DIY Solar Resources? 311
TihSon writes "I'm building a large shed out back and I want to power the lighting using a surplus solar panel. In searching for information on how to go about this, I have found a lot of rough DIY guides for various projects that are close to my goal. But none seem to explain the reasoning and theory behind using solar panels, so hacking their project to suit my own needs could be pretty much hit-and-miss. I don't want to do a hacked-up job, and future solar projects are not out of the question, so something a bit more in-depth is required. Do you have suggestions for books or Web sites you have used to learn the ins and outs of using solar panels? Something that starts with basic theory and ends with the ability to wire a house would be perfect."
Re:Free energy (Score:5, Interesting)
Hook up the battery to an inverter (to make 115V AC)
Plug light into inverter.
DIY hack = take apart consumer stuff. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:No, no, no (Score:3, Interesting)
Nobody is saying you have to do it at AC 110V (or 240V / 220V). AFAIK running 12V or 24V cabling through your house does not require an electrician, and to achieve low resistance you can use T-bars or other large metal structures (or just some automotive copper) for return currents to avoid voltage drops, or alternatively transport the energy via AC/240V (might need professional work for that).
Just have smaller, cheaper inverters at specific locations for the high voltage/AC appliances such as fridges, computers etc.
Re:No, no, no (Score:4, Interesting)
While you're at it - light tubes! (Score:5, Interesting)
I have three light tubes aka light pipes in my home. They consist of an acrylic dome on the roof, a mirrored rigid pipe, and a diffuser at the end facing the inside. I often do not need to turn on lights with these suckers - very nice! Some tips - do NOT put them anywhere near a ceiling fan unless you want a disco and do NOT put them in your bedroom lest a full moon have you howling all night - yes moonlight is strong enough to light the room!
Other than that yeah go compact fluorescent or MAYBE LED. I have both and find that the LED is pretty directional and very stark white with a tinge of blue. The CF stuff lasts a good while but be careful not to get the crappy ones that take forever to light up :-( I have one of these and it pisses me off but it fits the fixture, the LED lights I bought wouldn't fit in the "can" fixture.
BTW notice that many holiday lights and tube lights are LED. These actually work pretty good for lighting some areas!
Re:Free energy (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually this is a pretty big problem! One of the things I have consistently read in magazines like Home Power is that 12volt devices can be a problem with regard to sockets and plugs. Lighter sockets do not carry current very well and are flimsy for one thing. Using standard 120 sockets is simply asking for it because as soon as you turn your back a guest or baby sitter is going to make a mistake. Lots of things have been tried but so far I've seen nothing really good.
I DID just read the other day about some new power standard being adopted by some companies to help get rid of wall warts. You'd have some sort of power strip that could power multiple devices using a standard power and it would completely shut the device down when not being used. I didn't pay much attention to that but perhaps that is a ray of hope? Whatever plugs they use might be useful for this. Best part of it is that hopefully all of those devices will use the SAME power instead of one being 9volts, another 13, yet another 12, and so on. It's crazy to have to have an entire BOX of chargers and wall warts (seriously)...
Re:DIY hack = take apart consumer stuff. (Score:3, Interesting)
Look at RV sources as well; same stuff as marine, but 1/10 the price.
One major caveat: a car battery will *not* work for this. A car battery is designed to provide very high current for a limited length of time, the exact opposite of a solar system need. A car battery will fail quickly in this application.
You want deep cycle batteries; google for trojan batteries.
Me too (Score:5, Interesting)
Oddly enough, I'm doing the same thing: in fact I just came back inside after a day of building.
I'm building a coop for my ducks & chickens and am going to light it with power LEDs & surplus solar cells and perhaps keep the water liquid this winter using solar heating.
Solar cells are pretty straightfoward. Just think of them as batteries and you won't be too far off.
PM me if you want to run some ideas by me. I am an EE and I've done enough design work that this should be trivial. I'm also making my first attempt at a blog: http://softwarefromthefarm.blogspot.com/ [blogspot.com]
I have a solar power setup and it not all that. (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:No, no, no (Score:3, Interesting)
Only state I've ever heard of that nonsense actually being enforced is Florida. What, should we go crying to Mommy Government or her anointed and licensed representatives every time we need to change a light bulb?
