Solar Pathfinder Report…

I received my Solar Pathfinder site analyses tool last week.  I opted for the cool software for an additional $129 that has a simple to read report.

Here is my Tracking Array #3, which is my NE most tracker.  It’s in the back.

     

         #1                    #2                    #3                    #4

The first is a simple summary, the second is where in relation to the Array was the Solar Pathfinder setup.  A top-down picture is taken over the Solar Pathfinder then imported into the software where you trace the reflections of all obstacles.  The software then creates the digital shading data picture. You can see at the 12N position on report #3 the tracker that is directly to the south of this one.

The system was entered as a two-axis system, which means in this case East to West tracking and seasonal tilting.

Kinda cool.  Most fixed roof arrays give 4-6 “solar hours” per day, trackers kick that up to 7 to 8+ solar hours per day.  The solar hours are listed on the bottom of report #4 as “Sun Hrs.”

PROPERTY TAXES and PINELLAS COUNTY WASTE

NOW I’M MAD AS HELL!!

  Here in Florida, our Governor worked hard to get our property taxes reduced. To this I say thank you Governor Charlie Crist.  We live about as far in the country as you can get in Pinellas County, FL.  We have 5.5 acres we purchased in 1996. Two things we have here to keep our county taxing authority in check are SOH (Save Our Homes) cap, which limits come much each county can JACK UP our property taxes and Homestead Exemption.  Our Homestead exemption was doubled to $50,000 this year.  The old exemption of $25,000 did little to reduce property taxes on a $500,000 home, even the $50k does not do much but I guess it helps on a $100,000 home.

  Now comes the counties in Florida, complaining about property tax revenues falling short of meeting present budgets.  Pinellas County, FL is no exception, they are “talking” of closing Parks and Libraries, reducing county services like Animal Control & Code Enforcement.

  To put this in some “real” numbers, our property taxes for 2007 on 5.56 Acres purchased in 1996 for $207,500 was about $3,000.  We have a few easements that help reduce our taxes, one being from the power company for some power lines across the north running the full length of our property and another from CTX Railroad who still has an easement across our property.  My neighbor, on his 2.43 Acres purchased in 2004 for $300,000 paid $5000 in 2007.

  As you can see, property taxes are horrendous here in Florida.  Now to what is PISSING ME OFF!

  Pinellas County was out mowing the road sides along my property this morning. Now, we have not had enough rain this month to even keep the dust down, It’s January in Pinellas County Florida, the grass on the road sides is NOT GROWING THIS TIME OF YEAR!!

Look here, roadside – my yard.

Now, does this look like it needs mowing?  I’m on the right side of the fence, I have not mowed nor watered this zone yet this year!

Here is the waste, look close, 3 mowers and a guy in an orange vest supervising. Mowing WHAT??  The DIRT?  Or maybe THE ROAD NEEDS MOWING?

This is a TOTAL WASTE of my TAX DOLLARS!  How about “THE HELL WITH ROADSIDE MOWING” and use this wasted tax money to keep a few Libraries open?

My First Post of the New Year…

I’m behind on posting, it seems the Holiday Season gets hectic-er every year. Here is a brief summary on whats happening.

We have decided to go ahead with our Solar Company officially known as “J-Tech Solar Electric (dba)”.  The parent company is J-COM Enterprises, inc., one of our registered Florida Corporations.  The link to the J-Tech Solar page is at the right –>.

We are in the process of lining up suppliers and setting up accounts.  We have our business Insurance and Bonding all done. Man, I just can’t believe what is needed to run a legitimate business in Florida, state fees, each county you want to do business in wants a annual fee, company safety meetings just to name a few.

Last year in July I posted about my EV Ranger truck project.  I’m happy to report yesterday I picked up all the parts I need to complete the conversion except the batteries. A fellow EVer, Jerry Wagner over in Melbourne, FL decided not to do his conversion due to health issues.  He offered all of his parts for a fair price so I decided to just get everything he had instead of ordering the parts from a half dozen different places.

Here we have the DC motor for A/C and Power Steering pump and the 12 volt Vacuum pump, the LogiSystems 550A PWM Drive Motor Controller and the potbox:

   

The 2/O Welding cable, connectors and Battery terminal caps, two Kilovac contactors, 55A DC to DC converter to supply the existing 12 volt system in the Ranger, a nifty DC heater core for those freezing winter days and my CONVERT IT EV book -:

     

Last, the Netgain 9″ WARP DC Traction Motor:

(I just found out the Logisystems 550A PWM controller has to go back to the factory for upgrades)

This Comment Needs Serious Interpretation.

