as a stopgap for long power outages?

It comes with a 3kWh battery built in.

Why is getting batteries tied with getting new panels? is your system not modular and your can't upgrade to having batteries while using the old panels (but possibly also a new controller)?

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