Solar Power And My Helpers

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Many people live in off-grid homes that are not hooked up to the power lines. It is certainly something that can be done and you can live a normal life but it is expensive.
The more you think you need to run in your home, the more expensive the system is going to be, think minimally, realize what you can do without, that's what we have done, we only have 1,560 watts for our solar array and 1,025 amp-hours in our battery bank running a 4,000 watt inverter, this will not run an electric water heater, furnace or dryer, short term it will run two refrigerators, a small chest freezer and a larger chest freezer and since we changed all lights to LED's it will run most of them and even a 42" LCD TV. One thing that I didn't expect from our solar array was it's ability to charge the batteries as well as it can on cloudy, rainy days, that's turning out to be a real blessing and that's probably because I used high voltage output solar panels and an MPPT solar controller. At this point we consider our solar system strictly a backup system and it does that job very good.
 
If you examine solar power the first think you realize is that when the sun sets your power goes out. Look a bit closer and you find that you get 80% power for four hours a day, 50% power for four hours and 10% power the rest of the time. You do slightly better with a tracking system but it is never 100% of the capacity of your panels for more than an hour or so. If you want to use power after sunset then you need batteries AND a larger solar array to charge the batteries while you are using power during the day.
That sounds good until you get a week of overcast or a month of snow or foggy days. The easy way around a large bank of batteries and a huge solar farm is to add wind power to run a hybrid system. When there is fog there is no wind and cloudy days are not always windy. So you need a backup generator that can run the necessities and charge the batteries.
You can build a hybrid system with Water, solar and wind that might be able to provide a "turnkey" home but it is more likely that you will have to adjust the way you live to be off the grid.
I haven't mentioned geo-thermal but there are places where a simple geo-thermal system can keep a desert home cool all summer long with no external power use at all. You can have 55F air to cool your house in the summer and use a modified version to heat it in the winter as long as you have sunshine. That is the key, you need sunshine to provide heat, air movement, and even the stream you use for hydro.
Now you know why the sun was called a god in the earliest of times.
 
When we bought our solar panels for our solar array, I asked the people at Grape Solar if I needed to have a system to adjust the panels for summer to winter angles and they told me to just set the angle to what parallel we live at, that turned out to be close to 45 degrees and that's worked out exceptionally well, in fact, I was very surprised to see that throughout the year the average voltage of output from our array is 72 to 80 volts, even on cloudy, rainy days and I've seen chargeable voltages even up to when sun was going down over the trees on a low ridge to the west. I am extremely grateful for the information that was given to me from AM Solar of Eugene, Oregon, where we got our panels and controller. I learned that it was important to use high cell count panels that gave out more voltage than I needed for the 12 volt systemin our motorhome, the panel we got put out nearly 22 volts in full sun, which meant when solar conditions were not ideal, I could still get voltages that were high enough to recharge the house batteries. I also learned that the best solar controller to use is an MPPT type, Multi, Point, Power Tracking, they are designed to take those higher voltages and charge battery banks even when solar conditions are not so favorable. The solar system we had on our motorhome became the test bed for the standby solar system we have for our home, thing is that even if the solar array is putting out voltages just above 25 volts, the battery bank will get some charging and yes there is a prime time during the middle of the day, but I have seen voltages that are good up to sun down. The thing is, I hadn't designed my system to be as efficient as it is, I just followed what I had been told and what I had done extensive research on. By the way, just a rough guess, our backup system cost about $18,000 to $20,000, I could have spent about the same for a really good generator system but were more than happy the way our solar standby system works, I think the inverter kicks in in about 14 microseconds, just a slight blink of lights and nothing shuts down, just a smooth change over from grid to solar.
 
