I have been fooling around with solar to inverter for a year now. Looking at the wind and water charging system. You are heading in the right direction. I wish I had time and finances to do the same. This is what Americans are about. Thank you
@@solarpoweredge if you are willing to share, I am curious about how to control the power dissipation(load). Are you just raising the total drive voltage across all diodes to increase power drop at each?
@public0105 Sure, there are 2 ways to control power: run another load in parallel to use up some of the power (diodes get less power), or change the # of diodes connected. The solar panels are current-limited. Diodes are not ohmic and have no significant resistance to current. The diodes have a remarkable ability to hold and regulate a specific voltage, very similar to an MPPT controller holding solar panels at a specific voltage most of the day. You can select that voltage, with the right # of diodes. In some cases I deliberately raise the voltage to leave power for other loads in parallel. But mostly, I just want the max heat output, so I track down to the max power voltage of the solar panels. Even with nichrome in parallel, the overall system should get over 90% of the possible heat output... nichrome alone simply cannot do this as it is a static (ohmic) resistance and will not regulate as solar conditions change. In the morning, those diode heaters can still extract 30 watts or more heat, whereas a nichrome heater would pretty much get nothing, like a dead short on the panels. Hope this helps :D I made a really long pinned comment on this video, if you are curious about why diodes can do so much, it's highly recommended reading: th-cam.com/video/42XIbHA9Dv0/w-d-xo.html And this paper about diodes is also highly recommended: th-cam.com/video/whOXELklxQ4/w-d-xo.html
The more gets into the public domain the less chance of it getting patented and monopolized by some greedy corporation. You're doing a public service 😉
Love the channel and the knowledge i gain from you. Its been helping me on my journey to also utilize my solar panels after my batteries are full. I like the solar heating design for winter. But need something else for the summer. 1400w of solar with 400ah of lithium batteries. 12v system and a 1000w inverter. Biger inverter needed. Maybe later. But why not use my excess for something fun, useful and makes my brain work. Lol.
Your investigations are intriguing to me, because I think more along mechanical lines. An oil-filled flat-plate solar collector panel will transfer heat year round and tube & fin radiators transfer the heat from sunshine directly into air or water, reserving PV to drive a circulation pump. Doing this utilizes heat from heat instead of changing sunlight into electricity and then converting it back into heat. Im autistic, so always take what I say with a grain of salt. 😊
@WhatDadIsUpTo I am appreciative of your interest :D Recently bought a DC "hot water pump" to test, it might even do oil. I am building a portable solar thermal collector and a sand battery. But there is limited space in the yard for equipment. I am curious about seasonal (winter) solar-thermal, and have been trying to make something lightweight that I can throw out in the yard in autumn, and store it in my shed by spring. The idea of collecting some extra thermal heat for the workshop is too much to resist :)
i like ur channel as i do solar projects and wish to advance direct pv to load progects ,. im intrested in ur diode setup and future projeats . ps.im blind and like when you and others discribe in detaile on how to do things so i can get a visual . instead of using words like , thing and that thing etc . helps me picture whats going on thanks been watching for a while , keep the videos coming .
@lmccleary411 Hello, I appreciate your watching :) I know exactly what you mean.... I will try to accommodate you. Although I don't talk about it much, making videos is very hard due to my state and sometimes have to delete and re-record the video. But I will try to be more descriptive when I can as well. If you have any questions about any of these videos, feel free to post a comment or email and I'll do what I can to help clear it up. I wish you the best in your projects too! More uploads coming as soon as "humanly" possible!
Forgive the basic question. Should I look into brushless motors for direct PV connection? Recently, I’ve been researching quadcopters. They aren’t cheap like computer fans but you can buy them in varying size and add varying blade size.
@peterxyz3541 No worries, questions are what I ask every day! Just my opinion I'd suggest sticking with cheap brushed motors for experiments: they are tough and always work. Brushless motors need a driver circuit that outputs what is basically 3-phase AC - so it adds another layer of complexity and cost, slows down experiments. Once you have a good prototype working, you could look at advancing it with a brushless motor
Thanks for the update. I noticed on the second diode setup that you only used half of the rectifier spade connectors. Is that to reduce the amount of heat in the metal diode casing by only using 1 diode per rectifier or will you be using all the legs in the final setup? Cant wait to see the hot water heater.
@mikefiatx19 Welcome, I'll upload the water heater as soon as possible and thanks for watching... bridge rectifier does two things, it gives more DC attachment points (such as for fans) and the diodes can be in double strings in series. Also you are right I can use 1 diode per case depending on what's needed. One problem I ran out of room on those heat sinks, I'd really like to have double the packages. Looking for a larger heat sink, they are incredibly expensive.
