diy solar

diy solar

Need a way to bottle or can excess solar production.

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.
 
time2roll said:
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
Click to expand...
I guess a label could be printed up and I could sell those to people at Football and Hockey matches.
"Full batteries, Get your full batteries"
 
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?
Click to expand...

It just means you don't have enough battery. Once you have twice what you need, you can go down to 50% and still be assured you have 100% of the old capacity :)
 
Mattb4 said:
Sadly you can not fill up a few 5kWh cans of fuel and hawk them to the Tesla tourists as they drive through. Or sell bottles of kool watts on a hot day to dehydrated joggers and the like. No way to make some easy return.
Click to expand...
There are companies working on circulating electrolyte batteries. Maybe some day gas pumps will become electrolyte pumps. Drain off your depleted electrolyte and refill with charged electrolyte, and be able to carry electricity in a can.

More humble(and immediately effective), I boil water with a cheap hot plate and use it to kill weeds in my yard. Kills the dandelions just as well as Roundup or whatever, but non toxic.
 
OM617YOTA said:
More humble(and immediately effective), I boil water with a cheap hot plate and use it to kill weeds in my yard. Kills the dandelions just as well as Roundup or whatever, but non toxic.
Click to expand...
Great minds...
Been doing the same thing.
Tried to get my brother fired up earlier (he's owns a lawncare / landscaping company)
 

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what a "good" problem to have. Our EVs never seem to have enough. My back up plan is to heat/cool the house structural mass
 
42OhmsPA said:
Great minds...
Been doing the same thing.
Tried to get my brother fired up earlier (he's owns a lawncare / landscaping company)
Click to expand...

For a pro landscaping company with a severe time limit, I can see it being impractical.

I've heard of folks using steam wands and mops the same way, "torch" the weeds with steam.
 
summit said:
what a "good" problem to have. Our EVs never seem to have enough. My back up plan is to heat/cool the house structural mass
Click to expand...
It is 85F outdoors so I am running the back office/BR aircon unit this afternoon. Batteries full earlier in the day so it is entirely solar fed. Not really cycling long since the room had only got up to 75F. But it is a handy test of operation for my new aircon unit and AIO setup. If i did not have the excess power available I would likely just wait until evening to open a window for cooling. The main room is only 70F.

I wonder if solar systems will become the new method for attracting a mate? A nest with power. Though I would not want to worry about an inadequate size PV keeping me from getting the women.
 
Mattb4 said:
It is 85F outdoors so I am running the back office/BR aircon unit this afternoon. Batteries full earlier in the day so it is entirely solar fed. Not really cycling long since the room had only got up to 75F. But it is a handy test of operation for my new aircon unit and AIO setup. If i did not have the excess power available I would likely just wait until evening to open a window for cooling. The main room is only 70F.

I wonder if solar systems will become the new method for attracting a mate? A nest with power. Though I would not want to worry about an inadequate size PV keeping me from getting the women.
Click to expand...

Not sure if we're there yet, but my MIL absolutely loves that I built backup power to take care of her baby. She loved me to pieces already, but this definitely helps.
 
I have 2 50 gallon electric water heaters. I have cascaded them (see videos below for what I found) so after my battery is full I use the PV power, via the AC inverter to heat the water. By 3PM or so I have 100 gallons of hot water 110F that is fed into my Nat Gas tankless water heater, saving nat gas

this is currently using 120v 2000 watt coils (4 of them) in the electric water heaters. this is left over from when I only had 120v inverter

since I have a 240v XW Pro, I have 4 3000 watt 240v coils ready to replace the 2000 watt ones, waiting for me to "get it done"

THEORY

diysolarforum.com

Solar house generator I started DIY back in 2000 - My path from Trace to Xantrex (on FLA battery) to XW Pro inverters on Tesla Model S batteries

dougbert, thank you for sharing the evolution of your solar system. I'm just about old enough to remember those first solar cells when the silicon could only be cut in the round.
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IMPLEMENTED

diysolarforum.com

Solar house generator I started DIY back in 2000 - My path from Trace to Xantrex (on FLA battery) to XW Pro inverters on Tesla Model S batteries

And chase nipples, use-em!
diysolarforum.com diysolarforum.com

I have more refined my implemention with much BETTER SSRs, an enclosure, etc

these are 9 years old






caution: if you do this do not use cheap $20 amazon SSRs, I did and burnt one up.
I got 2 $75 ones, with a cooling tower for them in the box
 
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