Solar Energy Power Kits for Beginners

There is a DIY build site referenced in here

Hi Del the cat ,

Your DIY project is simply great and I have fallen in love with it.

I wish I could make one for myself . Copper tube is very costly in India what do you feel if other than the pipe in the solar panel rest if I could use GI /PVC pipes. In our part of the country the exposed copper sulphates quickly. Most of our water pipe line is GI / PVC . What is your opinion about it. Hope you have not patented the designCan I use the design. Of course with some modification to suit the climatic conditions of our country.

Hi,
The design was just free of the web..but it's all in the public domain.

You could use any pipe of course .... but obviously the more conductive (of heat) the better.
If you used black plastic pipe, which isn't very conductive, I'd guess you'd need much more pipe and could probably do without the absorber plate as it wouldn't conduct to the pipe. In other words, an almost solid array of pipe, but as the pipe is cheaper it may work just fine, go for a bigger bore pipe as it would mean fewer zigzags and would also reduce the flow resistance.

Dunno if anyone else has tried it?....should be quite quick and easy to experiment with.
There is tons of stuff on the web...I think I've read of a guy who just put a long coil of plastic pipe onto his roof and it worked fine...so maybe you could even do away away with the glass as that is expensive.

I'd certainly have a try at your own 'regional variant' using what meterials you have at hand.

I posted a related challenge question which had a big response... so maybe if you post a thread about designing a plastic pipe solar hot water panel you may get some good input.

For me it was a low cost, fun, over winter project which saved me money.
Be sure to let us know how you get on and have fun.

Del

Hi Del the Cat ,

Thanks for the details. The commercial versions are readily available in Indian Market but the cost is prohibitively high for domestic buy . Most of the buyers are hotels, hospitals and other similar institutions. What I was trying is a model that can be made as a cheaper version affordable to village houses.

Thanks for your reply Del. I should have been more specific. I have to install cameras in several locations that are each in excess of 300 yards from a conventional power source. With the current cost of wire and conduit I feel that solar electricity (120VAC) might be a viable alternative. After spending a few hours looking around on the web, (and getting no where fast!) I hoped that someone here might already know of a good page.

Harbor freight, a chain of tool stores has an inexpensive kit available they sell online. Really you just need panels, batterires and an inverter. It sounds like the electrical loads are not much. If I were doing it for myself I might weight the cost of solar versus the inconveniance of charging car batteries manually and swapping them as needed. The key peice of info needed here is the number of watts that your cameras use. If the cameras are DC powered you can save the cost of an inverter but they are not expensive for lower voltages. Solar is rarely a lower cost alternative, usually it is deployed where few options exist or its cost is subsidised. Real Goods is another place worth checking.

Hi Trussway,

For your need solar power available readily can be purchased .

See the link below:-

http://www.solarhome.org/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=23

See the content from the link below:-

"The portable solar power system comes with a 12" x 14" solar panel that folds and is easy to transport. The charge regulating components and inverter are fitted into a 12" x 6" x 6" lightweight carrying case. This system can be used to power most devices that require less than 140 Watts AC 110-120v, 60 Hz."

Thanks everyone,

It's obviously a new market. There seams to be a large gap betwean lawn lighting and whole home power. But I was able to find three that could work thanks to your advise.