Badflash's Greenhouse Build

[jackalope]

I want to use the least power possible. If 80 watts will do it, I can go solar.
<snip>
Storage in the cold spell sucks though. 80 watts is doable with solar, especially if you build it yourself. It would need to be a 250 watt collector with battery capacity of about 200 amp-hours. A couple of golf cart batteries would do it. Collectors are easy to make and cells are cheap on eBay. Basic soldering skills and electronic hookup savvy is all that is needed.

DIY Links? Instructable? Diagramatics? plans?

My new friend Chris from one of the veggie oil forums did me a huge favor and lent me some scaffold to finish up the perlins. He also gave me 250 gallon of waste veggie oil and sold me the parts to clean the oil, namely a gear pump, heater, drum and cetrifuge. Once I get that together I'll have a veggie oil furnace to heat the greenhouse.

I'd like to see some plans/drawings/diagramatics (linky?) w/explanation of the workings of that solar array and the veggie furnace in a new thread when you have some time! I may have need for those in my mobile home this winter, since the power bill keeps going up and wood has been getting scarce lately I'm also trying to put together the hardware to build a wind generator, because the wind blows almost constantly here in GR!

[Chrismak]

Hey all,

Chris here ....the guy who facilitated in the painting of the Sistine Chapel
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...d_and_Adam.jpg

The hand of God guiding you Jack and keeping you safe on that rig. I hope you signed the disclaimer
Looking good and your helper is not afraid of heights either. Good job.
Let me know when the skin arrives I might volunteer to come by and lend a hand in return for some
nice Fish & Chips and some good home brew.

Chris

[badflash]

Chris- Thanks for your help. The info on the Babington Burner is going to cut a lot of time & cost out of my heater project. Probably will burn anything.

The scaffold is pretty stable as long as it is on level ground.

[Chrismak]

The babbington may be helpful info for others. I don't want to hijak the thread so maybe you could start a new thread on heating or something.
Some useful info herehttp://aipengineering.com/babington/...ner_HOWTO.html
This is an altfuelfurnace subgroup that covers Babington burner technology.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/altfuelbabington

Chris

[gosmith]

Badflash,

Thanks for all the great info and pics. Can't wait to see it all done.

I too would love to learn more about building home-made PV solar panels. More info please! :P

Jackalope,

Here's a couple of links for home-built wind turbines that may be helpful.

The first is to Hugh Piggott's great site for home-built wind generators if you're interested in building one that won't fly apart in the first big wind storm that comes along. Hugh's designs are about the best there is and time tested too. Everything built from readily available materials, including the permanent magnet generator.

http://www.scoraigwind.com/

I attended one of his workshops a few years ago and we built 4 all together, one of which was featured on CNN Heroes 3 years ago when it was donated, then installed by a non-profit group (Blue Energy) in a remote village in Nicaragua along with a satellite link to allow internet access to both a hospital and a school. First electricity ever in that neck of the woods.

There's a ton of info at that site and it can be a little confusing 'cause he's got so much on that home page. But you should be able to find links to some of his free plans and schematics near the bottom of the page in a section called "Quick links to older stuff on this site".

The other place you need to know about is Other Power:

http://www.otherpower.com/

They are followers of Hugh Piggott and the best/cheapest source for the rare earth supermagnets you will need for the generator. These guys also have some free plans and also will build whatever parts you might find difficult (for a fee, of course.)

Hope this helps. Best of luck with your wind project. MT has a great wind resource, as I'm sure you know, and it's a shame more people there aren't taking advantage of it. As much as people seem to love wind turbines, very few places actually have enough wind to make them worthwhile.

G

[badflash]

gosmith - I won't publish until I have something that works. I am an electronics tech by trade, so what is easy for me may be "huh?" for others. I'll break it down to basics before I put anything out.

What I know is that there are several components. The solar cells, the charger/controller to be sure the battery doesn't get screwed up, and the inverter to make AC power. Each one seems simple. I don't know why they cost so much.

[gosmith]

Badflash,

Yes, sadly the cost of PV solar continues to be high. Installed systems in my area are running around $8 per installed watt at best, meaning a very modest 1KW grid-tied rooftop array will ding you a minimum of $8,000, usually more. Most U.S. home owners need 4-5KW to really make a dent in the power bill. Off-grid systems are $12 to $15 per watt because of the battery bank. Paybacks here in the not-so-sunny Pacific NW run around 20 years or more, even with federal and state incentives. If you can come up with a way to drastically lower the costs, the world will beat a path to your door.

G

[JCO]

Badflash, how goes the greenhouse build with all the snow, ice and freezing temperatures?

[badflash]

I'm on hold until I get a melt. I didn't get the skin on in time last fall before the snow it. Haven't seen any green since before Christmas. I'm supposed to get a bonus from work, so I'm hoping it will pay for the skin and lumber. I figure I have 2 grand to go.

[JCO]

Let's see, that figures out to be $$$$.$$. Does that about cover it