Bought components to deploy my 1KW wind turbine. The idea being:

1) 60A cable: "800W 60A 60 AMP 8 AWG Car Amplifier Fuse Wiring Kit Audio Sound Power Cable Wire" from ebay:

Which features:
Power cable’s length: 4.8 m
    Ground cable’s length: 0.5 m
    RCA – RCA cable’s length: 4.4 m
    Remote cable length: 5 m
    Binding tape’s length: 5 cm
    Fuse holder’s size: 9 x 4.2 x 2.5 cm
    Fuse maximum current: 60 AMP

    Power cable x 1
    Ground cable x 1
    Remote cable x 1
    RCA – RCA cable x 1
    Fuse holder x 1
    Prong terminal x 4
    Binding tape x 4


2) Isolation box: IP65 Mini Garage Consumer Unit Fuse Box C/W 100A Isolator Switch + 6A + 32A MCBs

Which features:
IP65 ABS ENCLOSURE, POLYCARB FLAP
HINGED FRONT COVER
100 Amp Mains Isolator Switch 1 x 6A + 1 X 32A. MCB as Standard
DIMESIONS 229mm(h) x 140mm(w) x 105mm(d)





3) 60A in-line fuse: In Line Maxi waterproof Blade Fuse Holder 60a 60 amp fuseholder car boat van this fuse holder accepts MAXI FUSES ( NOT THE STANDARD ( large fuses  30mm x35mm ) the fuse holder is made up with 8 gauge red wire that can be cut to the desired length, the wire length is 250mm

4) 1,2KW dump load: 10x Reprap 12v 40W Ceramic Cartridge Heater (3D Printer, Prusa, Mendel): Current:12v, Power: 40w,Core: ceramic, Diameter: 6mm, Length: 23mm, Lead Wire length: 100mm (30 pieces)

What I intend to do is create a number of increasing 45v/48v loads: 120W (3 in series - 3 pieces), 360W (3 in series and x3 in parallel - 9 pieces) and 720W (3 in series and x6 in parallel - 18 pieces). So as the wind turbine spins-up and the current it generates increases then the load will switch from 120W (always on) to 480W (added 360W load) to a maximum of 1200W (all three loads active). This will allow the turbine to start-up in light winds as it doesn't have to drive the 1.2KW load straight away.

I intend to fix the barrel heaters to the inside of a double radiator where the corrugation is.

So that they heat the water in that radiator and the central heating pump takes it away around the house to the other radiators. (Here the CH burner is turned off).

Commisioned new 230 V AC immersion heater...

Replaced existing 230 V AC immersion heater. The idea being to use the wind turbine to drive a 48v 1KW immersion heater to constantly heat up the hot water cylinder. Then with the central heater turned on (but the burner turned off) have the CG pumps act as a reverse heater exchanger heating the burner loop and rad loop from the hot water cylinder. Normally, teh burner would be active heating the water in the hot water tank loop (and radiators if the valve is open).

Investigated inverter's panel meter communications

Found that all 8 wires (4 twisted pairs) had a signal.

And just probing with an ungrounded probe showed that these were 120v peak-to-peak:

Confirmed by switched to a 10x probe:

So my conclusion is that:
1) They are using a differential carrier on all 4 twisted pairs
2) I need to use a comparator to get a digital signal
3) My readings will be distorted by 50Hz 230v mains hum.
4) The timebase was  2 mSec/Div so period was 12 mSec / 80Hz

Interestingly the meter is packed with electronics:

And the 20A charge controller uses the base as a metal heatsink:

I'm hoping I may be able to upgrade a 10A controller to a 20A one myself but it doesn't look that straightforward.

2nd panel produces 7.2 A

Wired up second solar panel to a charge controller and 24V batteries.

Interestingly, this charge controller is rated at 20A (rather than 10A). Could this be why it reached 7.2A compared with 5.2A the first panel achieved yesterday through the 10A charge controller?

I must investigate before I buy the remaining three charge controllers.

Panel supplying 5.2A@36V (187W) and went off grid

Went off grid using 600W 24V pure sine wave inverter.

It can supply the extension (except for electric shower, washing machine and dryer).

And the main house (except cooker, kettle and fridge).

So I had it supplying lights, TV, satellite receiver, broadband router, etc for 2.5 hours (from 10 pm) from a 40 Ah 12v car battery and 90 Ah 12V leisure battery in series.

It was also supplying the extension from 12 noon to 8 pm.

It turns its fan on when it heats up. All worked better than expected.

