metalsmith
Cave Dweller 
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Mar 25, 2017 4:50:33 GMT -5
Things must have moved on a bit if the UK is good for solar. I stumbled across this youtube video and with a careful bit of ebaying have secured all the components inc 12- 240 v transformer and circuit breaker for around £85. I just need a battery now, which I need to research before choosing a 2nd hand car battery or a new 12v leisure type but comes in at £15 - £22, so all in for under a ton (£100).  Does anyone know wither 12AmpHours would suffice? I'll be connecting a 60W solar cell (assume low efficiency for typical northern England cloud cover). It will take a while for the various components to collect but putting it together looks to be easy enough. I thought I'd share the link if anyone else is interested. If you are, read the comments. The poster of the video presents well, but there are couple of technical issues that are a little adrift. For example I bought a 20amp breaker rather than 100 for a 150 w transformer off 12 v this should be fine... according to my rough calculations  Images to be posted when there's anything to show and on further progress. |
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Hobo's Dad
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2017
Posts: 20 
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Post by Hobo's Dad on Mar 25, 2017 9:13:49 GMT -5
Enough for what?
What are u powering up?
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Mar 25, 2017 10:50:12 GMT -5
Enough for what? What are u powering up? A small tumbler (or 2), a facetter for a couple of hours per night & micro bench grinder; add a lortone beaver 4 wheel 1/3 hp engine when I find one: I use the latter 3 alternately, not contemporaneously of course, not being that talented! |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2017 17:12:42 GMT -5
Tumbler and cab machine at same time makes sense.
If we rate the load at 1/2 HP, like 375 watts. So four hours would use 1.5 kilowatt/hour.
90 watt panel would power that with 17 hours charging time.
You could do it every few sunny days and not kill the battery.
Of course I was conservative. I'm sure you have it from here.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2017 17:13:41 GMT -5
Strangely enough, I'm considering a new lapidary shed and making panels to power the machines.. ....
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Post by orrum on Mar 25, 2017 20:28:58 GMT -5
Google Az Wind and Sun. They have lots of great info on how to set up. Also Google Solarbob. He is a little outspoken but he wrote the bible. Good luck!
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Post by Rockoonz on Mar 25, 2017 23:16:05 GMT -5
Have you looked into power factor correction? It could save you more than your photo-voltaic setup will generate on average, and the clean power will lead to less wear on your motors.
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Getta Grip
noticing nice landscape pebbles
Member since November 2016
Posts: 81
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Post by Getta Grip on Mar 26, 2017 8:53:30 GMT -5
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Post by drocknut on Mar 26, 2017 10:04:30 GMT -5
My trailer is solar but I don't run rock equipment in it and I'm in Arizona mostly so lot of sun. Hope you can get something that will work for you.
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Post by MrP on Mar 26, 2017 11:07:54 GMT -5
I will start this by letting you know that I work for one of those EVIL Power Utilities. That being said: There are two reasons to install wind or solar, 1. you have to go off grid because of where you live, or 2. because you want to do the Right thing.
We wheel power for a 630kW wind generator so I have all the numbers and in the 15 years of running it has produced 18.7% of capacity. I am not sure what the cost was to install the generator but it was heavily subsidized by the government at the time.
We have 3 people who have put solar on there house and I have had metering on the first one, to watch the load, sense it was put on the house. His production has been about 23% of capacity. That system is 4.6kW and cost $38,000 with $12,000 in government and power company kickbacks. It has been on the house 8-10 years and the last time I ran the numbers it had not made enough money to pay for itself, BUT he doesn't care because he is doing the right thing.
We also have 3 homes that have wind generators. I do not have recording meters on any of these but I do know they have needed repairs very often. One of these people finely gave up about a year ago and had it taken down. I just found out last week that one of the other generators quit working again.
Last week we had a young lady contact us because she is installing 10.3kW of solar on her house. $44,401 with 30% government kickback. The company installing it said it will be about a 6 year payback for the system. That would be what is called a LIE in my world. It could be possible if she had a system that follows the sun,but that brings the cost way up, and lived in a different part of the country so we think the numbers are VERY generous.
The other thing that has to be looked at is the cost of power in the area where you live and our area is reasonable so payback takes way longer.
