Home made solar pannel and wind mill generator?

[Redramman]

I was looking for info on solar pannels and wind mill generators and found this in a Green site. I just wonder if the info for $$ is a scam? or can solar pannels be made out of hardware store parts.?

http://www.homemadeenergy.org/?hop=safepay123

http://www.makenaturalpower.com/?hop=safepay123

[64 Cheyenne]

I read a few articles on wind/solar power,and I was very interested.BUT,when I took into account the initial expense of

buying or building a system,as it states in one of those ad's it can take years to reap the benefits after the initial cost.

Although a panel or turbine can put out a lot of power,it takes a few other pieces of equipment to make it pay for you.

1st you have to be able to store the electricity,which means batteries,you'd need enough battery capacity to store enough electricity for your own use. were talking about banks of batteries here,and those types of batteries aren't cheap.(car batteries won't work)Then you have to have an inverter/charge controller.The inverter converts your DC power from your

wind/solar system to usable 120volt power,then the charge controller does just what it's name implies,controls the charge so your system doesn't fry your batteries.By the way good usable systems usually run both wind and solar generation.

Now that the system is up and running,the batteries are charged,your not using power in the house,you can sell power back to the power company,but first you have to have another piece of equipment,a switch to put regulated currant back onto the grid.whew! all this stuff could have bought a lot of Jeep or Harley parts.The way I see it a system like this would be great in a cabin out in the boonies where there isn't any power.So for me to save a few bucks and do my part for the green thing,I just do as so many others,.......turn off the light,turn down the t/stat. One last thing,when I see a bright flashy add that promises me things for cheap.....Buyer Beware!

[tazjeeper]

Intersting thread. Here are some links for you. My brother and I are builing one now at my place as I have wind average of 40 to 45 klm per day. I can not store energy its a law here where I live so and power has to go into the grid that I do not use and I recive a credit from the power company. thats not a big deal to me. If you are realy looking at this type of renewable energy you will find this first site realy helpfull and Ed is a great guy to help you. he has the know how and powers his shop and home with wind power. He says it only cost him 1500 to start it all up. thats not much money and as far as thinking you need banks and banks of battery it all depends on the batterys used. he only used 8.

 

http://www.windstuffnow.com/main/

 

This is the type of turbine power we are looking at to power the garage as their I can store power with out the powers to be knowing I am doing it. this will be the first prodject gearing up so it will power the garge in the spring. then I will build one to run the house off of.

http://www.windstuffnow.com/main/

 

Here is an other site that I found had a lot of great info and where I found the link to ED's site. Oh and By the way Ed's website is run off of windpower.

 

http://www.thebackshed.com/Windmill/default.asp

 

Good luck and keep me posted with you ideas. :cheers:

Ps don't forget this EV Jeep

http://www.driveev.com/jeepev/home.php

[Redramman]

Thanks 64 Cheyenne and Tazjeeper,

I'll have to check out those sites I did look at the EV Cherokee site thats cool! I'd be happy just to power the lights off wind and solar Redramman :thumbsup:

[carnuck]

I bought a cheapo Harbor Freight solr panel to keep the 4D battery that runs my cabin up to snuff. So far, so good.