System Shorties A System In The Forest We live in the middle of a pine and Douglas Fir forest, in a canyon that sits right in the middle of the biggest wheat-producing county around. Where we live the canyon's about one quarter mile wide. We lose several hours of direct solar gain in the winter, when we need it most. This far north, days get down to only about eight hours around the winter solstice . So just when we need the most light, we get the least electricity. It's too cold in the winter to run water pipes very far above ground, so micro- or nano-hydro is not practical for us. Besides, the streams flood in the spring, and occasionally during a winter thaw, unpredictably. There is just a chance that I might be able to use a small wind plant to augment the photovoltaics in the winter, but living in a canyon as we do, really strong winds are infrequent. We have a Toro 2.5 kilowatt generator that we use for laundry and simultaneous battery charging. With seven people in the family, mostly under 12 years old, we do a lot of laundry. We've had the Toro for four years and have had NO problems with it, other than USER malfunction. It still starts on the second pull. We have two Interstate 12 Volt forklift batteries that we use in parallel in the summer and separately in the winter. Each battery is rated at 115 Amp hours. My wife's friend Jean lives in the nearest town, where I work two days a week. When we have a week or more of overcast, I take the lowest battery in to Jean's house and put it on a trickle charge for a few days, in exchange for a half hour or so of wood splitting. If, as sometimes happens, we have two weeks of overcast, I just swap batteries every week until we do get sunlight. We charge our batteries with four old 30 Watt photovoltaic panels that we bought used for $150 each. They are mounted together in an array at ground level where I can manually adjust their angle every month and clean them when they get dusty, snowy, etc. My wife and I and our 5 kids live in a five bedroom, semi-underground home, lit by a hybrid lighting system composed of 12 Volt incandescent, 12 Volt PL fluorescent, plumbed-in propane fixtures, and portable kerosene lamps. We also use flashlights a lot, but this is changing as we get more of the house wired for 12-Volt, and gradually can afford to change our incandescent lamps for PL types. We hope soon to buy a computer, and power it with a small inverter, such as the Power Star. We heat our entire house with just the wood-fired cookstove in the kitchen, using only dead wood we cut in the woods. Most of our neighbors do the same. Donald Fallick, Rt. 3, Box 72-F, Davenport, Washington 99122 Tall Towers And Kinky Batteries We built our house and set up its electrical system before getting Home Power, but we seem to have lucked out in gleaning information from old electrical manuals, etc., that weren't nearly as accessible, but contained much of what we needed. Our current setup uses a 32 Volt, 10 foot blade, "750" Watt "Giant" Wincharger on a 45 foot tall tower, with a Kyocera model J59 solar panel as a backup. The real kinky part of our system is the set of twelve nickel-iron Edison cells we got free for the hauling from a neighbor who salvaged them from some place he worked. He didn't know anything about them except that they weren't filled with acid. My college chemistry book explained their operating principles, voltages, electrolyte, etc. An engineering manual gave me the Amp-hour capacity (600 Amp-hours), further chemistry, etc. A problem: how to match a 32 Volt wind machine to a 24 Volt solar panel and a 17 Volt battery bank while ending up with a nominal 12 Volt output. Since our valley location often has light winds we sacrificed half the wind machine's wattage in order to put electricity into the batteries at lower speeds. We did this by wiring it through a blocking diode and fuse directly into the battery. We wired the J59 solar panel in the same way through another diode. Another problem was with the solar panel. On bright days I've measured it producing up to 74 Watts. The diodes rob a measured 5.25%. That seemed OK when we considered the alternative: the cost of a controller and its relative lack of usefulness in charging a battery bank this big. We solved the output voltage problem with an expanded scale analog voltmeter and four 30 Ampere switches. They allow us to tap power from 9, 10, 11, or all 12 cells, while charging the full bank of batteries at all times. We've rarely had to switch in over 9 cells since buying the solar panel. Output voltage varies from 12.6 to 13.9 Volts depending on charging conditions. Our batteries are true Edison cells. The spring-loaded rubber-sealed vents on ours have the inventor's name and address embossed on top. They yield a higher voltage per cell than nickel cadmium batteries. Richard Perez' Battery Book tells of more gassing in our cells, but we haven't experienced it at our low C/30 charge rate. We've lost about an inch of water in a year, and the cells have a 6 inch capacity over the plates. Bob Dahse and Lara Meier, Route 3 Box 163A, Winona, Minnesota 55987 Temporary System While Building I have a temporary photovoltaic