I see Power Factor Correction was brought up and I was glad to see that a true article was posted. We have had people contact us wondering why there bill has not gone down after spending money on this junk and on devices that Clean the power coming into the house. In fact the devices that 'clean' the power actually will use more kWh. We had a lady that spent almost $500 on plug in devices to "clean" her power. We ran some tests in the house and found that it did nothing for the power quality but it did cost her $20-$30 a month more. She did remove them but was still out a lot of money.
I know that People think that solar and wind are the answers to all of our energy problems but if you look at how the whole system comes together you will see it will not work without baseload generation. It would be nice if it was magic but at this time it is not.
Yes I work for a utility but I think electricity is a bargain.
Sorry for the ramble...................................MrP
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2017 13:05:00 GMT -5
I will start this by letting you know that I work for one of those EVIL Power Utilities. That being said: There are two reasons to install wind or solar, 1. you have to go off grid because of where you live, or 2. because you want to do the Right thing.
We wheel power for a 630kW wind generator so I have all the numbers and in the 15 years of running it has produced 18.7% of capacity. I am not sure what the cost was to install the generator but it was heavily subsidized by the government at the time.
We have 3 people who have put solar on there house and I have had metering on the first one, to watch the load, sense it was put on the house. His production has been about 23% of capacity. That system is 4.6kW and cost $38,000 with $12,000 in government and power company kickbacks. It has been on the house 8-10 years and the last time I ran the numbers it had not made enough money to pay for itself, BUT he doesn't care because he is doing the right thing.
We also have 3 homes that have wind generators. I do not have recording meters on any of these but I do know they have needed repairs very often. One of these people finely gave up about a year ago and had it taken down. I just found out last week that one of the other generators quit working again.
Last week we had a young lady contact us because she is installing 10.3kW of solar on her house. $44,401 with 30% government kickback. The company installing it said it will be about a 6 year payback for the system. That would be what is called a LIE in my world. It could be possible if she had a system that follows the sun,but that brings the cost way up, and lived in a different part of the country so we think the numbers are VERY generous.
The other thing that has to be looked at is the cost of power in the area where you live and our area is reasonable so payback takes way longer.
I see Power Factor Correction was brought up and I was glad to see that a true article was posted. We have had people contact us wondering why there bill has not gone down after spending money on this junk and on devices that Clean the power coming into the house. In fact the devices that 'clean' the power actually will use more kWh. We had a lady that spent almost $500 on plug in devices to "clean" her power. We ran some tests in the house and found that it did nothing for the power quality but it did cost her $20-$30 a month more. She did remove them but was still out a lot of money.
I know that People think that solar and wind are the answers to all of our energy problems but if you look at how the whole system comes together you will see it will not work without baseload generation. It would be nice if it was magic but at this time it is not.
Yes I work for a utility but I think electricity is a bargain.
Sorry for the ramble...................................MrP
Nicely done. My name is Solar. I've studied it for decades. Power is way cheaper than buying panels and accessories. And if they let you guys build modern nukes the enviro power guys would be doomed. |
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2017 13:11:33 GMT -5
MrPCurious. What makes it the 'right' thing?
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metalsmith
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 1,537
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Post by metalsmith on Mar 26, 2017 14:10:04 GMT -5
I'm away from home for a little while and whilst I hope to continue some lapidary activities, it wouldn't be polite to free-load the power supply where I'm staying, even while my hosts say - and they're probably right - it would be no problem. So this is my stop-gap solution and for some reason - possibly the right? reason - I always wanted to power my tumbler with solar. It was just something I saw happening and now it is. |
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Post by MrP on Mar 26, 2017 14:11:45 GMT -5
MrP Curious. What makes it the 'right' thing? @shotgunner The first time I heard it was from the couple who put the first solar system, in Elk River, on there house. They were doing it because it was the 'RIGHT' thing to do. They have more money then they can spend so they put on solar. They travel all over the world but that is OK because the Plane or Ship is going that way anyway. There almost 5 year old Prius had over 180,000 on it, but they are doing the right thing, a lot of the right thing. I should give them some credit because they live in an older house and haven't built a mansion. I guess I get a little upset with people like that because I had to listen to them preach to me how if everybody 'conserved' like them the world would be better. Look at Al Gore. Buys credits to replace the carbons he uses, supposedly, but lives in a mansion and flies the world over. Do as I Say Not as I Do...................MrP |