A grid tied system is best for most users. If you have to be off grid (like 25 miles to the nearest line) then you have to make sure that you make the most of the system you buy and consider all legs of the hybrid systems that you have available.
I am still working on a device that can power a home without any outside power at all. (I'm not even close yet but it will be on the net as open source when I do)
 
I installed a solar battery maintainer on my truck today! :woo hoo:
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I only drive it about 30 minutes per week (with 2 startups) so I had to charge the battery about once a month due to quiescent drain.
An awesome 10 watts in full sun should take care of that:p.
So, nobody can say that I am 'anti-solar'.:clapping:
 
I installed a solar battery maintainer on my truck today! :woo hoo:
View attachment 47066
I only drive it about 30 minutes per week (with 2 startups) so I had to charge the battery about once a month due to quiescent drain.
An awesome 10 watts in full sun should take care of that:p.
So, nobody can say that I am 'anti-solar'.:clapping:

I need one for my jeep and truck. The jeep (no a/c) sits most of the summer unless I need the 4wd and my truck sits most of the winter (no 4wd).
 
I need one for my jeep and truck. The jeep (no a/c) sits most of the summer unless I need the 4wd and my truck sits most of the winter (no 4wd).
It will only work on vehicles left parked out in the sun ;).
(Believe it or not, some people complained that it did not work in a garage)
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Well, no
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!
I'll have a full report on this one in a couple months. Preliminary tests look good.
 
Let's see; 10 watts / 13 volts = 0.76 amps. The typical car battery produces 60 amp hours. Roughly 10 amps of constant draw over a 6 hour period. It takes 200 amps to start your car but it does so for only a few seconds so it uses 0.167 amp hours to start your car. That means your solar charger has to work 4.5 hours to replace the power used to start your car. That's not really true unless your alternator can't make enough power to run your car and charge your battery to some extent. It is a worthwhile tool but if your battery is not leaking, and there are no shorts in your electrical system it should be just a "feel good" tool. Keep your battery top and sides cleaned, terminals clean and tight and monitor for shorts and you won't need the solar charger. On the other hand if you only use your car once a month and the battery case is dirty then you should (clean it up) use a battery minder or a battery maintainer type of charger.
 
I installed a solar battery maintainer on my truck today! :woo hoo:
View attachment 47066
I only drive it about 30 minutes per week (with 2 startups) so I had to charge the battery about once a month due to quiescent drain.
An awesome 10 watts in full sun should take care of that:p.
So, nobody can say that I am 'anti-solar'.:clapping:
I like to call that parasitic drain, it's the current used to keep the computers memory intact, the radio at the same station you were last on and remember where all your saved frequencies are and sometimes alternators will have some reverse current loss because of their diodes, our motorhome has a problem with that going on and I ended up installing a fuse in the charge circuit that I remove when the motorhome is not being used, that seems to help. Modern vehicles have a lot of things that can cause parasitic current drain, it seems like the vehicles generally come with larger batteries to help deal with that. I installed a 15 watt solar panel on the roof of the motorhome shed to help keep the engine and home batteries topped off, however I have found that 15 watts is not enough and it really should be at least 60 watts and it should be run through an MPPT solar controller and not the cheap Pulse Modified unit that I got.
 
I like to call that parasitic drain, it's the current used to keep the computers memory intact, the radio at the same station you were last on and remember where all your saved frequencies are and sometimes alternators will have some reverse current loss because of their diodes, our motorhome has a problem with that going on and I ended up installing a fuse in the charge circuit that I remove when the motorhome is not being used, that seems to help. .
Parasitic drain is also a correct term.
Unlike a motorhome with other batteries, I only have to keep the one up that cranks the truck.
The culprits for me are: the ECM is always listening for a stupid key fob
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, and a trailer electric-brake controller, which must be powered directly connected to unswitched battery positive.
Over weeks, just sitting, these take a toll. Not a big one, but enough to break out the battery-charger once a month.
The good news: while I'm baking my a** in the 95°+ heat down here, I'll have something to smile about:p.
Go ahead! Charge my battery for free!!! :woo hoo:
 
...
I'll have a full report on this one in a couple months. Preliminary tests look good.
Well, it's been a couple of months... does it work?
Yes, kinda.
It does not maintain the battery fully charged, or 75% charged, but it does maintain it above the 'will not crank over' level and that is good enough to keep me from having to charge the battery monthly.
Of course, leaving a battery below the 75% state-of-charge level for long periods will lead to sulfation of the plates.
...which is still not as bad as letting it get down below 20%, which I was doing :rolleyes:.
Was the solar maintainer worth the $40 I paid?
Yes. I don't have to worry about turning the key and hearing 'click-click-click':mad:.
 
