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Solar Power Works!
Available Soon - 28 watt solar panels.
Light weight. Aprox. 3lbs. 16V 28 watt max. output solar panels with internal blocking diode. These are built per request. See picture at left. Ideal for charging batteries in cars, boats, RV's and at home. Each cost $ 225.00 plus shipping for a single panel but the price drops sharply if you order more than one. send email for quote and production shedule. Sorry but for now I will only ship within the USA.
Solar power is science, not magic.
There are a few things that people should understand about solar power generation, battery storage, and DC to AC conversion. Also about 110 to 220 volt conversion. And, is it really "Green Power"?
You will need a lot of power to run the many appliances in a home! I have set up one room in my home which runs almost entirely on solar power. TV, stereo, VCR, DVD, lights and power for the vacuum cleaner too. This much requires enough panels and bright sunlight to produce 145 watts continuous. On some overcast weeks, I have run out of power for night time use. Day time is never a problem since the panels produce enough power to run many appliances even in dim light.
DON'T THROW AWAY HALF YOUR POWER!:
Next, you need battery storage. They are inefficient but essential. You might only get half out what you put in. You need LOTS of batteries! Deep Cycle, RV or, marine type, lead acid batteries. My system is small so,I have four of these rated at 450 cold cranking amps each. You don't want to waste the Suns energy when you are getting it. You want to store it all and a full battery won't accept any further charge and a dead battery is slow to accept a charge and will dissipate energy in the form of heat. In fact, a battery works most efficiently half way between full and empty. More batteries are better because, more power is saved even as the batteries reach a full charge and as the reverse current into the batteries slows down to a halt. Also, the chance of running the batteries down to the empty state is less. You should determine the amount of battery storage by multiplying the power generated in a 10 hour period by 4. In the case of my system, the panels produce 60 amps hours and the battery storage should hold a 240 amp hour charge min. I have also added a large electrolytic cap. in parallel, rated at 200 volts and at 3600uf. Do not hook this up backwards! The capacitor can discharge faster than any battery thus supplying a boost of power to start TV's and motors. You can get this capacitor at a car stereo shop. This cap is what makes your car windows shake when you are stuck in traffic next to a rust bucket with something to prove. (boom - boom - boom)
INVERTERS PRODUCE SQUARE WAVES
DC to AC. OK, look out, don't burn out your delicate equipment. GFI outlets, high power battery chargers, and some stereos will fry! Why? because, you need a power inverter that you can afford. That's why! The cheap kind are called Modified Sign Wave. They put out a series of alternating square waves (digital - hard on/ hard off- can you say buzzzzz!). The kind you wish you had are Pure Sign Wave. But, $169 looks better than $1800. So, what do you do? Well, I designed my own high power line filter. Inductors and capacitor networks can filter out unwanted noise (osc freq. and switching) and the charge / discharge rate combined with the build / collapse rate of magnetic flux in the inductors can smooth off the spikes and corners on those nasty little square waves. Now, my stereo has relatively clean, smooth power and the GFI outlets are not singing until they fry. I would be glad to show you how if you ask me. For PCB pattern and plans Byte312@aol.com
PARTS LIST FOR LINE FILTER
L1 and L2 2- coils of no. 12 insulated wire wound 16 turns on a 1/2 inch dia. wood dowel.
NE1 and NE2 110v neon light bulbs. (shunts spikes)
C1, C2, and C3 .047 uf ceramic disk capacitor 1000volt
1) 3 prong to 2 prong adapter plug with grounding terminal.
1) 15 amp AC line cord with 3 prong plug.
Solder on all components into circuit board in locations as indicated on the foil pattern. The AC input is the line cord connections 1 thru 3. 1 is hot, 2 is ground, 3 is the cold wire (white wire in an electrical box). AC output is made with the adapter plug. The prongs on the adapter slip into two slots cut into the edge of the board and are soldered in place (terminal A hot and B cold). Use no. 14 wire to connect the adapter ground terminal to the ground plane on the board marked as GND.
Email me for Printed Circuit board Layout.
Mount the finished assembly into a project case or, set it into a waxed container and fill with epoxy to cover all exposed conductors. Remove the finished module from the waxed container when the epoxy has set.