That’s unfortunate. Just because some kids went on your lawn and stole some signs? Just because “Joe the Plumber” in his fictional scenario would see taxes increase slightly because Obama decided not to continue the already-here Federal “Make Us Richer” tax cuts? Just because your candidate lost?

I’m not going to debate this with you on your (or my) blog, but it’s a surprisingly immature attitude of “taking my ball and going home” mentality from an adult.

 

First off, I was going to take the signs down the day after anyhow, By someone taking my signs it was nothing more than a member of the Obama tribe ”rubbing my nose in the Obama Feces”.

And obviously this guy has not been paying attention.  I admit, I lost the game, I went home, but the BALL I took home was NOT my BALL, it was HIS.  You see, I had no Basketball, he has many, many Basketballs.

Someone TOOK one of HIS Basketballs and gave it to ME, even though I didn’t WIN, I didn’t work for it, nor did I give him ANYTHING in return.  This is the EXACT same thing Obama is going to do, he is just going to do it with DOLLARS.

We Need Change? Okay Obama, I have your CHANGE…

November 4th, 2008 was a time of “change” for us.  My family supported the McCain-Palin ticket, myself being a life-long Republican and my wife as well, being a life-long Democrat. Election night thieves stole all our McCain-Palin signs from out in the front yard.

We were in the process of building a Solar Renewable Energy Installation company, Solar Hot Water systems and Photovoltaic Electric Power systems.  We had our Florida State Contractors License, we were working on our Solar Contractor License, we were in the process of obtaining county licenses, posting bonds, setting up insurance and a fleet of trucks.  On November 5th, 2008 we decided NOT to participate in the upcoming Federal “Share-the-Wealth” program.  We are NOT going to pour our hearts and soles into something we love to do just to have our money given to someone who did not work for it.  We have stopped operations and closed the doors.

The end results?  My wife and I retired and will live off our pension for the next 4 years.

1- We WON’T be spending money with GM nor FORD for company installation trucks.

2- We WON’T be buying conduits and electrical supplies from GRAYBAR ELECTRIC.

3- We WON’T be buying wire from HOUSTON WIRE.

4- We WON’T be buying aluminum solar mounting hardware from PROSOLAR.

5- We WON’T be buying MULTI-CONTACT Solar Panel Connectors.

6- We WON’T be buying fuel from BIG OIL.

7- We WON’T be paying Licensing fees to the State of FL, Pinellas Co., Hillsbourgh Co. and Pasco Co.

8- We WON’T be buying Insurance and Bonds.

9- We WON’T be providing jobs to 10 American Workers.

10- We WON’T be helping the environment, reducing CO2 emissions and help provide clean renewable energy to 1000’s of homes and businesses across the Great State of Florida.

I am ashamed of my state, The Great State of Florida, for supporting a man that is going to force many businesses to close their doors.  How does this work for you now President OBAMA?  Can you hear me NOW? Oh yea, in case we forget, he is HALF WHITE.

TRACE SWCA, an Expensive device to break.

I had one of my two $175 TRACE/XANTREX SWCA Inverter RS232 interfaces quit working on me a few weeks back.  I had opened these units up once to install power through an isolation low voltage drop diode to power a Bluetooth serial adapter.  They are mostly SMT inside with the exception of the MPU which is an Atmel AT89C2051.  The other SMT chips include a 74HC14, 232ACBN, 74HC86, 24LC04B, DG417, and on the back side a PCF8574AT.

     

The interface uses a standard 4 conductor flat telephone cable.  How the RJ11 terminal is crimped on the wire is important. Here is the pin-out as it ends up at the RJ11 to DB9F (provided with the SWCA): RED = PIN2, BLACK = PIN3, YELLOW = PIN5.  The GREEN in all I have seen is not connected.  I use this to provide 5V on PIN9 of the DB9 to power my Bluetooth to Serial converter which accepts 4-9 volts on PIN9 as POWER.  I found +5V on the PCB off a SMT Capacitor on the power rail.

The SMT part that had failed was the DG417 Analog switch.  From what I can see it is what turns on the DATA OUT line which is the RED wire when the SWCA is selected using its preset address.  The address is set using the antique DOS software that comes with it.  You can actually command up to 8 SW series inverters (SW5548 for instance) which requires you to connect the SWCA as the ONLY device on the serial port to “SET” the ID from 1 to 8 in the flash memory.  If you Parallel SWCA’s with the same ID there is no communication because of data collisions.  When I put my defective SWCA on with my good one the good one quit working so it was simple enough to trace back the data wires from the DB9 to the PCB.  I found the RED wire going directly to PIN-1 of the DG417.  PIN-8 is the data in so I just measured across the pins and got like 84 ohms.  The good SWCA measured infinite ohms so I knew the chip was shorted.  I ordered some from Digi-Key for $2.28 each, they should be here tomorrow.  I’m hoping the suspected ESD didn’t get past the DG417.  I could still send commands to the inverter so I know that part is working fine.  Just no data back at me.  The DG417 is an 8 pin SMT device, not real hard to remove. 

