Solar powered generator (DIY)

[iLOVENZB]

http://www.rain.org/~philfear/how2solar.html

:unsure:

Anybody built one before, what were your thoughts?

[Expeto]

check instructables for more options.
I'm not sure why you are unsure? They work fine.

[Detale]

This summer I almost built a windmill, don't know if it's exactly relevant or not just figured I'd mention it. I never ended up getting around to it though. Meh maybe next year :eyebrows:

[sandman_1]

Haven't built one but my dream home is one that is totally off the grid and fully self sufficient using different types of energy sources: Solar, Wind, Geothermal, and Hydroelectric. One can only dream...:whistling

[iLOVENZB]

Expeto, I'm unsure if it's worth building a pannel to use for serious use ie. not to only power a light bulb.

Detale, A few farms in the West complained that the windmill's were too loud. Basically they got incentives from the Government rebates for "clean" energy. They supply a grid and get free power.

sandman_1, My thoughts exactly. We currently have solar hot water which has electricty as a backup. There's only a few days a year where we don't have enough hot water and that's usually because some of my flatmates take 20 minute showers.

The worst part is, is that even with the Governemnt rebates it's still not economic to use "clean" energy. Electricty from coal is far less cheaper then Solar, Wind, Nuclear etc.

Our power bill has shot up in the last few year. We used to pay around $300-$400 in electricity here for 3 months and it's skyrocketed to nearly $1000. I think the last bill was $700-odd and we went on holiday for 3/4 of a month.

I can't believe Solar power hasn't picked up here in Australia. We have all this land which is useless and nobody uses it for anything. Not only will it be a great stimulus package (providing jobs building the plant and mantaining it) but it puts the Government in a good light with the public and provides clean energy.

I would rather not get into the Global Warming myth but it's becoming a joke ... coal isn't going to be able to supply the rest of the economy in coming years.

[Expeto]

That is the hardest question...its hart to know will it worth it.
Its usually around 2-4dollars per watt, but this depends on the sunlight.

You can do a small scale test, first determine your budget, select the items you will be buying. After selecting your real panels note their conversion efficiency, and find a smaller panel with same conversion efficiency.

Buy that small panel, connect it to a DC watt-meter than connect the output to a random thing to waste DC power(a resistor , a light bulb, a small motor, anything). Observe the wattmeter data, or buy a smart meter that records data. Use that data to estimate how much power will the real size panel will make for you. Keep two things in mind, you will also loose some of that power at the dc/ac converter and the sunlight intensity will change every month. Now you can make a smart guess.

[raufoss50]

Hydroelectric, by far, has the most bang for the buck. But, you have to be near a running water source that you have some rights to.

Wind seems to be the most accessible for people. I remember seeing some vertical turbines that you can mount on your chimney or a tower. They were really cool, because they plugged right into your house like an appliance. They would run your meter backwards if no power was being used. I think they were between $400 and $1000. Something like that.

Solar still has a ways to go. There is a lot involved in making panels, but new techniques are in the pipeline.

As for global warming, it is all BS (I trained as an environmental geochemist). That's not an excuse to rape Earth, though. A person should do this to save money, be self-sufficient, and to improve local air quality. It is very satisfying to see your utility bills decrease with each improvement.

[sandman_1]

A person should do this to save money, be self-sufficient, and to improve local air quality. It is very satisfying to see your utility bills decrease with each improvement.

And I would gander that in the near future if we don't have some people going off the grid, our current electrical system isn't going to cut it. The west coast already has rolling brownouts. That and the fact that our grid will be more subjective to problems that may occur such as the last blackout of the north-east, 2003, which is still up for debate as to how or why it happened.

[raufoss50]

And I would gander that in the near future if we don't have some people going off the grid, our current electrical system isn't going to cut it. The west coast already has rolling brownouts. That and the fact that our grid will be more subjective to problems that may occur such as the last blackout of the north-east, 2003, which is still up for debate as to how or why it happened.

Exactly! Our power companies either can't or won't maintain the grid to an acceptable level.

[Detale]

Haven't built one but my dream home is one that is totally off the grid and fully self sufficient using different types of energy sources: Solar, Wind, Geothermal, and Hydroelectric. One can only dream...:whistling

GEOTHERMAL!? You plan on living above an active volcano!!!

Personally I don't see why all light at this point aren't LED's this would save not only the grid issues but the pockets of consumers as well.

