I was out cruising on the Shadow ACE the other day and decided to detour through the solar farm district. I had suspected that Next Era would be building some more solar production on one road and, sure enough, they were. A few hundred more acres were having mounting posts pounded in and panels will […]
Last time I mentioned I was swapping out the inverter aboard Sun King and last night I climbed aboard to do just that. I was fussing about UPS bringing the package after supper, but that may have been a blessing. Sometimes the temperature drops below 80 at night. First things first, I had to do
What Do You Need In An Inverter? Read More »
I’m changing out the 5kw inverter in my boat, installing a 3.5kw unit. Do I need less power? No, I need an inverter that runs to spec and does not melt the rubber transformer mount when you run it over 10% for a period of time. Good electronics, but not enough transformer. Typical Chinese math
What matters most in solar is how many watts you have to run your loads. And how much it costs. PV modules, aka solar panels, come in all sizes and shapes and power outputs. Is bigger better? You can arrange modules all sorts of ways. The basic rules are if you are putting them in
Does Size Really Matter? Read More »
The Alger-Sullivan Historical Society, in Century, Florida, has its annual Sawmill Day coming up May 6. This is our annual open house and fundraising event to help keep the museum complex afloat. Membership dues of $5/year (if you can’t afford that we can finance it for $1/month) just don’t cover it all. What does this
Sawmill Day and Solar Power Read More »
Lunch for two today at Arby’s cost 35 bucks. Can you believe that??? For that you can get 350 watts of solar panels from Sun Electronics. Just switch to raman noodles. In a month’s equivalent you could have panels equal to the typical installation those pesky solar installers put up. That’s enough to cover a
You Can Do This, Too Read More »
I laughed this morning as I read a news story about West Virginia and Maryland residents wondering about a “mystery dust” that was coating their cars and homes. We have it here in NW Florida, too, but it is no mystery. Really, it’s SPRINGTIME, y’all. I hear tell that up north it is still cold
In recent news, some solar farm projects have been rejected for environmental reasons! Bear with me a while. In 1815, William McVoy petitioned the Spanish governor for a grant of land at Chinmele. The grant was first denied because that area was listed as Indian lands. McVoy’s countered, “What Indians?” The Indians had seen the
Solar Farms Banned! Read More »
Last time I wrote of dealing with one of two recent issues that have come up in my system. Michael C. wrote to me regarding an alternative to the water heater dummy load to test or calibrate inverter power. He pointed out that the air handlers—the box in the hall closet– of heat pump and
Troubleshooting II Read More »
Hopefully, not too late. Last time I promised a series on emergency backup power, with and without solar. I also promised it would take a while because I’d need to take some pictures and make some drawings. Writing a column isn’t just writing. Writing is easy, like running off at the mouth, but people like
What is a microinverter and how can you use it? You have solar panels and you want to do something with the DC power, you’ll often need some kind of inverter. The microinverter was designed as a grid tie inverter to pump your solar DC into the power grid. There’s more. In the beginning there
Fun With Microinverters Read More »
Electric Vehicles (EVs) have been around over a century and have been very popular and practical in some areas. In other areas, not so much. They are perfect for forklifts, golf cars and neighborhood vehicles. Even delivery vehicles with a fixed, predictable route. Electric automobiles were tried early on and their usefulness was limited. The
EVs and Solar Charging Read More »
Junk yards like to say that all cars run on used parts. It is true. The same is true of solar installations. There’s a solar farm being built just up the road and there are 180,000 panels sitting in piles in the field. They are soaking up dust, dirt, rain and humidity while waiting to
I called John to fuss about the website and email. Yeah, there’ve been problems. In his John’s Blog, you never know what kind of crazy stuff you’ll find, but there’s really useful info, too. He mentioned a recent email blast and I didn’t get one. I live 700 miles from Miami, so it isn’t like
One Moment, Please Read More »
As a rule, the Direct Current (DC) side of an off-grid or backup home power system will be 12, 24 or 48 volts. Some equipment is available for the archaic 32 volt system and there are maverick higher voltage systems. I think most of you will best be served by one of the big 3
What Voltage Should My Battery Be? Read More »
What’s that black box on the back of most solar panels? Is it just a place for the wires to come out? There are all kinds of panels, but the usual 60 or 72 cell module in an aluminum frame is going to have the black box. This is usually called the junction box. Yes,
John’s ranting about the shortage and price of solar modules over on his blog. He can get pretty entertaining at times, but he is also very serious. This guy wants everybody to have a roof or backyard full of solar panels. I find it amazing that the government creates a full tilt initiative to promote
In early summer of 2015, I was on my solar expedition launch Sun King. Cruising up the Tennesee-Tombigbee Waterway. It was raining and getting dark as I approached the lock and dam at Aberdeen, Mississippi. I don’t like to run in the rain and there are limitations to running in the dark in a solar-powered
There’s An App for That Read More »
Don’t Worry, We Can Fix This After Hurricane Katrina, solar power took off in New Orleans. Long nights without power left folks wanting a little more control of their situation and rooftop solar took off. How much of that was actually usable when the grid is down and how much was grid tie? I’m betting
Louisiana Screws Up Net Metering Read More »
