It has now been just over 12 months since we installed our Raspberry Pi solar data logger system on the house and it has been uploading temperature readings, battery voltage and current readings every minute, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The...
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Following from Arduino based Solar PV and Hot water monitoring and logging posts the various hardware and parts of the software have been installed into the PV control cupboard and the new logging hardware and software is uploading data to one...
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Following from Arduino based Solar PV and Hot water monitoring and logging post the various hardware and parts of the software have been installed, built and written.
After two busy weekends working on the project the Arudino board is now sending...
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As part of the solar hot water system (view other blog posts) we have been installing onto our home we wanted to be able to keep track of the time the solar water pump is running. To monitor the pump we decided to use a simple mains power...
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As part of the solar hot water system (view other blog posts) we have been installing onto our home we wanted to be able to keep track of the mains electric being used by the house. Based on the open source OpenEnergyMontor website we developed...
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Next stage of the solar hot water install, fitting a new dual coil hot water cylinder.
The new cylinder was 150mm taller and 70mm wider than the old hot water cylinder which was installed before which required all the existing pipes to be moved...
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Following on from my post about the Arduino based Solar PV and Hot water monitoring the solar hot water kit has arrived from Navitron.
The photos below show the initial plumbing stages for installing the system. We are still waiting for quotes...
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After looking for more items around the house which could be charged from the new solar system, we decided to try converting the Logitech Harmony 885 remote control chargers to run from 12 volts.
The Logitech charger runs at 8 volts and uses...
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Putting it all together
Built the first of four panels today and got it installed on the roof. I am still waiting for the 12v 15amp cable roll for the other three panels, which I ordered over a week ago and the supplier isn't answering...
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Soldering Cells
After purchasing a flux pen from Maplin, we started the long job of tinning all the cells, front and back and the fitting the tabbing wire between the cells to join 36 together for each solar panel.
The photo below shows...
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Charging System Upgrades
The existing charging system used a single battery and this was connected via the charge converter to the inverter and a 12v relay which switched the mains supply between the solar inverter power and normal mains...
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Using 6mm thick flat aluminum bar, we made four brackets which were attached to the chimneys either side of the house and between these, two lengths of 25mm x 4.2m square aluminum bar were fitted to act as supports for the solar panels.
The...
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Using 35mm square aluminum bar, we machined a slot into the bar and cut it into 30mm wide brackets which where drilled and tapped to take M5 bolts. Four of these brackets will be bolted to the panel base boards and this will allow the easy...
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Two coats today of Dulux Trade Weathershield Preservative Basecoat to seal the wood, this needs 48 hours to dry and then the panels will be painted with exterior gloss and the glass ordered.
The photo below shows the panels after bring...
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