Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Solar Install in Anguilla
We are off on our trip to Anguilla to do a solar install. Be back in 2 weeks, and expect to have a tan. Will post pics when we return. The install consists of two 130 watt panels, 35 amp charge controller, 1 AGM 70ah battery, a 300 watt sine wave inverter, and a 12 volt shurflo cistern pump. See pics of last weeks solar install at Woodhenge.org
Monday, March 03, 2008
All About Batteries
Off grid homes, RV's, and boats use a house bank, a bank of batteries used to store the energy from solar, wind, and backup generators for times of no sun or no wind. These are not car batteries, these are specially designed deep cycle batteries that can handle repeated deep discharge and charge cycles. Learn about the following and more from Living With 12vdc and Wiring For 12vdc, on the Ample Power CD at http://www.green-trust.org/products/
- What happens inside a battery when it discharges and
charges? - How much energy can be stored?
- How is storage capacity measured?
- How can capacity remaining be determined?
- When is the best time to recharge?
- What charging techniques yield optimum performance?
- How fast can a battery be charged?
- How should a battery be discharged?
- What kind of regular maintenance is required?
- What pitfalls must be avoided?
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Watermotor - Simple Mechanical Drive
High energy efficiency means that the quantity of water necessary for operation and cost of installation is greatly reduced, while on the other hand the number of actual locations where waterpower on this scale is available increases exponentially. In effect, every small fast-flowing stream becomes an important local energy resource, perhaps in many cases the only practical one available. In the world's hilly and mountainous areas there are often few roads and even fewer electric power-lines. While frequently rich in small scale water-power resources, the people are poor.
The Watermotor is a practical means of utilizing one of the easiest to use and most efficient sources of natural energy.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Solar Homes & Solar Collectors
http://www.jc-solarhomes.com/
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Invention of the Month - The Green Steam Engine
This one has been around a while, and has met the test of time. It's a reliable design, and we think it's awesome. See more at http://www.greensteamengine.com
Monday, February 18, 2008
Installing Solar at Woodhenge.org
Each frame has a small combiner box connecting the 4 panels with 12 gauge cable to a 10 gauge uplink to the master combiner box. The master combiner uplinks to the house with 6 gauge. See pics at http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/12VDC_Power/photos/browse/5156?c=
They bought a 40' shipping container to put belongings in while the house is being finished, so we put a temporary pv system on that as well for internal lighting.
We go back next weekend to fix the wind turbine and install some ground lines for the panels.