How to Operate a Genverter Power System

!±8± How to Operate a Genverter Power System

Operating a genverter based power is not difficult, and really isn't technical. In our home, our kids knew how to read the meter, and start the generator since they were about 11 years old. The real key to operating the system correctly, is to have and understand the metering between the batteries and the charging system.

silent mode

When the system starts off with fully charged batteries, you have power in what I call "silent mode". You can have lights and other creature comforts without using any gas, since the inverter is converting the stored battery power into normal home AC. You may have certain large loads that may not be appropriate during this time because they would drain the stored energy quickly. In our home these are items like the dishwasher, the well pump, and Jackie's favorite electric iron.

Having a device or meter that measures power flowing into or out of the battery bank is very important. With the meter counting the Amp-Hours or "juice" flowing out of the battery bank, it is easy to see when we've used 30-40% of the total capacity. When this level is reached, its time to make sure we start charging in a serious way by starting up our generator charging source.

free power mode

After charging a short while, it becomes free power time, since the generator is not fully loaded with the task of battery charging. This is the time to run those big loads mentioned above. We call it free, because for the most part, this extra power not used in charging will be lost! As batteries get some charge, they accept less current and more generator power potential is lost. The most expensive part of charging it getting the batteries over that last 10% of charge. Many times we stop before then, but not always as explained below.

maintenance operation

Deep cycle batteries have a wear out mechanism that occurs when they stay below 75% charge for any length of time. It is called sulfating, and is covered in detail elsewhere on http://www.genverters.com. Its ironic, that batteries last the longest if you never discharge them, that is, use them! This third mode of genverter operation is used to keep the batteries healthy and to extend their life.

During normal operation, we like to do what is called an equalize charge for our lead acid batteries. It is a small investment that will help the battery bank last extra years. The charging system is run and the voltage is permitted to go to a higher than normal voltage for a few hours. For example on a 12V battery bank, we let it go up to 14.5V and watch the electrolyte in the batteries bubble some. This helps break up the sulfation that occurs during normal operation. This operation does take extra fuel, but is a good long term investment

Sometimes it is possible if we leave a few days in the summer, to let our solar charging and solar controller to automatically do the equalize charge for us! Basic genverter operation can be broken up into 3 modes; silent mode, free power mode, and maintenance mode. Your power consumption at any time should match the genveter mode. Having and monitoring your charging meter will help determine how your system should be operated at any given time.

How to Operate a Genverter Power System

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Cobra CPI 2575 2500 Watt 12 Volt DC to 120 Volt AC Power Inverter

!±8±Cobra CPI 2575 2500 Watt 12 Volt DC to 120 Volt AC Power Inverter

Brand : Cobra
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Post Date : Dec 03, 2011 19:02:36
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The Cobra CPI 2575 is a 12 volt DC to 120 volt AC power inverter with 2500 watts continuous power handling and 5000 Watts peak power. This unit contains a 5 volt USB output, modified sine wave, thermal shutdown, reverse polarity protection, low voltage shutdown, low voltage alarm, 3 grounded AC receptacles, LED volt/watt meter and has remote on/off capability.

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Build Your Own Solar Panels For Shocking Low Cost - Part 3 - Wiring Up Your Panel

!±8± Build Your Own Solar Panels For Shocking Low Cost - Part 3 - Wiring Up Your Panel

Today we continue our series of articles on how you can slash your electricity bills by making your own homemade solar panel out of readily available materials. You can get into this exciting technology without spending a fortune - in some cases, you can scrounge everything you need to get started. In part 3 of the series, we will take our solar panel housing we made in the part 2 article and get down and dirty with mounting the solar cells onto the substrate.

And now a brief lesson on electricity and different ways of wiring electrical components up - don't worry - it's very easy. If you are following the suggested sizing presented in this series and are building a solar panel array with 36 solar cells within it you will achieve about 18V from your panel from the 0.5V or so you will get from each cell, and 18V will be great for, say, charging a 12V battery. To get 18V from the panel each solar cell must be wired to it's neighbors in series connection, which means the positive or + from one cell is wired to the negative or - of the next. At each end of your string of cells you will have one free positive wire and one free negative wire, and the voltage between these two wires will be about 18V when the panel is active. The other method of electrical connection other than series connection is parallel connection, and you might need this if you plan on connecting together finished panels so that you still only have 18V but also have more current (measured in amps) produced by your setup. To connect panels in parallel you will connect the positives (+) together and the negatives (-) together of each 18V solar panel.