I have installed ESD protection on both the DATA LINES.  I use P6KE27CA Solid State devices in all my RS232 projects for ESD protection.  This is the very same device used in the Radio Shack RS232 inline surge protector from many years past.

PARTS DESCRIPTION:

24LC4B (4K I2C Serial EEPROM),  PCF8574AT (Remote 8-Bit I/O Expander for I2C BUS),  AT89C2051 (2Kbyte Flash Microcontroller),  DG417 (Precision CMOS Analog Switch),  232ACBN (High Speed +5V Powered RS-232 Transmitter/Receiver,  74HC14 (Hex inverting Schmitt trigger),  74HC86 (Quad EXCLUSIVE-OR Gate).

UPDATE 08OCT2008:

The part came from Digi-Key right on time.  I soldered in a new DG417 and I’m happy to report SWCA #2 is back in service and fully functional.  The only quirk I have is my two are different versions and the UP/DN arrows on one are reversed which is a pain.

Clay Archer reverse engineered the REMOTE PORT on the SWxxxx TRACE inverters and was kind enough to provide the information on the port.  Here is his letter and the details. 

Here are some of my notes on the SWCA.   I’m in the process of putting together my own interface, initially with a parallel port interface to a PC, and eventually a stand-alone PIC processor with an ethernet interface, when I can find time to work on it.  I don’t intend on making a commercial product with this, but if you develop anything with it I would appreciate some feedback. 

 

SWCA interface pinout: (DB25)

01) V+  5V

02) NC or Gnd

03) Gnd

04) Gnd

05) Gnd

06) NC

07) DB7 (14)

08] DB4 (11)

09) DB2 (9)

10) DB0 (7)

11) NC

12) NC

13) NC

14) LCD Enable (6)

15) Reset

16) LCD Read/Write (5)

17) LCD RS Data/Instruction (4)

18] Read Switch/Enable

19) Write LEDs enable (latch)

20) DB6  [13]

21) DB5  [12]

22) DB3  [10]

23) DB1  [8]

24) NC

25) NC 

 

LED and switch bits:

      LED                     Switch

DB0   over current              set+

DB1   float                     set-

DB2   AC2                       menu up

DB3   inverting                 menu down

DB4   error                     menu ->

DB5   line tie                  menu <-

DB6   AC1                       on/off

DB7   bulk                      Gen

 

Notes:

LCD is an HD44780 based LCD display (I think) with 2 lines &40 chrs.  Numbers in () are LCD module pins. 

 

 You can find documentation on the HD44780 based LCD on the internet. The SW inverter interface (DB25) port was initially designed as an external keypad and display, basically a  duplicate of the internal keypad/display.

 

 The SWCA is a PIC processor designed to emulate the keypad/display and interface to a serial port as a display terminal emulation. To talk to the SW inverter you will need to emulate the HD44780 registers to read data and emulate the pushbutton switches to request data from the SW inverter. You could also just build an external display. Parts used in the internal display are two 74HC573  (8 bit latches to latch the LEDs and pushbuttons) one 74HC14 (to debounce & buffer the enable for the LCD display) and an LCD display with assorted resistors & cap’s etc. I have a rough schematic of the internal display, if you want I can scan it and send you a copy. 

 

Good luck,

Clay Archer

MORE is BETTER! Solar Power That is!

Solar Power Tracker #4 went ON-LINE this past Weekend on temporary wiring.  I still have to dig the conduits back to the main junction box where the home runs are.  Since I have the construction down to a semi-fine science I timed the construction of number four, working at a daily pace with 90% of the materials needed on-site.  The time required, 10 days from start to power-up.

Base construction.

   

For now I only have six Kyocera KC130’s to put on it.  I have 24 Siemans SR90 Photovoltaic panels from my orginial roof setup, 4 are now on tracker #4 feeding my Advanced Energy GC-1000 grid-tie inverter still mounted on tracker #2.  I’m thinking I need to move it.  Since I don’t own enough PhotoWatt PV panels to make six panel arrays, just eight still on the roof feeding the old four panel array system, I’m going to put all eight on a smaller tracker just for the GC-1000 to use.