Wired up Rasp Pi to monitor charge controller meter

I'm going to use the Raspberry Pi to replace the charge controller meter. (I can then monitor 5 charge controllers at once an dpost the result son the web).

But first I need to find out how the communications takes place over the RJ45 cable.

So I will monitor it with the Rasp Pi

The pin-out for the GPIO header and for the RJ45 I found on the web

I believe the Rasp Pi uses 3v3 voltage levels so I will need to buffer its inputs and if the RJ45 is using current mode rather than a voltage swing I may need to get a bit more crafty.

I'm also assuming a asynchronous protocol say 1 start, 8 data and 1 stop bit at 19K2 baud. But if they transfer in encrypted blocks it will be harder to decode.

Tried #3 235W panel with 2x 12v car batteries

Checked O/C voltage of panels #1 and #2 in the attic. Both still say 0v. #3 and #4 panels say 36v as expected. #5 I can't get to easily.

It was too windy and rainy to check the cabling for #1 and #2 on the roof so I connected #3 to the 12v/24v charge controller and meter and took two 12v car batteries out of my defunct Vitarras as a load.

Everything worked OK but the sun was too low (at 6 pm) to register above 0.0 A on the meter.

Also, one battery was down to 6v while the other was at 12v. So next I will use the 60W 12v system to charge this one back to 12v so the loads are more even.

Wired up my dual charge controller to 60W and 235W panels

Wired up my 12/24v dual charge controller and meter to my 12v/60W PV system.

Left it all day and the meter finally saw some power. (Though a 60W system should source 5A of power).

Spurred on by this I decided to drop a cable from the attic to one of my 24v/235W PV panels and then wired up two car batteries as the 24v load to the charge controller.

using 15A connector blocks

It's hot and nasty (itchy rock wool everywhere and loose boards) in the attic and the cables are close to the eave run - so little head room

But when I tested the open circuit voltage it was 0V !

My heart sunk. As I'm not sure if I tested all the panels when I received them.


So I tried another panel in the attic. It read 36V open circuit and so I connected it up. But again it read 0v down in the house. Below is the label at the back of each panel:

.

I'm hoping that my cabling is at fault. I'll go up on the roof with a voltmeter this Sunday and check all the panels before my extension cables.


I also found out that while the 300W pure sine wave inverter powers the lights in the extension it cannot get past the fuse box to the main house. I don't know why. Investigation is required.

Raspberry Pi system controller received

Finally received my long awaited Raspberry PI.

I registered my interest with RS Components on 9th March 2012. And was invited to place my order on 31st March 2012:

RS Stock No.	Qty	Description	Unit Price	Goods Value
756-8308	1	Raspberry Pi Type B Single Board Computer	£21.60	£21.60
			Running Total	£21.60
Tax				£4.32
Standard Delivery (Despatch expected within 6 week(s))				£4.95
Order total				£30.87

Just took over 3 months to arrive :)

However, I received it Saturday and fired it up and it looks good.

It provides two USB ports (nominally for keyboard and mouse) a RJ-45 ethernet port and a HMDI screen output.

I used my mobile phone charger as a power supply.

The O/S I downloaded to an SD card.

My aim is to use this as the heart of a monitoring/control system for the wind turbine and PV panels.

It uses 2W and is half the size of my hand. Perfect!

House uses 40W / h for "essential" appliances

I was away during the week and measured my background power usage:
6am Monday 16/7/2012 - ESB meter 31126.40
9pm Friday    20/7/2012 - ESB meter 31130.72
So  4320 W in (4 x 24) + (21 - 6) hours => 4320 / 111 W/h => 39 W/h

I just had the telephone, router, two IP cameras and a hall lamp (the later just on for 2 hours a day).

So I started measuring the power consumption of various items to see if this adds up:

Appliance                                                     Actual                                           Rated
----------                                                      ------                                          -------

bedside lamp                                                    4W (warming up?)                      11W
hall lamp                                                           7W                                              9W
white laptot (Asus EeePC 4G Surf)                 23W (charges internal battery)      22W
black laptop (Samsung NC10)                        43W (charges internal battery)      40W
cordless phone (Philips CD 255)                       0W (I guess fully charged)            3W
IP camera (Edimax IC-3010Wg)                       7W (wired mode not Wifi)         12W
Eircom Wifi router (Zyxel P-660HW-T1v3)    18W                                              8W (huh?)
 

So I'd estimate (4 x 2 x 7) + (111 x (7 + 7 + 18)  W => 65 + (111 x 32) => 3617W (so 703W or 16% out)

My power measurements are not too exact (> 10%) so this seems about right.

