DIY Wind & Solar Power

I know a lot of people here seem to be a pretty self sufficient bunch. I thought I'd ask and see if anybody has any experience in going off the grid using solar or wind power. I've been looking at doing this and have found I can get downright fancy and spend like completely prepped Subaru money for such a system right on down to logbooked backmarker VW bucks for something.

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It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.
William Ralph Inge

TANSTAAFL

My favorite place for advice and articles is backwoods home magazine.

http://www.backwoodshome.com/

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Kirk Coughlin
Woodbury, MN and River Falls, WI

Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est.

I built a place on Lopez Island here in Washington that is off the grid and I have run it with solar and wind for 8 years now.

Most of the systems I see for sale are crazy expensive - like going to prodrive for your club car.

What do you want to know?

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In the long run reality always wins.

derek Wrote:
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> I built a place on Lopez Island here in Washington
> that is off the grid and I have run it with solar
> and wind for 8 years now.
>
> Most of the systems I see for sale are crazy
> expensive - like going to prodrive for your club
> car.
>
> What do you want to know?
>
> See me go at:
> www.11tenths.com
> In the long run Reality always wins.


Thanks Derek,

I am definitely leaning towards building my own stuff. Although I do intend to stay tied into the grid.

Did you buy or build your windmill and solar panels?

What are some pitfalls I should be on the lookout for?

Any reccomendations on wattages? Or what wattages do you pull?

Batteries, new or used?

12v or 24v?

Thanks

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It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.
William Ralph Inge

TANSTAAFL

Yah, I've designed a few. And I'm licensed in Missouri. Talk to me off line.

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RichardM



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/15/2009 06:37PM by Richard Miller.

Sundance Canal had an excellent documentary about Taos guru Michael Reynolds. He has designed 100% self sufficient houses. Very interesting and educational.
Personally, I've lived 4 summers learning low-cost life w/o sacrificing much of modern comforts. My next cabin will have 100% own power system. I haven't decided the voltage yet. Both, 12 and 24V, are doable. I found many interesting, usable 24V things from truck stores and catalogs! "Boat people" also have lots of usable stuff for home.
NASCAR has a small, hi output 12V alternator which should work for wind power. It's made in Japan Germans have the best sun panels, made by Siemens, but they're expensive.
For heating I'll use geo thermat system except the pipe is sunken on the lake bottom.
This is my goal - to be 100% free of energy companies run by Wall Street pin-striped a$$holes and governMENTAL burocracy.

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- RWD rocks -

http://www.mdpub.com/Wind_Turbine/

This site seems pretty good on some of the basics and all is easily scaleable into larger systems.

I'm going to build a portable one to take to hill climbs, camping, and to CORE so that we can play video games and watch movies and such. Cheaper than a generator, and lighter.

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Grant Hughes

I mainly use 24v on the DC side and 110v on the AC side of things. I do have a 20 amp DC to DC converter for running common 12 things.

I had a 400w wind gen but in the end removed it as it was loud and the wind was not plentiful, lots of short storms but not much in the way of constant wind. I am now all solar at about 48deg north.

I have 2 165W Sharp 24v panels and 1 175W Shell panel. The Sharps are inclined to the winter sun and the Shell is basically flat with a small lean to the W for afternoon sun here.

I have Four 4D gell cell batteries charged by the solar, they feed an inverter and most of the house wiring. I have a few 24v runs for things that are on all the time like ceiling fans and water pumps.

The main thing I advise is not to size the system for the worst case, that will add a lot of cost for only 5% of the time. If I had to size for the darkest winter days of say 5 days of cloud I would need to tripple my pannels and add at least 2 times the batteries if not more. Though I hate to run a small gen set to charge up a low battery in the winter it is way more cost effective to by a $500 gen then add $6000 of panel and battery for something I use once or twice a year.

The gen is also handy for running a welder or compressor up there, where I only do so once a year at most. As a grid tie system you will not have these issues for the most part. For grid tie I would start with the inverter and such I plan to use over time but add the solar in phases.

A good ref

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In the long run reality always wins.

Do you mind telling where to get 24V stuff? Thanks.

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- RWD rocks -

Derek,

Thanks for the info. I understand in reading a bit further that 24v is more efficient. I am going to start small and add to it as funds and time permits.
I would like to eventually add a water heating element to help with my gas bill and to provide a load for the excess power that would be created.

I also second what Topi asks, where can I find 24v parts and such?

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It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favour of vegetarianism, while the wolf remains of a different opinion.
William Ralph Inge

TANSTAAFL

24v stuff is common, most boats and airplanes now use 24 volt systems and most of the solar industry sells 24v. I buy pumps and the like at the local used marine store called second wave http://www.secondwave.cc/ here in seattle. Fisheries Supply Co. is a good place to buy new items and they stock tons of 24v lights, motors, pumps etc. They have good pricing and even better if you have an account.

Any good marine store will have the stuff - I was a yacht captain for years and everything was 24v on the boats I ran.

Back woods solar is a company in Idaho that I have bought some thing from such as 24 v fan controls etc. I have also bought panels from them.
They have a nice little catalog/ guide book they send out on how to build systems.

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In the long run reality always wins.