In operation, the line filter will produce a buzzing sound but, appliances plugged into the filter should run much quieter than if plugged directly into the power inverter. DO NOT EXCEED 1800 watts.
110 to 220 conversion.
You cannot run your 220 appliances on single phase 110. You can use a transformer to convert 110 to 220 and there are some compact solid state devices that will make the conversion also. The best power comes from a transformer because they are capable of producing a pure 60 cycle sign wave. Solid state devices typically produce square wave outputs. Some devices attempt to reshape the square waves with inductive and capacitive networks which alter the waveform to resemble an analog
cycle.
GREEN POWER?
Remember, Solar power panels do not grow on trees. They are produced in big factories which pollute just like all manufacturing plants do. Solar Panels will fail in time and might go to a land fill. The same might be true of those lead acid batteries if you don't recycle. Still, solar power is better than burning foreign oil and better than a noisy gas powered generator any day and almost as good any night if you have enough batteries. But, night time use can use up twice the energy as day time use because of the drain on the batteries.
ITS UP TO YOU
Be bold and implement alternative energy in your home. Don't wait for the government or your local utility company to solve the nation's energy problems.
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IN RESPONSE TO A LETTER October, 2003 (Solar Powered Room)
Where you mount your solar panels and how you secure them is up to you but, it is important to position them at an angle so that they get direct sun light. Here in Michigan 42 degrees is the correct angle. At the equator 0 degrees is best. No. 14 exterior wire may be used to handle up to 1800 watts. Use as much of this as needed to reach the area where your electrical box is in the house. This is usually a good place for your battery storage and inverter. Most panels can be connected directly to the batteries but, it is better to use a charge controller to prevent overcharging. A charge controller has indicator lights on it which will tell you if it is charging or if the battery is full.
Because computers and peripherals are a big power drain; I would recommend that you install at least two 75 watt panels wired in parallel to produce 150 continuous watts if you are going to operate a computer and other appliances for an extended period each day. Also, power conservation is as important as power generation so, use the screw in Florissant light bulbs where you can to save power. Two or three large deep cycle batteries will hold enough power to supply you after night fall. A large electrolytic capacitor (3600 uf 35 volt or higher) may be added in parallel. Connect all positive terminals together and connect all negative terminals together with cables from any automotive parts store. Use the neg terminal to starter switch type cables that have the flat ends with holes for bolt on connections. Be sure to get the kind of deep cycle battery that has the bolt terminals with wing nut fasteners.
A small inverter (700 watt) will handle all of your devices however, some of the larger inverters are better quality and will produce less noise. The inverter should be the kind that you can ground to a water pipe or other ground point. I am using the Coleman Powermate 2000 watt inverter which I can strongly recommend. This one can run everything in the house except for the oven during a power outage. (Cheap on E-bay.)
Powering up the circuit for your room must be handled with caution. You can feed any circuit in your home by first turning off the power to that circuit at the electrical panel and then using a cord with plugs on both ends to connect the inverter to any outlet on that circuit. After this connection has been made you may turn the inverter on to power that circuit. Never plug the two ended cord into a live circuit because of the potential shock hazard. If necessary, an outlet can be added near the electrical box to serve as the feed for you room. This is what I have done in my basement to power a room on the second floor. To make the cord, buy a 15 amp extension cord and cut off the outlet end. Then add a plug to that end. Wire it so that the hot prongs of each plug are connected, the cold prongs are connected and the ground terminal of one plug connects to the same on the other plug. Do not get this backwards or you can create a shock hazard. If you use a line filter to clean up the power, plug it into the inverter first and then connect from there to the circuit.
It is important to further develope solar power and to impliment the technology but, solar is not the only alternative energy source. Many other solutions exist but no one of them is perfect. We can break our dependence on foriegn oil only if we use many different types of energy production. Vegetable oil can power any vehical with a desiel engine and thousands of gallons are discarted each day. Why not use free fuel in your car or truck. To learn more, type "vegetable oil as fuel" into your web browser search bar.
Send E-Mail to: byte312@aol.com
Copyright © 2005 Craig A. Moore. All Rights Reserved