The windmill thing is actually quite involved and not as easy as plugging it into your home electrical system. You need to have a place to store the batteries as they are VERY heavy (similar to car batteries), not to mention you need a system to keep the batteries from spinning the generator (basically a motor run backwards) and powering the fan of the windmill once they are charged. Things like these (http://cgi.ebay.com/Plug-your-Wind-Generator-into-house-spin-meter-backward-/260604288005?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cad39dc05) you REALLY need to know what you're doing as they are rated for a certain amount of wattage, going over can cause a fire. I'm still doing reading on the subject as I don't feel confidant enough to take on the project just yet.

[iLOVENZB]

Detale, I would assume the reason that LED lights aren't manufactured as standard is because the price to convert would be astronomical for manufactures. As far as I'm aware christmas lights are starting to pop up more in LED's.

[sandman_1]

Haven't built one but my dream home is one that is totally off the grid and fully self sufficient using different types of energy sources: Solar, Wind, Geothermal, and Hydroelectric. One can only dream...:whistling

GEOTHERMAL!? You plan on living above an active volcano!!!


No, of course not.

http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/story/chapter11.html

[tesco]

Haven't built one but my dream home is one that is totally off the grid and fully self sufficient using different types of energy sources: Solar, Wind, Geothermal, and Hydroelectric. One can only dream...:whistling

GEOTHERMAL!? You plan on living above an active volcano!!!

Personally I don't see why all light at this point aren't LED's this would save not only the grid issues but the pockets of consumers as well.

The windmill thing is actually quite involved and not as easy as plugging it into your home electrical system. You need to have a place to store the batteries as they are VERY heavy (similar to car batteries), not to mention you need a system to keep the batteries from spinning the generator (basically a motor run backwards) and powering the fan of the windmill once they are charged. Things like these (http://cgi.ebay.com/Plug-your-Wind-Generator-into-house-spin-meter-backward-/260604288005?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cad39dc05) you REALLY need to know what you're doing as they are rated for a certain amount of wattage, going over can cause a fire. I'm still doing reading on the subject as I don't feel confidant enough to take on the project just yet.
If you're staying connected to teh grid you don't need batteries. Whatever is generated gets fed into your house's wiring to offset what you use, lowering your power bill.
If you're not using as much as you're producing, it gets fed back into the grid and apparantly your meter spins backwards (never heard of this before but I guess it would work, not sure what new digital/smart meters would do...).
When your windmills or solar panels aren't generating anything you're just simply running off of the grid (meter "spins" normally).


There's a better option that this here in Ontario, not sure about other places, there are big incentives to invest in large amounts of solar panels for your house or business.
You buy the panels, set them up on your roof, and you get two power meters connected to the power grid. One is measuring your house's usage, the other is measuring what your solar panels produce. While we pay something like 8cents per kWh for our electricity, the power company will pay us 85 cents per kWh.
The panels don't even produce enough power to power your entire home. The power companies/government are basically paying you for investing in solar energy.

One catch is the cost of the panels. They can cost over $30,000, but on average they will pay for themselves in 7 years.
You are locked into that 85 cents per kWh for something like 10 years though, so you eventually make a nice profit.
The other catch is having somewhere to put them. The power company pays out different rates depending on where you put the panels. The biggest payout is for roof mounted, but you must have a roof facing the sun for optimal output. The next best payout is for pole mounted. If you lie them on the ground you get paid next to nothing, it's not even worth the investment.

[Detale]

Damn electricians! Not to mention you need to have a roof that would support the weight of the panels and if it pays off in 7 years what s the life expectancy of the solar panels?

[tesco]

Damn electricians! Not to mention you need to have a roof that would support the weight of the panels and if it pays off in 7 years what s the life expectancy of the solar panels?
20 years if I remember correctly.

[Detale]

Really? I thought they were like 5-7 years before noticeable failure. TBH I haven't really looked into it in years now.


Detale, I would assume the reason that LED lights aren't manufactured as standard is because the price to convert would be astronomical for manufactures. As far as I'm aware christmas lights are starting to pop up more in LED's.

Ah but how hard could it possibly be to manufacture an adapter to screw into incandescent fixtures and such.

[tesco]

Really? I thought they were like 5-7 years before noticeable failure. TBH I haven't really looked into it in years now.


