> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> In the message below, I was referring to a charge controller
> for solar use,
There have been enough advances in solar chargers with
tracking and mppt operation, that I would tell you to again
research what is the current technology and why it would
be an advantage to go with a new generation circuit.
Again, Home Power Magazine is a good place to start your
research.
> ...not a perpetual motion machine like in the link.
I didn't look at the charger unit in the link past a
cursory glance. It might be a snake old perpetual motion
machine or someones rehash of a PMG Generator in an
odd pacakge.
I've got a lot of experience with wind machines and I'll
tell you that over time, most people go back to the
original basic Alternator or Generator physical layouts
using standard parts. Anything out of the norm doesn't
work very well over the long term.
One of the better intertie wind systems are the original
Jacobs units with replacement composite (non wood) blades.
I've service a number of them through the years and they
are well thought out. I've also seen a lot of magic
and mirror wind systems from companies now long gone.
> I believe I built it from an article in Electronics
> Now (Quite a few years ago)...
Any charger circuit you add to a critical / marginal
system should probably include the newer generation of
tracking or mppt type circuits to get the best solar
panel energy. The tracking type chargers really are
that much better than a plain-jane charging controller
regulator from days of old.
> The ones I have seen in the past were low current draw
> with an operating voltage in the ttl level range
> at or near 5 v).
There are/were a number of these type chargers made. I
found an original Arco Charger at the flea market and
reversed engineered the circuit diagram out. It's a
very well thought out unit for being as simple as it
is. I might even have a copy of the circuit diagram
here if you want to see it, but all the part values might
not be in place.
A lot of those earlier magazine articles lifted their
ideas from the early commercial circuits like the Arco
Solar Charge Controller I mentioned.
> It takes a lot of discharge to bring a 12 volt battery
> with anything more than minimal a plate area from 12.52 volts
> (minimum voltage for a battery at "idle" before needing
> re-charge) to below 5 volts.
Reads like certain death to any good battery... You'd better
have a low voltage disconnect working at much higher voltage
than 5 volts... else you like killing off your 13 volt
batteries real fast.
> A few weeks of very cloudy weather, inefficient solar
> panel(s), bad cell(s) in the battery, etc. could deeply
> discharge a battery. anything is possible.
Cover your fanny with a low voltage disconnect and proper
controls in place.
> However, if your repeater eats light, and Mother Nature
> cooperates, this design is reported to work.
Better to have the repeater off line while the charging
system is not so great to allow some type of charging
recovery from the solar array. I have one such low use
site and it's better to have it off line for what ends
up being not so often than allow the equipment to kill
off the battery bank.
cheers,
skipp
skipp025 at yahoo.com
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