Now, back to the action. Depending on the particulars of your solar cells that you have purchased (or scrounged), it may be easier to wire the cells together in series connection before mounting them onto the substrate. If this is the case, make sure you leave enough wire between the middle two cells in the series (between solar cell number 18 and number 19) to cover the distance between the top area of the solar panel housing and the bottom area underneath the central strengthening crossbar. Mount the solar cells individually onto the substrate using one dab of silicone caulk per panel in the middle on the back of the cell. Don't spread silicone caulk all over the solar cell or all over the panel, because the expansion and contraction of the solar cell with temperature may very well crack the cell if it is glued in more than just one central point.

Make sure you allow at least 24 hours for the silicone caulk to cure completely before any further steps. We are almost done! We just have a few final steps and our fully functional, low cost, solar panel is finished and ready to usher in a new age of cheap available power. During the next article we will put the cover on, finish up the wiring, test the solar panel, and talk about a few options for using your new solar power generation setup, and also improvements you can make for your next project.

Build Your Own Solar Panels For Shocking Low Cost - Part 3 - Wiring Up Your Panel

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The Future of Solar PV Electricity Generation

!±8± The Future of Solar PV Electricity Generation

The importance of solar electricity generation
With fears of carbon dioxide causing global warming and diminishing supplies of fossil fuels, a looming energy crisis is affecting all countries. As a consequence, a great deal of world-wide effort is going into the development of alternative energy technologies. At present, wind, hydro and geothermal are becoming well established with more niche roles for tidal and solar. The latter technology has two common forms, firstly solar water heating, and secondly photo voltaic (PV) solar electricity generation.

Solar water heating
For domestic hot water needs, solar hot water is starting to make significant inroads in Europe and Turkey but very little impact in the rest of the world, with the exception of China. This country has more than 70% of the world's solar water heating capacity, assisted greatly by government subsidy and promotion. (REN21 Renewables 2010 Global Status Report)

Photovoltaic Solar electricity
PV Solar from the above mentioned report shows a different picture, with Germany having the dominant usage at 47%, whereas China had less than a few percent at the end of 2009. However, whilst the power from PV in total is no more than about 15% of that of solar water, its use is spread more evenly throughout the world.

There is much research into new and improved photo voltaic technologies as well as rapidly increasing use of existing commercial products. Traditionally the cost per watt of this technology has far exceeded that of conventional power generation and not surprisingly the main development thrusts are increase in efficiency and reductions in cell costs.

The operation of a PV solar cell is based on the photovoltaic effect, when the capture of a light photon photoexcites an electron to a higher energy level. The cell is constructed as a PN junction from semi-conductor material, like the common diode, in which photoexcited electrons preferentially diffuse across the junction barrier and flow around an external circuit providing power.

Silicon single crystal solar cells
Traditional cells are made from single crystal Silicon or c-Si and produce about 0.5Volts per cell, with typical power efficiency of 15-17%. The maximum theoretical efficiency of conversion from light energy to electrical energy is about 30% and recent developments have produced examples exceeding 24%. Clearly, with an output of a mere 0.5V, numerous cells have to be connected together to produce enough voltage to work with. This is done in the solar panel where the cells are arranged in a matrix, encapsulated in transparent EVA, usually behind a glass front cover and sealed into an outer frame. The back of the panel is sealed with a polymer film backsheet, selected for its electrical insulation, toughness, and importantly, lack of water permeation. These devices are expected to last for 25 years or more and corrosion damage to the electrical contacts by water is one of the biggest threats.

Thin film solar cells
At the time of writing, c-Si PV solar cells are the most dominant type in the market by far, occupying over 80% of the market. However this position is likely to change soon with the advances being made with thin film solar cells, which form the remainder of the market. These newer cells are made from other types of semiconductors and are based on an amorphous rather than crystalline material, which is assembled in thin layers allowing it to be flexible.

