Off the grid with Bedini Tech

[Tom C]

Hi everyone,

I wanted to start this thread and allow each of us to begin the discussion of using Bedini Tech for our off the grid needs. start off with what you are running your house with now, then whether or not you have anything solely OTG, either your lab or your shed, or maybe a greenhouse.

Tom C

[Woody]

My first project will be to get my well pump on solar. I plan on using the Bedini solar tracker for my charge controller. The dc pump costs about $2000. I have one 250w panel (system will require three) and two T-105 batteries. Still need the pump too. Getting the components bit by bit. Hope to have it done this summer.

[Ronnie]

Putting together a system that I hope will allow us to disconnect from the power grid.
I've build 4 12v@7amp solar panels these are charging 2 small 12v@20amp automotive batteries that have been changed over to alum batteries. The 2 alum batteries are a buffer for my ssg. The ssg has 31 transistors 4 coils 32 wires @ 19gage. The ssg is half built it will have 8 coils when it is done, the ssg is setup in scaler N setup r the ceramic magnets. The ssg is charging 4 6v@200amp solar batteries in 24v array. I have 2 2500w inverters that run everything, at the moment I am only running on one of the inverters.

So far it is a great system, will be greater when I can go completely offline.

Just wanted to thank John B. For all he has done and given.
http://db.tt/BLfPVFxS
Ronnie
Honduras central america

[Tom C]

Putting together a system that I hope will allow us to disconnect from the power grid.
I've build 4 12v@7amp solar panels these are charging 2 small 12v@20amp automotive batteries that have been changed over to alum batteries. The 2 alum batteries are a buffer for my ssg. The ssg has 31 transistors 4 coils 32 wires @ 19gage. The ssg is half built it will have 8 coils when it is done, the ssg is setup in scaler N setup r the ceramic magnets. The ssg is charging 4 6v@200amp solar batteries in 24v array. I have 2 2500w inverters that run everything, at the moment I am only running on one of the inverters.

So far it is a great system, will be greater when I can go completely offline.

Just wanted to thank John B. For all he has done and given.
http://db.tt/BLfPVFxS
Ronnie
Honduras central america

awesome Ronnie, remember in a 24 volt series pair your capacity will only be as good as your weakest battery. may I suggest charging in 12 volt pairs, then rotating those pairs in the 24 volt arrangement. I have 24 volt boats I run here www.fun-center.com my 3rd battery always goes bad first if I do not rotate them frequently.

Tom C

[Ronnie]

Thanks for the info Tom. I'll keep that in mind as I work on finishing up my system.
A question I have, don't know if some one can help me. I would prefer to get rid of the buffer batteries between the ssg and solar. Any way to get the ssg to self start in motionless function. Then I could hook it straight to the solar system.

Thank all.
Ronnie

[Tom C]

Thanks for the info Tom. I'll keep that in mind as I work on finishing up my system.
A question I have, don't know if some one can help me. I would prefer to get rid of the buffer batteries between the ssg and solar. Any way to get the ssg to self start in motionless function. Then I could hook it straight to the solar system.

Thank all.
Ronnie

Sg is not a self starter, perhaps you coul rig up a starter motor with a bendix that engages for a few seconds when the sun comes up enough to energize the panels. you want the battery or capacitor buffer because the Sg runs in pulse mode from the primary it is not constant draw, you want instantaneous power for the primary side. solar panels do not like to be turned off and on and off and on quickly.

Tom C

[LesK]

Hi Tom,
this should be a great thread. looks like it will cover a lot of the tech.
I am setting up a system right now. This is what I have so far.
Solar panel
Solar tracker 20amp
One six coil SSG

I have been conditioning two 850cca batteries that are new with the six coiler. I plan on using them on the tracker(alum converted). I may use T145 or T105 (alum converted).
But I have a question about the tracker and it's basic function. Some people are simply hooking up an inverter to the batteries and running without any battery swapping etc.
one panel, one tesla tracker and an inverter and away they go. Is this right or should the inverter be off during the day while the battery is charging and on at night to discharge?

I have ruined some nice batteries charging and discharging at the same time so I would like to know if tracker solves that one.

So depending on your response Tom, the idea is to just run the six coil 24/7 switching between two larger banks about 1000ah each to match the impedance of the six coil.
Then those banks would run the inverters since they are acid.

If it is required to have two banks off the tracker then switching like bits had done will work fine(where is he anyway? can we still get those switches? I really don't want to have to re invent the wheel so to speak...).

Or if I decide to not run while charging, then I am thinking about pulsing power to the gates for automatic starting at night. JB's little switch would be great for knowing when to turn on and off. I think it will be a necessary component in the process. Are you guys going to get it out soon?

One other thought/question.. Do you think it better to charge directly with the ssg for this or would it be better to get JB's large comparator?

Thanks Tom
Les

[John_Koorn]

Hey Les,

Pardon me for being a buttinsky... IMO you should not charge and discharge a battery at the same time. It will drastically shorten the life of it. Yes, some people do but I don't recommend it.

