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Complete Beginner Video Tutorial Series on setting up your own DIY Off Grid Solar Power from Start to finish. Home > Solar Power > Complete Beginner Video Tutorial Series on setting up your own DIY Off Grid Solar Power from Start to finish posted Categories: Solar Power Fortunately for us off gridders, homesteaders or preppers, if the grid should ever go down we can generate our own electricity.

Complete Beginner Video Tutorial Series on setting up your own DIY Off Grid Solar Power from Start to finish

In This 6 part Video series we answer every question you would have in creating your own DIY off grid / grid down solar back up system. In this first part we look at assessing your needs to size and design your own system.In this second part we look at choosing and sizing batteries.In part 3 we talk about things to consider when mounting your solar panels.In the fourth part of the DIY Off Grid Solar System we take a look at wiring your solar panels.In part 5,we talk about the two popular types of charge controllers, PWM and MPPT, and the how they work with your solar system.Part 6 explains the battery box and safety items. via PracticalSurvivalist Related articles in Solar Power.

Catching it, saving it, treating i, ... STARDOME, the most excellent bamboo dome. DIY Wooden Dome Built From Pallets. Like this article?

DIY Wooden Dome Built From Pallets

Share it: Designed by Gianluca Stasi of the philosophical architecture firm Ctrl + Z, this playfully artistic dome serves as more than just a backyard focal point. In collaboration with research teams looking to help alleviate the cost issues associated with making more room for expanding households in poor populations, Stasi envisioned a geodesic dome made from pallet plywood as a cheap and practicable way to add onto a house. Its scope goes beyond use as an interior room, though, with a structure suited to duty as a greenhouse, a reading nook, or even a simple shed. With a couple of simple templates for cutting, wooden pallets can be easily turned into a completely functional structure of customizable size, usable for almost any purpose. With a few simple measurements and plenty of pallet plywood, a team of near-novices can cut, hammer, and assemble an entirely new living space or garden shed into existence in a day or two.

Ctrl + Z Arquitectura Reversible. Natural Pools or Swimming Ponds. Natural Pools or Natural Swimming Ponds (NSPs) Let nature clean the water...

Natural Pools or Swimming Ponds

Chemical-free water garden and swimming pool. The plant portion, or regeneration zone, is separated from the swimming area by the wall seen a few inches below the water’s surface. www.naturalswimmingpools.com The pools have skimmers and pumps that circulate the water through the regeneration zone and back into the swimming area. The aquatic plants filter out contaminants and use nutrients from the water as food which helps prevent algae. Then rocks, such as granite river rock or haydite, to which friendly bacteria attach, act as biological filters. There are many options as to design. A gradual slope contains the plants, gravel and loamy sand, a wall keeps them separate from the swimming area.

Vacuum but twice a year and tend to the plants as needed. The regeneration zone can be along the perimeter of a natural pool or a pond unto itself but connected to the swimming area. www.gartenart.co.uk. Solar Panels made easy - VERY Easy! NOTE: the longer the panel that is exposed to the sun the hotter the air gets as it rises.

Solar Panels made easy - VERY Easy!

Let me explain on this page, so you understand why these panels work: At the bottom of the panel the air will enter at room temperature and be lifted through the panel (hot air rises)... as the heated air rises, it is exponentially being heated the more it travels before exiting the panel. Additionally, the black Cinefoil is very thin which heats quickly even on days where the sun goes in and out. The longer the panel is exposed to the sun, the better it will work. The black Cinefoil is THINNER than pop or beer cans... This panel is only 3/4 of an inch thick and weighs in at less than a couple pounds.

On a partly cloudy day the black foil collector reached about 150 degrees (during the sunny times) and on days where the sun was without a cloud in the sky, the foil reached 185 degrees. The only hard to find part of this panel is the Cinefoil which can be bought from my website RedbarnCrafts.com. DIY Solar Water Heater For About $30 In PVC Supplies And Paint. Did you know that 70% of your home energy cost are on water heating?

DIY Solar Water Heater For About $30 In PVC Supplies And Paint

In response to this, a Brazilian Eco Designer developed a low cost and intelligent method of reducing energy costs and preserving the environment reusing waste. He created a simple passive solar water heating using PET bottles and and some PVC pipe. According to his calculations this is an extremely low cost and safe project that you can do yourself at home. This project has become popular on the web and has been adapted to homes and even schools. The State of Panama in Brazil created a Do It Yourself downloadable PDF manual (in Portuguese) that many consumers have followed and built. How to Solar Power Your Home. How to build a Solar Power Station.

Next I shopped around and purchased my parts.Below is a list of the parts I used.

How to build a Solar Power Station

Solar Panel - - - - - - - - - - - - $68.9512 volt battery - - - - - - - - - - $58.00400 watt inverter - - - - - - - - $21.99rolling toolbox - - - - - - - - - - $22.88auxiliary 12 volt plug - - - - - $4.87auxiliary 12 volt plug - - - - - $4.8714 gauge wire (red) - - - - - $2.4814 gauge wire (black) - - - $2.48heat shrink ring conectors- $2.453/16'' heat shrink tube - - - $1.99bridge rectifier - - - - - - - - $1.99SPST switch - - - - - - - - - - $2.99utility - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - $.54solder - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - $1.49 total - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - $197.97 My battery is a 12 volt deep cycle battery.

Deep cycle batteries aremade to be fully charged and discharged; unlike car batteries whichare not supposed to be fully discharged. The battery is rated 75 amp hours. The inverter converts the battery power (DC) into regular AC power.The inverter is rated 400 watts. Turning soda cans into solar heating panels. Homemade Solar panels. At the end, the solar absorber is painted black and placed in the diy solar panels casing.

