The Charge Controller
In order to prevent your battery pack from overloading from too much energy, a charge controller is absolutely necessary. Although it is possible to build one from scratch, it's probably more economically viable to just find a cheap one on Ebay. You can find charges controllers on ebay for about 25. Set up the controller to defer extra power to the dump load we'll cover this in a bit .
The Limitations of PV Power Systems
It is important to realize that PV power systems are expensive when compared with the low price of utility power in North America for the most part. You should reserve the electric power produced by PV modules, an inverter and a storage system for your most energy-efficient appliances, tools, lights, etc. Although it is technically possible, heating with photovoltaic is generally not recommended. You can easily and more efficiently collect heat with a solar thermal system. A solar water heater...
Why else should you consider a PV system
If you are some distance from an electrical grid, it may be cheaper to generate your own power rather than pay to extend transmission lines from the grid. Fossil fuel- Diesel, gasoline or propane generators are the main alternatives, but many people find them noisy, polluting and costly to run and maintain. It also makes little sense to turn on a 5-kW generator to power a few 100-W light bulbs or the TV. PV systems reduce the negative aspects of generators by using them only as a backup. When...
Why build your own and not buy one
All wind turbines have 5 things in common. They all utilize a generator, blades, a mounting to keep them in the wind, a tower, and a control system. If you're looking for a solution that provides a viable replacement for the majority of your energy needs, than you may want to look into prefabricated wind turbines. A wind turbine large enough to provide enough energy to power an average sized home can run anywhere from 6,000 to over 20,000. They currently reduce utility bills by 50 - 90 on...
Chapter Ethanol as an energy source Energy from sugar and corn
Ethanol is an alcohol based energy source usually derived from sugar or corn. It is already widely used in the United States and Brazil by combining ethanol and gasoline to power automobiles. The use and production of ethanol is widespread, but there is still much controversy as to whether or not it is an economically stable and viable alternative to gasoline. First of all, ethanol does burn cleaner than gasoline. Due to its chemical make up, it can reduce or even eliminate the output of carbon...
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When you wire them in series the individual voltages of each one is additive. In other words if each battery or solar panel in the above example had the potential of producing 12 volts, then 12 12 12 12 48 volts. The second important rule to remember about series circuits is that the current stays the same. If these batteries had a rating of 12 Volts 220 Amp hours then the total value of this series circuit would be 48 Volts 220 Amp hours. In the example below two 6 Volt 350 Amp hour batteries...
Tried and True Monocrystalline Solar Panels
For many years monocrystalline solar modules have been the workhorses of the solar market. Those iridescent blue faced panels you have been seeing on rooftops are probably of this type of panels. For most of you this is the type of solar panels you will build because these types of cells are readily available. They have distinct rounded individual solar cells visible from all angles stacked in very uniform rows. This type of solar panel is produced from a single silicon ingot or crystal....
Nanotechnology
Advances in nanotechnology may greatly increase the efficiency of current alternative energy technologies. Some examples are increasing the strength-to-weight ratio of wind turbines or maximizing the ability of solar panels to absorb energy. Nanotechnology may even be able to make electricity more efficient, allowing us to use less amounts of energy but outputting greater amounts of power. The impact of nanotechnology on renewable energy is yet to be fully understood. But the technology is...
Portable Solar Power Generator
This solar generator can literally pay for itself within the first few weeks that you put it into use. I have included the most basic setup below but there are some extra features you can add if you have some money left over. You can build on this system by using multiple solar panels and batteries. We will talk about wiring together multiple panels and batteries later on in the book. 1. Energy source - Solar panel s 12V is fine 5. Household loads Laptop, TV, DVD player etc. 1. Energy source -...
Main DC disconnect
This unit is placed between the battery bank and the inverter. A main DC disconnect will allow you to disconnect the inverter for maintenance. The inverter is what turns the direct current DC into alternating current AC . AC is what most of your household appliances use.Eg. Refrigerator, TV, VCR, Computer etc. etc. If you do not wish to use any appliances that need AC then you can simply use a DC input. A DC input costs around 10 from any car parts store.
Thin Film Solar Panels
Recently a new product was introduced into the market that could provide some much needed answers for solar power users. Amorphous silicon PV or thin film technology could make rigid solar panels obsolete if some better research is done. Thin film solar panels are produced by applying silicon material on glass or stainless steel, or more commonly between two pieces of flexible laminate material. Solid or rigid thin film panels are in use but flexible laminated thin film panels are more popular....
SeriesParallel Circuits
A Series parallel circuit is simply two or more series circuits that are wired together in parallel. In the above example two separate pairs of 6 Volt batteries have been wired in series and each of these series pairs have been wired together in parallel. Why in the world would someone want to do this Lets say that you want to increase the Amp hour rating of a battery pack so that you could run your appliances longer but you needed to wire the pack in such a way as to keep the battery pack at...
Building The Axis
You want the blades on your generator facing the wind at all times. For this reason, it's important to have it rotating on a horizontal axis when mounted to the tower. First let's take a look at what the top of your tower should look like. If your tower does not have the smaller section on the top you will need to weld this piece of metal on. Make sure that the diameter of this piece is not wider then the diameter of the windmills tail shaft. The reason for this is because we will be drilling a...
Parallel Circuits
To wire any device in parallel you must connect the positive terminal of the first device to the positive terminal of the next device and negative terminal of the first device to the negative terminal of the next device. When you wire devices in parallel the resulting Voltage and Current is opposite of a series circuit - instead the Voltage in a parallel circuit stays the same and the Current is additive. If each device in the above example had the potential of producing 350 Amp hours then 350...
Gridintertied solar power system with battery backup
Below is a grid-intertied solar power system with a battery backup. The battery backup is used for times of cloudy weather or if maintenance is needed on the system. 1. Energy source - Solar panels
Geo Thermal Energy
The Earth itself contains enormous amounts of energy, which if harnessed, may be all that we'll ever need. Volcanoes, seismic activity, storm systems, even waves all contain vast amounts of energy that will more than likely be harnessed sometime in the future. There are limitless possibilities for the future, more than we could cover in one book. Regardless, it's an exciting time. New technologies are constantly being developed, while old technologies are constantly being improved upon. One...
Housing your Batteries
Your choice of battery location should comply with the Electrical Code, whether you install the batteries inside or outside. The location should also be designed to keep the batteries warm 25 C is best , because their capacity decreases at temperatures below 25 C. This means that if you choose to locate your batteries in an unheated space, you will need to insulate the area properly. You will also need greater battery capacity to compensate for the losses at lower temperatures. Make sure that...
Simple Charge Controller Circuit
The above diagram shows the simple charge controller circuit. The incoming battery voltage is divided in half by a pair of 3.3K resistors, so the trip points are adjusted to one-half the desired levels. Start at 14 volts for the trip points. The actual trip points will depend on your particular batteries, but a good starting point is 14.5 volts for full charge, and 11.8 volts for discharged. In this case, the trimpots should be adjusted to read 7.25 volts at TP-A and 5.9 volts at TP-B. You will...
Wiring Your Solar Panels to your Batteries
There are three types of wiring configurations that are relatively easy to learn. Once mastered, the job of wiring batteries or solar modules becomes easy as pie. The three configurations are Series , Parallel wiring, and a combination of the two known simply as series parallel wiring. In any DC generating device such as a battery or solar module, you will always have a negative - terminal and a positive . Electrons or current flows from the negative terminal through a load to the positive...