As for the TST, it's proprietary and potted so probably the only person who knows how it works is JB. Even so, the above still applies. I'm pretty sure it's not a magic box that will allow you to charge and discharge at the same time.

Ideally you would want 2 primary banks if you want to run an SG of solar charged batteries and two charge banks on the output of the SG. I would go for the comparator on the output of the SG rather than the raw radiant into the battery.

Speaking of battery swappers, I don't see Bit's battery swapper on Rick's site anymore (actually a lot of stuff is no longer there), so I presume it is no longer available. I've been considering designing a 2 bank battery auto-swapper, which is really what you want if you are using an SG. That way you can get a swapper for the primary banks and one for the secondary banks that run independent of each other. Most people don't need a swapper that can rotate 4 batteries around - especially if you are running solar panels. You just need a 2 bank swapper - one bank is being charged by solar (via a TST3 of course ) and the other bank is on the inverter.

There's probably already a product like that around but if enough people are interested I'll design one. If not, I'll just build one for myself - just for the heck of it

John K.

[LesK]

Thanks John,
If we follow the purpose of the thread I would say... Get designing
It will be required for anyone wanting to run anything...

The next way to work is to use the sun cycle in shifts. Let the TST (Way nice machine by the way...) charge the alum set during the day.
Then when the sun goes down the SSG starts charging the big banks when everything is off at night and your switch could disconnect the inverter while charging.
(I use the cypress chips but the atmel stuff is really nice too. Have you looked at the raspberry pi? could make a nice controller and watch videos at the same time....)

But here is another thing. Sometimes I feel I wasted time building an SSG because for all practical purposes, I could just get one of the Chargers like the TX-20AU and switch that in and out of the system at night instead of the SSG. The only problem.... it's limited to about 500ah. but I doubt I would ever have to replace the batteries.....

Les

[RS_]

Hi all,

Chad and I built a battery swapping system for the 2 24V L16 banks, using 400A latching contactors ($$$), with one bank feeding a 24V 2500W inverter in discharge mode, while the other Bank was charging from the ssg,

you have to realize that a inverter that size is going to pull 100+ amps at full load and double that at peak load for short periods. I knew that I would buy a bigger inverter at some point and over sized the contactors some in my case
at 12V and 2500W, the current will be 200+ amps, so some serious contactors are needed

i had a basic stamp that i swapped them with, but never got the charge voltage monitor and discharge voltage monitor to working on the stamp to do this automatically..... I have some Pic micro boards to use for this task as well, but I am not so good at writing software for them.........

[LesK]

Hi Ron,
Yeah, That high power is a challenge on the DC side. Lot's easier with AC as you can cut at the zero crossing.
I ran across a silly ad the other day for TS12012 and it looks pretty cool.
Might work in this application for the analog monitoring mechanism.

The other thing I am wondering is that your running a 2500 watt inverter then you have a huge amount tied up in batteries.
Am I seeing this correctly. If you have 12 of the 2volt cells then you would get 1320 watts. 1100ah/20 = 55 so 55*12 = 1320.
that would mean you need to double that so 24 of those in series parallel to get the 2400 watts. and two banks of those would make 48 cells in all.
My numbers must not be right....

Les

[RS_]

Hi Les,

remember, my name is not Ron...... just call me RS on the net, as I do Not use my real name any where on the net........

if you have the 2V cells 1100Ah battery's, yes it takes 12 of these cells to make a 24V bank, and 24 cells to make 2 24V banks so at a C20 rate, that would be 55A for 20 hours per bank and 55A * 24V = 1320W ..............

[Ron Hammar]

HI All,

This is something that I have done in working to get off Grid. It is regarding water. I have a well that is 460 feet to the water and it take a 220v pump with a flow of 5 gpm. because of the dept and flow I had found the cost to have a solar system for a 220 pump very expesive. I hope to get 2 12v pumps and put them in stages in the well which will pump 250' each at about 5 gpm or less. I will have this pump into a above ground free standing 12' Wal-Mat swimming pool that cost me 300.00, It will hold about 6000 gallons of water. From the pool which I have build a cover around it I pump my water for my home use. This way my pump when I get it set up will just pump when the sun is out and shut off with a float switch. And in worst case setting I will have a year supply of water that will provide all my need for home or fire.

Ron

[Brian McNece]

HI All,

This is something that I have done in working to get off Grid. It is regarding water. I have a well that is 460 feet to the water and it take a 220v pump with a flow of 5 gpm. because of the dept and flow I had found the cost to have a solar system for a 220 pump very expesive. I hope to get 2 12v pumps and put them in stages in the well which will pump 250' each at about 5 gpm or less. I will have this pump into a above ground free standing 12' Wal-Mat swimming pool that cost me 300.00, It will hold about 6000 gallons of water. From the pool which I have build a cover around it I pump my water for my home use. This way my pump when I get it set up will just pump when the sun is out and shut off with a float switch. And in worst case setting I will have a year supply of water that will provide all my need for home or fire.

Ron

I do think that is an interesting concept, hope it works for you
On a side note How are you going to keep the water in the pool from going green?

[mrbeale]

Would it be possible to go off grid with an SSG ?