I was looking at a piece of land near me that was being promoted as being ready and licensed for 40 gigawatt wind farm, solar power and geothermal power. I know a little about the area and at least one farmer uses his well to heat his home in the winter but the water is below 212F so I am unsure what potential is there for geothermal power. I may look into it more but the property is closer to a small town, zoned for industrial use and straddles a major highway. It really isn't a good place for survival and the fact that it is geologically active could foretell geologic activity. That could be VERY bad.
This is why we move here, we're a pretty safe distance from volcanic mountains, the area we live in has mainly metamorphic rock with bedrock exposed and when earthquakes happen in areas north and south of us, we seldom ever feel them here. If mountains blow in the Cascades to the east of us, we don't have drainage from them that would be near, on the other hand, we could easily get ash fall. Many of the mountains in the Cascade range east of us have steam exiting from fumaroles, not all that far southeast of us is Mt. Lassen and it has a constant amount of small earthquakes on going. When I lived in Washington I heard of steam coming from Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainer, of course Mount St. Helens that blew ash that showed up down in the panhandle of Texas when we lived there. The truth is, you just have to do the best you can in picking a place to have a homestead, you need to realize that not all that far down in the earth below us, we're all sitting on top of a huge ball of molten rock which could at any given time send a stream of lava up where we live and turn us into bacon. Another consideration we have considered is to live away from the coastal area, if the Cascadia plate slips big time, we'll have a huge tsunami, where we live we are protected by the coastal mountain range that average about 3,000'+ elevation, I doubt a tsunami would get that far inland, on the other hand it would wipe out most all coastal towns, Portland and Seattle would not be good places to live. My wife has always said, "God put us here." and I believe it.






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The video was pretty good and accurate. Breakers are good for some things, but fuses are better for high current loads.
Sounds like you all have a nice system.
I considered a high amperage breaker, however, over the years I have experienced breaker failures and I have a great deal of trust in fuses, even though high amp fuses are rather expensive, I like them the best. Always keep in mind, when working around any large batteries that tools should be insulated and use extreme caution in connecting and disconnecting batteries, consider how you would handle a firearm, like it's always loaded, You don't know when a battery may have hydrogen gas built up in the air chambers above the cells and just a small spark could blow the battery to pieces, I've seen that happen and it's scary. I'm pretty sure that if I wanted to I could weld 1" thick steel with the battery system that I have, so I hold great respect for the power that they have and always use the greatest caution working around them. One other thing, I have an old computer fan, that runs on 120 volts AC, that I mounted over a hole I cut in the floor that pulls in outside air from under the shed, this keeps a constant positive air pressure in the battery shed that blows battery gases out of two holes in the wall behind the battery bank so that all explosive gases are always vented to the outside, 20 feet away from the fan intake.
 
