Do It Yourself Solar
For all of your Do It Yourself Solar needs
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Charge Controller Monitoring
As new features and technologies are developed for battery charge controllers, and more systems are installed, there is a greater need for a way to monitor battery charge states, amperage/voltage from photovoltaic panels or wind turbines, and many other aspects of the system. Manufacturers of charge …
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Using “junk” for Solar Water Heating Systems
I saw this post on Instructables called Solar Thermal Water Heater For Less Than Five Dollars Obviously it is going to cost more than $5 to be able to actually use this for something, but I had never thought of using the coil from the back of a refrigerator as the tubing inside a flat plate collecto …
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Camper and RV Solar Panels
I havent had much time with work and school to update the site lately, but I wanted to throw some links out here as I have been getting asked more and more about Recreactional Vehicle (RV) and Camper solar electric installations. Questions have ranged from DIY advice to where to purchase equipment. …
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DIY Photovoltaic Solar Panel Mount
I have been getting more questions about the satellite dish mount that I used to mount my solar panel with, so here are some pictures that will hopefully give some more insight. The original post can be found here: DIY Solar Panel Mount This is a mount that I removed from a Dish Network satellite di …
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High Rise Apartments With Solar Domestic Hot Water in Saranac Lake, New York
Lake Flower Apartments in Saranac Lake is a high rise apartment building (~9 stories tall) that provides housing to elderly people. Here is a link to a little information about Lake Flower Apartments, although there doesnt seem to be much out there on the internet about the place. What is very cool …
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DIY Photovoltaic Panel Mount
I have been getting more questions about the satellite dish mount that I used to mount my solar panel with, so here are some pictures that will hopefully give some more insight. This is a mount that I removed from a Dish Network satellite dish. The elevation and skew are marked on the mount in degre …
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Solar Cells — Made In a Pizza Oven
From smh.com.au (The Sydney Morning Herald) FOR her 10th birthday, Nicole Kuepper received an inspirational present from her parents - her first solar-energy kit. It sparked a fascination with solar technology that last night led to Ms Kuepper, 23, winning two Australian Museum Eureka Prizes for her …
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New Material to Generate Electricity From Heat - Twice the Efficiency of Other Materials
From Renewable Energy World: Material May Help Autos Turn Heat into Electricity by Pam Frost Gorder, OSU Ohio, United States [RenewableEnergyWorld.com] Researchers have invented a new material that could potentially make cars more efficient, by converting heat wasted thro …
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SolarNetwork - Open Source Monitoring Project
Found this on is an open-source project and experiment to test a method of distributed energy production. It relies on continuous participation and cooperation of an online community. We hope this community develops to both 1) build out the infrastructure of the network, and 2) provide the real-worl …
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MIT Researchers Improve Solar Cell Performace
From but found on Slashdot This is something I am very excited for, and hopefully the rest of you are as well. Especially the fact that it can be adapted to existing solar cells without having to just switch technologies. What a very appealing and uplifting invention. Thanks MIT! MIT opens new windo …
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German Town First to Require Solar Panels on New Buildings
From a German college town of about 80,000, has become the first in the country to make solar heating obligatory for newly built or renovated buildings. The green bill has some residents and politicians up in arms The law, passed on Friday, June 20 by a coalition of Social Democrats and Greens, has …
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45 watt Photovoltaic Setup for an RV
I was asked to put together a setup to keep the batteries on a camper charged without having to plug into the grid or burn fuel. We found this real nice 45 watt kit on ebay for a good price. Much cheaper than buying three of the 15w panels I have (at $80 each). Plus it comes with two 12v compact flu …
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Time to Expose an Underhanded Solar Company
Well folks, this is a first. Ive never had to publicly call someone out on this site for using underhanded business practices, except for Becky from SiliconSolar, for what I will call a borderline spam comment. Today is the day I want you to actually pay attention to what Im writing here. Arizona So …
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Long Needed Update
Apologies for the infrequent updates lately. Finishing up the school semester and working more are beginning to take their toll. I havent really been working on any neat projects lately, just trying to scrounge parts and cash. As far as the PV panel powering the lights in the living room, the Die Ha …
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The Navy is Jumping On Board
Found this article on SignOnSanDiego.com: UNION-TRIBUNE May 1, 2008 The Navy has built five solar carports at local bases as part of a project to reduce the militarys dependence on fossil fuels. San Diego Naval Base at 32nd Street has three; Point Loma Naval Base and Naval Amphibious Base on Coro …
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DIY Solar Panel (PV) Mount
I got a 15w panel, a charge controller, and a pretty nice battery as a christmas gift this year, and now that the snow is gone I decided to put it to use powering the couple of compact fluorescent bulbs that we use throughout our part of the old farm house that we live in. The first thing I had to d …
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Solar/Wind Tax Breaks in NY Without “Certified” Installers
I was griping before about having to have some certified person install systems to get a tax break. Here is something I just ran across in my travels of dsireusa.org: Solar, Wind & Biomass Energy Systems Exemption Here are the requirements: ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS Ownership Requirements: …
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Fighting for space for solar panels?
I was wondering when the day would hit that people would be squabbling over space for their solar panels, or at least unshaded space.. Apparently that day has already arrived. Here is some food for thought from independent.co.uk: By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles Thursday, 10 April 2008 Who w …
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Cheaper Water Heating
I ran across some pretty cheap pool heaters: 4x8 Enersol solar collector with 15 year warranty?? $190 from solarcovers.com FAFCO 2x20 solar collector with 10 year warranty $135 from poolproducts.com Smarthome.com has a similar 2x20 collector with 5 year warranty for $130. They say it has a 40,000 BT …
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Butler Sun Solutions Double-Wall Heat Exchanger
Just ran across this really cool double wall heat exchanger from Butler Sun Solutions. This is not your normal heat exchanger though, it is made to be installed in an existing water heater. Here is the description from their site: 1. Solar Heat Exchange Wand (Patent Pending) The Butler Sun Solutions …
Do It Yourself Solar