system. It is hooked into an old mobile home while my house is built. At that time I will move the system to the house. I will probably invert 100% of the energy to 120 volts AC, due to the building codes, and the resultant extra costs of 'non-conforming' construction. I have eleven Arco model 16-2000 solar panels charging four Exide 6 Volt 'commercial' lead-acid batteries and a Trace 612 inverter. I also have 12 Volt DC wires going to automobile cigarette-lighter type receptacles. I run a small Norcold recreational vehicle refrigerator off of the 12 Volt DC power. I run a remote control 13" color TV off of a Powerstar inverter. Pat Weissleader, 71455 18th Avenue, Desert Hot Springs, California 92240 A 32 Volt Wind System I have a Jacobs wind plant. It produces up to 1800 Watts of power at 32 Volts. I have two strings of Edison batteries and three of ni-cads hooked in parallel to the Jacobs through a voltage regulator. All light bulbs are 32 Volts. I'm planning to buy 250 more new 75 and 100 watt 32 Volt bulbs. They are getting hard to get. I have a 2500 Watt, 32 Volt DC input, 100 volt ac output, rotary inverter. It runs at 1800 revolutions per minute. The thing I need now is a 32 Volt to 12 Volt DC to DC converter of high capacity (1000 Watts or more). Anyone have ideas on this? I may buy some photovoltaic panels when they get cheaper. Ken Sorensen, RR3, Box 67A, Winterset, Iowa 50273 Enjoyable Photovoltaic Life We enjoy our photovoltaic living. We have been using PVs for nearly 9 years. We have six Arco model ASI- 2000 solar panels hooked to a bank of ten batteries, and a Tripp-Lite remote-control inverter. In the future we would like to expand the array and install a tracker. L. Van Helsdingen, RD Carr Hill, Cortland, New York 13045 A Good Diesel Is Hard To Find I have been living in remote areas of Nevada for a long time. Hope to get converted to some form of solar energy. I have part of the system in now: batteries, inverter, and battery charger. But I still rely mostly on diesel generators. I do have a good generator. It is an eight kilowatt Witte. The engine is slow speed (700 revolutions per minute), single cylinder, with flywheels. It burns about 8 gallons of diesel in 24 hours. These engines will run for 10 to 15 years between overhauls. Don Jung, ********** TO DO: ADD ADDRESS ********** A Small Home In The Open Fields I have six solar panels and six Trojan model 105 batteries. I live alone in a small home in the open fields. I have more than enough juice to fill my needs. I recharge flashlight batteries with a charger and a 100 watt inverter. It works fine. I also recharge the car batteries with the inverter. The inverter is really good if you handle it right. The only item that is not on the solar setup is the well. It is 531 feet deep and needs about 4500 watts to pump the water. So I use a 7000 watt Generac generator for that. It would cost too darn much to have a jackpump installed. How much I would like to have that. Willem de Dood, PO Box 386, Bangor, California 95914 A System In The Desert I am in the pool business out in the low desert. We have all kinds of sun here for solar, but most people do not utilize this free energy. I have invested over $9,000 in my solar system. Both my 22 foot travel trailer and my house have their own separate and complete solar system. I now have three banks of eight Arco model M-55 solar panels on the roof of my house. Each bank has its own regulator. Two regulators are the new Trace model C-30A. The first regulator I purchased was the B.O.S.S. model PCU 12-30. If I only had one 100 Amp regulator, rather than three thirty Amp regulators, and it went bad, our whole system would have to shut down. Also, as I learned: my three thirty amp regulators were a lot cheaper to buy than a 100 Amp regulator. Originally I had all three banks of M-55s on the roof facing due south. Now I have one bank facing southeast, one facing south, and one facing southwest. In the early morning, the batteries are low from using them for lighting the previous night. They get charged by the array facing to the southeast. Likewise, in the late afternoon the batteries charge off the bank facing to the southwest. My six by six foot swimming pool is heated with four solar panels. The pump has a one-sixth horsepower 120 volt AC motor powered by a Trace 2012 inverter. The water goes through a 60 foot cartridge filter. My 22 foot boat has its own Arco model M-65 solar panel. My 22 foot trailer has four Arco model M-55 solar panels. I installed six golf cart batteries and a Trace 1512 inverter in the trailer. When the trailer is parked its six batteries are wired directly into the house' 18 golf cart batteries, as is the 9 foot cab over camper with its own 2 batteries. Both the trailer and camper batteries are kept fully charged, and they supply a total of eight more batteries for my house. This helps keep the cost down. Money is scarce. Charles Hubler, 30-900 Happy Valley Road, Desert Hot Springs, California 92240 System Shorties are brief notes from readers about their home power systems. To join the party, send material similar in spirit to what you see here. We will edit for clarity and conciseness.