Mart Hale

On MeWe I run a group for Christian farmers / gardeners we are up to 740 members.


https://mewe.com/join/christian_agrarians

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Christian agrarians are people who have been redeemed by Jesus Christ and seek to live in a way that stewards God’s creation.

It would be a mistake to believe that agrarians are luddites. We are as progressive as it gets because we are counter to current culture first because of our faith that Jesus Christ is Lord and the Son of God and the “way, the truth and the life.” Secondly, we are not luddites because our desire to live more simply in harmony with God’s creation is very futuristic in its perspective in anticipation of possibly future events. Finally, as Christian agrarians, we want to be found doing the things that are pleasing to our Lord while receiving the benefits of His creation as we work in collaboration with it.

We are not preppers, though many preppers are Christian agrarians. We are not permaculturalist, though many Christian agrarians practice permaculture techniques. We are simply people who are trying to live out the truths found in God’s word in some form of agrarian setting or mentality.

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David Baillie wrote:

Mart Hale wrote:

John F Dean wrote:Can you provide more detail?

I started experimenting with using solar direct to a hot water heater element  Connection is simply solar panel then connect to heating element,   with a 55 gal barrel of water.      


I started with 2 panels then worked up to like 9 panels  each 260 watts ratted but give me 220 watts in practice.


After I was comfortable with this,   I then want to my present solar system which has over 2000  watts of solar going to an inverter to batteries.
To this system I   added a Y connector to both Positive and Neg to the power coming in from my solar panels directly before the charge controller.

Now from here I added an electric car relay so I could control the connection, and ran both positive and neg directly to my hot water heater.


Once my solar charged battery is full around 2 PM each day, I then trigger the relay set on a 2 hour timer to direct power from the panels to the hot water heater element,   the 2 hour limit prevents a boil over of the tank, it is manually triggered,    I test the  temp of the water coming out of the tap before I trigger it so I know it will not over heat.

Heating element is rated at 3800 watts,  so I am well within spec.

All this time I could of been using that extra power,  I just got brave enough now to try it.

Congrats on the dump load. A few questions and some possible next steps.  Any idea if the relay is rated for the string voltage? It would be a likely fail point. Does your charge controller have a dry relay for triggering a fan? Many of them do. Using that voltage trigger is a great way to automatically trigger the switchover. Finally if you do not have ac going to your water heater you can use it's thermostat to cut power to the trigger of the relay to avoid boil over..things to think about
Cheers and congrats!

Yes, my Outback does have a built in relay,   but at this point I don't want to imagine the relay being triggered automatically as I imagine a possible boil over....    Using the thermostat to control power to the relay is an option, but I am not sure I trust this relay yet...     In times past I have seen relays stick....    I don't like using a mop and a bucket.

David Baillie wrote:

Mart Hale wrote:

John F Dean wrote:Can you provide more detail?

I started experimenting with using solar direct to a hot water heater element  Connection is simply solar panel then connect to heating element,   with a 55 gal barrel of water.      


I started with 2 panels then worked up to like 9 panels  each 260 watts ratted but give me 220 watts in practice.


After I was comfortable with this,   I then want to my present solar system which has over 2000  watts of solar going to an inverter to batteries.
To this system I   added a Y connector to both Positive and Neg to the power coming in from my solar panels directly before the charge controller.

Now from here I added an electric car relay so I could control the connection, and ran both positive and neg directly to my hot water heater.


Once my solar charged battery is full around 2 PM each day, I then trigger the relay set on a 2 hour timer to direct power from the panels to the hot water heater element,   the 2 hour limit prevents a boil over of the tank, it is manually triggered,    I test the  temp of the water coming out of the tap before I trigger it so I know it will not over heat.

Heating element is rated at 3800 watts,  so I am well within spec.

All this time I could of been using that extra power,  I just got brave enough now to try it.

Congrats on the dump load. A few questions and some possible next steps.  Any idea if the relay is rated for the string voltage? It would be a likely fail point. Does your charge controller have a dry relay for triggering a fan? Many of them do. Using that voltage trigger is a great way to automatically trigger the switchover. Finally if you do not have ac going to your water heater you can use it's thermostat to cut power to the trigger of the relay to avoid boil over..things to think about
Cheers and congrats!

ha ha ha check the ratings and weep :-)


900v   at 500 amps

https://batteryhookup.com/products/te-connectivity-ev200aaana-500a-0-900vdc?_pos=2&_sid=4cb0b1b91&_ss=r


It is designed for an electric car so yes, it is not a weak point, but thanks for pointing that out   :-)

John F Dean wrote:Can you provide more detail?