Ahhhh this video answers some questions I had in the previous video I watched..... TH-cam has been recommending a lot of videos that I don't normally watch and not putting forward the channels I do spend a lot of time watching.... I found this video by randomly scrolling.... 79W is a good number for power consumption, what would you say that you are using as a total which appears to also include the nichrome heater? And what's the temperature outside? I heard that it's keeping the place warm, but the colder the weather outside the harder it is to keep a place warm.... Obviously a heating device needs to be designed to work for a given area on the coldest day or night of the year.... Things are starting to warm up in the southern hemisphere, so testing heating systems is getting to be a challenge.... But just like hunter gatherers, if you don't work to prepare during the warmer months, you will starve during winter! Or freeze in my case, not that I don't have a method for heating, I have several.... But I'm looking for something that is small, doesn't require a lot of energy to run, and I can use more than one if necessary for those tough days....
@PeterMilanovski I hope yt will recommend my videos more often :D this video shows so very little of the testing... I used 100-400w for some of the tests, especially in this video... then with nichrome to take most of the power (that's a good thing). During more recent tests, I used 1600w of solar to drive diodes plus nichrome. Then I added a second diode chain and 4 nichrome. Now I'm working on a bigger version plus a HWH tank using the same idea. The problem with video is I can't get them out fast enough to show the current status, nor is it worth showing every detail as no one will watch the whole thing anyway :D which downranks the video... hope to be more detailed in the future when watch time isn't so difficult
@jocosson8892 Hi they are simply 1000v 50A bridge rectifiers, any kind or brand will do. Even a different type. FYI there is a link in description to my amazon pages where I collect all the parts I use over time. Or just search for "bridge rectifier" or "silicon rectifier diode". TO-220 package diodes can work too :D
@lucasballek 100% an excellent idea :D guess what's underneath the bottom facing heat sink of the first heater? 4x 12705 I did not want to make things too confusing by mentioning them! Haven't done a lot of testing but they do make voltage!
@@solarpoweredge awesome! 👍🏼😎 I wanna make a wood fire pizza oven/hot tub, with a layer of TEG's sandwiched in there. Thermal mass of water for cooling, 80-120⁰F and fire being hundreds of degrees, could easily make a significant amount of power per square inch..
@lucasballek This is thinking outside the box... use the heat as many times as possible! Sounds like an awesome project (especially with homemade pizza involved)
I'm a solar enthusiast with 12 k of PV input and 30k of battery storage. Love and am intrigued by your different test applications. Without being over religious but have to say this kind of knowledge is truly God inspired to say the least. You are on the cusp of greater discoveries for sure. Watching for updates Thanks.
@2284esther Nice setup! I 100% agree and do give God credit for the knowledge, I am just a limited human with limited understanding. It is shocking how simple diodes are and yet how effective in this application. I appreciate your support and will upload more videos as soon as humanly possible!
@tenij000 It definitely uses less power because it's running at such a low voltage, it does not make as much heat. However it's a nice DIY heater with zero heating element winding required :)
@tenij000 Yes, in fact I used 24v PTC to heat a small back room with 4x100w solar panels, worked great! Just hook them up with a voltmeter so you can see whether the heater is a good match... maybe 2 in series and 2 parallel would match that heater, might have to experiment. One of those small DC watt-meters work great to see how much heating power is coming in. Here's my PTC heating related videos: th-cam.com/video/wK3_lRSntRc/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/UxgINFgqUoI/w-d-xo.html
Lovely Experiments Sir diodes n bulb technology 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
@steveadal4735 Thank you, glad you enjoyed this :D infrared bulb helps keep the workshop warmer :)
I have been fooling around with solar to inverter for a year now. Looking at the wind and water charging system. You are heading in the right direction. I wish I had time and finances to do the same. This is what Americans are about. Thank you
@joefeddy Welcome, and thanks for watching. I'll upload some more content as soon as humanly possible :)
I'm happy I found your channel Dave! You do great stuff :)
@yannkitson116 Hi and thanks! I'm glad you found me :D
Appreciate your sharing the diode heating/voltage step thought process!
@public0105 Welcome :D
@@solarpoweredge if you are willing to share, I am curious about how to control the power dissipation(load). Are you just raising the total drive voltage across all diodes to increase power drop at each?