Detale, I would assume the reason that LED lights aren't manufactured as standard is because the price to convert would be astronomical for manufactures. As far as I'm aware christmas lights are starting to pop up more in LED's.

Ah but how hard could it possibly be to manufacture an adapter to screw into incandescent fixtures and such.
LEDs don't run off of 120v that we have in our house, they need somewhere around 3volts but depends on the color.
Also when LEDs are connected to AC (what we have in our houses) they flicker really badly (you'll notice it with cheap led christmas lights), so it needs a rectifier to convert that AC to DC.

So it's not just a matter of producing a screw in adapter. :P

Oh the other issue is that the light produced by LED looks ugly, but I guess that's a matter of opinion.

[Detale]

I say again, Damn Electricians!! Really they couldn't fit a rectifier into a small adapter? I mean it's a few resistors and a small circuit board, no? Something resembling a magic eye in size/shape. Agreed an LED would be harsh light but I'm sure that could be worked out as well with a filter. I'm not saying it would be the easiest thing in the world, but I can see it is do-able. Well I know what I'm doing in the new year. Coming up with a screw in adapter damnit!!! Hey, know a good electrician I could get some help from ;)

[tesco]

I say again, Damn Electricians!! Really they couldn't fit a rectifier into a small adapter? I mean it's a few resistors and a small circuit board, no? Something resembling a magic eye in size/shape. Agreed an LED would be harsh light but I'm sure that could be worked out as well with a filter. I'm not saying it would be the easiest thing in the world, but I can see it is do-able. Well I know what I'm doing in the new year. Coming up with a screw in adapter damnit!!! Hey, know a good electrician I could get some help from ;)
I didn't say it was impossible, they already have them.
Just saying it's not as simple as you think, so for now they're expensive.
61813

[Expeto]

I'm pretty sure Christmas lights have rectifiers, since commercial led can't run on AC. The flickering isn't because of the lack of a rectifier but because of lack of large enough capacitor in the rectifier. I real unrectified source will flick more than 50times per sec, way to fast to notice.


I say again, Damn Electricians!! Really they couldn't fit a rectifier into a small adapter? I mean it's a few resistors and a small circuit board, no? Something resembling a magic eye in size/shape. Agreed an LED would be harsh light but I'm sure that could be worked out as well with a filter. I'm not saying it would be the easiest thing in the world, but I can see it is do-able. Well I know what I'm doing in the new year. Coming up with a screw in adapter damnit!!! Hey, know a good electrician I could get some help from ;)

Yep!, its easiest thing to do. As you said they could fit a rectifier in to small adapter. Just connect a diode to any ac cable and connect other and to the ground, voila! rectified 220v! add a capacitor now you have a more stable source. Add 3 more diodes, wow! a full rectifier!

Its not about what they can do, its about what they can sell. The more the power you need more capacitors you will have to add to keep it stable but this is not the real problem. The big problem of the LED lights are the heating, some models even come with a small fan embedded in them. You can notice shape of the backside of the lamb, its designed to get air in. Pulling enough power to light up the place while not create enough heat to destroy the components are quite a challenge.

[tesco]

I'm pretty sure Christmas lights have rectifiers, since commercial led can't run on AC.
You might be right, but I'd imagine an LED could run on AC just fine. It would only light on the positive part of the cycle, hence the flickering.


Its not about what they can do, its about what they can sell. The more the power you need more capacitors you will have to add to keep it stable but this is not the real problem. The big problem of the LED lights are the heating, some models even come with a small fan embedded in them. You can notice shape of the backside of the lamb, its designed to get air in. Pulling enough power to light up the place while not create enough heat to destroy the components are quite a challenge.
They use heatsinks, detale's specialty. :) He'll have water cooler LED lights in no time.

[Expeto]

You are right , after all LED = Light Emitting Diode, a diode, main component of rectifier, any led on AC will work as an half wave rectifier

A solar powered LED bulb cooled by water, that's what I call green! :D
edit: just remembered water cooling systems used some inductive oil , still sound cools :)

[Cipher]

interesting thread, think im going to have to look into all this again. did alot of research a few years ago when was thinking about putting in a water turbine, but at time just wasnt cost effective for the amount of electricity generated. i guess now designs have improved and hopefully prices have come down abit. maybe more worthwhile now.

[iLOVENZB]

When I have more time I'll take a look at this: http://www.gotwind.org/diy/Preliminary_Plans.htm