There are at least three different common types in production, these being, amorphous Si (a-Si), Cadmium Teluride (CdTe), and Copper Indium Gallium deSelenide (CIGS). Mention should also be made at this juncture of dye sensitised solar cells (DSSC), which are also classified as thin film but are not PN junction based. These are referred to as photoelectrochemical cells, and were invented by Michael Grazel. As mentioned for c-Si cells, this type also needs exemplary environmental protection, with emphasis on water ingress through permeation.

While thin film cells are in general less efficient than the c-Si variety, being in the 11-13% region at present, they have some major advantages over their predecessors. Much larger single cells can be made, not being constrained by the size of a single crystal, at markedly lower cost, and their flexibility allows considerable diversity in mounting. It is possible to print the materials, which can be made into a form of inks, in layers onto wide continuous strips a metre or more wide. The resulting rolls can then be deployed in large solar collecting arrays and can even be used as an outer skin on buildings. Not surprisingly, given the volume of research into improving these thin film variants, their market share is expected to soar over the next few years.

Solar panel backsheets
Polymer film backsheets which are used for c-Si panels are often based on polyvinyl fluoride (PVF), which is frequently laminated with other materials for improved properties. The DuPont PVF material known as Tedlar is a favourite and is used to sandwich a layer of polyester film to form TPT or combined with EVA as TPE. Numerous alternative polymers are available offering trade-offs between performance/lifetime and cost. Related materials are available for use on thin film solar products, with perhaps more emphasis on performance because of the need to keep thickness down to maintain flexibility.

Water vapour permeation measurement for PV Solar Cell packaging
Clearly, the future for solar photo voltaic electricity generation looks optimistic and importantly, a major growth area. It is also likely to be a growth market for the solar cell manufacturers, as well as the equipment and instrumentation companies to support the cell production. The ability to provide definitive water vapour transmission rate (WVTR) data for production backsheet materials on a routine QA basis, is key to a reliable PV Solar Cell product. Such WVTR measurement can be provided by the Systech Illinois 7000 water vapour permeation analyser, capable of measuring from as low as 0.002 g/m²/day.

The Future of Solar PV Electricity Generation

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Solar Tutorial - DC Power, Not AC

!±8± Solar Tutorial - DC Power, Not AC

Household devices, chargers, and appliances cannot plug directly into a solar panel. Solar panels use DC power, while most household appliances use AC. But there are ways to solve this mis-match.

You've got your solar panel, now where's the outlet for your laptop? Well, unfortunately solar panels do not produce the same power that you have in your home. Solar panels produce power like you have in your car, and pocket solar chargers produce power that is like your flashlight batteries and cell phone's battery.

What do you need to get your panel to make the kind of power you need? The answer is 'converters' and 'inverters'.

First, we'll look at DC voltages, and how to make the solar panel output match the needs of your DC devices.
A converter is a device that converts one voltage to another. Converters can be as simple as an adaptor cable for a computer's USB port, and as intricate as one that converts your home's wall outlet into a power for your iPhone. In brief, converters can be DC to DC (ie one battery voltage to another), or AC to DC (ie wall charger for your batteries, phone, iPod, etc).

So, before purchasing a solar panel or pocket solar charger, make a list of all the devices you plan to power from your solar power system, and what voltages they need. For example, your laptop uses 120v AC, but the wall adaptor for your laptop actually converts this to something like 18V DC for the battery inside the laptop (the label on the back of your laptop will state what it needs, or look at the wall adaptor itself). iPods, iPhones, Blackberries, most PDA's, and other devices that plug into your computer's USB port will need 5V DC (this is the USB standard).

Once you have your list, you will be able to determine if you should get a standard solar panel with 12V output, or one of the USB models. You will need the 12V panel if you are wanting to power things as large as a laptop.

What if you need household AC power?

Sometimes it is not possible to find a car adaptor for a device that will enable it to plus into a DC solar panel. Or you might have a specific device, like a specialized camera battery charger, that only operates from an AC wall outlet. In these cases, you need to have a solar power system that can provide AC power, and the key to this is the AC inverter.

