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TIL about a company that ran a Ponzi scheme building solar panel trailers ... swapping serial numbs over a few built units as customers wanted to see them.

Some more info in the Wikipedia article. And yes, this is about DC Solar, which I guess many americans will know but as someone from europe this was totally new to me.

Wild just how far he got running this shit.

bionicjoey ,

Wouldn’t they be loud af? How did nobody question the noise?

Kaboom ,

The people buying them probably weren’t the ones using them

Fubarberry ,
@Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz avatar

From reading about it on other websites, it sounds like all the customers buying these were well aware that they were buying generators.

Spitzspot ,
@Spitzspot@lemmings.world avatar

Fake it till you make it.

Fubarberry ,
@Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz avatar

Having generators together with the solar panels is completely normal.

From what I understand the trailers were supposed to provide backup power to cell towers, sporting events, etc. Solar can provide small amounts of “free” power but you lose it when it’s cloudy or dark. It also can’t meet high power demands for when a lot of power is needed. Normally these problems can be offset by having more solar panels and large battery banks, but that’s not a good option for a trailer mounted backup system.

A diesel generator can provide a huge amount of power in a comparatively small package, making it a much more reliable power source. You can provide backup power with just a generator (no solar), but you usually can’t provide enough backup power with just solar. For example, my local emergency services has a 200kw trailer mounted generator they can use if their main generators are down. A solar system capable of generating that much power would need to be at least 115 sq ft, and would require a ridiculous lot of batteries to make the power available consistently.

Any off-grid set up will usually combine solar and generators, they both have advantages. But a trailer mounted generator can easily be 100s of KW, which isn’t a feasible amount of power to have be portable with solar.

mosiacmango , (edited )

How big is that trailer? Semi trailer big?

Semi trailer is 53’x8.5’x13.6’. Roughly 6100sqft.

Based on this site and somwhat lazy math, a standard semi truck trailer can have roughly 75kw worth of solar panels on it with 400w panels. If we can get 500w panels in the same form factor, we can get to 100kw worth of panels on a semi truck trailer.

You may even be able to get even more panels on if you build in awning system like here:

https://lemm.ee/api/v3/image_proxy?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsolarrolla.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2018%2F12%2Fhome_estar2.png

We ain’t to 200kw yet, but its getting closer.

SchmidtGenetics ,

Your math is off, it shouldn’t be 3 measurements for area, you’re using cubic feet by accident. So off by a factor of one of your measurements.

Cort ,

Factor of 8.5, since that’s the height of the vehicle. So 9-11kw. Enough to power a house if paired with batteries.

Fubarberry ,
@Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz avatar

No, it’s a lot smaller than a semi trailer. A semi trailer can hold at least a Megawatt generator if not bigger.

The 200kw generator they use is a military model, maybe 4.5’x10’ in size?

BearOfaTime ,

Less than 4’x8’, more like 3-1/2’ x 6’. Roughly 20 Sq ft. What kind of solar generation are you going to do in 20sq ft? Not much. That’s like 9 PA els, at 100w each under ideal conditions.

Once you start doing your own math for your own camper, it suddenly becomes painfully clear how limited solar still is, even with lithium batteries that weigh half as much as a lead acid, and store twice as much energy.

Brkdncr ,

A few years back you could buy a trailer mounted solar/battery/gen with a huge light stack for pretty cheap because the batteries were due for replacement. A lot of people bought them up and turned them into emergency power systems for their homes.

There’s no reason to not have multiple energy sources for these types of things.

Aatube ,

Imagine running a ponzi scheme to fund a baseball team and only getting 6th in a 6-team league

Sanctus ,
@Sanctus@lemmy.world avatar

On November 9, 2021, Jeffery Carpoff was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering.

awesome_lowlander ,

Pretty misleading. The problem isn’t that he had diesel generators in the trailers, that’s standard practice. It’s that he built a very tiny fraction of the number he promised investors he had actually built, and spent the rest of the funds.

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