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I considered a high amperage breaker, however, over the years I have experienced breaker failures and I have a great deal of trust in fuses, even though high amp fuses are rather expensive, I like them the best. Always keep in mind, when working around any large batteries that tools should be insulated and use extreme caution in connecting and disconnecting batteries, consider how you would handle a firearm, like it's always loaded, You don't know when a battery may have hydrogen gas built up in the air chambers above the cells and just a small spark could blow the battery to pieces, I've seen that happen and it's scary. I'm pretty sure that if I wanted to I could weld 1" thick steel with the battery system that I have, so I hold great respect for the power that they have and always use the greatest caution working around them. One other thing, I have an old computer fan, that runs on 120 volts AC, that I mounted over a hole I cut in the floor that pulls in outside air from under the shed, this keeps a constant positive air pressure in the battery shed that blows battery gases out of two holes in the wall behind the battery bank so that all explosive gases are always vented to the outside, 20 feet away from the fan intake.
Excellent advice! I can't doxx myself, but if you had a battery that weighed over 2000 pounds, I was swinging it around.
In answer to Viking, yes I did make a welder that ran off of all those amps. Seamless DC that the best welder could not duplicate. No hum, no buzz, no current fluctuations, just a wonderful hiss. It would run a 5/32" 7018 like a spotted ape. I could butt-weld 2, 1/2"plates together in one pass.
I used it for at least 18 years.
And yes, I have seen the top half blown off of a big battery before. :oops:
Hydrogen does not go boom like a 12-gauge. It goes BANG, like a 30-06.
...The welder, given to my very thankful replacement when I retired.
I don't miss it:).
Edit: No, the welder never blew-up a battery.
 
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I considered a high amperage breaker, however, over the years I have experienced breaker failures and I have a great deal of trust in fuses, even though high amp fuses are rather expensive, I like them the best. Always keep in mind, when working around any large batteries that tools should be insulated and use extreme caution in connecting and disconnecting batteries, consider how you would handle a firearm, like it's always loaded, You don't know when a battery may have hydrogen gas built up in the air chambers above the cells and just a small spark could blow the battery to pieces, I've seen that happen and it's scary. I'm pretty sure that if I wanted to I could weld 1" thick steel with the battery system that I have, so I hold great respect for the power that they have and always use the greatest caution working around them. One other thing, I have an old computer fan, that runs on 120 volts AC, that I mounted over a hole I cut in the floor that pulls in outside air from under the shed, this keeps a constant positive air pressure in the battery shed that blows battery gases out of two holes in the wall behind the battery bank so that all explosive gases are always vented to the outside, 20 feet away from the fan intake.

Well stated Viking. At work we have tri annual electrical training. One module is all DC, another Capacitance. We have a good deal of training on arc flash and how to protect yourself. DC can flash as well. Most folks don't walk away from arc flash and most spend months in burn centers in a great deal of pain trying to get back all they can. DC can do as much damage as AC without a doubt. Much higher currents involved.. Insulated tools are always appropriate.
 
Well stated Viking. At work we have tri annual electrical training. One module is all DC, another Capacitance. We have a good deal of training on arc flash and how to protect yourself. DC can flash as well. Most folks don't walk away from arc flash and most spend months in burn centers in a great deal of pain trying to get back all they can. DC can do as much damage as AC without a doubt. Much higher currents involved.. Insulated tools are always appropriate.
Yes. I never thought about people with solar setups with battery banks not knowing about this stuff. Viking knows.
We could always put on a class, I suppose :rolleyes:.
I would not consider it going back to work even though I taught the stuff at one time
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Luckily, my group doesn't deal with much of the bad stuff. Almost everything is 120vac, or 24vdc. Pumps are our biggest current draw. less than 20 amps. But have to take the same training the elctrcians do. Thats ok, cause some guys work on their own stuff at home too.
 
Luckily, my group doesn't deal with much of the bad stuff. Almost everything is 120vac, or 24vdc. Pumps are our biggest current draw. less than 20 amps. But have to take the same training the elctrcians do. Thats ok, cause some guys work on their own stuff at home too.
Our stuff wasn't that bad. But if you had 48 volts DC and 1,000 amps and couldn't get 40 horsepower out of it, I got a call :rolleyes:.
Maybe a seminar type thread .with question and answer format would work.

Jim
We will leave this thread in peace. I don't think very many people have battery banks except you and Viking.
 
I was thinking questions on Solar, batteries in general, high voltage and low voltage electrical circuits, ac dc , and basic electronics.

Maybe communications circuits.

Looks like we have enough people with expertise in each topic to cover it.

Jim
 
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