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OUR SOLAR & WIND
POWER SYSTEMS
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Updated 12-12-12
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Below is a photo of the new
510 watt solar electric system as it was being constructed. This new
array will be used to power my 220 repeater as well inside and outside
lightning at my mountain cabin.
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NEW SOLAR CONTROL CENTER The main solar array is split into two individual systems. This way if one system fails, there will still be a backup system for charging batteries. The two new systems were activitated on the same days both Spirit, and Opportunity landed on Mars. in their honor I named both my controllers after them. I have always been a outer space nut...! |
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New 510 watt solar array
up and running (Summer 2010)
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Back side of 510 watt solar
array. The mount was made from a recycled C Band satellite dish mount,
2x4 and 4x4 lumber and can be moved east and west with the attached
12 volt satellite positioner motor.
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Smaller 45 watt Harbor Frieght
solar array used to run my website laptop computer as well as a small
100 watt ac inverter and two desk lamps.
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Back side of 45 watt Harbor
Frieght solar array. I used part of a recycled C Band Satellite dich
mount and motor, and modified the panels to mount on a custom made frame.
The light you see on the top of the middle panel is the sun shining
thrugh the solar panels thin film solar cell design.
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Above is the older 150 watt solar system that has now been taken down during the upgrade. (photo remains for historic reasons) These panels were added to the new 510 watt array seen in the photo's at the top of the page. The old mount was modified to hold the smaller Harbor Frieght 45 watt array. |
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Southwest Windpower Air 403
12 volt 25 amp wind generator.
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BATTERY BANK The photo above shows my current battery bank, I have 4 125ah batteries tied in parallel for a total of 500ah, I plan on adding one more 125 ah battery next week. |
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OLD SOLAR/ WIND POWER CONTROL SYSTEM Above is the old control system that has been replaced with two new control systems seen at the top of this page. This photo remains for historic reasons You can see where the power from both the solar panels, and the wind generator come together, the two large gray boxes on the left are the solar panel and wind generator disconnect switches...The meter above these two disconnect boxes is the wind generator amp meter.The large gray box on with the red tag is the house disconnect box and fuse box...the four small white boxes are junction points where the wiring from the solar panels and the wind generator enter into the shed from the outside.... The blue box on the right is a amp and volt metering panel as well as the controls for the solar tracker as well as the disconnect switches and controller transfer switches. I have two solar controllers..The main unit is a ASC 12 amp PWM controller mounted inside the blue metering and control box to the right, and a Trace 30A controller for backup... From here the power travels 50 feet under ground and then into the attic of the house, and from there to the back room where the repeater is located. |
NEW SECONDARY SOLAR POWER BACK UP SYSTEM BEING INSTALLED
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Here are a few photo's of my new smaller 20 watt solar array is now being installed as a secondary backup power source for the repeater, and my two low power 144/220/440 Kenwood THF6A radios. This system is made up of two 10 watt solar panels and a group of four 20ah gell cell batteries. The charge controller is built inside the control box which has metering for both volts and amps. I will be adding more photos of the system as soon as the install begins. The sole purpose of this secondary system is to help maintain battery power to the repeater, and to operate my low power 144/220/440 mhz radio station in the event the main solar system goes down.
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Panels shown up and running on September 17th 2008
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Well I almost met my install date, It is September 17 2008 and the new panels are installed and running the repeater. I had a 1 hour QSO today on the repeater today and the system worked fantastic. The mount as well as the panels were purchased off ebay for about $225.00. The pole was just an old push up mast I had here at the house...Charge controller is an ASC 12 volt 8 amp unit..
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