   

Solar Project Update

The past 10 days have been exhausting, a lot of work in 95 degree heat out in the garage and out at the Solar Tracker Farm.  The “Solar Power Wall” in the garage was built, painted and outfitted with various solar electric equipment.  It’s now 90% finished, I still have to relocate the “whole house” 5.3KVA Best Power UPS to the far end of the wall.  I do some R&D work for Apollo Solar, here are my two Apollo T80 MPPT charge controllers, the one on the left is for testing various solar related things I’m working on.  My current project is an intelligent interface between the T80 and Trace/Xantrex SW series of inverters.  It’s a bit difficult getting the inverters and the T80 to SELL power efficiently without them interacting.

   

I have a master combiner box where all the six panel arrays come in to a KLKD 10amp DC fuse.  All the arrays then get combined and sent to a disconnect switch, from there they go to a Ground Fault Protection Device (GFPD)  The GFPD was formally known as a Ground Fault Interrupter (GFI), So as not to confuse the issue as all homes have GFI’s in the AC panel box the GFPD was named for the DC protection device.

 

I have modified all three tracking arrays to hold 12 panels.  This required a lot of steel supports to be added to the underside.  I also changed the counter balance spring mounts using a porch swing “buckle”.  This works very well, it swivels East to West and also during seasonal tilting.

   

19 SEPT 2008:  One of the last of two major projects has been completed.  The move of the 5.3Kva Ferrups UPS that powers all the 15A wall outlets and lighting circuits.  It’s new home is on the far end of the new Solar Wall.

I’m Frazzeled and I will complete this report later.

My favorite place to buy Solar Equipment is from Maverick Solar.

 

My twelve Kyocera KC-120 panels were purchased from AriStar Solar, Give Lee Walker a call if you need anything.

                              

Advanced Energy GC-1000 Grid-tie Inverters Wanted

I’m looking for any burned-up, non-functional GC-1000 grid tie inverters built by Advanced Energy.  Also I’m looking for the AM100 control monitor as mine has become brain-dead and needs to have its MPU re-flashed.  I can also repair these as I have all the parts needed and the engineer repair schematics BUT it won’t be cheap.  Around $500-$900 per unit with a 30 day warranty.

LG, I want a refund on this Fridge…

I just want to post a few reviews I found on this LG Fridge.

**********

DON’T DEAL WITH “LG” – OVERALL RATING IS “AVOID THIS COMPANY” AND ESPECIALLY DO NOT PURCHASE THIS REFRIGERATOR!
Overnight, during the 2007 Holiday Season, the lights stayed on inside our 4-1/2 month old French Door LG refrigerator. In the morning we found the light sockets scorched and the plastic cover over the lights melted. The whole refrigerator smelled like scorched plastic, forcing us to throw out any food that wasn’t in a jar!
Concerned of the hazard to ourselves and our home, we contacted LG immediately – what if this had happened while we were away?
LG suggested the obvious and told us to contact their repairman, which we had already done. Still in shock with their response, we went to Home Depot to report the incident and were told there was nothing they could do & we had to work through LG. We later found out our complaint had not made it past the “salesperson.”
The LG Repairman replaced the “defective parts” but could not guarantee the “fix” & neither will LG. (The “fix” was explained as replacing a circuit board & putting a thermostat in the refrigerator that will turn the lights out if it gets too warm in the fridge. When it cools down, the lights regain power.) HOW SAFE IS THAT FOR OUR FOOD?
We emailed the company and their response was they would replace the lost food if we could provide them with a receipt! Again, they couldn’t guarantee the incident would not recur! Not one word of concern!
Sent our story and pictures to LG CUSTOMER INTERACTIVE CENTER in Huntsville, Alabama on December 31st – NO RESPONSE.

February, 2008 – Back to Home Depot to report LG’s lack of response & our having a “new problem” of the ice maker not working. Our hope was that Home Depot would stand behind us and get this defective, hazardous refrigerator out of our home!

A week after the manager contacted LG, and another call from Home Depot, LG did send an order to the repairman to replace the defective ice maker. This is when we found our “convection” oven motor needed to be replaced in the LG stove we purchased the same time we purchased the fridge. YEOW! What next?

Again, we called LG – this time, about the stove. While on the phone, we discussed the fridge and their response was that LG would “consider” replacing the frige if we have three “legitimate” complaints? (We’re now at Number Two + One stove complaint!!) WE HAVE YET TO RECEIVE ANY KIND OF APOLOGY OR NOTE OF CONCERN! Contacted Home Depot’s manager to report latest incident – said there was nothing they could do – was told that no matter who we talked to at Home Depot the answer would be the same – again, no concern!

In the meantime, we have been forced to use our old, dependable 15-year old refrigerator in the garage to house anything that isn’t in a jar; and, because of the unreliability of our LG icemaker, purchasing bags of ice!

