It's been a month or so since I installed the Grid Tie inverter for my small scale solar power system and now time for a report and an update on the next part of the project.
According to the meter over the last 16 days I have generated 235 watts of electricity. Hardly enough to change the world, but a start. Peak Power so far has been 10 watts, but as low as 3 watts some days. From memory the two panels up on the roof are a 10 watt and a 5 watt, so I am losing a good proportion of the potential power in the inversion process. More and bigger panels are needed to make this worthwhile. I'm looking at 200 Watts worth on EBay at the moment which should really get things sparking.
I'm not convinced the meter is entirely accurate however, and I think more power is going through than it is recording. (Cheap Chinese crap!) Why so sure? Well last April I used on average 11.9 KW/H per day, this year I'm averaging 9.9 KW/H, an improvement of 2 KW/H per day or roughly a 20% improvement. That doesn't tally with the meter in the loft. Nor does the 2 KW/H improvement tally purely with the little panels I've put in,, as we were away for Easter and had four consecutive days of minimal use that probably screwed the figures. It'll take a longer test period to get an accurate record.
Anyhow, the next big step will be later this week when I hope to have a wind turbine coming on line to supplement the solar panels. I'm kind of proud to say i threw this together myself. Some photographs will follow in due course, but for now a description of this Heath Robinson contraption will have to suffice. The generator is in fact a motor intended for a child's electric scooter. The metalwork of the frame comes from an old running machine frame with the bearings and part of the steering column from a disability scooter, and the rigid plastic used to form the tail fin comes from an old sunbed. This is recycling and green technology at it's very best, built from junk. I need to make the hub to suit the blades when they arrive from EBay Land, these being the only parts I am buying ready made. I was going to buy PVC pipe and even make the blades myself, but then found some so cheap on Ebay it was too good a chance to pass up, and saved a lot of time and effort in designing and perfecting the right shape - someone else has done the hard work for me, and I'll just screw them to a hub and away we go. £11 bought six professionally made blades.
A bench test using the time honoured method of spinning the motor by hand shows about 3 to 7 volts achievable at very low speed. Spinning it with a power drill at max revs showed 37 volts coming up, with 12.7, the ideal battery charging voltage, at a moderate speed. I will then have to decide whether to charge batteries and reconnect my office lighting, which is plan B really, or go for plan A and wire the turbine into the grid tie inverter.
More of a problem is where to put the turbine. Bolting a scaffold tube to the side of the house is my first thought, with the turbine supported in the main by the house wall and sticking up just above ridge height. Experts (and there are hundreds of those aren't there - more even than members of the S.A.S.) don;t recommend this as it can cause vibration damage to the house structure. Hmmm, not so sure I agree. What I might do is dig a hole, sink a scaffold tube down a couple of feet and bed it in concrete then bolt the remainder to the shed (wooden built, next to the house) then extend the scaffold tube up so it goes way up above the shed and house roof. Not sure if I will need planning permission for this though - I might get away with it as it's a temporary structure and only a small turbine. I have no idea what wattage it will kick out, but I'd be happy with 50 watts. Or maybe the scaffold tube just stuck in the jockey wheel of the caravan to start with and see how it goes. Yeah, that might be the way.
As ever watch this space readers.
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