[RE-wrenches] Panel Fire + DIY Ebooks

[Wind-sun.com]

That book was one of the first things to cross my mind, since the 
construction of the panels sounded very much like the method described in 
that book. We may never know for sure, but that Earth4Energy book is so full 
of bad info that we are bound to see problems in the future.

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Northern Arizona Wind & Sun - Electricity From The Sun
Solar Discussion Forum: http://www.wind-sun.com/ForumVB/
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----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dan Fink" <danbob at hughes.net>
To: "RE-wrenches" <re-wrenches at lists.re-wrenches.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 12, 2009 10:07 PM
Subject: Re: [RE-wrenches] Panel Fire + DIY Ebooks


> Hi all -- Thought I'd better chime in now. We are going to start seeing a 
> lot of this (fires, electrocutions, lawsuits), and RE Wrenches are going 
> to have to be aware of it and be prepared for repair calls, consulting, 
> and even "expert witness" court testimony.
>
> Since besides private RE consulting, I work for a website focused on DIY 
> renewable energy, I buy books and Ebooks and review them. About 8 years 
> ago I got one for $12.95  about cheap PV modules. I imagine the guy made a 
> few hundred bucks on this paper book. It had such tidbits as getting 
> smashed solar panels from traffic sign rental places, buying solar cells, 
> gluing them to plywood and wiring them together, and how older PV modules 
> (and batteries) are available for pennies on the dollar from RE installers 
> because "homeowners often upgrade to newer PV panels." Yeah, right.
>
> Now someone is getting rich, thanks to an affiliate program-- the 
> Earth4Energy Ebook sells for $49.95, there's a DVD too, and has the same 
> misinformation as the old book, updated with color photos and plans for an 
> impossible wind turbine (8 foot PVC blades, small tape drive motor, no 
> furling system, 1000 watts @ 20mph -- yeah, right). This Ebook (85 pages, 
> large type, lots of white space) sells online under dozens of different 
> names now. They all review each other, with glowing reports about how the 
> utility pays THEM and how YOU can do all this too for only $200 in 
> materials!
>
> What's scary and dangerous is that the ads all imply grid tie applications 
> for this homebrew stuff:
> "Don't pay for your electricity any longer...
> Instead, the power company will pay YOU!"
>
> But in the site FAQs:
> "Will I learn how to wire the renewable power into my homes AC breaker 
> panel?"
> "Wiring your own power into the AC breaker panel is very dangerous and is 
> illegal unless it is done by a qualified electrician."
>
> And then from the Earth4Energy Ebook:
> "If you do not wish to go as far as connecting your system to
> the breaker panel you can simply run your appliances
> straight from your AC inverter. Running your appliances
> straight from the inverter is easy and a very cheap option."
>
> I assume this means the homeowner is to run extension cords around the 
> house to each appliance? Oh my.
>
> I am currently working with other DIY renewable energy authors to get some 
> real reviews up about Earth4Energy and all its affiliates. They are 
> selling tens of thousands of copies of this crap.
>
> The average person that buys these $49.95 Ebooks has NO clue about how any 
> RE system, wind or PV, off grid or on, works. The websites cleverly do not 
> mention that the $200 you spend for building your own plywood PV panels 
> and toy wind turbines doesn't include a grid tie inverter, balance of 
> system components, and signoff by a licensed installer or 
> electrician...and at least where *I* live, the county inspector would go 
> ballistic if he saw PV cells glued to plywood.
>
> Jeff Yago -- you might look into this. I can send you a copy of 
> Earth4Energy, I DID buy it after getting complaints here about the Ebook 
> and DVD, and the whole topic (even without naming names) might make a 
> great column for you in Countryside or Backwoods Home.
>
> As someone who tries to encourage DIY RE, this whole thing is mortifying. 
> It gives the entire RE industry a bad name (not just the DIY folks) 
> because the implication is that professional RE installers are ripping the 
> customer off with $1000 PV modules, when the customer could just build 
> their own.
>
> We have a nice list of installations where folks that built our DIY wind 
> turbines (a modified Hugh Piggott design) from our book "Homebrew Wind 
> Power" (ISBN 978-0-9819201-0-8) have been successfully permitted and 
> signed off on by the inspectors for both off-grid and islanding grid-tie. 
> That's another reason this Earth4Energy Ebook thing infuriates me....the 
> wind turbine information in there is both impossible in claimed power 
> output and dangerous in application.
>
> ----------
> Wrenches, be prepared for a storm of questions about this stuff....it's 
> everywhere now.
>
> On the bright side -- I always charge double my normal hourly rate to 
> diagnose and fix RE systems that I didn't design and install. AND, for the 
> professional RE wrench with NABCEP certifications and an electrician's 
> license, being an "expert witness" in a court case can be a very good 
> paying gig!
>
> DAN FINK
> http://www.otherpower.com/
>
>
>
>
>> // What this one is is a $50 book that tells you how to build your own 
>> windmill, PV module.... Yada Yada... This particular one is a guy named 
>> Michael Harvey. Anybody know him?
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