Rural Mexican power... [RE-wrenches]

Jim Duncan ntrei at earthlink.net
Sat Jul 8 14:00:27 PDT 2006


Wrenches, I got a call from a university professor in a nearby college 
town. He had been working in a central Mexico village and, some years 
ago, someone had installed PV on a number of the buildings. Apparently 
time and lack of maintenance had left most or all the installs not 
working. His plan was to install a new one as a model system then apply 
for grant money to install more.
So he called me to come up with a prototype before his departure in 
about 2 weeks. I said I could not have a completed system designed, 
tested and ready to ship in that short a time. I suppose I could do most 
or all of that if I applied myself but I sensed some charity work coming 
so there have to be other priorities mixed in there, like paying jobs. 
He agreed that the timeline was a little short and he could wait a bit 
longer.
So, rather than re-designing the wheel here I thought that someone out 
there has a workable design in a file folder somewhere that could be 
reused in this situation. He was not too clear on what the loads might 
be. I figured that would be decided by the charge controller, when the 
battery sags, power goes away. (Trial and error can be a cruel teacher.)
On top of that, he insisted that he could find batteries there rather 
than taking the correct ones along. I suspect that there are probably 
not a lot of deep-cycle batteries available out in the badlands though I 
have been wrong before. I don't think the importance of the battery 
completely sunk in with him in our conversations and emails. 
Finally, he thought roof mounted modules would work best but a pipe is 
pretty much a universal mounting spot. So I am open to any and all 
designs up to 200-300 Watts. 
Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Please contact me offline unless 
it is wisdom worth sharing. Also the phone cable in the easement here 
was damaged and is being replaced next week so messages and replies may 
be delayed.

Jim Duncan
North Texas Renewable Energy Inc
Fort Worth, Texas


- - - -
To send a message: RE-wrenches at topica.com

Archive of previous messages: http://lists.topica.com/lists/RE-wrenches/read

List rules & how to change your email address: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/etiquette.php

Check out participant bios: www.mrsharkey.com/wrenches/

Hosted by Home Power magazine

Moderator: michael.welch at homepower.com
--^----------------------------------------------------------------
This email was sent to: michael.welch at homepower.com

EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bz8Qcs.bz9JC9.bWljaGFl
Or send an email to: RE-wrenches-unsubscribe at topica.com

For Topica's complete suite of email marketing solutions visit:
http://www.topica.com/?p=TEXFOOTER
--^----------------------------------------------------------------




More information about the RE-wrenches mailing list