Thursday, June 21, 2012

solar envy

Hopped over to Chuck and Aunt Kathy's this morning.  My services were required for the 30 second task of hanging Chuck's new high end solar controller/inverter/charger.  This is just the kind of job I love...short and sweet (like Aunt Kathy).  Today is their fourth anniversary!  Came back home and did greenhouse chores which included re potting the ever so rootbound Canna plant.












Wired up my new radiator fans in series to a free/cosmetically challenged 24V 240W solar panel I got from my buddy Bennett Jones in Alpine.  Seems the cracked glass hasn't affected the output.  Got the fans framed and into position in the greenhouse.  91,98,72,0,B, .20

11 comments:

rj said...

So how do the fans work wired straight into the panel? Is there an issue with reduced voltage or have you included some sort of low voltage disconnect means?

rocking R rustics said...

Arn't the fans 12volts?

Unknown said...

Did you know cannas are edible? Here's a link http://davesgarden.com/guides/articles/view/2686/ to a very nice article about preparing, cooking, and eating cannas.

Rev.jimmyleebob said...

Is that a hail damaged panel ?
Always wondered about the damage
caused to a pv panel by large hail,
if they are designed to take it. I've seen pictures of safety glass in cars damaged from hail, clean through........

rj said...

When you wire two 12v items in series rather than parallel, each device gets 12v when the voltage source is 24v. That assumes that each device draws an equal current (amps in this case). It also means that if the solar panel is putting out 16 volts instead of 24 then the series connected devices would get 8 volts each. As a result some kind of controller is usually inserted between a variable output voltage device like a solar panel and a fixed voltage load. A simple load like light bulbs or LEDs would just dim, a more complex load like a motor might stall or even burn up if some sort of protection is not included. This is because of the magnetic inductance in a winding of a motor. On a vehicle, the fans would have fuses to protect against over current, it's possible that a solar panel would inherently self limit the current under low voltage.

Chris Miller said...

I wonder how long those fans will last without something limiting the voltage to them?

Chris Miller
Our180.com - One Family's Journey To Finding True Happiness

JP said...

What kind of amps or watts do those fans draw? Would one work well in a evap cooler? I know the Dome Dude is using them also.

John Wells said...

Heavy draw on these...10 amps. I tried a smaller radiator fan for my Pepino swamp cooler...way too much air through for the size of my cooler. That fan pulled 8 amps...the 4 muffin fans combined on Pepino pull 1.4 amps and provide just the right amount of air flow.

Chris Miller said...

I just bought that same Outback controller and will be buying my inverter hopefully really soon. It cost me a LOT more to get started with the solar than I could have ever imagined. Easily pushed our move to Terlingua back a couple of months.

Chris Miller
Our180.com - One Family's Journey To Finding True Happiness

Texas Vogl said...

looks like those roots are going to enjoy the new pot and soil.

Allen Hare said...

Yep, that controller inverter looks nice...and expensive.

Good job saving that plant. It looks great.

The fans look great mounted up there in the greenhouse. I hope they work as you envisioned.