Of course no licensed electrician would do so; when people do their own work it means less money for licensed electricians. Never mind that if you want to do anything even slightly unusual that no licensed electrician will touch it anyway. Building codes are all about "do it the way it has always been done, that has been worked out to be safest over the years"; they may prevent injury, but they also completely kill any sort of innovation.
Re:Free energy (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:No, no, no (Score:2, Interesting)
If we are talking about 220 circuits or higher, or work at the box, then sure, most people probably should call an electrician, but should the government be up my ass about it, and should you be trying to convince me that I am too incapable of changing a light switch, and expect me to value your over charged service?
Seriously man, your not that smart, and residential wiring isn't that hard. I don't get on here and bust your balls about your bad website code, or your open wifi router that I steal bandwidth from, and demand you go hire the Geek Squad cause your too incompetent.
Basically chill out and leave people to shock the shit out of themselves if they want. It's kind of a good time anyway.
Re:Well? (Score:4, Interesting)
Converting from DC to AC wastes power, stay DC and use LED
lights because some have life spans and power usage that is
lower any other kind.
The only draw back on LED is it costs a fair bit more up front.
The good news is you could use a cheaper/smaller battery, and
don't have to pay for an inverter at all.
At some point LEDs for lighting will go mainstream and mass
produced and the cost will start to fall.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LED_lighting [wikipedia.org]
For daytime lighting of the shed you might try to make
your own Solatube.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_tube [wikipedia.org]
Simplest Solar Powered Lighting (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Free energy (Score:1, Interesting)
Oh dear, please don't do this. DC powerlines do exist. In fact they just installed one between Norway and the Netherlands. A distance of some 600km. DC-DC conversion comes in several flavours, depending on what you want to do precisely. But as an example, a laptop brick or a computer PS take in AC, filter and rectify to DC, turn that into high frequency AC (30-50kHz, which goes trough an AC-AC transformer (can be small and low loss because of the higher freq.) and finally is turned into the required DC voltage. Transformers are not cheap. Going from DC to AC is simple although also not cheap. take a DC electric motor and couple it to an AC generator. Both are simple rugged and reliable machines and come in various sizes. The big ones have excellent conversion efficiency. And this was how it was done before solid state.
Low voltage high amps wil have high losses unless you put in thick and therefore expensive cable. AC at the same current and voltage levels needs the same cable thickness. It just ads the blind current losses.
Re:Well? (Score:4, Interesting)
No it's not about image (well for some it may be, but the same can be said about anything.) I'm saying it's about more than just getting energy. For some people, they know that their grid is supplied primarily via coal power. Which, even with all the technology available to us, is still quite dirty. I know it may come as a surprise to you, but some people prefer not to shit in their drinking water, both literally and analogously. Maybe they're willing to pay a little extra to reduce their impact.
I'm not sure what you are saying in your second paragraph. I don't think it has anything to do with Don's article. You might want to take the time to read it before you start blathering about what assume it says. (I'll give you a hint: it doesn't make the claim that it takes more energy to build a solar PV system than you get from that same system. Because, you know, that's not true either.)
The point of the linked analysis was that for a given number of dollars you can generate more power via other mechanisms than you can with solar PV. Then concludes that therefore it is a net energy loss because less is generated than could have been for the same money. Which is false. A person buying a $10,000 solar PV system isn't cutting down their energy usage because it costs more for them, they're using the same amount of energy, just paying more.
He's right in that, for a lot of people, it's not economically sensible. But he's wrong in making any kind of connection between the generating costs of various sources and a gain or loss of actual energy.
Re:Well? (Score:3, Interesting)
"one camp tried to advance the underlying solar technology and mostly failed."
That is simply not true at all. December 6, 2006 http://www.boeing.com/ids/news/2006/q4/061206b_nr.html [boeing.com]. 40% is nothing to scoff at, and it does use a different underlying technology.
Nanosolar has done great things - but to say that advancements in underlying solar technolgy have not been made in recent years is in accurate.
Nanosolar is also the only company that I know of that has fundamentally streamlined the solar panel production process.
Re:Well? (Score:3, Interesting)
i have a greenhouse that needs new power run to it. An aerial line would just be flat ugly, an trenching requires removing a ton of concrete and several possible code violations. Solar for me is a near perfect fix, and the extra costs of the panels are a wash with the labor that could be involved. Then there is a plus that I can run other things from the greenhouse, and depending on efficiency, I may move some battery chargers to that system for more "free" energy.
There are some applications where solar is just best.