I started experimenting with using solar direct to a hot water heater element  Connection is simply solar panel then connect to heating element,   with a 55 gal barrel of water.      


I started with 2 panels then worked up to like 9 panels  each 260 watts ratted but give me 220 watts in practice.


After I was comfortable with this,   I then want to my present solar system which has over 2000  watts of solar going to an inverter to batteries.
To this system I   added a Y connector to both Positive and Neg to the power coming in from my solar panels directly before the charge controller.

Now from here I added an electric car relay so I could control the connection, and ran both positive and neg directly to my hot water heater.


Once my solar charged battery is full around 2 PM each day, I then trigger the relay set on a 2 hour timer to direct power from the panels to the hot water heater element,   the 2 hour limit prevents a boil over of the tank, it is manually triggered,    I test the  temp of the water coming out of the tap before I trigger it so I know it will not over heat.

Heating element is rated at 3800 watts,  so I am well within spec.

All this time I could of been using that extra power,  I just got brave enough now to try it.

At last !!! I now have solar powered hot water that is easy to maintain !!!

I hooked up 160 V of direct DC, direct from my solar panels that I am now using as a dump load to my water heater. After my battery is charged, I have tapped into my solar panels that power my battery, and then divert that power to my water heater.

So much energy I was wasting not having a dump load after my batteries where charged, I have a 43 gal tank that I was not using because I was using propane to heat my water, but now after the batteries are full, I divert the power direct from my solar panels to this tank, I measured over 125 degree water yesterday, and took a nice shower yesterday and today with that hot water, the tank is very well insulated as it only looses like 5 degrees overnight.

This will save me a good deal on propane over time I estimate. It is another step for freedom using energy that I was not using….


I have been doing this for 4 days now,  and water is heating up to 120 -135 deg.      I love not buying propane!

Oh, and another thought I had....


I was thinking what if a person was to build one of these over a cave,      It would seem that one could exchange the air with the cave and not need to run all the pipe to get the temps.....  

Very nice,    

The only thing I would add is the Chinese green house style where they roll down a blanket at night  to hold in the heat.       Some have automated this.


I bought the plans for one of these greenhouses, and I have been collecting parts to do this on the cheap watching craigslist


I have also been asking myself the question could I take a geo greenhouse up to the next level with a mini split added......        I have been growing more and more inside with a mini split and plants like us love not having temp swings.


Thank you for sharing your greenhouse design, it looks great.

Yep that is the goals of most solar enthusiasts....  

Let me give you links to two excellent solar web sites.        Sharing ideas in an open source manner is awesome.


Solar cookers from around the world ->

https://solarcooking.fandom.com/wiki/Solar_Cooking_Wiki_(Home)


This site shows solar projects that people who love to play do.        

https://www.builditsolar.com



These two sites have really helped me to see new ideas of how others use solar to cook, heat water, and make electricity.

Very nice!!!

So far the fastest compost method I have found is Black Soldier flies.....          I attract them with fermented vegetables buried in the compost...     Then I feed them fodder plants......        They turn my compost every second they are alive.


I did something similar to what you did with the lawn mower  except I used a garbage disposal to feed leaves in.  


I have modified my electric lawn mower so that it chews up styrofoam and I re use it for insulation, and for air crete.


Thank you for sharing your method...    I had an idea of having conveyor belts    that would take the output of the lawn mower and feed it right back in from the output to the input so it would chew it up more......       But electric lawnmowers are awesome for tasks like this.

Very solar warm stuff there :-)      I run a solar cooking group on MeWe  we have lots of great ideas there as  well.


Other things you can consider is using objects like trash cans to block the wind to help hold the heat,  I have found making barriers to stop the wind most helpful.


Painting jars flat black with a strip of masking tape on them then removing the tape afterward makes a good cooking vessel as you can see where you removed the tape how well the food is cooking.


Great job using the sun!