Why I Can't Do Solar Panels (an image)
Forum Discussion
22 Replies
- Arroyo water goes from dust to the Nile River. If I put up a weir and something happens to the folks downstream I go to jail. Except for the Rio Balsas, every bit of moving water would be a struggle and costly as the devil to harness,
westend wrote:
I was thinking a hydro turbine. Moving water has a big energy potential.
Was thinking the exact same thing. If there were some place to get a significant head height where the water was running to (say into a deep ravine), slap a turbine there, and you can get a serious amount of electricity. Fast flow + large drop will be able to be quite useful.- Vegetation Lore: South of Acapulco, the coast turns brushy like north of San Blas including Mazatlan to the border. Not enough steady breeze for wind generation.
For the price of the Kubota/Lima/Trace/Gould/Westinghouse, I could have put up an impressive array, then screamed in agonized frustration.
I've scored a large compressor and condenser, dryer, evaporator off of a sleeper Peterbilt conventional (A Thermacool unit). Now I need a pulley for the front of the Lombardini diesel to spin the compressor. Won't be able to use the 50DN Delco alt and A/C unit at the same time. But this is a 60,000 BTU setup. - I was thinking a hydro turbine. Moving water has a big energy potential.
- looks windy - maybe go wind power
MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
There are (4) 51 watt Kyocera panels atop Quicksilver. For battery float. On a day like this 1.2 amperes charge would be maximum.
On a day like this, I wouldn't expect more with my ~twice larger array. Though, as soon as it stops raining, current climbs to (at least) few amps under cloudy skies. You almost have sun shining there on the photo :)MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
Series or parallel?
There are (4) 51 watt Kyocera panels atop Quicksilver. For battery float. On a day like this 1.2 amperes charge would be maximum.- I think this is how entire coast South of Puerto Vallarta looks like, June through September. All the way to Panama. Run to the highlands. Cheaper there, too.
- Mr Wizard, that photo is of merely double canopy. Triple canopy has nothing but tree trunks soaring to 50'. No ground vegetation. It's not called a jungle either according to those who label it. "Tropical Savannah" is supposed to be the right word according to the x-perts. Some of the bamboo grows at a rate of a foot per day in Las Aguas (the rainy season).
The @#$%^&! gaviotas (sea gulls) will haul a quarter-pound rock aloft, then drop it. I haven't got a clue why they do it. You can hear the thwack through a foot-thick concrete roof. I park the toad under a limón tree, and Quicksilver has a patch of clear sky for limited panel exposure. Jesús has to change the transparent plastic shield every three months. The stuff is expensive and about 10 mils thick. Mexicans use it for a transparent tablecloth. It cuts power by perhaps 15% and cannot withstand more than a 15 mph breeze.
For rain forest, head for the southernmost state, Chiapas. The ruins at Palenque are in the middle of a vast swath of rain forest.
C.F.E. has been triple-poling the 87 KV power line through the wetlands so maybe this year fewer outages. It is quite frequent to have 80 to 100 relay blink-outs per hour in one of these thunderstorms. Microwave clocks are useless. I simply throw the 200-amp 3-pole knife switch open and go on battery power. Quicksilver is insulated while the concrete structure has intertied rebar throughout. The lightning drain system is paralleled copper bars leading to an aluminum ground rod. Hope I never have to see it work.
