Blog entries by retched

My EasyPIC 6 arrived today.. The first parcel I have ever received from Serbia. Neat. And what a piece of ART ! I'm already excited to work with it. The add-on boards are very inexpensive, and can be used in stand alone projects. They will save a lot of time.

KBasic is a very powerful program available for linux, mac and windows platforms. It mocs almost 100% Visual Basic 6. For anyone who wants to make applications for web, standalone, or front-ends to their hardware. It uses a recreation of QBasic with bunch of object-oriented programming sets...

I have built a table to follow the sun through 15 degrees of arc. Using a stepper to change the angle. Man was it pretty...pretty inefficient. So, I am thinking of using two gallon jugs at opposite ends of the table connected by a small water pump. The water could be transfered from one...

I have finished my adjustable pitch prototype VAWT. Ill post some pictures soon. For now, some of my notes. I started with the base bearing. I found a wheel bearing and race worked REALLY, REALLY well. I mounted the race in a 6"x6" sheet of 3/4 inch plywood. The race is 4 inches in...

他 对 老 师 的 帮 助 念 念 不 忘 (Always remember your teachers help) And learn how to spell "taught". Thanks Sgt.

After a very educational thread with Sgt.Wookie, I have finalized my plan for the solar part of my rooftop unit. For generation 1: (Overview) Two 36 volt panels wired in parallel on a balance board (used to tilt the array to follow the sun) with a center fulcrum, using ball-barrings for...

I am awaiting my order for 108 solar cells. The project for the DC only living space will be partial solar, partial wind. I have started my calculations for the battery bank and have decided to stay with 6 - 8v DeepCycle batteries. The 8volts have a .11" thick plate size which is very...

I have found a heat pump that runs on DC for home use. Pretty interesting. Uses PWM for varying the compressor speed. They also offer an air-conditioner only version that I will be purchasing. The house currently has natural gas for heat that will have to do for a while. Ultimately solar...

Ok. The turbine for the apartment in my house is coming together. (Back Story: I am converting the basement in my home to a DC only residence. I will try my hardest to NOT invert DC to AC for any reason. I will try to use pwm'd DC for air-conditioning. And DC lighting, computer, television...

Fujitsu now makes a "mini-split" a/c unit for home/office use. The unit converts to dc at the mains then uses the DC power for compressor and controls. They state stronger, faster operation with lower power usage. The compressor has a sharper rise to efficiency when using DC than AC...

Ok. I just canceled my order for a wind turbine. I just cant spend a $1000 with out spending $250 to see if I can do it myself. I have no problem paying $250 for an education. With everything I have to pull from, I am confident I will create something....educational. ;) Any ideas or tips...

In order to cut down on wire-length, I am designing the battery bank in the center of the "house" allowing shortest runs. Emergency AC-DC converter triggered by uC controlled battery monitor. This will allow me to keep logs of when the batteries hit 55% and what was running when that...

I would really be interested in household items using I could run DC only. My parents have an old blender that has a DC motor and a huge transformer inside. The motor is an 18vDC motor which I ran successfully after removing the transformer. Speed controls and all. This was made in the 1970s...

I am starting an experimental power project for my home with a few cheap solar cells and a small wind turbine and a few deep-cycle batteries. One of the losses I would like to do away with is DC to AC inverters. I already have a ton of wall-wart powered devices so it makes no sense to me to...