Category: Electronics
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Solar Hot Water! Semiconductor Immersion Heating Elements – my research project
Solar panels do so many things very well, but there is always room for improvement and new ideas. One application I find interesting is to directly drive a Hot Water Heater (HWH) heating element in a water tank with PV DC solar panels. But are there better ways to do it? I made a video…
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Solar panel has voltage but no power – what’s wrong? DIY Solar Troubleshooting Skills
Introduction Hi folks, in this blog post (and associated video) I am sharing some of my first hand experience in over a decade of working with solar power and electrical systems. A problem that a DIY solar power enthusiast may someday face is to find a solar panel [or a whole solar panel array] has…
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Boiling Water with 14w of Solar Powered Induction (plus video) EXPERIMENTAL
It’s that time again… another solar powered experiment at the outer edges of “feasibility”. Part of my work and research in solar power the past few years has been about finding ways to do “more with less“. Often I try to accomplish a task using only the solar panel itself, using minimal to no electronics…
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Mini Peltier Freezer Powered by Solar – solid state refrigeration prototype (plus video)
For the longest time, I’ve been fascinated by those small Peltier based fridges and coolers for sale on the internet. They generally drop the temp to something pretty “cool” but they often fall short of an actual “refrigerator”, let alone freezer. (Video of my test freezer – article continues below) What I’d really like to…
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DIY Bus Bars for lithium-ion cells – handmade in the workshop
Recently I needed some copper bus bars for a lithium-ion pack I was building. This pack will be used to power a prototype cooking appliance. But I did not want to buy any pre-made bus bars and decided to try the DIY option. There is also a video documenting this technique posted down below. First…
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Building a Solar Powered Ryobi 18v Battery Supercharger x3 – Project Overview plus DIY video
If there’s one thing that has changed DIY over the past few years, it’s cordless lithium ion powered tools. I use a lot of Ryobi 18v batteries to run tools and have become addicted to their flexibility and affordability. But the charger usually is plugged into an AC outlet. Why not simply plug a solar…
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VIDEO: Digital Multimeters for DIY Solar Power – Tutorial guide
Beginner Friendly! I have produced a second tutorial video about learning to use a Digital Multimeter (DMM) with DIY solar power. In this Part 2 video, I will teach you how do basic measurements and checks against some solar power components. In the video I will also be reviewing my Gochifix 3-in-1 digital multimeter and…
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Solar PV Solid-State heating elements (Diode Strings) explained
This post is mainly to address the lack of understanding about solar powered (PV-to-Load) solid-state heating elements – also called a diode string or chain. The Part 2 video presentation and this blog post should help fill in the blanks. The video itself is also posted here on this page. Watching Part 1 is also…
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Solid State Solar Electric Heating Elements
Background Update: further research has been conducted into this topic, and it has been very fruitful. Videos showing some of the latest results are posted on this page. I’ve spent a lot of time working with resistance style heating elements to extract heat from solar panel arrays. Uses include space heating, cooking food and heating…
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Bateria Power 20A MPPT Solar Charge Controller review / bench test
Recently a company called Bateria Power offered to send me their 20A MPPT charge controller (SunRock 20pro) for review. I was not even aware it existed, so I decided to give it a try. This unit is really small! It has no fans or moving parts, and appears to be totally sealed with an IP45…
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My Portable 18V job site oven project – working prototype
In this article I am presenting a very special and unique DIY prototype project. There is also a video presentation if you prefer, posted below. For years, I believed the need for flexible, multi-voltage mobile small-scale DC cooking appliances would dramatically increase over the next few years; and that there should be more choices on…
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Best oscilloscope for beginners? FNIRSI-1C5 first look, unpaid review
(The author purchased this item with his own money) If you wish to support the blog, here is an affiliate link to buy the 1C15 on Amazon Having worked on various electronics for 15 years, I never actually owned an oscilloscope. They took up too much room on the workbench and I thought they were…
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Surviving Planned Obsolescence
If I could only warn the common man about one often overlooked economic factor, it would be Planned Obsolescence. Simply put, it’s the practice by companies of deliberately designing and manufacturing the item or product you buy to have a limited lifetime. That way they can sell you more. Isn’t that great? This can apply…
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VIDEO: Learn how to use a Multimeter – From Basic to Intermediate
Hi folks, knowing how to use a digital multimeter (DMM) even at a basic level can place you at a new level of knowledge. It looks good on your resume too. This is a skill that will pay you back for years to come. Don’t fear it – the journey of a thousand miles starts…
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