An AC inverter is a small device that takes 12V battery power, like the power in your car, and converts it to household AC power. Now, before you decide that this is the best way to go for all your devices, consider the following...

Inverters are the size of a deck of cards and larger
Inverters cannot operate direct from a solar panel
Inverters require a specific type of battery to provide them with power
Inverters will consume about 15-20% of the power themselves to meet their own operating needs
So, in brief, consider inverters to be your last option for a portable power system, when all attempts to live in the DC world have been exhausted.

Solar Tutorial - DC Power, Not AC

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How Much Do You Know About Your Home Security System Battery?

!±8± How Much Do You Know About Your Home Security System Battery?

The batteries in a home security system are important parts of the system - perhaps the most important parts. Whether you do a home security self install or have a security company install the system, you should be aware of the battery capabilities, how often to check them, and when to replace them. This article will give you the basics.

Home Security Battery Backup
Backup batteries are used in any quality alarm system on the market. Fitted into the actual control panel, they ensure that components linked into the panel which are crucial to your security are able to run and function fully in the event of either a power failure, or in the case of a wireless system, a battery failure. These home security products are the sensors, motion detectors, sirens, cameras, etc.

Note: quality wired security systems run off electrical power with a battery backup system while wireless home security systems usually run off a lithium battery pack with a battery backup system.

Test Monthly
Backup batteries as well as wireless lithium batteries must be tested at regular intervals, at least once a month, to ensure that they are running on full power and are working properly.

Backup batteries and those used in wireless security systems to prevent, if not stop, a burglar from disabling your alarm by turning off the power, even if that means cutting the electrical wires feeding the control panel.

Battery powered wireless security systems
Wireless security systems rely on battery powered radio transmitters and receivers, without which all the essential components like cameras, sensors, motion detectors and others cannot work. They are easy to install and are mobile. They are not reliant on, or disabled by, electrical power failures.

Every quality home security system comes complete with a battery powered backup capable of running the system for as much as weeks in the event of a power failure. In the case of wireless systems, lithium batteries are designed to run for years.

Many wireless system has sensors will send an alert to the control panel if there is a problem, allowing you to take necessary action to prevent system failure. But, even if you are not able to take immediate action, the battery backup is there to save the day, allowing your security system to run until you have the opportunity to replace the main battery.

Facts on Lithium Batteries

Lithium batteries are disposable and contain anodes of lithium metal, or compounds. They produce between 1.5v and 3v which can be twice the voltage of the average alkaline or zinc-carbon batteries.

Lithium batteries are popular because they are generally lighter and can store a lot of energy in their atomic bonds due to their reactive element. This translates in to 'very high energy density'.

Lithium batteries hold a charge better. On average they lose only about 5% of their charge per month, which if you compare this to a 20% loss of other batteries, is why they are a natural choice for home security systems.

Another advantage of lithium batteries is that they have no memory effect. What this means is that you do not have to discharge them completely before recharging and they are capable of handling hundreds of 'charge/discharge cycles'.

A lithium battery can store 150 'watt-hours' of power in a 1kg battery pack. A NiMH battery which are those found in any supermarket shelf, can only store between 60-70 'watt-hours' per kilogram.

Lead acid batteries can only store 25 'watt-hours' per kilogram and it would take six of these to equal one lithium battery.

Lithium batteries are the obvious choice because of the advantages they have over alternative competing technologies.

When installing a home security system, it is best to only buy a system with a battery backup, so if there a power failure your system will remain on alert. It is very important that you pay attention to the batteries. These are the life's blood of the system. If they fail, and you are not aware of it, your security system is compromised or even useless depending on the system you have installed. It is wise to set up a schedule to check your batteries periodically as suggested by the manufacturer of your system and replace them if necessary.

How Much Do You Know About Your Home Security System Battery?