The upshot is I need to plan on providing 40W+ per hour from my off-grid system to just supply "essential" appliances ! That's 960 W per day. Or a unit just for a few bits of kit!

So it would be good to make some low energy smart switches (timer or IR sensor based) to turn these on and off on demand. I should then be able to reduce this usage by a factor of 20 for the days I'm away.

Finally installed the 5 solar panels

The showery weather at weekends and working in Limerick during the week had delayed me installing my solar PV panels but I finally got it done with the help of my neighbour Paul today.

This roof faces south, which is good, but the angle is probably a bit shallow to get the most out of the sunshine.

I aim to start experimenting with charge controllers and inverters next weekend on the 60W 12V system (on the ground to the right of the scaffold). Then get a second Varta LFD90 12v 90Ah battery and try them on one or two of the 235 W 24V panels.

Offered up 1KW wind turbine to UK scaffolding post

Adding meters to Maplin charge controller

Interestingly the Maplin charge controller disconnects the 60W 12v solar panel PV array when the battery is charged (around 13.6v).

I have 50v and 50A meters for the 235W panels which I thought I'd wire up for the craic.

Installing the proper rail bracket

After talking with my neighbour Paul and re-reading the fitting instructions, I realised that the bracket are screwed to the vertical rafters of  the roof - not the horizontal battens. So I replaced my weak bracket with a study one.

You have to angle grind the tile to fit flush on top of the bracket.

Couldn't see how to fit proper bracket so made my own.

Couldn't see how I could fit the proper brackets without leaving the tiles raised in the air. Also they don't attached to where I have my battens. So I made my own bracket from some steel strapping.

Bought 24V 1KW wind turbine on Ebay

Bought 24V 1KW wind turbine on Ebay for 445 euros.

See here for details.

Got a 1100 euro refund cheque from Ecologics as they couldn't supply the Sunny Boy in the near future. And as the 29/2/2012 deadline for ESB grid-tied systems has elapsed I would have limited use for it.

Testing one of the 235W panels

Each of the 235W panels dwarfs the whole 60W array

Open circuit they produced around 36V

The angle to the sun is crucial. Here I only got 0.13 A.

But turning the panel fully to the sun gave me. 7.06 A

ESB free export meter and additional tariff grid-tied scheme expired.

This scheme had the following features:
1) Get your system spec approved by ESB
2) Get your inverter connect by electrician and cert to ESB
3) ESB would connect a feed-in meter for free
4) ESB would buy back units at 9 cents a unit (KWh) (Expires 31st Dec 2011)
5) Additional tariff or 10 cents for first 3000 units each year. This payment will be made to the first 4,000 micro-generators connected in the 3 years from February 2009 and will be paid over a 5 year period.(Expires 29th Feb 2012)
 

Bringing the panels up from Cork to Mayo

After attending a job interview in Limerick, I drove on to Cork to pick up the solar panels from the distribution warehouse. Unfortunately, a trailer tyre shredded at Oranmore on the way back with the panels

But a callout service fitted a new tyre that night so I got home that night and was ready to unload them the next morning

Bought a 1.17KW grid tied solar PV system

Bought the http://ecologics.ie/solar-packages-2/solar-pv-panels/ from Ecologics



Qty         Code               Description                                                             Unit total                    Total

5                                    235 watt Solar PV panels

1                                    Hilti Roof mounting kit for 5 PV panels
                                      includes 4 x 3m carrier rails, roof hooks and all
                                      necessary clamps

1                                    Sunny Boy SB1200 inverter

                                                                                                                                   Sub Total € 3000.00
                                                                                                                                VAT @23% € 690.00
                                                                                                                                       Total € €3,690.00

And below is how I expect to configure the system:  

Tested the Maplin 60W PV system

On a impulse I bought a 60W PV system from Maplins in Cork while I was passing...

I also bought a 12V battery

Bought a 12V 1KW inverter

Bought a 1KW 12v inverter (A12HQ) online from Maplin's UK (see http://www.maplin.co.uk/1000w-12v-inverter-224283) for 138.12 euros.

This is for the 60W PV system.

Bought a Varta 90Ah 12v leisure battery for 185 euros from Tougher Tyres, N60, Castlebar.

This is for the 60W 12v PV system.

Bought a 60W 12V solar PV array, stand and charge controller

While travelling back from Cork I made an impulse buy in Maplin's of a N23FY 60W Solar Kit for 250 euros

See http://www.maplin.co.uk/60w-solar-power-kit-223250

It looks more substantial than it is. Though the charge controller looks well built and has a LED volt meter for the battery.