DIY Solar Power Wiki

[erik.calco]

@upnorthandpersonal

Can you post the results of:

SELECT trophy_points, COUNT(*) CNT FROM User GROUP BY trophy_points;

So we can see the breakdown today?

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

I'll need @Will Prowse permission to post that kind of data since it could be considered sensitive. Not my forum

 

[erik.calco]

I'll need @Will Prowse permission to post that kind of data since it could be considered sensitive. Not my forum

Technically it's public. You can see it on anyone's profile. You and I are both 63. But, if you're concerned, post it in a private conversation including me and Will.

That result is 'anonymized', too. I just want to identify thresholds. Like 80% are over X. 90% are over Y.

 

[TommyD]

I appreciate that the Wiki has started and wanted to Thank "upnorthandpersonal" for taking the lead.
So from one who is trying to understand this vast topic and at say an intermediate level, I would hope there is a place for us to post questions that we would like answers. So for instance we have the issue of a "Capacity Testing a LiFEPo4 Cell". Under this heading I would envision sections like, Why do a capacity test?, What equipment do you need to do a capacity test? How do you set up the equipment? How do you run a capacity test? How do you record the date, results of a capacity test? What do the results mean?, etc. Basically everything respecting this issue in one place.
Then at least we would have the beginning of some structure to start building our Wiki.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

My idea is that posts such as "Capacity Testing a LiFEPo4 Cell" on the forum become a wiki entry and gather all the relevant facts regarding that topic in the wiki. My hope is that this will be quite organic, and I'll do my best form my end to help things move into that direction. So, in other words, ask the question in the regular forums for discussion, and knowledge from the discussion goes into the relevant wiki entry.

 

[svetz]

Is it possible to include circuit emulations into a wiki entry? Something like E.g., http://tinyurl.com/y9gbu4ad
I suppose you could take a video it and turn it into an animated gif, but being able to include a remote page as a control would be a lot easier and provide controls for users to operate the circuit.

For example, in the link you can open and close the switch to see the inductor storing and releasing energy like a battery.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

It might be possible if the site supports being put into an iFrame. I gave it a try with the link you sent in an online iFrame tester and the non-minified URL seems to work. This does mean you'll have to create a HTML page and not a BBCode one. I've not yet tested on the wiki yet though.

 

[svetz]

Nice work upnorthandpersonal, that means we can embed calculators too!

 

[svetz]

You might like the Clipping wiki entry.

Woot! Usually I'd point to the FAQ, but a clipping entry doesn't exist there... so, first actual real-life wiki reference!!!

 

[kernel]

Or else mebbe Will could write an informative, comprehensive book on the subject and make it available to everyone inexpensively on Amazon... oh wait!!
Would it be rude to tell people to go away and come back when they've read the book? Or, as we used to say - RTFM!

"Or, my other favourite is some variety of "I think I wanna DIY but I have no idea about all this volts, watts math stuff - so can someone please design a system for me?"

Or, I've already bought X, Y, Z - What else do I need? What am I trying to power? I dunno - Why do you ask? Does that really matter?

"Or, my other favourite is some variety of "I think I wanna DIY but I have no idea about all this volts, watts math stuff - so can someone please design a system for me?"

As priceless as people using the diy help to supply products with their name on them..... at a profit.

Its a labor of love to do this for free, usually if someone comes to me with these questions it is a design package or 20$/hr to talk about it.....

We do need a shortcut to redirect people to the tools and education safety tips etc..... and 'just RTFM before buying a.d certainly before plugging it all in and screwing it down section!

 

[svetz]

Note the scrollbar position... the F's are swamping the list...

 

[Dhowman]

Note the scrollbar position... the F's are swamping the list...

I think you want to keep the FAQ answer pages in the Wiki, no? Wonder if I can remove the subpage attribute to the FAQ page but then all those pages are just going to scatter to the wind into the rest of the alphabet there.
Are folks really going to use this page to navigate anyway? Isn't it just a comprehensive index of all pages at all levels? Maybe I'm not sure how Xenfro works or how folks are thinking of configuring it for our use (?)

 

[Dhowman]

Note the scrollbar position... the F's are swamping the list...