@public0105 Sure, there are 2 ways to control power: run another load in parallel to use up some of the power (diodes get less power), or change the # of diodes connected. The solar panels are current-limited. Diodes are not ohmic and have no significant resistance to current. The diodes have a remarkable ability to hold and regulate a specific voltage, very similar to an MPPT controller holding solar panels at a specific voltage most of the day. You can select that voltage, with the right # of diodes. In some cases I deliberately raise the voltage to leave power for other loads in parallel. But mostly, I just want the max heat output, so I track down to the max power voltage of the solar panels. Even with nichrome in parallel, the overall system should get over 90% of the possible heat output... nichrome alone simply cannot do this as it is a static (ohmic) resistance and will not regulate as solar conditions change. In the morning, those diode heaters can still extract 30 watts or more heat, whereas a nichrome heater would pretty much get nothing, like a dead short on the panels.
Hope this helps :D
I made a really long pinned comment on this video, if you are curious about why diodes can do so much, it's highly recommended reading:
th-cam.com/video/42XIbHA9Dv0/w-d-xo.html
And this paper about diodes is also highly recommended:
th-cam.com/video/whOXELklxQ4/w-d-xo.html
The more gets into the public domain the less chance of it getting patented and monopolized by some greedy corporation. You're doing a public service 😉
@gaborbata8588 That's exactly one of my concerns... I hope these ideas will help the "common man" first and foremost...
fish tank heaters mostly use coil filaments I'm sure they can be modified for dc
@phillangstrom8693 Those look very interesting, only about 15 bucks... good idea!!
Love the channel and the knowledge i gain from you. Its been helping me on my journey to also utilize my solar panels after my batteries are full. I like the solar heating design for winter. But need something else for the summer. 1400w of solar with 400ah of lithium batteries. 12v system and a 1000w inverter. Biger inverter needed. Maybe later. But why not use my excess for something fun, useful and makes my brain work. Lol.
@acuratltypes6694 Hi I'm glad you found this channel :D good point about summer, it's harder to make cold than heat!
Your investigations are intriguing to me, because I think more along mechanical lines.
An oil-filled flat-plate solar collector panel will transfer heat year round and tube & fin radiators transfer the heat from sunshine directly into air or water, reserving PV to drive a circulation pump.
Doing this utilizes heat from heat instead of changing sunlight into electricity and then converting it back into heat.
Im autistic, so always take what I say with a grain of salt. 😊
@WhatDadIsUpTo I am appreciative of your interest :D
Recently bought a DC "hot water pump" to test, it might even do oil.
I am building a portable solar thermal collector and a sand battery. But there is limited space in the yard for equipment. I am curious about seasonal (winter) solar-thermal, and have been trying to make something lightweight that I can throw out in the yard in autumn, and store it in my shed by spring.
The idea of collecting some extra thermal heat for the workshop is too much to resist :)
The future
@joefeddy Hot diodes :D 👍
Very cool 👍
@raytruesdell7873 :D
IR bulb or reptile tank bulb is a fascinating idea. No mod heating element
@peterxyz3541 It's a great way to escape "nichrome wire" and go straight to a prototype... I love this bulb lol
i like ur channel as i do solar projects and wish to advance direct pv to load progects ,.
im intrested in ur diode setup and future projeats .
ps.im blind and like when you and others discribe in detaile on how to do things so i can get a visual .
instead of using words like , thing and that thing etc .
helps me picture whats going on thanks been watching for a while , keep the videos coming .
@lmccleary411 Hello, I appreciate your watching :) I know exactly what you mean.... I will try to accommodate you. Although I don't talk about it much, making videos is very hard due to my state and sometimes have to delete and re-record the video. But I will try to be more descriptive when I can as well. If you have any questions about any of these videos, feel free to post a comment or email and I'll do what I can to help clear it up. I wish you the best in your projects too! More uploads coming as soon as "humanly" possible!
Forgive the basic question. Should I look into brushless motors for direct PV connection?
Recently, I’ve been researching quadcopters. They aren’t cheap like computer fans but you can buy them in varying size and add varying blade size.
@peterxyz3541 No worries, questions are what I ask every day! Just my opinion I'd suggest sticking with cheap brushed motors for experiments: they are tough and always work. Brushless motors need a driver circuit that outputs what is basically 3-phase AC - so it adds another layer of complexity and cost, slows down experiments. Once you have a good prototype working, you could look at advancing it with a brushless motor
Thanks for the update. I noticed on the second diode setup that you only used half of the rectifier spade connectors. Is that to reduce the amount of heat in the metal diode casing by only using 1 diode per rectifier or will you be using all the legs in the final setup?
Cant wait to see the hot water heater.
@mikefiatx19 Welcome, I'll upload the water heater as soon as possible and thanks for watching... bridge rectifier does two things, it gives more DC attachment points (such as for fans) and the diodes can be in double strings in series. Also you are right I can use 1 diode per case depending on what's needed. One problem I ran out of room on those heat sinks, I'd really like to have double the packages. Looking for a larger heat sink, they are incredibly expensive.
