A true point and reason to have back up power

But first, the misconceptions.

When power goes out in an area, the power will go out for solar and non-solar homes alike. Thus, in the usual configuration, solar panels do not make a house energy-independent.

Safety is the main reason: The equipment cuts off the solar generators when the line goes down so the house doesn't inadvertently electrocute linemen trying to fix a problem. Also, solar energy doesn't work at night, so most systems stay connected to the grid -- homeowners would need to spend another $5,000 or more on battery backup.

By the way you can have back up power for less than this but for a commercial grade system a big boy this is probably true.

Working while on my battery/solar/inverter system

Just to start, for the umpteenth time this morning, I walked into my office and turned on my solar /battery/inverter light and started to work away. I have done this for hours and hours and hours. My tractor battery tied into a 1 amp solar panel into a controller has stayed fairly well charged and my light comes on and lights most of my office. The light is brighter than the regular KCPL lights :)
In early blogs I wrote that I am building a 12 volt system (no inverter at all, no 110) I am going to retrofit an old lamp and feed my battery system up through the floor and have this lamp beside my bed. I will use it to read and also use it if the power goes out. Gauging my potential use, I would say my 7 amp hour battery will last a long time. So far I am having a blast with the system. I will keep you posted.

My next move is to put two or three panels together into a big battery and then try to light up most of my office at least three or four lights for hours a day. Just a thought.

Till next time

Joe

solar heater

I like this:

Interesting, I happened to build something like this as an experiment.

I took a 4′x4′ piece of scrap plywood, spray painted it black. I screwed scrap 2×4’s around the perimeter to make a box about 3″ thick. I bought a $2.99 pack of window film and stapled it on the box. I put a 3 inch hole at the bottom and the top.

I laid the box up against a stone wall angling it towards the sun. Then I went to go get a thermometer (I had a digital one). So not to get direct sunlight on the thermometer probe, I put a piece of insulation over the probe. This was I was sure to read the true temperature of the air coming out of the top vent hole.

Well within a minute, the temperature of the air coming out had pegged the thermometer at it’s max of 130 degrees. So then I got my meat thermometer that I use for grilling, and the temperature read 160 degrees. There was a bit of an air flow coming out of the hole, so I know I was getting the hot air to rise, being replaced by cool air at the bottom.

So, the concept works. I haven’t done anything with it though.

solar projects

I have been working on my solar 12 volt backup project. I am using a small 6 amp hour gel cell and a 10 watt solar panel and three LED lights. The lights work well! Very well! I am contemplating mounting it and running one of the lights up into my bedroom and have 12 volt lighting for midnight reading and also emergency lighting.

More to come soon.

Joe

a solar airplane?

Well I am a pilot but I am afraid I might not like this too much except for backup purposes.

http://www.ecollo.com/post/2008/07/The-latest-in-air-travel-solar-powered-planes.aspx

A neat article on Solar

From Yahoo creative commons:

How Many Solar Panels Do You Actually Need?

Apr 28th, 2009

by Lauren.

Hi Again!
photo credit: montereypubliclibrary

Yesterday we talked briefly about the importance of determining your location’s ability to sustain solar and wind power for your home house, or business. I trust you found the solar calculator tool to be helpful. I will be posting some other solar calculators as well very shortly.

Today we are going to talk about how you determine what your solar panel needs actually are.

One question that comes up quite frequently when mapping out your plan to build your own solar panel energy is, how many solar panels would or do you need?

Well, this will depend on a few factors. The main factors are your average electrical usage, roof angle, shading problems, climate, and of course other potential factors.

The formula to figure out the size of array you would need is to multiply your average daily demand in killowatt-hours by .25. This will give you the approximate size of solar panel array that is needed to meet your electrical requirements.

Some other factors to consider are how much you want to go off grid. And, are you wanting to go off grid all at once, or ease into it?

One great thing is that you don’t have to build your solar panel system to meet your entire electrical demands all at once. When you use a book like Earth4Energy or Home Made Energy you are able to take the plans, and build your solar panels one at a time, building them as you need them or as you are able. Even when you start with one, it is the start to saving some electricity, and it is even portable so that you can take it with you when you go camping, or just want to get out of the city for a while but desire to take your laptop with you.

You might wonder if there is any value in pursuing building your own solar panels, if they aren’t going to take you off the grid right away. I say, yes and amen, it is! Imagine cutting your electric bill by 25%? How about even 40-50%? And then when you have a battery backup, and earth4energy shows you where you might even obtain free batteries, you can experience uninterrupted power to critical during power outages for days or weeks.

A solar panel energy system is unlikely to wipe out all other sources of electricity right off the bat. Even those that are professionally installed will not take you from electrical dependency to zero dependency in a moment. They can, but they are extremely expensive. But, that is where government and city incentives come in. But that is for another day.

So, there you have an idea of how to determine what your starting point for building your own solar panel energy would be.

Working on my solar kit

I made more small hook up wires for my solar savior 12 volt energy kit. I am almost ready now to hook up thewires and test. I will keep you posted.

Need a inexpensive toy for the holidays? Visit www.solarsavior and look at our kits.

a new paper battery

Follow this link to a neat article about a new paper battery!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091207/sc_nm/us_battery_paper

working on a new solar 12 volt kit

I am soldering nice connections for my 20 watt solar kit. I anticipate it to be done and driving 3 lights by next weekend. I am going to drive this with a 7 amp hour gel cell.

Working on my emergency solar kit

I spent time yesterday working on and testing my solar panel hook up to my emergency battery in my basment. I am using a small gel cell and I got it working and charging. Next step today I will work on my connections. I am going to make it look good and secure. Once done and tested, I will string a wire up to my bedroom and connect up a 12 volt light for emergency and also night time reading. It is a fun kit, I should soon have some pictures of others who have bought it.

If you have an interest, visit www.solarsavior.com for more information. Also if yu want to experiment and build a solar panel we sell slightly blemished Sharp cells at $89.00 a pound plus shipping. Thes are 1/2 volt at 4 amp plus not a bad way to play :)

More later.

Batteries do not like the cold!

One thing I am learning is that batteries do not like the cold. I have two 35 amp hour gel cells outside feeding power to my inverter. I can tell you that when it was 55 or 60 out noooo problem but as it dropped into the teens well that seems to be a different story. Also my lights also take a bit longer to come to full strength. The white ones came up much faster than the yellow ones. I am using Florressants. I may switch money permitting to LED 120 V but they are expensive! I am using a 100 watt Tripp Light inverter and I am driving 5 lights. This weekend I will also add 12 volt lighting.

More to come

PS if you are interested in building your own solar panels I can sell you 1 pound of used but very functional cells for $89.00 plus shipping. This is about 40 cells. You can make a very nice panel with that many cells.