Homemade Solar panels

The casing is covered with plexiglass that we attach to the frame and thoroughly corked with silicone. Polycarbonate / plexiglass is slightly convex in order to gain greater strength. You can see installed solar absorber without plexiglass in picture 18. Complete solar collector is shown on Picture 19, and finally, installed solar system can be seen in Picture 20. The following page shows complete specification of parts and material needed for building diy solar panels. On YouTube you can see how our diy pop-can solar panels work. Important note: Our solar system is not able to accumulate thermal energy after producing it. Differential thermostat (snap disc) controls the fan. If on/off temperatures are set carefully, diy solar panels are able to produce an average 2 kW of energy for home heating. Heat Your Home With 240 Recycled Aluminum Cans.

Heat your home with recycled aluminum cans.

Heat Your Home With 240 Recycled Aluminum Cans

It’s a simple idea, and one that many will look at and say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” This 240 can unit reportedly heats up to 10,000 BTUs or more according to the company and is “Maintenance free”. via: Youtube – “Jim Meaney, owner of Cansolair Inc. displays how he converts pop cans into a powerful solar heating panel.” “…Cansolair Inc. has developed a forced convection solar heating unit called the Model RA 240 SOLAR MAX. A dwelling of 1000 square feet can have a complete air change in 1.5 hours. UPDATE: A single unit may not heat an average sized American home (1500-2500 square feet) by itself.

Repurpose a Wooden Wine Crate Into a Planter. Where do you get wine barrels?

Repurpose a Wooden Wine Crate Into a Planter

Local vineyards? Local Wineries is the usual place (I live in the Barossa Valley in Australia, so its easier for me than some). With the wine barrels when you half them, you need to tech screw the straps into place to prevent collapse. Its a good idea to mount 4-5 heavy duty outdoor casters to the bottom to make them easy to roll about and prevent termites from getting at them. Wash them out well, the left over sludge from the winemaking process is great in compost, worms love it; but the alcohol can harm plants. My wife an I use them for our kitchen garden and roll them out into the BBQ area in summer for ready access to herbs and vegies (and protection from the Aussie sun). You can get them from hardware stores. Here in the Bay Area there was a recent shortage of wine barrels, and now suddenly there's a bunch. High-tech dispenser.

ATTiny based Electronic Candle. Our friend Pete Mills developed this great ATTiny based Electronic Candle, we have seen electronic candles before but what makes this one shine is how the flickering was done.

ATTiny based Electronic Candle

Pete actually sampled the actual flicker patterns of a real candle flame so that this reproduced flame would look as close to the real thing as possible. You can see some other electronic candle designs here for inspiration. “The ATTiny Candle is an LED candle. It uses a high brightness LED and some software to mimic the look of a traditional candle without the dangers associated with an open flame. I figured the hardest part of this project would be making the flicker look realistic, so I decided to let nature do that part for me. 10000 usos del Bicarbonato de Sodio. Propiedades del bicarbonato de sodio Hace un siglo, el bicarbonato comenzó a hacerse popular por sus asombrosos poderes curativos. Sin embargo, con el paso de los años se le fue dejando de lado y con el tiempo casi se olvidó por completo.

Afortunadamente, ahora se le ha revalorado gracias a especialistas de la medicina, que han podido comprobar su gran efectividad. Actualmente el producto es utilizado por doctores en la diálisis de riñón con el objeto de reducir los niveles de acidez en el torrente sanguíneo de los pacientes. How To Make Edible Water Bottles. The United States uses about 50 billion plastic water bottles each year, which requires 17 million barrels of oil. Sadly, less than a quarter of that plastic will get recycled. If you don’t want to be stuck carrying around a water bottle when you’re done taking a drink, why not just make a container you can eat? Yuka Yoneda from Inhabitat gives a demonstration of how to do just that using a process called spherification, which creates a liquid with a soft membrane that you can eat. The process combines drinking water with sodium alginate, which comes from brown seaweed. After those two are combined, spoonfuls are put into a bath of calcium lactate, which is a salt that can be found in many items like baking powder, antacids, and cheese.

Want to experiment with other liquids? [Hat tip: Yuka Yoneda, Inhabitat] How To Build A Smartphone Microscope Stand for $10. Obtaining a high quality microscope for your home or a classroom doesn’t require a massive investment. For only $10, basic supplies from a hardware store can be turned into microscope stand for a smart phone capable of reaching up to 175x magnification. All that is required for this setup is a piece of plywood, some Plexiglass, the lens from a laser pointer, small LED light, and some nuts and bolts to hold it together. By using a smartphone with the microscope, images and videos of the specimens can be taken easily. This is a great tool for getting up close and personal with everyday small objects like salt and pepper, but it can also be used to see plant cells easily. The video provides full instructions, but if you need a pictorial step-by-step guide, Instructables user kmyoshino has you covered here.

[Hat tip: kmyoshino via Instructables] Futuristic and Unique Wallpaper with LED – LED Wallpaper. Futuristic and Unique Wallpaper with LED This is an unique wallpaper designed by Ingo Maurer from Architects Paper. This is a great idea for wallpaper that will not only make your interior looks great but also illuminate your room. The LED light can be dimmed and hung in more or fewer strips and lengths according to the architecture and furnishing of a room. The surface has computer-chip motive with blue and red LED.

This will make your wall become interesting. detail of Futuristic and Unique Wallpaper with LED blue Futuristic and Unique Wallpaper with LED plan of Futuristic and Unique Wallpaper with LED Design of Wall Panel. DIY HIFI.