Ahhhh this video answers some questions I had in the previous video I watched.....
TH-cam has been recommending a lot of videos that I don't normally watch and not putting forward the channels I do spend a lot of time watching.... I found this video by randomly scrolling....
79W is a good number for power consumption, what would you say that you are using as a total which appears to also include the nichrome heater? And what's the temperature outside?
I heard that it's keeping the place warm, but the colder the weather outside the harder it is to keep a place warm....
Obviously a heating device needs to be designed to work for a given area on the coldest day or night of the year.... Things are starting to warm up in the southern hemisphere, so testing heating systems is getting to be a challenge.... But just like hunter gatherers, if you don't work to prepare during the warmer months, you will starve during winter! Or freeze in my case, not that I don't have a method for heating, I have several.... But I'm looking for something that is small, doesn't require a lot of energy to run, and I can use more than one if necessary for those tough days....
@PeterMilanovski I hope yt will recommend my videos more often :D this video shows so very little of the testing... I used 100-400w for some of the tests, especially in this video... then with nichrome to take most of the power (that's a good thing). During more recent tests, I used 1600w of solar to drive diodes plus nichrome. Then I added a second diode chain and 4 nichrome. Now I'm working on a bigger version plus a HWH tank using the same idea. The problem with video is I can't get them out fast enough to show the current status, nor is it worth showing every detail as no one will watch the whole thing anyway :D which downranks the video... hope to be more detailed in the future when watch time isn't so difficult
You said your making a hot water heater. Why are you heat hot water?
@Whitebear80 I mean to make hot water for showers, and also for thermal heat storage
@@solarpoweredge ok because heating hot water is a boiler.
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@markpennella Thank you, checking into this now :D
Can a Sand Heater Heat a Small Bedroom 10 X 12 . Thank You 👍
@jjames5475 It depends on the power (watts)! Is the room well insulated? I'd recommend at least 500 watts of heating to hold temperature
can you tell me the model of diodes you bought
@jocosson8892 Hi they are simply 1000v 50A bridge rectifiers, any kind or brand will do. Even a different type. FYI there is a link in description to my amazon pages where I collect all the parts I use over time. Or just search for "bridge rectifier" or "silicon rectifier diode". TO-220 package diodes can work too :D
there is a link in the description, they are KBPC5010
Slap a layer of TEG's on that diode heater and reclaim extra energy?!
@lucasballek 100% an excellent idea :D guess what's underneath the bottom facing heat sink of the first heater? 4x 12705 I did not want to make things too confusing by mentioning them! Haven't done a lot of testing but they do make voltage!
@@solarpoweredge awesome! 👍🏼😎
I wanna make a wood fire pizza oven/hot tub, with a layer of TEG's sandwiched in there. Thermal mass of water for cooling, 80-120⁰F and fire being hundreds of degrees, could easily make a significant amount of power per square inch..
@lucasballek This is thinking outside the box... use the heat as many times as possible! Sounds like an awesome project (especially with homemade pizza involved)
@@solarpoweredge off grid luxury 😁
@lucasballek Lol right on!
What type of infrared bulb is that? Can any standard infrared bulb meant for ac work with dc?
@kannacat1 Hi it's an R40 infrared bulb, any incandescent bulb can take either AC or DC - no problem at all
@solarpoweredge okay thank you
@kannacat1 NP
I'm a solar enthusiast with 12 k of PV input and 30k of battery storage. Love and am intrigued by your different test applications. Without being over religious but have to say this kind of knowledge is truly God inspired to say the least. You are on the cusp of greater discoveries for sure. Watching for updates Thanks.
@2284esther Nice setup! I 100% agree and do give God credit for the knowledge, I am just a limited human with limited understanding. It is shocking how simple diodes are and yet how effective in this application. I appreciate your support and will upload more videos as soon as humanly possible!
does infared light bolt use less power then the heaters you mod
@tenij000 It definitely uses less power because it's running at such a low voltage, it does not make as much heat. However it's a nice DIY heater with zero heating element winding required :)
@@solarpoweredge do think can make work whit a PTC Fan Heater 24v 400watt have 4x cheap 100 watt pannels still from camping still laying around
@tenij000 Yes, in fact I used 24v PTC to heat a small back room with 4x100w solar panels, worked great! Just hook them up with a voltmeter so you can see whether the heater is a good match... maybe 2 in series and 2 parallel would match that heater, might have to experiment.
One of those small DC watt-meters work great to see how much heating power is coming in.
Here's my PTC heating related videos:
th-cam.com/video/wK3_lRSntRc/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/UxgINFgqUoI/w-d-xo.html