Solar energy and alternative power

sorry if this is a repost, have not seen it before.

i am skeptical about it, as it claims so much.

http://greenecoclub.com/gde/

In the process of reconstructing my RV for four-season, off-grid use, I've been converting all the lighting to more efficient options.  So let's look at the before and after.

Before, the trailer was equipped with your standard incandescent 18 watt 921 style bulbs in all it's fixtures.  Most fixtures had two bulbs each.

After, is a mix of LED and CFL lighting.  As you can see, a few lights have been removed, and wattage has been cut by 69%, while total lumens is still 96% of before. (note a few lights have even been eliminated as they weren't needed)

The 13 watt CFLs do the grunt work, at about 700 lumens each, for main ceiling lights.  Combinations of 2 and 3 watt LED lamps handle the rest of the lighting. (at 160 and 210 lumens each respectively)

More on the LED lights.  The wafer style multi-element LEDs shown below are incredible.  The amount of light that emanates from these seems almost impossible for the given wattage.  I hope they hold up over the long run.

This is one of the 3 watt, 15 LED units.  (by the way, the light reflected is coming from the 2 watt models in the undercabinet light I installed earlier)  I modified the units for the standard wedge base. 

And here is an undoctored photo of a pair of the 3 watt LEDs lit.  It's very close to, if not the same as, the pair of 18 watt bulbs it replaced.  The color is very good too. 

Sorry, posted this before in wrong forum...

I have the solar kit set up and I am just trying to figure out the controller. After some significant time on hold with the "technical questions" people, I gave up and figured someone here would know.

The panels charge the battery during the day, but seem to discharge the battery as the light fades. I was thinking that the controller prevented this, but yesterday the battery began the day at 11.7v and reached 12.6v during the afternoon. Then, as the sun got lower, the voltage dropped down to 12.0 and stopped there. This is well below the 13 to 14.5v that the instructions say indicates full charge.

It does appear that the controller stopped the discharge at 12v, but this is lower than I want, right?  Does this mean that the controller should be switched off when the battery is at peak voltage (afternoon) so that it does not discharge every evening?

thanks!

[admin note: this duplicate thread is closed.  To view the active thread go to http://www.loghomebuilders.org/harbor-freight-solar-controller]

I have the solar kit set up and I am just trying to figure out the controller. After some significant time on hold with the "technical questions" people, I gave up and figured someone here would know.

The panels charge the battery during the day, but seem to discharge the battery as the light fades. I was thinking that the controller prevented this, but yesterday the battery began the day at 11.7v and reached 12.6v during the afternoon. Then, as the sun got lower, the voltage dropped down to 12.0 and stopped there. This is well below the 13 to 14.5v that the instructions say indicates full charge.

It does appear that the controller stopped the discharge at 12v, but this is lower than I want, right?  Does this mean that the controller should be switched off when the battery is at peak voltage (afternoon) so that it does not discharge every evening?

thanks!

Is it possible to do solar without batteries?  Obviously you only have power when the sun is out, but beyond that, are there any other issues?

How about running a well pump to fill a pressure tank with a system like this?  Think solar without battery could get to the start voltage without the need for huge numbers of panels?

Hi All,

Is anyone here familiar with Sunward Solar Hot Water?  It's a solar hot water system.  Sounds interesting, it's the cheapest "packaged" solar hot water system I'm aware of (but maybe there are others I don't know of).

It's way more expensive than a standard hot water heater, but if it works, it may pay for itself over the long term... anybody here have experience with Sunward, or another solar hot water system?

Thanks!

  -Josh

how much power (heat) does your septic tank put out?  the reason I ask is I am pouring my own septic tank, and building up the walls with cement block...

so I was thinking, would it be worth it to put Pex in the slab-bottom of the tank (almost 50 sq ft), then run this in a closed loop into the radiant floor system in the house.  

Anyway, if it puts out 3 watts, and I might be able to capture 1 W, this would not be worth it, but if it were more like 100 x that much, I may consider...

-Peter

OK .... we're in the planning stage for the log house ... and so many concepts are running through my head.

We're negotiating with a mason friend on building a masonry heater for the cabin in place of a wood stove but I'm trying to incorporate some passive heating and cooling into the mix.

I'm considering radiant floor heating and wondered if anyone on here had used the same setup for cooling?

We live in Texas, so passive solar heating wouldn't be a problem (our south facing bedroom could heat the whole house when the sun shines during the winter, no problem, with just one picture window. But passive cooling I see as a much larger problem.

Without an earth bermed house what is the best way to incorporate passive cooling, especially in a hot and humid environment?

well, i did a quick search around here and found nothing about it, so here is a link that dose a nice job of explaining how the technology works.

http://www.geoexchange.org/

my current plans envolve me living in alaska, so this technology should benefit me wll in the cold winters, and it is cheap to operate, only down side is higher up front costs, but im willing to bet that if you could find the proper equipent, and materials... you could do it on your own and save allot of coin.

please, if you have other links, post them.

thank you.

-ANDREW MASON.