Victor Snodgrass's posts

If original poster has sold his, I have a sw-4024 and a unused sw-6048 I would like to sell. If interested victors2 @ windstream.net

 I just got solar system online a couple weeks ago and can,t keep the snow off. I am about 50 miles south of Erie pa. and have had snow just about every day. I was thinking of putting rainex on the panels so the snow would slide off instead of sticking. I used rainex for a couple other unconventional uses with good results and it didn,t hurt anyrhing. Put on my satelite dishes and it works well on them. Also used on a motorcycle windshield and it was like having wiper blades. Anyone else try this on thier solar panels? I have scraped about 5 inches of snow with a squegee for the last few days. I used a 10 foot length of plastic conduit for a handle for the squegee.  Any comments will be apreciated.           Vic

I found the answer on how to connect the solar panels together. They have adapter cables listed on here and another store site. I am going to have my panels on 3 or 4 different pole mounts that make 1 string. So still want to know if it is ok to put an outside enclosure at each pole mount and connect the wires at each pole in series with bundy connecters till they all meet on the pole with the combiner box.    Vic

I have some Sharp 167 nd-u3 panels. I could use 2 more in my string. Can,t find any as they have been discontinued. I found some mitsubishi panels module PV-UD175 MF5 that match electrically very close. I think the mitsubishi panels have different connector ends. Will they still connect together? I was thinking of using an electrical enclosure box to solder wires together with shrink tubing installed. Will this pass inspection?   Vic

I was thinking of a model IG 2000 inverter for 1 string of 12 sharp ND-167U3A solar panels I have. In the dc imput data for the inverter it states nominal imput voltage 0f 7.2 amps. Does that mean that the inverter will not operate correctly with less amps than. 7.2 amps?                   Current @ MPT (STC) 7.1 ADC
short circuit 7.91ADC. Fronious system configuration tool  recomends up to 13 modules at down to -40` I also was thinking of a model IG 3000 for the Kyocera 158 g pannels I have. IG 3000 list nominal DC imput voltage at 10 AMP. 1 string of 14 modules at -5 degrees . The Kyocera 156G are rated 6.82 ADC @ MPP And short circuit @ 7.58 ADC The Fronious reccomends this amount of modules to be used with thier inverters as Optimal configuration Of these modules.
                          vic

Ken It has a 48 volt dc output and it doesn,t have any ac output. It is wild ac rectified to 48 volt dc. Eric gave a good description of what it is. I read somewhere that alpha technoloies might get into the alternitive energy field. So far I havn,t seen anything on the alternitive energy web stores yet. I figured I might see it here first.
                Vic Snodgrass

Eric
 Thanks for the information. I did receive the manuals for the Alpha Tech. Generator which is set for 48 volt dc.  The manual for the ECM show what dip switches to set for 36 or 24 volt.   It has the Koehler generater and natural gas engine. I would like to use the generator as a backup battery charger. I think I could fool the generator into thinking the ac power is disconnected by using a relay that monitors the battery state of charge. The relay would register 120 ac voltage to ecm as long as the battery  voltage was charged to set value. After battery voltage droped below a set voltage relay would open and generator ecm should start. I think this is a quality generator and if I can get 24 volt operation it should have a longer life since the engine should run slower. When I get around to getting it to work I will repost my results Victor snodgrass

This happened to my brother in a 64 ford galaxy. The starter did work but not well. He had to completely discharge the battery, connect the cables correctly and the battery recharged correctly. I don,t think the battery was very good as he had to get another one shortly after.
                  vic snodgrass

I just wanted to know if NG models are available as my brother was looking for a NG model. He also has a gas well. As for myself I got an energystar electric fridge and will probably stay with it.

When I got my gaswell I looked at all the websites such as this one and most of them have propane models. None listed for NG. All I had to do with my propane cooking stove was change the orifaces. Is this the same for any of these propane fridges? I have heard of others in my area looking for NG fridges. In my area they are con  drilling contionsly.
                 

I am thinking that an actuator arm from a big satelite dish might work. If you know someone that still has a big didh they probably would let you look at it and see how it is mounted. Most of them run on 24 volt dc. Even a cheap arm has at least 600 lb. of force.  Victor Snodgrass

Thanks for your reply. The gen set is marketed by Alpha technologies. I think alpha bought the genset and motor from Koehler and alpha built the controler and cabinet. It is new and I recieved a manual from koehler and one from alpha covering the controler. The setup is nice and it is new. The controler has dip switches that you can use to set up for 24 volt. The reason i bought it was I got a gaswell and the genset was very very cheap, It was originaly bought for a telephone company that changed thier plans after bieing bought by another company. I was getting everything set up for 24 volt including 2 bergy XL- I windmills and inverters. I first inquired about getting the Bergeys changed to 48 volt. They said you can,t. I  also bought a sw-5548 inverter. If I can.t get the genset to 24 volt I think I will go 48 volt and sell off the 24 volt stuff.
                      Victor Snodgrass

Hi!
 I have a weather station that has 2 alkaline batterys in the radio transmeter that is outside. The batteries are alkiline dura cells and they didn,t freeze. It got to about 6 below here in west PA. winter before last and they didn,t freeze. My daughter in northen VA. has left her rechargable battery stuff outside all winter and everything still works. I was there once when it was about 8 degrees. So I think they shouldn,t freeze.

I have a 48 volt dc generator 5.5 kw. Also have 2 24 volt inverters. Have 2 mx 60 charge controlers for my solar panels. Is there a way I can charge my 24 volt battery bank with the 48 volt dc generator or can the generator be converted to 24 volt. The generator has its own cntrol system to monotor the batterys and auto start itself. It is an Alpha Technology with koehler power and generator that runs on natural gas. The reason I bought is is I got a gas well and get free use of the gas for my own use. I had an idea of using a small  48 volt battery bank for the generator and using another controler to feed the 24 volt to the battery bank. Hope someone has a better idea than I do.   Victor snodgrass

Yes You,re Crazy.  I bought a new sears fridge last year made by whirlpool that is very energy efficient. It uses less than 1 kilowatt per day, about 10 cents worth of electric. And it has an icemaker, cooled water and self defrost. The fridge I replaced was only 2 years old and had a computer board that was blowed out because of a lightning strike or power surge. Estimate for repairs were about $400.00 and repairman advised me to buy a new fridge and get one that doesn,t have the computer board. He said whirlpool isn,t using them except on side by sides. I did fix the fridge myself after buying the new one and gave it to my daughter. She was keeping it in her unheated garage and when it got cold it quit running and she lost meat. Found out that some of the newer fridges won,t run if you put them in an unheated area. Guess it has something to do with the thermistat that turns the compresser on. We moved it in the house and it took right off. This was a GE fridge.

I too am interested in trying to get heat from a windmill. Recently purchased 2   H-40 windmills. One doesn,t have the controler.  Was wondering if I could connect the one without the controler directly to a hot water heater. Would I use the 120 volt heating elements? I have hot water heat and figured maybe I could connect the hotwater heater inline with my furnace and let the circulating pump circulate the water that was heated this way. My furnace also heats my tapwater hotwater so I have to run furnace all year to have hot water. If this works for heating maybe I could get a seperate waterheater for summer use. The heating system had antifreeze in it so couldn,t use same waterheater for tap water as one used for heating purposes. Does anyone think this would work?   Vic