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Alternative Energy And Wind Energy - Wind Energy Literally in the Palm of Your Hand

!±8± Alternative Energy And Wind Energy - Wind Energy Literally in the Palm of Your Hand

Wind power has historically played a big part in US culture. During the 1920s and 1930s, farms throughout the Midwest took advantage of wind power to generate electricity for their lights and electric motors. When our government started actively subsidizing the construction of fossil fuel based power plants and the associated utility lines, wind power fell into decline. Similar to energy efficiency, during the energy crisis in the 1970s, things that were old became new again. Now with growing environmental concerns being expressed globally many people are once reexamining wind power.

Wind Energy Basics

One form of energy, wind (a form of solar energy), is converted to another form of energy, electricity, using a wind turbine. As the turbine spins, electricity is generated. Similar to solar power, wind power is protected from inflation. How? Any power you generate using your own wind turbine goes against the current utility pricing. Wind power can effectively shield you from rising electricity costs.

Wind Energy in the Palm of My Hand?

As consumers show renewed interest in renewable energy sources like wind, product manufacturers are already rushing to respond. One of the most interesting consumer wind technologies is both amazingly inexpensive and amazingly small. How small? You can hold this particular wind turbine in your hand - while it's generating electricity.

The HYmini

A product of MINIWIZ Sustainable Energy Dev. LTD, the HYmini is a revolutionary new green product. While I've frequently seen many small consumer versions of solar technologies, specifically designed to power your cell phone, PDAs and MP3 players, this is the first handheld wind turbine I've encountered.

The HYmini combines a small wind turbine designed to generate power in wind speeds between 9-30 miles per hour with an internal 1200mAh lithium ion polymer battery. The HYmini maxs out it's ability to convert wind into electricity at 40 miles per hour. The battery is good for about 500 complete charge cycles. The HYmini is literally a green power station that you can hold in the palm of your hand.

The inventors of the HYmini pushed the envelope and added a few more impressive green features. To maximize the flexibility of their new device, they allowed for the HYmini battery to be externally recharged. That means in a pinch you can plug your HYmini into any USB port or conventional 100-240V wall plug and instantly start recharging.

miniSOLAR

If plugging your HYmini into your electrical outlet isn't green enough for you then consider the miniSOLAR option. miniSOLAR is an inexpensive solar panel designed to work with the HYmini. Thanks to HYmini's ability to externally recharge, you can easily add up to four miniSOLAR panels to recharge your HYmini using solar energy. Each miniSOLAR panel can add up to 140mA at 5V of recharging power. Staying with the eco-friendly theme, the MINIWIZ team houses each miniSOLAR panel in a recycled card board paper package.

HYmini Applications

HYmini is perfect for both runners and cyclists and to encourage it's use in both those markets the MINIWIZ team offers both a bicycle mount and an armband. If the wind is a little slow on a particular day then why not add some human energy to the mix. The HYmini will literally be generating electricity while you are burning through calories.

Ignoring the wind turbine for a moment, the HYmini, is also the perfect rechargeable backup battery pack for all your mobile electronics. This expands possible uses for the HYmini exponentially.

Talk To Me About Power

Thanks to some useful testing completed by MINIWIZ we have some hard facts regarding power generation for the HYmini. According to MINIWIZ using the HYmini wind turbine or the miniSOLAR panels you can capture enough energy in 20 minutes to power:

A MP3 Player for 40 minutes A PDA for 40 minutes An iPod for 30 minutes A Cell Phone for 4 minutes A Digital Camera for 20 pictures

To capture that much wind energy you will however need constant 19 mile per hour wind speeds. The solar panels will need direct sunlight as well. You can learn more about the HYmini and the miniSOLAR panels at the following website:

http://www.hymini.com/

As technology advances, you can expect to see many more unique green technologies such as the HYmini. Wind power is a lost part of our culture, a part we have recently started to reconnect with and the HYmini offers consumers an inexpensive way to implement wind power in their lives today. Using devices like the HYmini can reduce disposable battery usage and waste. When batteries are improperly disposed of and end up in landfills or incinerators, they inevitably leak into our environment and eventually end up in our food chain. Take part in the new wind power revolution and reduce your battery usage, the environment will thank you for both.

Alternative Energy And Wind Energy - Wind Energy Literally in the Palm of Your Hand

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