Mother earth news has plans for those,they call em heat grabbers.Back in the 70s issue numbers I think.Theirs are based on hot air convection flow,no fans.Ross said:Well I saw one that produced hot air. Literally! The fellow I got the saw filer from has two home made solar heat collectors made out of an insulated box lined with black tin and faced with single glazed (and non sealed!) glass. A thermostat turned on a fan which pumped air fromt eh "hotbox" into his house and shop and I can tell you on a chilly slightly over cast day I felt warm air coming in. He swears it cuts his heatign bill 15% for free. Not a bad use for scrap and it looked like there was room to improve!
Heat GrabberRoss said:The fellow had tried to recirculate air from the house through these collectors but found they dumped cold air into the house at night. A simple drier vent louvered cover would have helped or even a manually shut door. Sealing the unit and double paned glass would help you'd think.
There are a couple articles on it.One problem they had was overheating,so maybe double pane isnt needed.Makes sense to me though to double pane it.Ross said:Yup I can see a definate advantage in that design (Still wondering why not double paned glass though) Thanks for the link!! I gotta try something like this I have everything I'd need except time and a south facing window. There are south facing windows but they have to remain unobstructed and collect snow terribly.
Double pane would decrease the amont of sunlight that could enter the heater thus decreasing it's heat gainRoss said:Yup I can see a definate advantage in that design (Still wondering why not double paned glass though) Thanks for the link!! I gotta try something like this I have everything I'd need except time and a south facing window. There are south facing windows but they have to remain unobstructed and collect snow terribly.
Chris,chris774 said:has anyone ever made a solar panel that works and would u be willing to pass along the info please
Try a low tech approach instead. Use hot-box heat traps, or evacuated (vacuum) tube heat collectors to preheat the water to 200 degrees F, then use a gas fired or parabolic solar furnace to turn the water into steam and use it to power a small steam engine or a Tesla turbine. Recapture as much of the heat as possible and feed it back into the water pre-heater. A Tesla turbine setup like this can easily be 80% efficient. You now have lots of heat for hot water, heating your home or shop, running your clothes dryer, or even cooking. And you have mechanical energy for running a pump, compressor or electric generator. Anywhere in the system that you have waste heat you can attach TEGs (thermo electric generators to charge batteries, run the control system etc.).Solarone said:Chris,
Don't bother. You will save an enormous amount of time and frustration by simply looking for used PV modules on ebay or some other source. Generally, people without the "right" manufacturing conditions find solar module assembly, ones that actually work, virtually impossible - or at least overly challenging.
Individual chips are very fragile, plus it's hard to find good ones.
Good luck!
You know,the sad part is we are only preaching to the choir here.It only takes opening your own closed eyes to see the greatest,safest,unlimited supply of power ever created,the sun.Too bad people have been so brainwashed they cant see the obvious.GREAT propaganda from the oil companies,the wealthy and priviledged.They have the whole world convinced that oil is the only answer.We can send probes out of the solar system but cant harness solar power,PUHLEEZE!Get real here.jsms said:p.s.
Another increasingly important side benefit of a solar hot water / steam system is the generation of pure distilled drinking water.
p.p.s
google "boeing solar power tower", then think that scaled down to homesteading proportions. Use molten paraffin, cottenseed oil or even rice instead of their molten salt.
jsms III
mightybooboo said:You know,the sad part is we are only preaching to the choir here.It only takes opening your own closed eyes to see the greatest,safest,unlimited supply of power ever created,the sun.Too bad people have been so brainwashed they cant see the obvious.GREAT propaganda from the oil companies,the wealthy and priviledged.They have the whole world convinced that oil is the only answer.We can send probes out of the solar system but cant harness solar power,PUHLEEZE!Get real here.
We could have price stability and jobs and security right here if only we werent a nation of ignorant sheep.I live by 2 solar plants(Solar 2 is FANTASTIC!) and driving distance of 3 major wind farms,the stuff works and is more than price competitive to 50 dollar/barrel oil,its competitve down to 25/barrel.Just saw on TV last night Russia is building 2 HUGE airships that will carry 4 times the load of a 747 and is,get this,SOLAR POWERED!
Just takes taking back control of our nation from the politicians and the special interests.Like Bribes to politicians(campaign contributions) nothing is going to change until people wake up to the reality of what the traitors(politicians) are doing to us by taking bribes.
But all is not lost.We can do it on a grass roots level.On our own homes.Thats where the change is going to happen.You put your money where your mouth is,we can beat them.Keep up the good work and fight the good fight my fellow alternate energy friends.
BooBoo
It was on discovery channel program on airships,its a dirigible.Cool,eh?DreamingBig said:I agree with you BooBoo, but where did you hear about the plane? I could find nothing on Google except people currently working on trying to get a solar glider to fly (take off w/solar powered propellers, I think). Unfortunately a solar car is still not a practical option, but I sure hope I live long enough to own one! :dance:
Chris