My Cheapie Solar System
March 11th, 2010 | 
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My inexpensive solar system. Solar angle link; susdesign.com Music used under creative commons license; ccmixter.org Power lines photo used under GNU copyleft; wikimediafoundation.org Note; All electrical wiring in your home should be performed by a licensed electrician, to meet local codes
Posted in Planet Alignment | 
Tags: Cheapie, Creative Commons License, Electrical Wiring, Electrician, Gnu Copyleft, Music, Photo, Solar, Solar Angle, Solar System, System
thanks!
will look into it
my telescope has a tracking motor…i think i gave 300 for the whole thing telescope and motor…
try looking for a telescope motor…they arent so expensive…and will track exactly
Needs to be controlled to follow the sun precisely. sun’s arch changes over the course of year also. shorter days in winter etc. All this has to be taken into account, or panels won’t stay at 90 degrees to sun
nah..you can move the dish actuator with 2 wires and a car battery…all you need is a resistor to slow the thing down …i believe it should be fairly easy
That’s the easy part. control circuit is hard part for me
a cheap tracking mech. would be to find an old satelite dish…the bigones…and take the dish off..set it on an east west then use very low curent on the actuator to move it across the arch.
Great video, I have not done this yet . So MANY things to get done I hope we just have more time
awesome! well, I guess it’s not that big but for how small it is, awesome;) inspires some awe in me at least
One of my favorite video of yours so far. I really liked the idea of using a cooler sealed and venting outside the house. I saw some 834 AH bateries at Wal Mart today. They were not too expensive either. I’m thinking i’ll be building my system in the summer at some point. Good video, thanks for the ideas. Mike.
great work, I never really gave it alot of thought about a small solar emegency syste…but you know.. you sure sold me now!!! thankyou and my family thanks you… please keep making such videos they are a great help… stay safe
great job once again
You never know
Your a electrician right
Very helpful. We already have 2 sets of solar panels from Harbor Freight. Need to put them on the roof.
I like your system. The coal oil lamp conversion is awesome. How about installing a windshield wiper to keep the snow off that panel. Just turn it on for a few wipes when you want to knock the snow off.
WOW! You are very resourceful. I am like that as well. I worked construction and did several demolition jobs. I took home a lot of scrap off those jobs. I hate seeing good stuff go in the trash heap!
This is great! You’ve very wise and practical and that’s a good thing. I like the idea of being self reliant, living off the grid and resorting back to living off the land as much as possible. Would it be possible to build a system where you’re completely off the grid entirely? I’m sure it would take alot of solar panels & some wind turbines & lots of batteries. Any idea?
“Hope for the best, prepare for the worst”
Nice build keep up the good work. $1 a watt is not too far away.
Thats a impressive system and a great approach in implementing it. Thank you for the vid.
Great vid Great price Great work on the system all around Great
5*****
for a replacement charge controller, check out PPT or MPPT controllers, you can build one or buy one, you may find that using one will eliminate the need for a “tracker” mechanism on a pole… google ‘timnolan – Arduino PPT Solar Charger’
WOW! What a fantastic job! I’m very impressed! Since you utilize that power, the system will pay for itself even if nothing ever goes wrong. That’s the best kind of prep there is. It’s the kind that helps you in your every day life as well as increasing your preparedness for a grid failure.