Power Digestion Is there any way to get a list of devices that digest inverter power? The information on printers and copy machines is about all I have ever seen. I would be glad to contribute to this information pool. For example my two year old oil fired furnace required a 3 MFD capacitor across the input leads. Without the capacitor the electric eye saw the modified wave of our 2012 as a flame irregularity and shut the burner down in 45 seconds. With a capacitor, no problem. Debby is, at this very moment, trying out a bread machine she got for Christmas. It is a digital device that looks like R2D2 from the Stars Wars movie. So far it is running just a bit fast. Will let you know. Nelson and Debby Henne, RD#1 Box 104, Robsonia, PA 19551 We are compiling such a list. Please send us data on inverter friendly appliances. We are interested in make and model of the appliance and also make and model of the inverter which power it. We will act as a clearing house for the data and publish it when the time is ripe. Ð Richard No Control A Philips Earth Light SL-18 caused trouble with my TV remote control. With the Philips light on in the room with the TV, the remote control would not work. The TV remote is infrared and runs at 56 KHZ. The lamp must operate at 56KHZ, or 56KHZ is a multiple of the lamp frequency. So, it is not easy to get into to change the oscillator frequency. Lowell Wilson, 1104 Wentland Dr., Mason, MI 48854 Interference problems such as this one are common. Tweaking the light is a very remote possibility. I suggest the Osram EL series of compact fluorescents. These Osrams have passed the "Class B" FCC tests for radio interference. They are clean and will stay out of your remote control. Ð Richard Demand Heaters I been talking to various dealers and plumbers here in North Florida about ON DEMAND WATER HEATERS. ALL of them say NO because of the high failure rate of them? When I ask what type of failure occurred, I get a ho-hum answer. Would you place an article in your magazine, asking what problems occur in Northern Florida with ON DEMAND water heaters? Is it the heavy lime deposit (seeing most of Florida is sitting on coral beds) which come with our water supply! I was reading one article where the person said that her sub. ran out and, lo and behold, I looked and my sub. had run out also. Folks, keep up the good work. May God bless Y-all, Donald H. Boudreau, RT # Box 5234, Crawfordville, FL 32327 Let's hear from some readers in Northern Florida who have On- Demand water heaters. What is the story out there. Write to us or get in touch with Don. Also, good work, Don, checking your sub in time. Now you won't miss a single issue. - Kathleen Panel Parameters I've got a couple of Solarex 6W panels, but I'm not sure how to install them. Should they be installed inside a glass enclosure, or can they withstand the elements directly? Sincerely Yours, Mitchell Lee/KB6FPW, 172 North 24th St., San Jose, CA 95116 Well, Mitch, if your panels have aluminum frames and are not amorphous, you have nothing to worry about. Solarex panels have a ten year warranty and can withstand all types of weather. They can, however, be broken by a direct hit, i.e. a rock, baseball bat, hammer or even a long drop off a roof. Make sure your panels are securely anchored to avoid accidents. Even if the tempered glass on your panel is broken by accident, in most cases the panel will still work. In HP #21, page 12 there is an article on how to repair the broken glass of a solar panel. The plastic framed, amorphous panels are prone to degradation due to exposure to the elements. While I don't know how much, it seems to be a lot in the first year.- Kathleen Alternate Windcharger Has anyone ever mounted an alternator on a Windcharger unit. I've just moved to a place off the grid. There is a derelict Windcharger 3220 in pieces on the place. The prop is useable and is 11 or 12 feet long. Since I have a 12-volt battery bank and a 12-volt inverter I am not interested in the 32-volt generator but wish to use an alternator instead. I've read Michael Hackelman's books, but how do I choose an alternator and drive train (I'm leaning towards a gearbelt) for my application? Any advice would be much appreciated. Peter Donovan, 66636 Zumwalt Rd., Enterprise, OR 97828 Mick Sagrillo, Wind Wizard of Lake Michigan Wind & Sun, replies; Peter, The original Windcharger 3220 was 1000 to maybe 1200 watts in capacity. They were gear driven units, with a bull gear attached to the blades, and a smaller gear attached to the blades, and a smaller gear attached to the 32 VDC generator, both in an oilbath gear box. The 1000 and 1200 watt units, with a 10' to 12' rotor, typically had a gear