“Recipe”

It’s not just for the Baldwin Sisters anymore…            

Groton suspends suspected moonshiner

Teehee!

UPDATE: But wait!  There's more!

My latest Leather Project

Knife Frog and Mini-Maglight Holster

The knife is an E. Jonsson Mora utility knife with it's original plastic sheath from which I removed the rather cheesy button strap.

The flashlight is a standard 2-AA Mini-Maglight that I've upgraded with the Nite-Eyes focus-able LED lamp and IQ Switch multifunction tail-cap switch.  I'm toying with the idea of getting a red Mini-Maglight and swapping out parts so the light will be red over black like the knife.  What do you think?

Oh, the other strap is my keyring holder that I posted about here.  On third thought that may have been over at FaceBook and that's set up so only friends can get at it.  I shall have to remedy that.  (Eventually...)

How it works

I’m much better at explaining complex systems with pictures, so here goes…

A revised version of this schematic is posted here.

I still need to do the math to figure out how much I can actually run with this system.  We’ll get there.

“Cap’n!  I need morrre time!”

(Actually, after fighting with my scanner drivers for much of the evening, and now sitting here listening to Cam & Co. I just don’t feel like writing.  So ask any questions in the comments {assuming the comments will actually work…} and I’ll try to find the answer.)

Introducing HerrBGone’s Power & Light

At HerrBGone’s Power & Light we have entered the testing phase of our newly installed solar powered photovoltaic distributed generation station.

;-)

I made the final connections between the panels on the roof and the charge controller last night.  Since it was pitch black night by the time I got home from work the lines from the panels were cold.  I disconnected the hot lead from the battery bank to the charge controller making that cold as well.  Then I replaced the screw connectors with new ones that were sized to fit the posts better.  The first pair had too large a hole and cranking down on the knobs trying to get a tight connection wound up pulling the threaded inserts part way out of the plastic knobs.  Fortunately I was able to press them back in and they were still useable.  The new screw connectors solved that problem and actually had to be opened up just slightly with my drill press to fit on the posts.  Probably metric posts vs. English holes.

This morning before breakfast I grabbed my meter and checked the lines from the panels to see if the were producing any electricity.  Lighting conditions were what the slip of paper that came with your roll of film might call about half way between “cloudy dull” and “cloudy bright.”  Not optimal by any stretch of the imagination.  The meter still showed 20.9 VDC open circuit!  That was with the charge controller switched off.  After switching it on the reading dropped as expected.  Under load the meter read 12.7 VDC.  Maybe enough to put a little juice into the batteries, but not enough to make much of a dent in any kind of regular use.  Still, even with fairly poor generating conditions we are making some electricity.   It will be interesting to see how it runs with actual sunlight on the panels.

Photovoltaic System 90% Installed

Yesterday was an errands day including visiting the local home center uber store for the stuff I’d need to install the solar panels on the roof and get them all hooked up to put some juice into my storage batteries.  The panels went up today and all of the inside equipment got hooked up too.  Unfortunately actually connecting the panels to the charge controller will have to wait for tomorrow.  The wires supplied on the panels don’t reach the controller.  I’ll need to stop by the uber store again for a terminal strip, about six feet of wire and some clamp type lugs.

Behold!  The panels:

I got my new solar panels installed just in time for the sun to set.  Tomorrow, before the panels will be connected to the charge controller there will be some sun.  But it will likely be raining before I get out of work.  And the ten day forecast doesn’t mention any sun again until Thursday.  They are predicting partly cloudy for Saturday so I may get to test the system then.

Speaking of the charge controller and batteries, here they are:

One of the other stops we made yesterday was at a local consignment shop.  I was looking for a small table that would let me set up the system pretty much as I have it here.  I haven’t had a desk that size since I was in the third grade!  This one even has a hole through the top for an inkwell!  That’s the perfect place to route the wires from the panels on the roof to the back of the charge controller.  That’s the box to the right where junior’s books, papers and frog for show and tell used to go.  The box to the left is the inverter.  The inverter has two standard house plugs that supply “modified sign wave” 120 volts AC.  It also has a fan so I don’t think heat should be much of an issue.  The charge controller has several options for powering various things with DC ranging from 3 volts to 12.  Both have USB connectors to charge things that need that style connection.

The two cables coming loosely down the wall and in through the inkwell are for the 12VDC florescent lights that came with the solar panel kit.  They are set up temporarily to provide emergency lighting to the area shown in the second photo.  They work – though not very brightly.  I haven’t decided if they will be set up there permanently or not.  You can see their connectors dangling from the bookshelf right next to the charge controller.

All of the ‘stuff’ on top of the desk is generally like kind to what the desk was put here for.  There’s a car charger, a booster box and a really lame ‘plugs into the lighter socket’ booster box there.  Also I’ve put the chargers for my smaller Makita power tools there.  Those will be plugged into a grid connected switched power strip.  Once I get one to go there.

 

Oh by the way, that’s R2 sitting next to the desk waiting patiently for the next time we’ll need him…

There was one other item I picked up at the home center uber store: an appliance load tester.  I’ll be using that to find out how much juice my stuff really needs in order to determine just how much (or how little, as the case may be) can actually be run from this system.

I am almost looking forward to going to work so I can rest!

Oh realy?

Several west coast Occupy groups are "digging in and calling for reinforcements."

Keep your powder dry.  This could get messy....

This is a test…

Not the one the FCC ran at 2 o’clock this afternoon. 

I just did a very small test of my batteries and inverter.  After moving the batteries to the top of my generator’s frame so I could get at them easier than leaving them on the shop floor, I got out my good meter and checked them both.  I was surprised to find they both are showing 12.46 volts!  They are actually charged!  I has assumed (I know I shouldn’t) that they most likely wouldn’t be.

Having juice available I hooked up the inverter to one of the batteries and tried running my air mover fan.  It worked as if it were plugged into the wall.

This actually leaves me with something of a quandary: Having both batteries charged and in good working order and having the brand new inverter that we’ve now proven actually works and hopefully having the solar panels installed this weekend to keep the batteries charged – what should I do with this power?  I bought this equipment to be able to power an appliance or two, mainly the refrigerator and the furnace, for a few cycles a day in the event of the grid going down as it did last week.  Living where we do that is a fairly uncommon thing, particularly for as long a time as it was out this last time.  In the mean time is it a waste to not use the excess power that will be left over beyond what’s needed to maintain the charge on the batteries?

Hmmm…  You know, I think this is a good quandary to find myself in.  And that’s a nice change of pace!