Also, isn't that a GOOD thing?? And hopefully, it'll just keep growing! Would be nice, I suppose, if you could click to expand that FAQ list. Alas, don't know if that's possible.

 

[Bob142]

Are folks really going to use this page to navigate anyway? Isn't it just a comprehensive index of all pages at all levels? Maybe I'm not sure how Xenfro works or how folks are thinking of configuring it for our use (?)

I'd probably lean towards a combination of search and the index. Under Advanced Search, there is a Search Wiki tab:



@upnorthandpersonal, is there a way to add the Wiki search to the drop-down menu and put it somewhere prominent on the Wiki home page?

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

is there a way to add the Wiki search to the drop-down menu and put it somewhere prominent on the Wiki home page?

I'll look into it as soon as I have some free time.

 

[KBWaldron]

Isn't the Wiki intended to be one big FAQ? Seems redundant to include the FAQ attribute in the title of some posts.

 

[svetz]

I think you want to keep the FAQ answer pages in the Wiki,

Nah, whatever works best is best. But what's best?

...Are folks really going to use this page to navigate anyway?

When you don't know the search terms, like a newbie, then the page is a lifesaver to see what's there.

 

[svetz]

Titles like "How do I calculate how many batteries I need?" are nicely descriptive, but they have two things against them, you won't get the natural wiki linkage, and as the number of topics builds up they start to get lost. Been thinking about this since my earlier post...

Why not an entry called "batteries", and put everything in it or as a subindex of it? For example, break that big FAQ block up into something like:


Sizing

• Energy Audit
• Batteries (includes How do I calculate how many batteries I need and references how much power I'll need)
• Panels (insolation and software tools)
• Inverter
• Wiring (What wire gauge should I use? What's the difference between different types of wire?)

Site

• tilt angle
• Site Planning
• Shade
• Sine Vs Modified Sine

Battery (includes do I need a battery)

• Lithium Iron Phosphate (LiFePO4) (includes charge profile parameters (or its a subindex)
  • Balancing (includes Top Balancing How do I top balance the Lithium cells? )
• Charging (How do I charge my batteries or cells using a charger? _
• C-Rate
• DIY (What's the difference between DIY and "Drop In" batteries?)
• Lead Acid (What's the difference between Lead and Lithium batteries?)

 

[Dhowman]

Nah, whatever works best is best. But what's best?

Well, I kinda opted for both. I have a link to the forum post at the top of the FAQ page that I scraped the answer from as well as the answer, itself. Thought it might server 2 3 purposes: 1) take the user to the discussion about the answer (the back and forth and any questions that the answer raised) and 2) provide the ability to amend the answer (can't do this in a post that's become un-editable). It also allowed an answer that was spread across multiple posts, like this one. And (#3), Wiki searches will include terms used in the answer. They wouldn't if the answer (target) was in the forum.

When you don't know the search terms, like a newbie, then the page is a lifesaver to see what's there.

I agree but unsure how to filter out all the answer subpages from that index (the problem mentioned above about the longer list of pages under FAQ). I think having all the FAQ pages listed under FAQ in the Pages list is better, though, than having them scattered across the rest of the alphabet there, no?

Titles like "How do I calculate how many batteries I need?" are nicely descriptive, but they have two things against them, you won't get the natural wiki linkage, and as the number of topics builds up they start to get lost. Been thinking about this since my earlier post...

Yeah, played around with the natural linkage but couldn't get it to work, so wasn't sure how to create FAQ pages that would lend themselves to those linkages. I'll take the queues from your rec above to see if I can get it to work.
I agree, just typing something like "batteries" that automatically links to a Batteries (or Battery?) FAQ index page would be nice, but before I go down that route, might be worth spending a little time coming up with a list of those terms that would make for good links when writing an article elsewhere in the Wiki.
Somebody care to take a crack at that? Maybe scan the existing FAQ for those terms? Highlight 'em in red maybe? Next real opp I have to spend any amount of time on this is coming weekend. I'll reindex Wiki along those lines then but would be nice to have some inputs on terms before I do that.

 

[svetz]

Added a new entry for your review/edits.