NOTE: This is not the original refrigerator delivered! The first one (delivered in July, 2007) had a small scratch in the door, and we offered for LG to just replace the door. We were told it was “against their policy to leave a defective product in a customer’s home” but would “allow us to use the one delivered” until the new one arrived. Obviously their policy has changed since they are “unconcerned” about a fire hazard.

Fortunately, we had purchased extended warranty, but are sorry we spent over $4,000 for their microwave, stove, dishwasher & fridge! WE ARE WONDERING “WHY IS ANYONE SELLING PRODUCTS FROM A COMPANY THAT OBVIOUSLY DOESN’T GIVE A HOOT ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMER’S SAFETY?”

WE HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO CONFIDENCE IN THIS REFRIGERATOR AND ARE STILL USING OUR OLD REFRIGERATOR IN THE GARAGE FOR ANYTHING THAT’S NOT IN A JAR! ALL THE WHILE OUR “USELESS LG REFRIGERATOR” IS GETTING THE GLORY OF ‘LOOKING BEAUTIFUL’ IN THE KITCHEN! AT THIS POINT, OUR CONSCIENCE WON’T EVEN ALLOW US TO “DONATE” THIS USELESS APPLIANCE. WE ARE ALSO DISAPPOINTED IN HOME DEPOT.

P.S. I must note that my spouse is totally disabled with an intestinal disorder – obviously, the quality of her food is imperative (as should it be for all of us!)
 **********
 
I bought the same fridge when we re-modeled our kitchen. We spent around $40,000 on the total kitchen with stainless steel appliances, granite, etc.The one thing I wanted I told my wife was a refrigerator that I could get nice cold filtered water from the door. This is the fridge we bought.After running 20 gallons of water through the filter, the directions said to run 5 gallons, but the water tasted identical to tap water and after speaking with LG Customer Service we were told to try more, the taste was still the same.My neighbor has a water tester. It will tell you how many particulates per million is in the water. Our tap water has roughly 400 per million… guess what? SO DOES OUR WATER FROM THE “PREMIUM FILTERED” LG FRIDGE! … and it tastes just as crappy.So I called LG again, they sent a technician out who told me there was nothing wrong with the refrigerator, but put a new filter in non-the-less. We again ran gallons of water thought the thing and with the exact same crappy water result.If you are looking for a fridge with nice filtered water LOOK ELSEWHERE!!!!!
I now get the blow off when I call LG. I had the kitchen built around this fridges size so I am pretty much stuck.

If you are looking for a company that will stand behind their product LOOK ELSEWHERE!!! I have had nothing but poor service from LG.

I am now told that if I want it looked at again I have to pay for the technician if they can find nothing wrong with the fridge. When I ask why the water is exactly the same as tap water they have no legitimate response.

I will never buy another LG product.

**********
 
I won’t rehash the other reviews here, except to say that if you’ve never bought an extended warranty on an appliance before, you might want to reconsider if you buy this LG. Thermistor went out after six months, leaving us with no refrigeration. That was fixed under warranty…but at month 13, we noticed the top portion was quite warm (again), but the freezer was cold. A day later, there was a distinct burning smell coming from this section. After some investigation, it turns out that the lights (120 watts worth) were not turning off after the doors were closed! The lamp reflector showed obvious signs of melting and burn marks, and the lamp cover was completely warped out of shape.LG will not sell parts direct to the consumer. After much Internet digging, I found a website called Parts Store that had the main computer board for $75 (search the site for PCB with your model number). It takes about 15 minutes to replace, and the lights are working again. This would probably have been a $300 repair with labor charges and parts markup.Buyer beware on this one, as looks can be deceiving. I would suggest that if you have this refrigerator, you go ahead and buy the main PCB now so you will have one available when you need it.

**********

Good Points: Nice looking! Stainless Fridge on top

Bad Points: Used less than 1 year but purchase date was 1 year 10 days(no warranty). Lights are in control panel on top of fridge. Lights stayed on for maximum of 3 hours melted plastic control panel anchors (C.P. falling into fridge). melted plastic control panel cover. Drawer slides are plastic have broken! This happened 5 months after use.

General comments: This is Korean manufactured plastic garbage. Buyer beware, I bought top of line LG dishwasher micro-hood, range, fridge, LCD tv and I am happy with none of it. As a local contractor, I will buy no more of these products. Uneven temperature on range no constants/lcd tv picture stinks/Fridge as have stated above/Fan on Microhood cfms not as claimed poor exhaust, have not used microwave portion, scared to. Customer service is poor!

**********