[microsound] Solar

[Frank D'Urso <fdurso@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Bobby,

I wrote my Masters Thesis on this.  I currently have one 125 watt solar 
panel that I charge car batteries with.

The best thing the solar industry could do would be to develop MORE safe 
and affordable inverters that put power directly back into your home and 
any excess goes out onto the grid.....saving you money....BUT there has 
been energy industry pushback (agaisn the MS-100 inverter) because the 
energy industry doesn't want people plugging in something that gives 
back power.....it's JUST as safe as plugging in something that consumes 
power.....they just don't want a two way street....

That said, check out www.homesolar.com and you'll find a lot of US based 
information. A friend of mine from teh UK has a brother that lives in 
Brussels and works for a company that is big in teh EC on alternative 
energy stuff.....

The best answer right now is to purchase a 125 panel (about 750 $ US) 
and a portable battery system.  BP is a big promotoer of Solar stuff by 
the way.....

So anyway - It is possible, it's still too expensive, and there is big 
industry oposition (as well as little US govt progress), the EC has a 
better outlook right now.  If you want to be portable and charge up 
during the day that's teh way to go.  If you want to improve the 
efficiency of your studio and be kinder to teh earth let's start 
demanding affordable inverters and soalr panels!

Frank "sunlight" D'Urso

PS - an old radioshack electronics kit I have made good audio use of a 
small solar panel.....I can hear the sun singing


<<<

hello,       I have been thinking of whether it would be possible to set up 
solar panels to power
a battery from which i could run a small amount (computer, monitors, 
soundcard and maybe one other thing, all on their own power supplies at the 
moment) of sound-making equipment in the evenings. So far all the sites i 
have found have been firing anti-nuclear-power spiel at me, without much 
info on how i could actually set such a system up, what kind of panels would 
be needed etc..
I live in southern england, not the sunniest of places, but i was thinking 
that maybe the battery could power up during most of the day, so that i 
might use the power entirely from the battery.

I was wondering if any microsounders have personal experience of setting up 
such systems (on a
budget) or any pointers for how I could proceed, (do they need to be 
licenced, or checked by
any safety authority) .   Any information or ideas would be greatly 
appreciated.

thanks .
 Bobby Whelan>>>



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