diy solar

diy solar

Need a way to bottle or can excess solar production.

MisterSandals said:
Making hydrogen is not that far off.
Click to expand...
The problem with H2 is equipment expense. You need to operate nearly 24x7 to get decent ROI. Daylight hours a few months a year doesn't work.

Bitcoin mining is another idea with the same issue, lots of expensive equipment sitting idle most the time.

You want a high energy product made with cheap equipment. Making tons of ice in the spring to help with summer cooling could work. Just need an insulated ice house to store it. And an easy way to move the ice in there as you make it. Better yet, just sell the ice if there's a market for it.
 
Cronix said:
That sounds like a scaling issue, which any of these suggestions will have, especially if you want anything actually useful out of the system.
Click to expand...
Thing is that it doesn't scale up favorably in any size or shape.
You can have 100 kWh storage battery for 10k usd (or even less from 2-hand EV batteries)
1 kWh is 3600 kJ. To store 100 kWh in weight lifted to tower you need:
1 metric ton weight lifted to 36 kilometer tower or
10 meter tower with 3600 ton weight.

I'm open to ideas how to build:
A) 36 kilometers tall tower for less than 10 grand
B) 10 meter tower with 3600 ton moving mass
 
More human-sized example: 100kg weight lifted to 2 meter height is 2 kilojoules or 0.55 Wh.
or about same amount of energy as thumnail-sized CR2032 button cell battery.
 
ricardocello said:
I just hit 100% battery on a beautiful day. I hate that (the 100%, not the beautiful day).

Why? Because I only drained down to 50% this morning instead of 30%, which would have probably worked for today.
Stupid weather forecasts are never right about cloud cover.
However, it was cloudy when I got up, so I guessed wrong.

Does everyone wake up and do this, or am I just obsessive about it?

Oh, and normally on Saturday mornings we use lots of power grilling bacon (electric). But not today.
Click to expand...
You're not alone....
Sun came out, batteries nearly full, wasting energy so I don't waste power...
 
42OhmsPA said:
You're not alone....
Sun came out, batteries nearly full, wasting energy so I don't waste power...
Click to expand...
I'm torn between suffering the double conversion losses if I guess wrong:
->The batteries drain to 30%, but oh, it was cloudy instead of sunny, so recharge from the grid at the end of the day. Grrr.

And not getting every watt out of my solar panels.
->Drain to 50% because it is cloudy at sunrise, but oh, it's spectacularly beautiful the rest of the day and I hit 100% at noon. Grrr.
 
ricardocello said:
So your recommendation is to buy more battery, rather than coming up with these crazy ideas to use power,
because the economics of it make the most sense. Yes?
Click to expand...
Storing energy to lifting mass(potential energy) is clearly out of question, some slightly less crazy or smaller economical disasters could be feasible.
Hot water storage tank for example is borderline possible. Or Ice storage.
 
ricardocello said:
I just hit 100% battery on a beautiful day. I hate that (the 100%, not the beautiful day).

Why? Because I only drained down to 50% this morning instead of 30%, which would have probably worked for today.
Stupid weather forecasts are never right about cloud cover.
However, it was cloudy when I got up, so I guessed wrong.

Does everyone wake up and do this, or am I just obsessive about it?

Oh, and normally on Saturday mornings we use lots of power grilling bacon (electric). But not today.
Click to expand...
I watch the watts on Victron connect and get giddy when cloud edge effects give me 3500+W for a bit from 3000W of panels.

I've found the solar forecast in VRM is getting closer to reality it started off very optimistic plus the day I stated using the Cerbo was a very sunny day so that threw off its initial forecast I think.
 
42OhmsPA said:
So far my favorite ideas are the alcohol still, hydrogen and some type of gravity battery.

I'm considering buying another water distiller and scaling up the hydroponics.

A diy hot tub or sauna could be fun too.
Click to expand...
For jazz cabbage?
 
Brucey said:
I watch the watts on Victron connect and get giddy when cloud edge effects give me 3500+W for a bit from 3000W of panels.
Click to expand...
Those cloud edge effects are sometimes truly unbelievable for wattage, but they don't last long.

Brucey said:
I've found the solar forecast in VRM is getting closer to reality it started off very optimistic plus the day I stated using the Cerbo was a very sunny day so that threw off its initial forecast I think.
Click to expand...
The forecasting is better than nothing, but it's those in-between days that it doesn't predict well.

Anyone can look at the low-pressure front coming in for rain the next three days, it's obvious what to do.
The partly-mostly-sunny days are highly variable with final kWh harvested.
 
MattiFin said:
....

I'm open to ideas how to build:
A) 36 kilometers tall tower for less than 10 grand
B) 10 meter tower with 3600 ton moving mass
Click to expand...
I believe Egypt solved this one several thousand of years ago. It involved a lot of beer and onions.
 
Brucey said:
For jazz cabbage?
Click to expand...
Lol no, looking for a new career so that's off the table. Just some fresh veggies.

The issue is my LED grow lights don't use much power, I'd have to get some metal halide then install another minisplit to deal with the heat.
Actually growing tropical climate fruits is on my list of things to do, should be fairly straightforward with a minisplit to take care of temp control. Need to find an old walk in cooler / freezer. All part of the solar self sufficiency sustainable journey.
 
Do you have an EV? Take a drive.

Otherwise just need more cans, lots of them.....

1234234324_8cfaa41c-5ae6-497f-924e-f9193010950e_3_700x.jpg
 
42OhmsPA said:
Lol no, looking for a new career so that's off the table. Just some fresh veggies.

The issue is my LED grow lights don't use much power, I'd have to get some metal halide then install another minisplit to deal with the heat.
Actually growing tropical climate fruits is on my list of things to do, should be fairly straightforward with a minisplit to take care of temp control. Need to find an old walk in cooler / freezer. All part of the solar self sufficiency sustainable journey.
Click to expand...
I think some folks use cooler running led during the summer and then switch over to old school metal halide/high pressure sodium in the winter when they need the heat.
 
ricardocello said:
I just hit 100% battery on a beautiful day. I hate that (the 100%, not the beautiful day).

Why? Because I only drained down to 50% this morning instead of 30%, which would have probably worked for today.
Stupid weather forecasts are never right about cloud cover.
However, it was cloudy when I got up, so I guessed wrong.

Does everyone wake up and do this, or am I just obsessive about it?

Oh, and normally on Saturday mornings we use lots of power grilling bacon (electric). But not today.
Click to expand...
This time of year I run space heaters with a open window w/ fan. Almost kidding.
 
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