ratio of 4 to 1. The larger 1500 watt four-blade units had a gear ratio of 6 to 1. There were also a few 5 to 1 gear ratios out there, too. I don't know of anyone who has ever connected an alternator up to a Windcharger gearbox. The generator bolted to the gearbox and was gasketed so that the gear box didn't splash all of its oil out. While anything is possible, it seems a formidable task to retrofit an alternator to the gearbox, I'm not sure how you'd approach getting a timing belt in there, and then adjusting the tension on the belt. You mentioned that you still had the 32 volt generator, but that you wanted to run the unit at 12 volts. Why not have the generator rewound for 12 volts. That would save an awful lot of screwing around mixing and matching parts. Another idea would be to use the generator as is, hook it up to your 12 volt battery bank along with a blocking diode, and put a variable resistor in series with the field. Check the ohm reading of the field. Let's say it's 15 ohms. I'd try something in the 10 to 30 ohm range. If the blade stalls and won't come up to speed, add more resistance. If it seems to be spinning too fast, decrease the resistance. While you won't get as much total power out of the generator as you would if you rewound it, you'll still get your rated current, in your case, 25 to 35 amps. By the way, if anyone else has ever succeeded in marrying a Windcharger gearbox and an alternator, I would also like to hear about it. Ð Mick My Question... Dear Sirs, I am building, in North Carolina, a 24' x 48' owner built home. The roof slope will be the standard 4" in 12" rise running East West, one slope facing South, one North. I plan the home to be totally off the grid using the Trace 2012 or the PowerStar 1300 inverter. I think the PowerStar can power phantom loads such as clocks better than the Trace. Please comment. My question, can the PowerStar or Trace start and run a 1/2 HP surface mounted deep well pump in a 39' well at 115 volts. Next question is about hot water and with two people in the house would a tankless hot water heater at $500 work better and cheaper than a 40' solar water system with 80 gal. tank at system cost of $2,000? As shown on page 37 of HP#25. Keeping in mind cost of future LP gas and sunless days in winter. I plan to put my solar electric modules on my 4" in 12" sloped roof. I will NOT track the sun. My question is what penalty in lost power will I pay for the fact that the solar panels will not be inclined at the best angle for the sun? I plan to use 30 amps of panels on a 1320 AH 12 volt bank and invert all power to AC except possibly for a Kenwood TS 440 Ham radio on HF and a 2 meter radio. The batt bank will be in the attic. Could I power a 600 watt pep output Ameritron AL 811 Ham amplifier on the PowerStar 1300? Will my TV and music system be hum free on the PowerStar power? Will my AC clocks keep time? I plan to ground one leg of my AC power as per the NEC and custom in North America. My question is, I plan one AC circuit that will power two bathrooms and two outside 120 volt outlets. My last question is, will the GFI I will use on that circuit as per the NEC work correct on the Powerstar or Trace modified square wave output? I plan to wire so that one GFI will protect both bathrooms and both outside outlets, with nothing else on the circuit. Or, could I put the GFI at the PowerStar and thus GFI protect the whole house with one GFI? I have enclosed a S.A.S.E. and I like my sub to HP. It is money well spent. Very Sincerely, R. D. Carter, POB 418, Vass, NC 28394 Hello, R.D. Yes the PowerStar is better at powering "phantom loads" like clocks. They clock may keep correct time, or in some cases run double time, depends on the power supply in the clock. In general, you are better off with a battery powered clock (more reliable and less power consumption). You roof angle is right on during the summer and will cost you about 20% power loss during the winter. Either inverter will run a 1/2 hp pump. Not having solar data for your neighborhood, I can't say if the solar hot water is a better deal than the instant gas fired heater. I suspect that it is. The PowerStar 1300 will run the Ameritron AL 811 RF amplifier. It is very unlikely that all your TV and music will run smoothly and totally without interference on any modified sine wave inverter. If you really want clean video and audio check out the Exeltech inverter on page 53 of this issue. We have used GFI breakers and outlets on Trace, Heliotrope, PowerStar, Exeltech, and Heart inverters. If they last a week, then they go on indefinitely. Some GFI devices fail during the first week. We've used the Leviton GFI outlets with success. Ð Richard