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Hobo's Dad
off to a rocking start
Member since March 2017
Posts: 20
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Post by Hobo's Dad on Mar 26, 2017 18:26:19 GMT -5
MrP Curious. What makes it the 'right' thing? @shotgunner The first time I heard it was from the couple who put the first solar system, in Elk River, on there house. They were doing it because it was the 'RIGHT' thing to do. They have more money then they can spend so they put on solar. They travel all over the world but that is OK because the Plane or Ship is going that way anyway. There almost 5 year old Prius had over 180,000 on it, but they are doing the right thing, a lot of the right thing. I should give them some credit because they live in an older house and haven't built a mansion. I guess I get a little upset with people like that because I had to listen to them preach to me how if everybody 'conserved' like them the world would be better. Look at Al Gore. Buys credits to replace the carbons he uses, supposedly, but lives in a mansion and flies the world over. Do as I Say Not as I Do...................MrP I'm not convinced that solar panels are better for the environment than power as produced today. Many nasty chemicals used. Hydrofluoric Acid comes to mind. |
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Post by Rockoonz on Mar 26, 2017 18:38:25 GMT -5
@shotgunner The first time I heard it was from the couple who put the first solar system, in Elk River, on there house. They were doing it because it was the 'RIGHT' thing to do. They have more money then they can spend so they put on solar. They travel all over the world but that is OK because the Plane or Ship is going that way anyway. There almost 5 year old Prius had over 180,000 on it, but they are doing the right thing, a lot of the right thing. I should give them some credit because they live in an older house and haven't built a mansion. I guess I get a little upset with people like that because I had to listen to them preach to me how if everybody 'conserved' like them the world would be better. Look at Al Gore. Buys credits to replace the carbons he uses, supposedly, but lives in a mansion and flies the world over. Do as I Say Not as I Do...................MrP I'm not convinced that solar panels are better for the environment than power as produced today. Many nasty chemicals used. Hydrofluoric Acid comes to mind. Just like "green" vehicles, manufacturing the "planet saving" product often has more negative impact than making what you have last as long as you can. As I have said before the "greenest" passenger car in the world is a 1966 Volvo P1800 owned by Irv Gordon that has over 3 million miles on it. |
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Post by MrP on Mar 26, 2017 19:04:54 GMT -5
@shotgunner The first time I heard it was from the couple who put the first solar system, in Elk River, on there house. They were doing it because it was the 'RIGHT' thing to do. They have more money then they can spend so they put on solar. They travel all over the world but that is OK because the Plane or Ship is going that way anyway. There almost 5 year old Prius had over 180,000 on it, but they are doing the right thing, a lot of the right thing. I should give them some credit because they live in an older house and haven't built a mansion. I guess I get a little upset with people like that because I had to listen to them preach to me how if everybody 'conserved' like them the world would be better. Look at Al Gore. Buys credits to replace the carbons he uses, supposedly, but lives in a mansion and flies the world over. Do as I Say Not as I Do...................MrP I'm not convinced that solar panels are better for the environment than power as produced today. Many nasty chemicals used. Hydrofluoric Acid comes to mind. You are correct. The pollution left behind from solar production is terrible..........................................MrP |
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2017 19:14:44 GMT -5
I'm not convinced that solar panels are better for the environment than power as produced today. Many nasty chemicals used. Hydrofluoric Acid comes to mind. You are correct. The pollution left behind from solar production is terrible..........................................MrP At least it's in China! |
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Post by MrP on Mar 26, 2017 19:18:21 GMT -5
I'm not convinced that solar panels are better for the environment than power as produced today. Many nasty chemicals used. Hydrofluoric Acid comes to mind. Just like "green" vehicles, manufacturing the "planet saving" product often has more negative impact than making what you have last as long as you can. As I have said before the "greenest" passenger car in the world is a 1966 Volvo P1800 owned by Irv Gordon that has over 3 million miles on it. The thing that gets me is you can spend your entire life being 'green' and the people with money can use your 'green savings' in a very short time. Think of the waste any time people take there personal jet across the country. Sorry melhill1659 not picking on you and your hubby's plane . I have no problem with people doing what they want just don't tell me that 'You Can' and 'I Can't'....................................MrP |
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Post by MrP on Mar 26, 2017 19:19:19 GMT -5
Hobo's Dad You are correct. The pollution left behind from solar production is terrible..........................................MrP At least it's in China! Yes |
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... to the New Guys from The ChatBox V.2 Crew