| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| nobicus |
Posted - 31/12/2007 : 18:36:07
Here in the UK it is becoming increasingly obvious that for all but a few the possibility of becoming “off grid” does not exist. In fact a brief read of the honest sites on the Internet indicates that small home electricity systems save very little money. Even on last weeks BBC news we are told that systems costing around £3,000 will save only about £50 per annum in the average urban location. So my question is; what are we all working towards?
Looking at this forum I can understand the man with the croft (Oh that I had been brave enough in my youth!!) wanting to create his own electricity but for the rest of us is it just the intellectual challenge, the desire to create something with our own hands, the gathering of knowledge or what? Here is where this document becomes somewhat long for reasons that are self-explanatory.
I am now 66 years old, retired, married for 46 years and living in a private rented house on the top of a hill in the wilds of the Lincolnshire Wolds from where I can see the sea and the new Ecotricity Conisholme Fen wind generators being erected. BUT I have no security of tenure and a monthly rent bill to meet!. Our nearest neighbour is over a mile away and below the brow of a hill so there is no line of sight. The nearest house that can see us is three miles away. Useful because we are in a special conservation area and I want to do my experimenting without the benefit of planning applications.
I read somewhere that to stay young you have to learn something new every year so home electricity generation is this year’s (2008)learning project. This serves three purposes the first is to stay young and live a little longer, the second is to have a skill to offer a community should the oil run out. I am a believer in the theory of Peak Oil (this forum is NOT a place to discuss this, however) and the third is to improve my lifestyle. I have a bit of a shed and some tools and, I think, the competence to eventually understand things.
Most home electricity generators (people not kit) seem quite happy to have 12 or 24-volt lighting systems in their homes. Question: - Why wait until you have a windmill or solar setup to install this sort of system. 12-volt systems are available, at least from B&Q, in the form of kitchen lights with transformers etc. Could these be used as general lights in a household? How much would it save in reducing our carbon footprints? (Or our electricity bills?) I do know that the 12 volt bulbs from the system work on a 12-volt car battery and I have some to use as emergency lighting if we get power cuts this winter. In this event I have a 3Kv petrol generator to run the kettle, New-wave cooker and microwave and to charge 12-volt batteries at the same time. I also have a collection of 12-volt camping lights, rechargeable and windup torches, wind up radio etc. and a couple of 12 volt leisure batteries We have cast iron wood burners too. (We use the big one already to cook on sometimes when it is lit because it takes saucepans on the top. Great for pasta sauces, slow cooked curries etc).
I want to create my home electricity generation system to use in the garden. We have a greenhouse and we bought a polytunnel at the beginning of the year so that we could extend our season of growing each end of the year. With a little extra warmth and light I could grow all the year round. A homemade solar water heater feeding two 50-gallon oil drums of water in the polytunnel should keep it above 40 degrees. With the addition of a 12-volt immersion somewhere in the system (a ridiculous £35 – follow your links page) the warmth could go on 24/7 all winter. I already have the “Going Green” system of drawing heat from the ceiling of the greenhouse to warm two 50 gallon oil drums of water under the bench as a heat sink, using cheap pipe and a 12-volt cooling fan from a computer. This kept the greenhouse above freezing all last winter. The “leisure” battery I use is charged from the mains via a car battery charger once a week though I want to get either a solar panel or windmill to do this.
We also want to keep chickens again and want a light for the shed and compound – if chickens don’t get 12 hours of light they stop laying, something to do with them being bred originally from tropical jungle fowl so you don’t get eggs in the winter unless you provide light.
I shall, therefore, be starting with the cheap dynohub that I bought and when that is done and flying I shall decide what to do next. I downloaded some plans for a VAWT with the magnets embedded in the bottom disc and coils to the sides (not underneath). Plans available at: - http://www.homesopen.com/wind/savoniuscomplete.pdf that I might have a go at. If I do I shall cut my circle of wood with a router on a homemade compass beam and not freehand as suggested. I shall embed the magnets in the rim of the wooden circle with Araldite or similar and cover them with duct tape and use cut 6-inch sewer pipe as vanes but all this is for the future.
I bought Gotwind’s plans and, may well try to source 6 volt deep cycle batteries (a little nearer to Grimsby than Cornwall where the present offerer lives) ‘cos a dynohub for £14:99 seems good value for money.
I love reading about everyone else’s stuff – successes and failures too. I have spent too long learning from my own mistakes I now want to sit back a little and learn from other peoples.
So all you good folk out there – why are you building windmills? And do you have any suggestions for me to better my learning curve or improve my lifestyle?
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| 4 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| nobicus |
Posted - 01/01/2008 : 19:07:29
If that is your mission statement then it succeeds on all counts!! |
| gotwind |
Posted - 01/01/2008 : 15:47:54
The gotwind forum is intended as a fun place to 'play',design, make and discuss our achievements, good or bad in the effort to use the earths free resources at a minimal financial cost.
Solar power is fairly easy to harvest and store - wind power is more difficult particularly in a DIY fashion.
The Futures Green - Getwind of it. |
| chris_psmith |
Posted - 01/01/2008 : 10:41:31
Nobicus, if you go with the Savonius VAWT, use the Benesh blade profile (google patent search) and not the Savonius, significantly more efficient.
As to your question of why I am doing it, for fun and to save some money by suplementing the water solar pannel I fitted last year. Fuel prices are so high these days I think it will be possible to save some money.
Rgds
Chris |
| wigmouse |
Posted - 31/12/2007 : 22:21:45
hello nobicus
hello all at got wind
hope your efforts work out for you nobicus ....and have many more years of staying young .
like you ,part of the joy is to learn / try and often fail.
if i understand your view point ...its to use what you have got or know about already , as well as trying new things , wind solar ect
just an idea ...you charge your battery from the mains once a week , but want to use wind or solar to do this . i have solar and this time of year ...its in lay mans terms .. not very good ( its poly not mono , which is surposed to be better in dull light but i cant see it being much better )
because of this i stated to look into wind to suplement my system ..........but can i use what i already have ?????.........i went to get a split charge rely fitted to my van ( they had over booked so wasted my time ) The idea being that many people in my job charge their work battery in this way as they drive . so in winter can i top up my battery for my inverter ( if you can understand my poor explanasion then your much more intelligent that me ! )
will it work out ...not sure till try it ...will let you know .
as for using 12v lights . i was going to have a 12v light ring in my home but they where just not up to the job yet.
my reasons for saying this .the market has not caught up ...12v cf bulbs £8 to £15 ish each . 240v from 49 pence ......light otput side by side 240v has it . the varity of bulbs and fittings used in the home again ...240v yes ( some still expensive but you can get them ) ..12v ..just not avaible.
LED s ...great , low power ..but in a home dont give the angel of light reguired .( some every expencive ones are getting better ).
also with 12v the wires you use may have to be thicker to aviod power loss. 12v trip switches more expensive (higer amps)
after much trial and error , i went for 240v with inverter .
let me know how you get on with the poly tunnel ...so i can copy you if it works out.
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