Tag: PV2L
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Project: Portable DC Toaster Oven – direct solar electric cooking to go
Hi folks, hope you’re doing well. In what is possibly a first, I am unveiling a new prototype invention – a mini PV solar electric toaster oven. It is lightweight, portable and I think would be fairly cheap to produce. It easily bakes or roasts bread, meat, vegetables and whatever else – all day using…
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18V tool battery bakes bread! Mini Oven prototype part 2
Is it possible to bake bread using an 18V Power Tool Battery? Recently, I set out to answer this question. In the back yard I set up a table and connected my mini solar electric PV2L oven to a Ryobi 18V power tool battery with alligator clips. After a few adjustments and a short wait,…
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Mini 100 Watt solar electric oven prototype – Simple Solar Cooking!
Can a single 100 Watt 12V solar panel supply enough power to cook or bake food by itself? I’ve been thinking about this question for years. A simple portable electric oven that operates off of such a small amount of power could change everything. Finally, after a long wait, the opportunity came to test the…
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Cooling Your Shed With Solar Power! Ventilation and Concepts
(Note: there is a more detailed YouTube video for this article posted down below) Is your shed (or chicken coop, outbuildings, etc.) getting a bit too hot in the summer time? Ventilating and cooling your shed with solar power is a fun project within reach of just about any DIY enthusiast. Believe it or not,…
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Using Solar Panels and Ohms Law to drive DC loads directly
Hi folks, I’m going to briefly cover some concepts that are helpful to understand when driving loads directly with PV DC solar panels: whether it is a fan, a heating element, an electric pump, hot water heater, and so on. We will use a heating element for this example because it’s simple and has no…
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Simple PV Solar heating for beginners – plus video guide
For years I have been using excess solar power to heat my home with various types of directly PV powered DC heaters. I wanted to help beginners who want to try tapping direct PV Solar power to heat their home or shop. So I created a detailed video guide (it’s posted below). Background Previously, I…
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(Updated) Solar Panels can heat your Home or Shop – DIY video series
Did you know that a small (~1kW) array of solar panels can generate enough heat for a typical room in a home or shop? In fact the idea is so simple, so good and so affordable, it ought to be in every home. Note: due to the complexity and safety issues of modifying AC space…
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Low Voltage Solar Panels can cook food directly – And why it matters
Did you know it’s possible to cook food directly off low voltage solar panels? No inverter, no high voltages, no battery, no charge controller. It’s technically feasible, and I have done it several times now with prototypes developed in my solar workshop. The simplicity and efficiency of such a setup is nothing short of astounding.…
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The problem with today’s electric cars (EVs) and it’s not charging
In the author’s opinion, the EV market has taken a wrong turn, probably on purpose. By the way, EVs are not going to save the world, this is a silly illusion and part of a fanatical belief system. I love electric cars For the record, I loved the idea of electric cars before “T-Motors” (not…
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PV to EV – why isn’t this everywhere?
Photovoltaic to Electric Vehicle – why can’t a person plug solar panels straight into his electric car (EV) in the driveway and charge it off the electrical grid? This concept means the car supports direct solar panel input natively, without much effort on the end user’s part. How much more green does it get, if…
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Ryobi 18v Solar Battery Charger DIY project
Wouldn’t it be great if Ryobi 18v power tool batteries could be charged directly from a 100 watt solar panel? A while back I developed a prototype which achieved this aim successfully. Products like this should already be on the shelf. With solar power, efficiency is a good thing. The normal route involves the solar…
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Risky Solar Experiments in my shop – part 1
I often wondered what would happen if I took a 12V solar panel with its high VoC (Voltage Open Circuit) and plugged it straight into a netbook or laptop. This is risky because solar panels have an unregulated voltage output. So I took a netbook that was available and tried plugging in a 100W solar…
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What is PV To Load? (PV2L) concepts
What is PV To Load? and (PV2L) concepts You’re probably familar with the idea of connecting Solar Panels to a Charge Controller to a Battery to an Inverter and finally, to an appliance. PV to Load (PV2L for short) is a more efficient way to run some appliances – simply put, the load or appliance…
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Making Hot Water if the Grid Goes Down – Cheap Easy DIY
Have you ever thought what you would do if the electrical utility power service was down for a week or a month, and you couldn’t easily get a hot shower? Believe it or not, there is a cheap and easy DIY solution. If you already have a few solar panels, they can heat water for…
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