Updated:06/22/2010 ENTIRE
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Learn about
alternative energy, hybrid systems and watch pointless videos!
If you have any
questions, contact us.
I'm always happy to provide a convoluted answer to a simple question.
At this site, you can learn from my real world experiences
in solar energy production and how I produce power at our cabin in Northern
Michigan. The cabin is located right on the 45th parallel near Gaylord,
Michigan. Check out our photography
site which has some photos around the cabin in the nature and winter
sections.
While this format of the site will stay
here as it is, more of our updates and new articles will be in the new
format. Visit the
new format site here.
Peukerts formula helps you design an
alternative energy system by showing the real world capacity of your
bank!
First of all, welcome to our site! We've been
around for several years and conduct all kinds of half baked DIY projects on our
show, This Old Shack. Be sure to check out all
of our half witted articles and pages. If you have questions, just Email
us and we will do our best to confuse you beyond all belief.
Disaster
planning should be part of every single household across America, strike that,
the world. When disaster strikes, people die or lives are c80%hanged. In times of
plenty, forego the Playstations and buy extra food. You can explain a lack of
toys better than a lack of food to your children.
In
1980 our military switched its entire food ration program over to the full
moisture MRE pouch system. These are the meals we tested on "This Old
Shack". Check
them out here.
Here's a
photo of the solar panels during my test in
January of 2006. I just plopped them on the picnic table.
This our Xantrex C-12 charge controller.
This is our Schumacher "SmartCharger", 6/10/20 amp output.
This generator (2.2 kw - a fancy way of saying 2,200 watts) has a Chinese
knockoff of a Honda 5.5 hp gasoline engine. The generator currently has 400+
hours on it with minimal maintenance. Video of the generator is in the
generator episode of "This Old Shack".
4-20-06
Detail shot of the assembly.
The posts are 6 feet long and
sunk in concrete for 40 pounds of solar panels.
Oh, well.
A look into the secret world
behind the bank. Yes, yes I didn't use the upper
part of the mounting frames for the Harbor Freight
panels. See, I need them at 45 degrees. This is
perfect.
Here's the grounding for the
panels. The ground is hooked from the chassis on
the charge controller, the neg. of the panels and
the panel frames. Did the proper tests, all is
good.
4-20-06
Here's what the final installation looks
like.
Another shot of the install. The mounts
are wobbly until you get the panels mounted and
bolt the things down.
You can see in this photo that I've
mounted the 2 sets of panels at a 3 degree offset
to capture the sun as it passes by on it's merry
way across the sky.
Oh, the newsgroup mavens will love this
one. This is my reflector experiment. This
reflects the light in the mid-afternoon when the
sun isn't directly on the panels. See my diary for
more.
There are several people on various newsgroups and discussion areas that waylay in uninformed or those just starting out in the off grid world of self power generation. This involves an almost religious belief in a phantom 6v golf cart true deep cycle battery that is superior in every way to any other battery in existence.
A simple examination of the specification sheet for a line of 6v and 12v off grid batteries will tell you quite clearly that there is no one single best solution for all circumstances. It is not accurate to say one is best.
Our system has been using the much maligned Harbor Freight 45 watt solar panel kits for 4 years. Over these years, we've moved them back and forth from the main home in Saline, Michigan to the shack in Gaylord. They've been dropped, exposed to heavy rain, snow, sleet, hail. One even has even had the glass on it shattered from a tree limb dropping on it.
Look, using testing equipment is all well and
good but those spec sheets don't mean squat if you can't run YOUR stuff
for as long as you want to. So what I do (so you don't have to) is get the
equipment (batteries, inverters, solar panels) and put what I run on it.
Usually about 30-50 watts at 12 volts - few amps of draw. You know, turning
lights on and off, running a computer (a laptop) and whatnot.
Throughout the test, a digital meter is run on
the bank and a hydrometer is used once an hour to determine whether the meter is
reading the correct voltage. During the sunlight hours on the panels, there is
another digital meter installed at the primary junction box (where the panels
feed into the 10 gauge cables that feed to the charge controller) that measures
panel voltage and amps.
One of the things that I like the best about
alternative energy is that you can make it as complicated or simple as you like.
Some people, even though they use alternative energy simply don't have a good
grasp on the entire substance that goes into the makeup of an engineered system
that has been built from scratch.
Don't ask me why, but I've recently become interested in
studying earthquake/volcano activity around the world; ash plumes and such. I've
added a page with RSS feeds and links to satellite imagery.
